Post- forming heads on fastener elements

A method of producing a fastener product having a strip-form base and a multiplicity of fastening elements extending from a side of the strip-form base, the method comprising the steps of:

• applying resin to a rotating mold roll, the mold roll having an outer surface for forming one side of the base and defining both a multiplicity of stem-forming cavities and a series of alignment feature-forming cavities extending inward from the outer surface, under conditions which cause the resin to fill the cavities and form said side of the strip-form base on the outer surface of the mold roll;
• stripping from the mold roll a preform product having said strip-form base, a multiplicity of upstanding, preform stems formed in the stem-forming cavities of the mold roll and extending from said side of the base, and a row of alignment features formed in the alignment feature-forming cavities of the mold roll and extending from the base;
• and
• passing the preform product against a heading roll while employing the alignment features to register a longitudinal position of the preform stems with a rotational position of the heading roll, thereby forming a head on each of the preform stems from resin of the stems, to form said fastener elements.

A method of producing a fastener product having a strip-form base and a multiplicity of fastening elements extending from a side of the strip-form base, the method comprising the steps of:

• applying resin to a rotating mold roll, the mold roll having an outer surface for forming one side of the base and defining a multiplicity of cavities extending inward from the outer surface, under conditions which cause the resin to fill the cavities and form said side of the strip-form base on the outer surface of the mold roll;
• stripping from the mold roll a preform product having said strip-form base and a multiplicity of upstanding, preform stems formed in the cavities of the mold roll and extending from said side of the base, the stems arranged in spaced, parallel rows extending in the machine direction;
• and
• passing the preform product against a heading roll to form, from resin of the stems, a head on each of the preform stems, to form said fastener elements, the heading roll defining a multiplicity of cavities about its periphery which receive the preform stems and form the heads to overhang sides of their stems in multiple directions, the cavities of the heading roll being arranged to randomly intercept the preform stems and to, in addition to forming the overhanging heads, bend at least some of the stems in different directions, the cavities of the heading roll having an overall depth of less than about 0.5 times the spacing between adjacent, machine direction rows of stems.

A method of producing a fastener product having a strip-form base and a multiplicity of fastening elements extending from a side of the strip-form base, the method comprising the steps of:

• applying resin to a rotating mold roll, the mold roll having an outer surface for forming one side of the base and defining a multiplicity of cavities extending inward from the outer surface, under conditions which cause the resin to fill the cavities and form said side of the strip-form base on the outer surface of the mold roll;
• stripping from the mold roll a preform product having said strip-form base and a multiplicity of upstanding, preform stems formed in the cavities of the mold roll and extending from said side of the base, the stems arranged in spaced, parallel rows extending in the machine direction;
• and
• passing the preform product against a heading roll to form, from resin of the stems, a head on each of the preform stems, to form said fastener elements, the heading roll defining a multiplicity of cavities about its periphery which receive the preform stems and form the heads to overhang sides of their stems in multiple directions, the cavities of the heading roll being arranged to randomly intercept the preform stems and to, in addition to forming the overhanging heads, bend at least some of the stems in different directions, adjacent cavities of the heading roll being spaced at a cavity spacing distance of less than about 0.8 times the spacing between adjacent, machine direction rows of stems.