Apparatus for securing fittings in a thermoplastic foil web

An apparatus for manufacturing a foil web with locally secured fittings, comprising:

• an extruder head with an ejection orifice through which foil is extruded;
• a first and a second roller positioned below said ejection orifice and being adapted for counterrotating motion so as to define a nip therebetween for calibrating the extruded foil;
• feeding devices spaced along a line extending parallel to a rotating axis of said first roller, each of said feeding devices having a source of fittings;
• and
• discharge ducts with each discharge duct extending from a respective one of said feeding devices in a direction towards said nip;
• and each discharge duct including an exit mouth positioned such that a fitting exiting said exit mouth freely falls into said nip;
• guiding means for guiding fittings from the source of fittings to said discharge ducts;
• first controlled stop members for stopping and releasing fittings, and each said discharge ducts each including a first controlled stop member;
• and
• first sensors for sensing fittings stopped by said first stop members;
• and
• a common control unit in communication with said first stop members and said first sensors for controlling a supply of fittings to said nip.

An apparatus for manufacturing a thermoplastic web having fitting elements secured thereon, said apparatus comprising an extruded head having a downwardly directed extrusion orifice;

• two counterrotating rollers disposed beneath said extrusion orifice and defining a nip therebetween for receiving a thermoplastic foil extruded from the orifice;
• a feeding device having a substantially vertical supply magazine accommodating a stack of the fitting elements;
• a discharge duct extending from a bottom portion of said supply magazine to the roller nip for feeding the fitting elements to said roller nip;
• and a guiding device for guiding a lowermost fitting element in the magazine into the discharge duct, wherein the improvement comprises a first electrically controlled stop member and a first fitting element sensor, said first electrically controlled stop member and said first stop member being positioned at a lowermost end of said discharge duct towards said roller nip for both controlling a supply of fitting elements to said roller nip and monitoring for fitting element presence in said discharge duct, and said rollers being arranged such that fitting elements freely fall from an exit mouth of the discharge duct to the roller nip upon being released by said first stop member.