Apparatus for joining sheet material
AssigneeBTM Corporation
InventorEdwin G. Sawdon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved apparatus is disclosed for joining a plurality of pieces of sheet metal or other sheet material items by first drawing and then laterally extruding portions of the material to be joined into an enlarged shape mechanically interlocking the sheet material pieces into a first stage joint. The apparatus includes die portions thereof which are preferably resiliently biased toward one another and pivot or slide laterally in response to lateral extrusion of the joining material to form the first stage joint, which is then forcibly flattened in a press, preferably between two relatively movable anvils, in order to form a second stage joint, thus further enhancing the strength of the mechanical interlock between the sheet material items.
Claims19
An apparatus for joining two or more overlying sheet material items having a combined thickness, the apparatus including punch means and further comprising:
- first and second die members having operative portions configured to cooperate with the punch means to forcibly deform portions of the sheet material items into a first stage joint therebetween without shearing the sheet material items when the punch means and said die members are moved relatively toward one another in a generally longitudinal direction, said die members defining an opening for receiving the sheet material portions during such deformation into said first stage joint;
- means for mounting the operative portions of said die members for lateral movement with respect to one another;
- an anvil disposed in said opening and having an end surface against which the sheet material portions can be pressed by said punch means during said deformation into said first stage joint;
- and
- press means for forcibly flattening said first stage joint in order to form a flattened second stage joint, said flattened second stage joint lying within the combined thickness of the sheet material items.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.