US 4,084,309 AGranted

Apparatus and method of manufacturing flexible ducting

OwnerCecil Howard Woodinventor

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for manufacturing flexible duct comprising feeding a strip of cloth and a channel formed strip of metal in parallel through a work station having a pair of crimping rollers which fasten an edge of the fabric into the channel. A forming ring is provided at the work station to guide a first coil of fabric attached to channel strip around to meet and overlap a second coil of fabric being fed into the work station. A roller member is rotatably fixed above the work station to force the overlapping edges of adjacent coils of fabric down into the channel of the metal strip being simultaneously fed in parallel with the fabric toward the crimping rolls. The roller member carries with it a string which it inserts into the channel over the overlapping edges of the fabric prior to the combined materials being fed into crimping rollers where they are forced into a retained and fixed position within the enfolded arms of the crimped channel of metal. The string provides a filler to bulk up the interior of the channel cavity to prevent the overlapping edges being pulled out of the seam provided by the closed channel of metal strip.

Claims2

Dependent claims

An apparatus for forming flexible ducting from a channel-shaped strip of metal and a strip of flexible material wherein said metal strip is formed into a spiral with said material forming a web between adjacent coils of the spiral and wherein said metal is exposed outwardly of the ducting formed thereby to protect the flexible material forming the webbing of the ducting, comprising in combination;

a work station having a bed thereon;
a means for feeding said strip of metal to said work station to underlie said strip of flexible material disposed parallel to said metal strip, said flexible material being drawn onto said bed of said work station by movement of said metal strip underlying said material;
a roll member rotatably mounted above said bed to urge an edge of said material downwardly between the arms of said channel-shaped strip of metal when said strip of metal is fed thereunder;
a crimping means to close the channel arms of said metal strip over overlapping edges of flexible material caught therebetween;
a ring-shaped guide means fastened to said work station adapted to upwardly direct the channel-shaped metal strip with the flexible material held therein, into a spiral shape and to guide them around to lie adjacent and parallel to the incoming strip of flexible material with an edge of said material held by said metal channel strip in overlapping relationship with an edge of said incoming strip of flexible material.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.