Abstract: A desired pattern to be cut from a moving web of material by a focused laser beam is traced by eccentrically mounting the focal lens 3 in a rotatable carrier 4. The lens may also be radially displaceable (FIG. 3), inclined and rotatable (FIG. 4), doubly rotatable (FIG. 5), and/or the carrier 4 may be linearly displaceable (FIG. 6). By suitably and simultaneously controlling the various motion parameters, whose resultants are superimposed on one another, any desired cutting pattern can be traced. The movements are primarily uni-directional rather than oscillatory, which greatly simplifies the implementing hardware, and since all of the laser beam reflecting mirrors involved are fixedly mounted and move only in planes parallel to the web, the laser beam focal length always remains constant.

Abstract: In an energy beam welding method, as an electron beam welding method, wherein an elongated body or wire of filler material is introduced in a welding zone produced by the beam and comprising fused material, the filler material body is used to act on the fused material to prevent it from flowing out of the welding zone, which would cause voids and other defects of the seam produced. The method is particularly useful in welding thick workpieces as sheet metal plates with thicknesses of one to two inches and more.

Abstract: In welding a workpiece of considerable thickness with an energy beam, as an electron beam, focussed into a focal point on a beam axis, the tendency of molten material flowing out of the welding zone is eliminated or at least considerably reduced by continuously, preferably periodically, changing the focussing condition of the electron beam to shift the focus reciprocatingly along the beam axis. Preferably, the frequency of the shift of the focus along the beam axis is between 5 and 30 cycles per second, and the amplitude of the shift of the focus is at least one third of the thickness of the workpiece.

Abstract: A method for forming electrically conductive paths on a substrate wherein at least a selected surface (or surfaces) of the substrate on which the paths are to be formed is made of a composition which comprises a first material, preferably a polymer material having a metal compound, preferably a metal oxide, incorporated as a filler therein.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cutting and heat sealing the ends of lengths of woven thermoplastic material is disclosed with the apparatus including selectively activated means for feeding predetermined lengths of a material from a supply across the supporting surface. Means releasably clamp the material lengths against the supporting surface, with a gap extending transversely of the material lengths to expose portions of the material through the gap. A laser beam is directed against the exposed portions of the material, with the laser beam being moved transversely of that material along the gap and removing the material exposed to the laser beam and heat sealing the portions of the material immediately adjacent that removed.

Abstract: In the course of welding an electron welding beam is regularly deflected by means of linearly growing pulses to an electrons pickup arranged as a Faraday beam trap. As the electron beam travels in the course of deflection, it crosses the slit in the Faraday beam trap, and a signal proportional to the diameter of a heating point emerges across the trap. Depending on variations in said signal respective to a preset value, the focusing of the electron beam is also varied. The automatic device for stabilizing the heating point diameter has an electrons pickup with a resistor across its output, said pickup being connected, via a converter, to a comparison circuit also coupled with a backup signal setter. The output of the comparison circuit is connected to the focusing coil of the electron beam gun for varying the focusing coil of the electron beam. For deflecting the electron beam, there is a generator of saw-toothed pulses, connected to the deflector coil of the above electron gun.

Abstract: The spiral grooving of a thrust-plate of an aerodynamic gas-lubricated bearing is formed by ionic bombardment of a flat face of a machined blank. The face is masked to leave exposed only those areas where material is to be removed. Grooving on a cylindrical surface of a spindle is similarly formed, the cylindrical blank being rotated to present the unmasked areas successively and repeatedly for bombardment.

Abstract: Disclosed is an electron beam drilling process in which the workpiece surface first penetrated by the beam is coated with a stop-off material having the required high temperature resistance for preventing formation of burrs around the perimeter of the hole from hot molten spatter which is ejected from the entrance to the hole during the drilling operation. A preferred stop-off material is a substantially continuous layer of boron nitride on the first penetrated surface of the workpiece.

Abstract: The invention relates to a non-contact laser engraving apparatus and process. A laser beam is directed onto a work piece by a mask arrangement. The mask can be transparent or reflective. Optical means are used to transfer the laser beam and thus the image produced by the mask onto the work piece. In one embodiment parallel support tables hold the mask and the work piece in fixed, spaced apart, parallel arrangement. The support tables and/or the laser beam source are moved relative to each other such that the beam scans the mask and thus the work piece.

Abstract: A tube welding mill is shown through which titanium tube preforms are drawn and closed under a relatively stationary plasma arc welding torch. The tube preforms are drawn through a series of closing capstans, over a knife-edge guide bar and eventually under the plasma arc welding torch. The weld area and some distance down stream of the weld is shielded by inert gas containing box-like trailers including an upper trailer supported on the frame of the mill having resilient side walls which embrace the outer surface of the tube and a lower trailer supported on the mandrel within the tube which is carried by the guide bar. The lower trailer is floated on springs which allow it to move bodily in vertical planes parallel with the tube and otherwise adjust itself to maintain its top edges in sealing engagement with the inside wall of the tube beneath the weld.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a sheet-metal container the body of which is obtained by forming a metal sheet into a tube; two opposite edges of said metal sheet being thus joined and assembled each other, wherein the improvement consists in that said opposite edges are welded together by the action of a laser beam.

Abstract: To prevent damage to electron beam apparatus from inadvertent exposure of parts of the apparatus to the electron beam, there is provided a beam catcher which has a catcher plate that seals off the evacuated work chamber of the apparatus from a space containing gas under substantially higher pressure than normally prevailing in the work chamber. When the electron beam inadvertently impinges on the beam catcher, it is able to puncture the catcher plate, thereby permitting the gas to pass through the puncture and enter the work chamber, causing defocusing of the electron beam which prevents a progression of the puncture and also causing a pressure increase in the work chamber, resulting in further defocusing of the electron and in automatic shutoff of the accelerating potential.

Abstract: A method of material processing, in particular welding, utilizing high frequency interruption of a continuous wave beam of radiation is disclosed. The pulses of laser radiation are generated at a pulse repetition rate more rapid than the thermal response time of the material, typically greater than one kilohertz, wherein the material reacts with the pulses such that the characteristics of the surface reflectivity of the material are dominated by the peak power in the pulse and the characteristics of the melting of the material are controlled by the average power of the pulses. The duration of each pulse is controlled to be less than the time required to generate a beam absorbing plasma adjacent the weld zone. The absence of beam absorbing plasma and the efficient destruction of the reflectivity of the surface of the material results in increased welding efficiency and/or increased welding speed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cutting wharf or bridge pilings underwater which tilizes a neutrally buoyant air tube to conduct a laser beam from a laser source on a barge or other surface vessel to an air filled collar which is clamped to the piling to be cut. The laser beam is guided via the air tube to the piling where laser energy and combustion are utilized to cut the pile, and compressed air or other gases purge the collar of smoke and water during the cutting.

Abstract: Beam machining methods are disclosed for adjusting the inductance of an inductive device having a core that substantially encloses coil means, and establishes a centrally located air gap. The inductance is adjusted by utilizing a high energy beam for machining a terminating end region of an inwardly extending core leg portion, the end face of which in part defines the air gap. By modifying the geometrical dimensions of the leg portion end face, the reluctance across the air gap may be readily changed by an amount that produces the desired value of inductance exhibited by the device when energized. The disclosed methods advantageously obviate the need for a tuning slug associated with the air gap, and eliminate the need for machine grinding the air gap-defining leg portions of the core prior to the assembly of the device.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for adjusting an electrical characteristic of an electrical component of an electrical network which network comprises a stack of secured together foils or layers which include one or more synthetic foils each having a metal layer on one or both surfaces and a cover foil and has connecting wires which are fused through the cover foil and welded to the desired spots on a metal layer characterized by trimming at least one of the metal layers to obtain the desired electrical characteristic by directing a laser beam through at least one foil and focusing the beam on the metal layer being trimmed. To prevent inadvertent and undesired trimming of a metal layer while trimming a given metal layer, one of the synthetic carrier foils may be of a material which is impervious to the laser beam or may be provided with a reflective metal layer.

Abstract: Laser beam scribing apparatus having a nozzle assembly in which a partition defines a travel path for the laser beam and separates the travel path from a surrounding suction chamber. The suction chamber terminates in a suction aperture coplanar with and surrounding the laser beam exit aperture. In operation, application of a vacuum source to the suction chamber causes foreign particles to enter solely into the suction chamber thereby preventing such particles interfering with the focus or intensity of the laser beam.

Abstract: An electron-beam apparatus for thermal treatment by electron bombardment, comprising a power supply, a vacuum chamber accommodating an object being treated, an electron gun including a cathode which is the source of an electron flow and an accelerating electrode which, together with the cathode, forms the electron flow into an electron beam directed to the object being treated, and a supplementary source of accelerating voltage, one leadout of which is connected to the cathode and the other leadout is coupled to the accelerating electrode, the cathode and the accelerating electrode being electrically insulated from each other and from the object being treated, and the power supply has one of its leadouts connected to the cathode and the other leadout connected to the object being treated.The electron-beam apparatus for thermal treatment by electron bombardment is primarily intended for melting metals, evaporating various materials, treating ingots by fritting, treating material to required dimensions, etc.

Abstract: A method of heating a gas, particularly a chemically reactant ionized gas, designed, in particular, for producing lower olefins and industrial hydrogen from hydrocarbon stock, wherein the gas is mixed with an intermediate heat carrier gas plasma jet and heated additionally with a rotary electric arc.

Abstract: The invention provides an apparatus capable of effecting relative movement between the oval-like girth or circumference of a workpiece and tool means while maintaining the planar and radial workpiece surfaces in a fixed plane relative to the tool means as they are exposed thereto. The apparatus is especially useful in laser welding an oval-like girth joint around a workpiece since the workpiece surface is always maintained in a substantially fixed plane relative to the lens which focuses the laser beam, thereby maintaining proper beam focusing and angle of beam incidence on the surface throughout the entire welding process. For laser welding, the apparatus includes a base in a fixed plane relative to the focusing lens, means for effecting relative translational movement between the base and lens, and bearing and shaft means, including chuck means, for holding the workpiece in proper relation to the lens and for rotating the workpiece about longitudinal axes through the radii of the oval-like workpiece girth.