Apparatus for lapping a continuous length of honeycomb material

In a system of apparatus for lapping a continuous length of unexpanded structural honeycomb material to form an accumulation of superposed unexpanded continuously connected layers comprising the combination of:

• A. a guideway to confine and guide the material downwardly and allow the material to compress under its own weight and to deliver it in a compressed state confined and restrained from buckling to;
• B. an outlet from said guideway;
• C. support means for reception of the confined and compressed material from said outlet;
• D. means for reciprocal lapping motion of said support relative to said outlet;
• E. compensating means permitting movement of said outlet relative to said support to compensate for accumulation of compressed material lapped;
• and
• the improvement in which the outlet from the guideway is provided with a pair of closure devices, one on each side thereof, said closure devices being operable to prevent feeding of the material in the non-required direction during lapping.

In a system of apparatus for lapping a continuous length of unexpanded structural honeycomb material to form an accumulation of superposed unexpanded continuously connected layers comprising the combination of:

• A. a guideway to confine and guide the material downwardly and allow the material to compress under its own weight and to deliver it in a compressed state confined and restrained from buckling to;
• B. an outlet from said guideway;
• C. support means for reception of the confined and compressed material from said outlet;
• D. means for reciprocal lapping motion of said support relative to said outlet;
• E. compensating means permitting movement of said outlet relative to said support to compensate for accumulation of compressed material lapped;
• and
• the improvement in which the guideway is provided in the form of a pair of guide members, contractable by flexible tension members and arranged to define a passageway for the downward feeding of the material therebetween, and the compensating means is operable to contract said guide members as the lapped material accumulates.

In a system of apparatus for lapping a continuous length of unexpanded structural honeycomb material to form an accumulation of superposed unexpanded continuously connected layers comprising the combination of:

• A. a guideway to confine and guide the material downwardly and allow the material to compress under its own weight and to deliver it in a compressed state confined and restrained from buckling to;
• B. an outlet from said guideway;
• C. support means for reception of the confined and compressed material from said outlet;
• D. means for reciprocal lapping motion of said support relative to said outlet;
• E. compensating means permitting movement of said outlet relative to said support to compensate for accumulation of compressed material lapped;
• and
• the improvement in which there is provided a transducer operable to permit the lapping motion and passage of material through the outlet only when the guideway contains an amount of oncoming material sufficient to maintain the material at the outlet under adequate compression.

In a system of apparatus for lapping a continuous length of unexpanded structural honeycomb material to form an accumulation of superposed unexpanded continuously connected layers comprising the combination of:

• A. a guideway to confine and guide the material downwardly and allow the material to compress under its own weight and to deliver it in a compressed state confined and restrained from buckling to;
• B. an outlet from said guideway;
• C. support means for reception of the confined and compressed material from said outlet;
• D. means for reciprocal lapping motion of said support relative to said outlet;
• E. compensating means permitting movement of said outlet relative to said support to compensate for accumulation of compressed material lapped;
• and
• the improvement in which there is provided a feedway for delivering the material to the guideway, said feedway being constituted to exert pressure upon the material so that the material is compressed in its direction of travel and restrained from shearing movement on being pushed through the feedway to the guideway.