Automatic Assembly of Glueless Pocketed Spring Units

A method for assembling a cushioning unit, comprising the steps of:

• wherein individual pocketed spring modules comprise more than two pocketed springs which together surround an opening,
• a) inserting a first positioning rod between a pair of adjacent ones of said modules in a linearly connected row of said modules;
• b) applying tension to said row of modules, and inserting positioning rods between multiple other pairs of adjacent ones of said modules in said row of modules;
• c) moving said row of modules, without removing said positioning rods from between said adjacent pairs of modules, to align a main axis of said openings with a main axis of welding phalanges of a row of welding phalanges;
• d) inserting said row of welding phalanges into said aligned openings, and inserting another row of welding phalanges into said openings of another row of modules which is adjacent and parallel to said row of modules;
• and
• e) moving said rows of welding phalanges together and applying a welding pulse to ones of said welding phalanges to thereby weld said rows of modules together;
• and
• f) repeating steps a) through e) to form a completed cushioning unit.

A method for assembling a cushioning unit, comprising the steps of:

• wherein individual pocketed spring modules comprise more than two pocketed springs which together surround and define an opening,
• a) activating a first and second row of welding phalanges, respectively inserted in said openings in first and another rows of modules and closed together, to weld together said first and another rows of modules;
• b) loading a second row of modules into parallel and adjacent contact with said first row of modules;
• c) after step b), separating said rows of welding phalanges and removing said welding phalanges from said first and another rows of modules;
• d) moving said second row of modules to enable insertion of said first row of welding phalanges into said openings in said second row of modules, and moving said first row of modules to enable insertion of said second row of welding phalanges into said openings in said first row of modules;
• and
• e) inserting said first row of welding phalanges into said openings in said second row of modules, and inserting said second row of welding phalanges into said openings of said first row of modules, and activating said welding phalanges to weld said first and second rows of modules together.

A cushioning unit assembler, comprising:

• wherein individual pocketed spring modules comprise more than two pocketed springs which together surround and define an opening,
• a module transporter configured to load a linearly connected row of said modules onto the assembler and to apply tension to said row of modules if one or more of said modules is fixed in position;
• an insertion frame, with multiple positioning rods mounted thereon, said positioning rods configured to be extended into spaces between adjacent pairs of modules, said insertion frame configured to move said row of modules into position for welding phalanges to be inserted into said openings in said row of modules;
• at least two rows of said welding phalanges configured to be inserted into said openings of respective rows of modules, adjacent pairs of said rows of welding phalanges configured to be inserted into said openings, to close together, and when so inserted and closed, to be activated to weld said respective rows of modules together.