Apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material

Abstract

Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in side-by-side relation to form a unitary sheet of material having a greater width. In accordance with one preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of the unitary sheet near a joint. Following processing, the unitary sheet can be wound on a spindle to form a roll of woven material having greater than standard width.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates in general to apparatus and methods for joining sheets of material and, in particular, to apparatus and methods for joining two or more sheets of woven material to form a sheet of greater width or length.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Wire cloth (also referred to as wire mesh) is a fabric formed by weaving strands of wire. Although other materials may be employed, the wires comprising the wire cloth are typically made of common metals, such as steel, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, nickel, or their alloys. The selection of the wire material depends upon the intended use of the wire cloth, environmental concerns such as corrosion, abrasion and heat resistance or use of the wire material in food production, and suitability of the wire material for secondary processing such as welding, forming, and applying coatings.

[0005] Wire cloth has a broad range of commercial, residential and industrial applications, including clarification, classification, cleaning, containment, conveying, declumping, dewatering, excluding, extraction, filtering, retention, purification, screen printing, security, separating, sieving, sifting, sizing, sorting, washing and window and door screening. To satisfy the size requirements of these varied applications, wire cloth is manufactured in a number of standard roll widths: 24 inches, 36 inches, 39.37 inches (1 meter), 48 inches, 60 inches and 72 inches.

[0006] Although these standard wire cloth roll widths are suitable for most applications, some applications require wire cloth having a width exceeding 72 inches. For example, co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/224,419, discloses that wire cloth may be utilized as an intrusion barrier to exclude rodents and other relatively large pests from the interior of above-ground structures, such as pier-and-beam structures, barracks, warehouses, portable storage buildings and manufactured homes. For the intrusion barrier to be effective, it should be substantially continuous and underlie the entire area of the footprint of the structure. Thus, the intrusion barrier would preferably be formed of a single width of wire cloth that is at least as wide as the narrowest dimension of the structure to be protected, which may be 10 or 20 feet or more.

[0007] Other applications have recognized the need to join the free ends of wire cloth. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 309,658 to Sinclair, U.S. Pat. No. 372,335 to Sellers, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,570 to Svensson all disclose the need to join the free ends of a single width of wire cloth to form a cylinder dryer for a paper making machine. Svensson teaches the use of an endless wire screw and locking wire to secure the looped ends of the wire cloth to form a cylinder, while Sinclair and Sellers teach joining the ends of wire cloth by sewing the ends together utilizing a wire thread. As will be appreciated, apparatus and methods for joining ends of wire cloth such as disclosed by Sellers, Sinclair and Svensson, while suitable for producing a mesh form suitable for particular applications, are not generally employed to production of bulk rolls of wire cloth having greater than standard widths.

[0008] Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method for producing wire cloths rolls having greater than standard widths or lengths.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides an apparatus and method for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in to form a unitary sheet of material having a greater width or length. In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of the unitary sheet near a joint. Following processing, the unitary sheet is wound on a spindle to form a roll of woven material having greater than standard width.

[0010] Additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus for joining wire cloth in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] FIG. 2A illustrates a detailed schematic of a joining mechanism for sewing wire cloth sheets together utilizing wire thread or other suitable material;

[0014] FIG. 2B depicts a detailed schematic of a joining mechanism for joining wire cloth sheets together utilizing staples;

[0015] FIGS. 2C and 2D illustrate detailed schematics of joining mechanisms for joining wire cloth sheets together utilizing fluid and tape adhesives;

[0016] FIG. 2E depicts a detailed schematic of a joining mechanism for joining wire cloth sheets together by welding;

[0017] FIGS. 2F and 2G together illustrate the formation of an interlocking joint between wire cloth sheets; and

[0018] FIG. 3 depicts a roller arrangement that may be utilized to prepare the raw edges of wire cloth sheets for joining.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0019] With reference now to the figures and in particular with reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a high-level perspective view of an apparatus for joining widths of wire cloth in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As depicted, apparatus 10 includes a support rack 12 that supports two or more supply rolls 14 of convolute wire cloth, as shown in detail at reference numeral 16. Each supply roll 14 may have any width, but widths of standard rolls typically range between 24 and 72 inches, as noted above. Support rack 12 preferably supports at least some supply rolls 14 at differing axial alignments so that the raw edges of multiple sheets 18a, 18b of wire cloth will not snag or interfere as they are payed out. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention (not illustrated), support rack 12 can be eliminated, and sheets 18 can be received directly from looms for weaving wire cloth.

[0020] The multiple wire cloth sheets 18 are unwound from supply rolls 14 and drawn into apparatus 10 by a feeding and alignment mechanism. Exemplary feeding and alignment mechanisms include a series of motor-driven rollers 20 or belts (not illustrated), which can be toothed, studded, or otherwise textured to provide enhanced grip on wire cloth sheets 18. The feeding and alignment mechanism aligns the edges of wire cloth sheets 18 so that they closely abut or overlap as wire cloth sheets 18 are fed into joining mechanism 22. The feeding and alignment mechanism maintains wire cloth sheets 18 in proper alignment prior to, during and after joining.

[0021] Joining mechanism 22 can employ any of variety of different joining techniques to join wire cloth sheets 18 side-by-side to form a unitary wire cloth sheet 24 having a width greater than any one of wire cloth sheets 18. Exemplary joining techniques include without limitation:

[0022] (1) sewing wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing wire thread;

[0023] (2) binding the edges of wire cloth sheets 18 utilizing staples or other discrete joining elements;

[0024] (3) adhering the edges of wire cloth sheets 18 utilizing an adhesive;

[0025] (4) continuous or spot welding;

[0026] (5) metalizing; and/or

[0027] (5) lapping and folding.

[0028] Further details regarding embodiments of joining mechanism are described below with reference to FIGS. 2A-2E.

[0029] Because the joining technique employed by joining mechanism 22 may produce one or more joints in the resulting unitary wire cloth sheet 24 having a greater thickness than the bulk of the wire cloth, apparatus 10 preferably includes a planarizing mechanism 26 that flattens the joint(s) to a thickness substantially equal to the nominal thickness of wire cloth sheets 18. As will be appreciated, the desired resultant thickness will vary depending upon the gauge of the wires forming wire cloth sheets 18. For example, 2 Mesh industrial hardware cloth, which is woven from 19 gauge wire and then galvanized, has a nominal thickness of 0.0410 in. or 1.04 mm, while 4 Mesh industrial hardware cloth, which is woven from 23 gauge wire and then galvanized, has a nominal thickness of 0.0258 in. or 0.66 mm. In the illustrated embodiment, planarizing mechanism 26 includes a pair of opposed rollers 26a and 26b through which unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is drawn. Although illustrated as such, rollers 26a and 26b are not required to extend the full width of wire cloth sheet 24, but maybe only as wide as the join area. In an alternative embodiment, planarizing mechanism 26 can be implemented as a stamping or press machine that compresses the join area to reduce its thickness.

[0030] Following planarization, unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is fed into an optional coating mechanism 28 that applies a corrosion-resistant coating to unitary wire cloth sheet 24, when the end application of wire cloth sheet 24 calls for additional corrosion resistance. The corrosion-resistant coating applied to unitary wire cloth sheet 24 can include, without limitation, galvanization (i.e., zinc), zinc chromate, plastic (e.g., vinyl), or an anodized or spray powder coating. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such coatings are applied either by immersing the wire cloth in a bath of liquid (e.g., molten zinc or plastic), by spraying on the coating utilizing a pressurized delivery system, or by an applicator such as a roller. Importantly, for spray and applied coatings, the coating may be limited to only the joint(s) and surrounding portions of unitary wire cloth sheet 24, which would be advantageous if the remainder of the wire cloth already has galvanization or other corrosion-resistant coating applied. Following application of the corrosion-resistant coating, unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is wound around a spindle 34 driven by a motor 32 to form a receiving roll 30 having wider than standard width.

[0031] Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2E, there are depicted views of various exemplary embodiments of joining mechanism 22 in accordance with the present invention. Referring first to FIG. 2A, there is depicted a more detailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for sewing wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing thread made of metal wire or other suitable material. As shown, wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b are advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edges closely aligned or overlapping. A motor 52 drives a reciprocating arm 54 up and down to move a needle 56 threaded with a lacing wire 58 in an appropriate pattern (e.g., zigzag) to stitch wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b together. As will be appreciated, any number of stitch patterns may be employed, depending upon the flexibility and strength requirements of the intended application.

[0032] With reference now to FIG. 2B, there is illustrated a more detailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing staples. As depicted, wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b are advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edges closely aligned or overlapping. A motor 60 drives a reciprocating arm 62 terminated by a stapling head 63 into an opposed shoe 66. As appreciated by those skilled in the art, the contact of stapling head 63 with wire cloth sheets 18 actuates stapling head 63 to drive a staple 64 through both wire cloth sheets 18, thereby joining them to form unitary wire cloth sheet 24.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 2C, there is depicted a more detailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining the abutted or overlapping edges of wire cloth sheets 18 together utilizing a fluid adhesive. In the depicted embodiment, wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b are advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edges overlapping to form an overlapping region 74. An adhesive dispenser 70 dispenses either a continuous bead or discontinuous dots of a fluid adhesive 72 suitable for bonding metal within overlapping region 74. Adhesive 72 can be applied prior to or after overlapping wire cloth sheets 18. If adhesive 72 is applied after overlapping, adhesive 72 flows through the spaces in the upper wire cloth sheet 18b and adheres it to lower wire cloth sheet 18a to form unitary wire cloth sheet 24.

[0034] In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 2D, the adhesive can alternatively be implemented as an adhesive tape 72′, such as an adhesive-backed Kevlar® tape, that is applied by joining mechanism 22 to join wire cloth sheets 18 that are overlapped, or more preferably, butted together. As will be appreciated, one advantage of utilizing an adhesive tape 72′ to join wire cloth sheets 18 is the ability to join wire cloth sheets 18 on a job site to form a unitary sheet 24 sized to meet the needs of a particular application.

[0035] With reference now to FIG. 2E, there is illustrated a more detailed schematic of a joining mechanism 22 for joining wire cloth sheets 18 by continuous or spot welding. In the illustrated embodiment, wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b are advanced into joining mechanism 22 by the feeding and alignment mechanism along the direction of arrow 50 with their raw edges slightly overlapping to form an overlapping region 80. A welding rod or wire 82 can then be utilized to create a continuous weld 84 and/or multiple spot welds 86 between wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b in order to form unitary wire cloth sheet 24. In alternative embodiments, the welding may be performed in a controlled atmosphere in which selected gases are introduced (i.e., plasma welding) or by metalizing (i.e., blowing molten metal into the join area to bond to both wire cloth sheets 18). In addition, the weld may alternatively be formed by laying in a wire across weft wires extending outwardly at the raw edges of wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b and welding the laid in wire to both wire cloth sheets 18.

[0036] Referring now to FIGS. 2F and 2G, the formation of an interlocking joint between wire cloth sheets 18 is depicted in detail. As shown, each of wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b is formed from a plurality of warp wires 100 and a plurality of weft wires 102. To form the interlocking joint, the weft wires 102 adjacent raw edge(s) 104 of at least one (and preferably both) of wire cloth sheets 18 are bent at an angle (e.g., between 10° and 150°) with respect to the plane containing the bulk of wire cloth sheets 18. FIG. 3 illustrates an arrangement of rollers that can be utilized to bend weft wires 102 extending from the raw edges of wire cloth sheets 18 as shown in FIG. 2F.

[0037] In FIG. 3, a wire cloth sheet 18 comprising warp wires 100 and weft wires 102 is advanced in the direction of arrow 110 between a pair of rollers 112 and 118 that form a portion of the feeding and alignment mechanism. As shown, one or both of rollers 112 and 118 may have teeth 114 distributed thereon to assist in aligning wire cloth sheet 18 such that weft wires 102 at a raw edge of wire cloth sheet 18 extend over an angled surface 116 of roller 112 aligned with the surface of roller 118. In this manner, weft wires 102 at raw edges 104 of wire cloth sheets 18 may be bent upwards or downwards relative to the bulk of wire cloth sheets 18, as shown, for example, in FIG. 2F. This preparation of raw edges 104 may be utilized not only to form an interlocking joint between wire cloth sheets 18 (as discussed further below), but also to reduce the entanglement of raw edges 104 during the alignment of wire cloth sheets 18 prior to joining utilizing one of the methods illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2E. However, if one of the joining methods illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2E is employed, it may be preferable to bend weft wires 102 of each of wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b in the same direction (i.e., both upwards or both downwards).

[0038] Referring now to FIG. 2G, after raw edges 104 of wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b are prepared in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2F, the feeding and alignment mechanism preferably brings wire cloth sheets 18a and 18b into alignment such that weft wires 102 of wire cloth sheet 18a pass under at least one warp wire 100 of wire cloth sheet 18b and extend upwardly through spaces in wire cloth sheet 18b. Similarly, weft wires 102 of wire cloth sheet 18b pass over at least one warp wire 100 of wire cloth sheet 18a and extend downwardly through spaces in wire cloth sheet 18a. With the bent weft wires 102 of each wire cloth sheet 18 interlaced in this way with the other wire cloth sheet 18, a unitary wire cloth sheet 24 is formed. To prevent the joint from coming undone, planarizing mechanism 28 (or an additional set of rollers) may be utilized to bend weft wires 102 to near 180°, thus locking the ends of the weft wires 102 of each sheet 18 around at least one warp wire 100 of the other sheet 18 to form an interlocking joint.

[0039] As has been described, the present invention provides an apparatus for joining sheets of woven material such as wire cloth in side-by-side relation to form a unitary sheet of material having a greater width (or length). In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus includes a joining mechanism for joining the multiple sheets to form a unitary sheet, and optionally, either or both of a planarizing mechanism for reducing (or eliminating) differences in the thickness of the joint(s) from the bulk of the unitary sheet and a coating mechanism for coating at least areas of the unitary sheet at and/or near a joint. Following processing, the unitary sheet can be wound to form a roll of woven material having greater than standard width.

Claims

1. An apparatus for joining sheets of woven wire material side-by-side, said apparatus comprising:

a feeding and alignment mechanism that continuously feeds a plurality of sheets of woven wire material and aligns the plurality of sheets of woven wire material in side-by-side relation; and

a joining mechanism that joins the plurality of sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form a unitary sheet of woven wire material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a support rack that supports a plurality of supply rolls of woven wire material from which the plurality of sheets are unwound.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a spindle upon which said unitary sheet is wound.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for stitching the plurality of sheets together.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for stapling the plurality of sheets together.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for adhering the plurality of sheets together.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for welding the plurality of sheets together.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of sheets includes warp wires and weft wires, wherein the joining mechanism comprises means for forming an interlocking joint in which weft wires of at least one of said plurality of sheets are hooked around at least one warp wire of another of said plurality of sheets.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a coating mechanism that coats at least a portion of the unitary sheet with a corrosion-resistant coating.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the coating mechanism comprises a sprayer.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the coating mechanism comprises a bath through which the unitary sheet is drawn.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, and further comprising a planarizing mechanism that planarizes the unitary sheet such that a thickness of the unitary sheet at a joint region is reduced.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the planarizing mechanism comprises a plurality of opposed rollers.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the planarizing mechanism reduces the thickness at the joint region to substantially an original thickness of one of said plurality of sheets.

15. A method of joining sheets of woven wire material side-by-side, said method comprising:

continuously feeding a plurality of sheets of woven wire material and aligning the plurality of sheets of woven wire material in side-by-side relation; and

joining the plurality of sheets of woven wire material side-by-side to form a unitary sheet of woven wire material.

16. The method of claim 15, and further comprising supporting a plurality of supply rolls of woven wire material utilizing a supply rack, wherein the plurality of sheets are fed from the plurality of supply rolls supported by the supply rack.

17. The method of claim 15, and further comprising winding the unitary sheet about a spindle to form a receiving roll.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises stitching the plurality of sheets together.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises stapling the plurality of sheets together.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises adhering the plurality of sheets together.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises welding the plurality of sheets together.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein each of said plurality of sheets includes warp wires and weft wires, wherein joining the plurality of sheets comprises forming an interlocking joint in which weft wires of at least one of said plurality of sheets are hooked around at least one warp wire of another of said plurality of sheets.

23. The method of claim 15, and further comprising coating at least a portion of the unitary sheet with a corrosion-resistant coating.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein coating comprises applying a spray coating.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein coating comprises drawing said unitary sheet through a bath.

26. The method of claim 15, and further comprising planarizing the unitary sheet such that a thickness of the unitary sheet at a joint region is reduced.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein planarizing comprises planarizing utilizing a plurality of opposed rollers.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein planarizing reduces a thickness at the joint region to substantially an original thickness of one of said plurality of sheets.