Belt welding apparatus and method
OwnerRonnie B. Acorsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and method are disclosed for the welding of thermoplastic endless belts (28). Direct current is passed through a ni-chrome wire (27) to produce enough heat such that the thermoplastic melting point of the belt material is reached. The wire is mechanically moved through the abutting thermoplastic belt. The free ends being welded are securely held together with clamping members (2) and (4). In another embodiment a ni-chrome ribbon (54) is embedded in an electrically insulated screen to produce a heated planar surface. The invention is particularly suitable for the welding of polyurethane thermoplastic belts. Because the invention is hand held and it uses battery power, it is especially adapted for welding belts in the food processing industry.
Claims50
A hand held device for joining the free ends of thermoplastic material comprising a body including a pair of clamping means, one-half of the pair of clamping means on each side of the body, to hold the free ends in juxtaposition, and to compress the free ends together, including first adjustment means to adjust the distance between the free ends and apply a compressive force between the free ends, and including heating means and means to pass the heating means between the free ends of the thermoplastic material, whereby the heating means is passed between the free ends of the thermoplastic material, thereby softening the free ends of the thermoplastic material, after which the softened free ends are compressed together using the adjustment means to adjust the clamp means towards each other and compress the free ends until the softened free ends fuse together and cool.
A method of welding together free ends of thermoplastic continuous belt comprising clamping each of the free ends of the thermoplastic belt between a pair of clamping jaws, axially adjusting the distance between each pair of clamping jaws relative to the other, to position the free ends of the thermoplastic belt at a suitable distance to pass a heating means heated by battery power between the free ends of the thermoplastic belt, passing a heating means between the free ends of the thermoplastic belt and softening the free ends of the thermoplastic belt, and axially compressing the softened free ends of the thermoplastic belt together until they fuse and cool.
A method of belt forming comprising heating thermoplastic ends of the belt to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a self contained heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with both belt ends which ends are compressed together to join the ends.
A method of belt forming comprising heating thermoplastic ends of the belt to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a manually held heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with both ends which ends are compressed together to join the free ends.
A method of belt forming comprising heating thermoplastic ends of the belt to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a portable hand held heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with both ends which ends are compressed together to join the free ends.
A method of belt forming comprising heating thermoplastic ends of the belt to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a cordless heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with both ends which ends are compressed together to join the free ends.
A method of belt repair comprising heating thermoplastic ends of belt material to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends by using a self contained heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with belt ends which ends are compressed together.
A method of belt repair comprising heating thermoplastic ends of belt material to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a manually held heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with belt ends which ends are compressed together.
A method of belt repair comprising heating thermoplastic ends of belt material to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a portable hand held heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with belt ends which ends are compressed together.
A method of belt repair comprising heating thermoplastic ends of belt material to a temperature sufficient to soften and fuse the ends together by using a cordless heating power source to heat a heating element temporarily in contact with belt ends which ends are compressed together.
A kit for splicing thermoplastic belt ends together comprising an assembly having a heating element used to soften and fuse belt ends, belt ends holders used to axially align belt ends into contact, a self contained heating power source used to heat the heating element, a compartment to house the power source and a switch operated circuit used to connect the power source with the heating element.
A method of using a kit to splice thermoplastic belt ends together comprising manually pressing the belt ends into contact while being axially aligned on belt ends holders of the kit, heating a heating element on the kit by engaging a circuit switch on the kit to provide heating power from a self contained heating power source of the kit, bringing the heating element of the kit into temporary heating contact with the belt ends to raise the temperature of the belt ends to their thermoplastic melting point, removing the heating element while continuing to press the ends into contact to fuse the ends.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.