Ribbon rail systems
AssigneeWeld Tooling Corporation
InventorsHarold E. Cable, Anil N. Rodrigues
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An elongate deformable ribbon drive rail for carrying a working apparatus having a toothed drive gear and support mechanism is provided in the form of a first narrow elongate strip of metal of width to carry the support mechanism, a second narrower strip of metal having a regular series of corrugations extending lengthwise thereof fixed to the first strip intermediate its edges at each valley of the second strip and adapted to be engaged by the toothed drive gear while the edges of the first strip engage the support mechanism.
Claims9
An elongate formable drive rail for carrying a working apparatus having a toothed driving gear drivingly engaging said rail and support means engaging a portion of the edge of the side rail for supporting said apparatus comprising an elongate narrow flexible first strip of metal of width selected to carry said working apparatus, a second narrower strip of metal having a regular series of corrugations formed in said second strip extending lengthwise of said first strip intermediate its edges, said corrugations lying in planes transverse to the width of the first strip and corresponding substantially in shape and width along the median line of the strip to the tooth configuration of the toothed driving gear of said working apparatus and firmly fixed at each successive valley of the corrugations to said first strip on one face thereof to provide a drive rack engageable by the toothed drive gear of the apparatus, said drive rack and first strip being deformable in compound directions to follow the contour of an irregular work surface and to permit movement of the gap in the corrugations so that when the rail is bent the gear teeth can enter and leave the gap without excessive binding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.