Air clamp
AssigneeErrol Gendreau
InventorsErrol Gendreau, Santiago Rodriguez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable air clamp for use during lamination of substrates is provided. The clamp includes a top clamp plate, a bottom clamp plate and at least one flexible, expandable tube within a housing of the clamp. The top clamp plate is adjacent to a top housing and the bottom clamp plate is adjacent to a bottom housing. An expandable tube or bladder may be disposed in the top housing or the bottom housing. The clamp may also include alignment devices and mechanisms for ensuring proper alignment of the substrates during the laminating procedure. The clamp is adapted to provide uniform pressure along the surfaces of the substrates to be laminated.
Claims6
A method of using an air clamp for laminating substrates, the method comprising:
- positioning substrates between a top clamp plate and bottom clamp plate of the air clamp;
- aligning substrates within the air clamp, wherein the air clamp comprises a first aligning device on a first side of the top clamp plate, said first aligning device connected to both the top and bottom clamp plates;
- a flexible alignment mechanism connected to the top plate on a second side of the top clamp plate, said second side opposite said first side;
- said flexible alignment mechanism independently adjustable from said first aligning device, wherein the flexible alignment mechanism comprises a substantially vertically oriented spring and at least one engagement member capable of contacting the substrates when in an operative position;
- wherein said spring is configured to move said engagement member between the operative position and a lifted, non-operative position;
- pressurizing at least one flexible, expandable tube disposed in one of the top clamp housing and the bottom clamp housing;
- and
- maintaining the pressure until adhesive for laminating the substrates is cured.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.