US 5,247,822 AGranted

Method and device for manufacturing filler elements from expanded material

OwnerMax M. Spathinventor

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Abstract

Containers of explosive liquids can be prevented from exploding by filling the containers with meshes made from metal foil which occupies a negligible fraction of the volume of the container although it must completely fill the container. In order to refill the containers, the rib mesh (1) must consist of sufficiently small, spherical bodies (24). The invention also deals with the production of these filling bodies (24) from aluminum strip expanded into a mesh. The aluminum strip is first passed through a calibration opening (4) which compacts it into a bar (2) of circular cross-section which is then compacted perpendicularly to its length and continuously transported in the longitudinal direction as it is being squeezed. The front piece of the bar is then detached and pressed in a mould with a hemispherical bottom (21) by a die with the same inner contour to form a spherical filling body.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method for producing filler elements from strip-shaped material, characterized by the steps of:

a) compressing a strip made of expanded material transversely to its longitudinal direction to form a strand of approximately round cross section which passes through a calibration opening,
b) after passing through this opening, the strand being mechanically further compressed at intervals transversely to its longitudinal direction and then further transported discontinuously in the longitudinal direction into and through a guide of round cross section until the front part of the strand projects into a mold,
c) severing the strand at a point between the guide and the mold,
d) the severed section of the strand remaining in the mold and being compressed by a die which is introduced into the mold to form the desired filler element,
e) disposing a mold turret immediately following the cutting device consisting of an even number of radially arranged molds, wherein the axis of rotation of the mold turret runs transversely to the longitudinal direction of the strand,
f) each mold possessing a blind hole which can align with the guide and is open towards the latter,
g) the bottom of the blind hole being movable in the axial direction of the blind hole, and in each case two bottom sections of oppositely arranged molds in the turret being connected together, and
h) a die, which fits exactly into the blind hole and is aligned with the blind hole of the mold which is positioned on the mold turret alongside the mold which is at that moment in alignment with the guide.

5 more elements

A device for producing filler elements from strip-shaped expanded material, characterized by the fact that the following assemblies are arranged in the following sequence along a direction of travel of the expanded material for each strip being processed:

a) a calibration opening of approximately round cross section, and having a funnel-shaped inlet with round inlet edges
b) a longitudinal transportation device consisting of two plates arranged one immediately adjacent the other along the direction of travel and oriented transversely to the longitudinal direction of the strand, and containing openings so that when the two plates are moved in a parallel direction relative to each other a free gap through the plates is reduced and the strand is clamped and further reduced in cross section, so that in this clamped state the strand is transported in a longitudinal direction by moving the plates by a certain amount of stroke in that same longitudinal direction
c) a guide, consisting of a tubular section of circular internal diameter
d) a cutting device immediately at the end of the guide, consisting of a knife, which shears the strand at the end of the tubular section,
e) a mold turret immediately following the cutting device, consisting of an even number of radially arranged molds, wherein the axis of rotation of the mold turret runs transversely to the longitudinal direction of the strand,
f) each mold possessing a blind hole which can align with the guide and is open towards the latter,
g) the bottom of the blind hole being movable in the axial direction of the blind hole, and in each case two bottom sections of oppositely arranged molds in the turret are connected together, and
h) a die, which fits exactly into the blind hole and is aligned with the blind hole of the mold which is positioned on the mold turret alongside the mold which is at that moment in alignment with the guide.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.