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AssigneeHunter Douglas Inc.
InventorsPaul G. Swiszcz, Ko Kuperus, Tim Jeske, Eugene Ballard, Stephen Cook
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for manufacturing cellular laminate structural panels includes one or more supply stations of a flexible strip material including folding rollers for sequentially folding the strip material into cellular structures and feeding the cellular structures into a conveyor where the cellular structures are held in compression. The apparatus further includes a laminating station where the folded cellular structures are laminated to an upper and/or lower sheet material to which lines of a bonding medium have been applied prior to engagement with the cellular structures. The folded cellular structures are heated before engaging the sheet material so as to enhance the bonding of the sheet material to the cellular structures and subsequent to bonding, the laminate is passed through a cooling station to set the bonding medium. Downstream from the laminating station, the laminate passes through a side edge folding station where edges of the sheet material are folded over side edges of the laminate to finish the side edges of the laminate and subsequently the laminate is passed into a cutter for cutting the continuous laminate into predetermined lengths. Ends of the cut panels then receive rigid edge strips to fully finish the panel. The method of the invention includes the steps performed by the components of the apparatus.
A method of making a cellular laminate comprising the steps of:
A method of making a cellular panel from flexible materials comprising the steps of;
A method of making an expandable structural panel comprising the steps of:
An apparatus for fabricating a structural panel having at least one planar sheet of material secured to a plurality of individual cellular members comprising in combination,
A method of finishing a side edge of a cellular laminate having a plurality of side-by-side cellular structures and a sheet material secured to said cellular structures along one surface thereof so as to overhang said cellular structures along at least one side of said laminate, an outermost cellular structure along said at least one side of said laminate having a longitudinally extending recess formed therein and opening laterally of said laminate when said laminate is at least partially compressed, comprising the steps of:
A method of finishing a side edge of a cellular laminate having a plurality of side-by-side cellular structures and a sheet material secured to said cellular structures along at least one side of said cellular structures, an outermost cellular structure along said at least one side of said laminate having a longitudinally extending recess formed therein and opening laterally of said laminate when said laminate is at least partially compressed, comprising the steps of:
A method of finishing an end of a cellular panel having a plurality of side-by-side compressible cellular structures and a sheet material secured to said cellular structures along one surface thereof, said cellular structures being substantially perpendicular to said end of the panel and having open ends at said end of the panel when the cellular structures are not fully compressed, comprising the steps of
A system for removing the lowermost panel from a vertical stack of panels comprising in combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.