Method and apparatus for forming sealing devices on fasteners
AssigneeND Industries, Inc.
InventorsJames DeFillipi, Gerald Snow
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for forming sealing and/or retaining elements on a wide variety of fastening devices is provided. The fasteners are conveyed on fastener nests each having a chamber, a fastener lock and a fastener release that are moveable relative to each other. The fasteners then have material applied to them which is cured while the fasteners are in the nests on the conveyor. The fasteners with the sealing and/or retaining element formed thereon are then removed therefrom. A novel fixture for holding fasteners to be processed and an element sealing device having a fastener with a resilient sealing element adhered to a portion thereof with a depression formed therein in close proximity to a portion of the fastener is also provided.
Claims45
An apparatus for forming sealing elements on fastening devices comprising:
- a conveyor;
- at least one fastening device nest located along said conveyor, said at least one fastening device nest having a chamber, a lock and a release that are moveable relative to each other;
- an applicator located along said conveyor that selectively applies material to said at least one fastening device nest having a fastening device thereon;
- and
- a remover for removing the fastening the fastening device from said at least one fastening device nest.
An apparatus for applying material to selected portions of a fastener comprising:
- a conveyor;
- a fixture for holding a fastener and being located along said conveyor;
- an applicator for applying material to the fastener and being located along said conveyor;
- a heater located along said conveyor for heating the fastener to temperature sufficient to cure the material applied to the fastener;
- and
- a fastener remover.
A fixture for holding a fastening device along a conveyor for processing, comprising:
- a chamber for receiving the fastening device;
- a lock;
- and a release wherein, said chamber, said lock and said release are moveable relative to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.