Apparatus for producing tubular products from nonwoven fibers
AssigneeClack Corporation
InventorRobert A. Clack
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system produces segmented tubular products such as filters from nonwoven fibers and includes a die assembly, a collector assembly including a rotating mandrel, a withdrawer assembly, and a post-treatment assembly. The withdrawer assembly utilizes at least one threaded roller contacting either the inner or outer periphery of a tube formed on the mandrel to withdraw the tube from the mandrel in a controlled manner. The post-treatment assembly smoothes the outer surface of the tube prior to cutting by melting loose fiber strand strands extending therefrom. The properties of the finished product can be varied by altering the operation of the collector assembly and/or the withdrawer assembly.
Claims20
A system for forming tubular products from nonwoven fibers, said system comprising:
- A. a rotatable mandrel on which a tube is produced by depositing nonwoven fibers on said mandrel and which has a distal axial end;
- and
- B. a roller which has a surface 1) which presents helical threads, 2) which engages a peripheral surface of said tube, and 3) which draws said tube axially off from said mandrel, wherein an axis of rotation of said mandrel and an axis of rotation of said roller extend in the same direction.
A system for forming tubular products from nonwoven fibers, said system comprising:
- A. a rotatable mandrel on which a tube is produced by depositing nonwoven fibers on said mandrel and which has a distal axial end;
- and
- B. a roller which has a threaded surface which engages an inner peripheral surface of said tube and which draws said tube axially off from said mandrel, wherein said mandrel comprises a hollow tube presenting an open distal end, and wherein said threaded roller is concentric with said mandrel and is located adjacent said distal end of said mandrel, and further comprising a rotatable shaft which extends through said mandrel and on which is mounted said threaded roller.
A system for forming tubular products from nonwoven fibers, said system comprising:
- A. a rotatable mandrel on which a tube is produced by depositing nonwoven fibers on said mandrel and which has a distal axial end;
- and
- B. a roller which is concentric and coaxial with said mandrel and which has an outer surface, wherein said outer surface of said roller 1) presents helical threads, 2) engages an inner peripheral surface of said tube, and 3) draws said tube axially off from said mandrel.
A system for forming tubular products from nonwoven fibers, said system comprising:
- A. a rotatable mandrel on which a tube is produced by depositing nonwoven fibers on said mandrel and which has a distal axial end;
- and
- B. a roller which is concentric with said mandrel and which has a threaded surface which engages an inner peripheral surface of said tube and which draws said tube axially off from said mandrel, wherein said mandrel comprises a hollow tube presenting an open distal end, and further comprising a rotatable shaft which extends through said mandrel and on a distal end of which is mounted said threaded roller.
A system for forming tubular products from nonwoven fibers, said system comprising:
- A. a rotatable mandrel on which a tube is produced by depositing nonwoven fibers on said mandrel, wherein said mandrel comprises a hollow tube presenting an open distal end;
- B. a rotatable shaft which extends through said mandrel, which is concentric with said mandrel, and which presents a distal end located beyond and adjacent to said distal end of said mandrel;
- and
- C. a roller which is mounted on said distal end of said rotatable shaft, which has a diameter generally equal to the outer diameter of said mandrel, and which has a threaded surface which engages an inner peripheral surface of said tube and which draws said tube axially off from said mandrel.
An apparatus for producing seamless continuous non-woven tubes which includes a die for spinning filaments onto a rotating mandrel to form a continuous tube of nonwoven filaments thereon, the improvement wherein the mandrel comprises:
- (a) a hollow outer shaft;
- (b) an inner shaft extending through the outer shaft and having an end portion extending axially outwardly from the outer shaft, the end portion being threaded and in combination with the outer shaft being positioned in relation to the die to receive and wind filaments thereon;
- (c) means for rotating the inner and outer shafts independently at the rate for receiving a layer of filaments on the outer shaft and the end portion of the inner shaft;
- and
- (d) means for rotating the inner shaft at an rpm different than the outer shaft whereby the rotating threads of the end portion of the inner shaft engages the tube of nonwoven filaments forcing the tube to move axially along the outer shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.