Industrial fabric comprising spirally wound material strips and method of making thereof
AssigneeAlbany International Corp.
InventorsJonas Karlsson, Anders Nilsson, Mikael Danielsson, Marcus Backstrom
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Abstract
An industrial fabric, belt or sleeve and a method of making the fabric, belt or sleeve are disclosed. The industrial fabric, belt or sleeve is produced by spirally winding strips of polymeric material, such as an industrial strapping or ribbon material, around two rolls in a side-to-side manner in which a gap between adjacent edges is formed. A second material, for example a gap filler material, is placed between the adjacent edges, and the adjoining edges are joined by melting the filler material, strips of polymeric material, or both. The gap filler material can have a specific cross-sectional shape corresponding to the gap.
Claims39
An endless industrial belt or sleeve comprising:
- a polymeric material in the form of a ribbon comprising
- a first longitudinal edge surface having a first edge profile, and
- a second longitudinal edge surface having a second edge profile,
- said polymeric material being spirally wound in a plurality of turns such that the first longitudinal edge surface of said polymeric material abuts said second longitudinal edge surface of an adjacent spiral turn of said polymeric material, thereby forming a gap therebetween;
- and
- a filler material inserted in said gap, wherein a cross-sectional shape and dimension of said filler material corresponds to the cross-sectional shape and dimension of said gap,
- wherein said first and second edge profiles include a shape adapted to accept the filler material configured as a profiled rod.
A method for forming a belt or sleeve, the method comprising the steps of:
- spirally winding one or more strips of polymeric material around a plurality of parallel process rolls, wherein said one or more strips of polymeric material is a ribbon material comprising a first longitudinal edge surface including a first edge surface profile and a second longitudinal edge surface including a second edge surface profile, wherein the first longitudinal edge surface profile abuts said second longitudinal edge surface profile of an adjacent spiral turn of said polymeric material, thereby forming a gap therebetween;
- and
- inserting a filler material in said gap, wherein a cross-sectional shape of said filler material corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of said gap,
- wherein said first and second edge surface profiles include a shape adapted to accept the filler material configured as a profiled rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.