Expanded metal formed using rotary blades and rotary blades to form such
AssigneeStructa Wire Corp
InventorsAbraham Jacob Sacks, Jeffrey Leonard Sacks, William Spilchen, Narcis Rugina
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary slitting blade for fabricating expanded metal products includes opposed end surfaces and an outer circumferential surface extending from one of the end surfaces to the other of the end surfaces. A plurality of notches are formed in each of the end surfaces. The notches include curved surfaces having convex curvatures that smoothly transition into one of the end surfaces and/or the outer circumferential surface. The rotary slitting blade improves the quality of a resulting expanded metal product by reducing or eliminating tears, cracks, and fractures in the expanded metal product.
Claims18
An expanded metal product, comprising:
- a plurality of openings, each of the openings delineated by a respective set of first, second, third, and fourth sheet metal strands monolithically joined to one another by a respective set of first, second, third, and fourth bond sections, each of the openings having a respective first dimension along a first axis of the opening extending from the first bond section to the third bond section and a respective second dimension along a second axis of the opening extending from the second bond section to the fourth bond section, the second axis of the opening perpendicular to the first axis of the opening;
- wherein fewer than 70% of the bond sections have optically detectable fractures.
A rotary blade, comprising:
- a cylindrical body having a first end face, a second end face opposite the first end face, and an outer circumferential surface that extends from the first end face to the second end face;
- a first plurality of notches in the first end face that extend radially toward and that intersect the outer circumferential surface, wherein each of the first plurality of notches includes a respective curved surface having a convex curvature that smoothly transitions into the first end face;
- and
- a second plurality of notches in the second end face that extend radially toward and that intersect the outer circumferential surface, wherein each of the second plurality of notches includes a respective curved surface having a convex curvature that smoothly transitions into the second end face.
A rotary blade, comprising:
- a cylindrical body having a first end face, a second end face opposite the first end face, and an outer circumferential surface that extends from the first end face to the second end face;
- a first plurality of notches in the first end face that extend radially toward and that intersect the outer circumferential surface, wherein each of the first plurality of notches includes a respective curved surface having a convex curvature that smoothly transitions into the outer circumferential surface;
- and
- a second plurality of notches in the second end face that extend radially toward and that intersect the outer circumferential surface, wherein each of the second plurality of notches includes a respective curved surface having a convex curvature that smoothly transitions into the outer circumferential surface.
A method of making an expanded metal product, comprising:
- rotating a first plurality of rotary blades in a first rotational direction and a second plurality of rotary blades in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction, each of the rotary blades including a plurality of notches, each of the notches including a curved surface having a convex curvature that smoothly transitions into an outer surface of the respective rotary blade;
- and
- passing a piece of sheet metal between the first and second pluralities of rotary blades so that the rotary blades form slits through the piece of sheet metal and bond sections at ends of the slits, wherein fewer than 70% of the bond sections have optically detectable fractures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.