Apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material
OwnerRobert Wood Fairinventor
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in side-by-side relation to form a unitary sheet of material having a greater width. In accordance with one preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of the unitary sheet near a joint. Following processing, the unitary sheet can be wound on a spindle to form a roll of woven material having greater than standard width.
Claims28
An apparatus for joining sheets of woven wire material side-by-side, said apparatus comprising:
- a feeding and alignment mechanism that continuously feeds a plurality of sheets of woven wire material and aligns the plurality of sheets of woven wire material in side-by-side relation;
- and
- a joining mechanism that joins the plurality of sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form a unitary sheet of woven wire material.
A method of joining sheets of woven wire material side-by-side, said method comprising:
- continuously feeding a plurality of sheets of woven wire material and aligning the plurality of sheets of woven wire material in side-by-side relation;
- and
- joining the plurality of sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form a unitary sheet of woven wire material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.