System for fabricating contour muntin bars from sheet material

An apparatus for making muntin bars comprising:

• a) an uncoiler for supporting coiled ribbon stock;
• b) a notching device for receiving ribbon stock from the uncoiler, the notching device having a number of individually activated punches to form different notch patterns along the length of the ribbon stock;
• c) a roll forming machine having a plurality of roll assemblies adapted to receive ribbon stock from the notching device and form in stages a hollow contoured muntin bar tube having at least two raised portions that extend along said tube;
• and
• d) a severing device for severing the muntin bar at predetermined locations to form individual notched muntin bars;
• e) wherein said first stage of the roll forming machine creates a raised center portion to the ribbon stock bounded by symmetrically spaced depressions bounded along two outer edges of the ribbon stock by edge portions generally co-planar with the raised center portion and wherein subsequent roll stages bend the ribbon stock upward around a centerline of the raised center portion to form the muntin bar tube having a seam extending along its length.

Apparatus for making a contoured muntin bar comprising:

• a) a supply of sheet material having a finished surface on at least one side in the form of a coiled ribbon;
• b) a driver for uncoiling the ribbon from the supply and feeding the ribbon through a succession of forming stations positioned along a travel path;
• c) a ribbon punch for punching the ribbon at a precisely predetermined location along the ribbon to form a notch in the ribbon, the notch being a selected one of a plurality of different notch patterns;
• said notch defining a portion of a contoured muntin bar;
• d) a forming station comprising a succession of forming rolls having a succession of forming roll nips to bend the ribbon as said ribbon moves along the travel path and form an elongated, generally closed cross-sectional tube having raised planar sections on opposite sides of said tube;
• e) a cutting station comprising a muntin bar severing apparatus for severing an endmost muntin bar from the cross-sectional tube at a precisely predetermined location by cutting the tube along a cut line that intersects a notch of the cross-sectional tube;
• and
• f) a clamp for clamping the tube prior to severing the endmost muntin bar from the cross-sectional tube and
• g) means for moving apart the endmost muntin bar from the cross-sectional tube to widen a gap between the endmost muntin bar and the cross-sectional tube resulting from the severing;
• and
• h) an abrasive tool for finishing ends of the endmost muntin bar and the cross-sectional tube facing the gap between the endmost muntin bar and the cross-sectional tube.

Apparatus for making a contoured muntin bar comprising:

• a) a supply of sheet material having a finished surface on at least one side in the form of a coiled ribbon;
• b) a driver for uncoiling the ribbon from the supply and feeding the ribbon through a succession of forming stations positioned along a travel path;
• c) a ribbon punch for punching the ribbon at a precisely predetermined location along the ribbon to form a notch in the ribbon, the notch being selected from one of three different notch patterns;
• a first notch pattern defining a mitred end of a contoured muntin bar, a second notch pattern defining a flat end of a contoured muntin bar and a third notch pattern defining a slot along a side of the contoured muntin bar;
• d) a forming station comprising a succession of forming rolls having a succession of forming roll nips to bend the ribbon as said ribbon moves along the travel path and form an elongated, generally closed cross-sectional tube having raised planar sections on opposite sides of said tube;
• and
• e) a cutting station comprising a muntin bar severing apparatus for severing an endmost muntin bar from the cross-sectional tube at a precisely predetermined location by cutting the tube along a cut line that intersects a notch that defines either a flat end or a mitred end of the contoured muntin bar.