Method and apparatus of manufacturing a paint roller
AssigneeNewell Operating Company
InventorsLawrence J. Bower, Ronald R. Delo, Gerald D. VanZeeland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A paint roller having a tubular core formed of thermoplastic material. The thermoplastic material being in the form of a multiplicity of spirally wound plies. The multiplicity of plies comprising an outer ply surrounding and in continuous contact with an inner ply. The plies are in general parallelism with one another and fused to one another in the absence of adhesive. A fabric cover overlies the core and is heat fused to the underlying core in the absence of adhesive.
Claims16
In a method of making a paint roller, the steps of forming a continuous tubular core by heating and wrapping strip core material around a former having internal cooling means and means for accommodating radial inward shrinkage of said strip core material while continuously advancing and cooling the outer surface of the thus formed continuous tubular core in a downstream direction,
- applying heat to the exterior surface of the thus formed continuous tubular core while said continuous tubular core is being advanced toward a discharge location, and
- forming a fabric cover on the continuous tubular core by wrapping strip fabric material around the heated surface of the continuous tubular core while said continuous tubular core is being advanced in said downstream direction whereby a continuous paint roller structure is formed.
The method of claim I further characterized in that
- the continuous tubular core is formed by wrapping a plurality of strips of core material around a former in the presence of sufficient heat to bond the strips to one another while continuously advancing the formed continuous tubular core in a downstream direction.
Apparatus for forming paint rollers, said apparatus including
- means for forming a continuous tubular core from multiple layers of strip stock applied in a wrap within a wrap relationship,
- means for heating those surfaces of said wraps which overlie one another so that said surfaces are at an elevated temperature at the time said surfaces contact one another,
- means for simultaneously cooling the surfaces of said wraps which are not in contact with one another,
- means for moving said continuous tubular core in a downstream direction,
- means for accommodating radial inward shrinkage of said continuous tubular core as it moves in a downstream direction,
- means for forming a fabric cover on said continuous tubular core structure as said core structure moves in a downstream direction whereby a continuous paint roller blank is formed, and
- means for severing discrete portions of said paint roller blank as said blank continuously moves in a downstream direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.