Abstract: A flexible thermoplastic sheath for a string of Christmas tree electric lights which is generally tubular and formed with a set cross sectional shape corresponding to the spiral of Archimedes so that when the ends of the section of the spiral are forced apart and then released the memory of the set sheath will come into play and the cross section will once again resume the shape of the spiral.

Abstract: An apparatus and process are provided for continuously consolidating and shaping a plurality of continuous prepreg structures into a unitary formed product structure. Each prepreg structure comprises a solidified thermoplastic resin matrix containing long reinforcing fibers. In operation, the respective prepregs of the plurality are continuously placed into interfacial contact with one another along their lengths, and passed through a heated die zone wherein consolidation and shaping are achieved to produce a desired unitary formed structure. The unitary formed product is then cooled.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of making a plurality of flexible hoses each having a preformed bend section between opposed ends of the hose that tends to return to the shape of its preformed bend section when unbent therefrom are provided, the method comprising the steps of winding a continuous length of a hose material around a pair of spaced apart substantially cylindrical posts so that a plurality of sections of the hose material extends between the posts, heat curing the hose material while the same is in the wound condition thereof on the posts, and, thereafter, cutting the plurality of hoses from the thus cured hose material so that each hose has the preformed bend section therein that was defined by its wound relation with the post, the step of winding the hose material around the posts comprising the step of orbiting the posts about an axis that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes of the posts.

Abstract: A process for forming discrete, shaped interlayer blanks comprising extruding thermoplastic melt into an endless, distortable straight-sided sheet having a gradient color band along one side, the melt forming the region of the sheet laterally of the color band extruding at a greater thickness than that forming the portion containing the color band, stretching the side of the sheet containing the region formed from the greater thickness melt more than the other side while extrusion continues to shape the sheet into an arcuate form of substantially uniform thickness having different radii along each edge, the edge of greater radius being on the side formed from the greater thickness melt, quenching the sheet to set the polymer, advancing the shaped sheet to a cutting station and cutting shaped quadrilateral sections out of the sheet having the gradient color band along one longitudinal side to form the blanks.

Abstract: The specification discloses a polybutene-1 polymer product and method and apparatus for making same in which the polymer is introduced into a form which defines the shape of the desired part and is then subjected to shear at a temperature from just above to just below the melting point of the polybutene-1 polymer, achieved by positioning the polymer blend between a shell and a mandrel and rotating the two relative to one another. When the viscosity of the polymer reaches a maximum, the part solidified and removed for subsequent use.

Abstract: The method produces a flat spiral link assembly from at least four synthetic resin monofilament helices wound winding to winding which are simultaneously supplied for meshing engagement. Before being meshed the helices are stretched to at least three times their length and are thermoset in stretched condition. The alternatingly right-hand and left-hand helices are caused to mesh in zipper fashion and are interlocked by pintle wires. In order to facilitate the insertion of the pintle wires the helices are extended by about five percent. The apparatus for performing the method comprises two feed rolls forming a first roll nip through which helices are passed to a heating chamber. Draw-off rolls withdraw the helices from the heating chamber at least at three times the peripheral speed of the feed rolls. The apparatus also comprises a shunt for joining the helices and a device for inserting the pintle wires.

Abstract: A method for producing a string-shaped bacteria bed having many loops of fiber on the whole surface thereof, which is used for sewage or wastewater treatment, characterized by preparing a narrow strip of cloth made from a thermoplastic material, having many loops of fiber on the obverse thereof, and heating the reverse thereof having no loops of fiber by contacting it with a heating rod while tensing and drawing it diagonally, thereby the strip of cloth is diagonally curled and stranded by heat to form a string having many loops of fiber on the whole surface thereof. In such a method, the string, having high holding capacity of bacteria colony, is obtained by simplified installation.

Abstract: A helical band is produced by applying a layer of heat-settable material on to a rotating support to one side of the axis of rotation. Heat is applied to the layer, as by the support while it rotates, for a length of time sufficient for the material in the layer to set to a required extent to form the band. The band is removed before it comes into contact with the material being applied on the support. The band is preferably made of electrically-insulating material so that it can be wound helically round and bonded to a cylindrical rod of electrically-insulating material to form a helically flanged insulator for use in an overhead electric power transmission line, the flange-forming band defining along the rod a helical leakage path of substantially uniform width.

Abstract: In a method and an arrangement for winding and forming helixes of elastic synthetic plastic and metal wire the wire is supplied from a wire supply device, windings are then wound from the wire so as to form straight winding legs connected by head curves, the windings are then separated to provide distances therebetween, the separated windings are widened in correspondence with the distances between them produced during the separation and the finished helixes are supplied to a helix supply device.

Abstract: An intraocular lens loop, with an eyelet formed on the loop, and a method of forming the eyelet employing ultrasound energy. There is also disclosed a special fixture for use in manufacturing the eyelet loop.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for forming a corrugated tube having a smooth inner wall surface and a corrugated outer wall are provided. A first strip of resin material is wrapped around first portions of rollers arranged in a circular array and is helically wrapped around the first portions of the rollers each having equally spaced ridges therearound to form the corrugated outer wall. A second strip of resin material is fed from the interior of second portions of rollers arranged in a circular array onto the inner surface of the outer wall being manufactured and bonded thereto. The second strip bonded to the outer wall is wrapped around the second portions of the rollers each having a smooth surface to form the smooth inner wall.

Abstract: A heatable winding drum construction for use in the manufacture of thermoplastic tubes and receptacles comprises an internal supporting structure for an elongated cylindrical wall with an insulating layer between the supporting structure and the wall.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a nonhydrated bentonite intimately contacted with a polypropene, polybutene, or mixtures thereof to provide a formable and shapable non-aqueous bentonite composition particularly useful as a water barrier. The bentonite composition can be extruded in the form of a rope, rod, sheet or the like and is sufficiently tacky for adherence to a wall or conduit, floor or roof in areas of potential water flow to prevent the seepage of water through the bentonite composition. In one embodiment, the bentonite composition includes a polypropene and a polybutene and an elastomer, such as butyl rubber, having sufficient resilience to stretch or expand with the expanding bentonite upon hydration and to aid in maintaining the structural integrity and cohesiveness of the composition. In another embodiment, the composition comprises bentonite, an elastomer, and any plasticizer compatible with the elastomer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a non-hydrated bentonite intimately contacted with a polypropene, polybutene, or mixtures thereof to provide a formable and shapable non-aqueous bentonite composition particularly useful as a water barrier. The bentonite composition can be extruded in the form of a rope, rod, sheet or the like and is sufficiently tacky for adherence to a wall or conduit, floor or roof in areas of potential water flow to prevent the seepage of water through the bentonite composition. In one embodiment, the bentonite composition includes a polypropene and a polybutene and an elastomer, such as butyl rubber, having sufficient resilience to stretch or expand with the expanding bentonite upon hydration and to aid in maintaining the structural integrity and cohesiveness of the composition. In another embodiment, the composition comprises bentonite, an elastomer, and any plasticizer compatible with the elastomer.

Abstract: A process for preparing an ice confection or other foodstuff with projecting and relatively recessed relief features of its outer surface, by extruding the ice confection or other extrudable edible material from a rotating extrusion nozzle having a cross-section with an assymetrical configuration with respect to the rotation axis, with the extruded material passing from the nozzle immediately into an unconfined space and on to an elongate travelling conveyor which does not share the rotational motion of the extrusion nozzle, thereby to lay down on the conveyor an extended spirally-formed extrudate with projecting and relatively recessed relief features derived from its extrusion through the nozzle of assymetrical configuration.

Abstract: A stamping apparatus disclosed deforms a filamentary material to provide coupling heads and the like at predetermined intervals along the length of the filament which is to be coiled and attached to stringer tapes for a slide fastener. The apparatus includes a pair of stamping rolls which are rotatable in opposite directions on their own axes simultaneously as they orbit about the axis of a rotor. A ring member rotatably connected to the stamping rolls is driven via the same power source as the rotor but rotates at a slower or faster angular speed than the rotor, the resulting angular speed differential being utilized to effect the rotation of the stamping rolls on their axes.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the manufacture of high-pressure hose composed of a plastic core and a plurality of layers of helically wound plastic-resisting members formed in particular of wires of high tensile strength which are rewound in a rewinding device from a supply reel onto several working spools, and optionally of an outer cover made of a plastic material. An intermediate layer of plastic yarn is disposed between every two helically wound pressure-resisting layers. After being unwound, the wires necessary for the helically wound pressure-resisting layers are precoiled over a hardened edge in the rewinding device and then wound onto the working spool in the stretched state. In accordance with the preferred embodiment, precoiling is done, not in a stranding machine, during hose production, but one stage earlier, in the rewinding device, where the individual wires are rewound from a supply reel onto so-called working spools.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the production of a helical spring from fiber-reinforced plastic, where a strand of fibers and plastic resin is wound onto a rotationally symmetric rotor provided with a spiral groove then hardened and finally removed from the rotor. In order to be able to produce helical springs with desired and in particular circular cross sections of the strand with small tolerances of the shape, a stator with an inner spiral groove is surroundingly disposed around the rotor, which spiral groove together with the spiral grooves of the rotor form the cross-sectional profile of the strand, where the rotor and the stator relative to the rotation of the rotor are shifted axially with respect to each other in an amount corresponding to the slope of the spiral grooves.

Abstract: A method of and means of winding close wound helical coils of a thermoplastic monofilament material is proposed wherein, in order to avoid secondary twist in the resultant coil, the coil, after having been wound and heat set under controlled conditions on a first part of a mandrel, is twisted in a direction tending to close the individual turns of the coil during the cooling thereof while passing along and/or from the end of a second part of the mandrel to a twist arresting means arranged in spaced apart disposition relative to such end.

Abstract: A casing of stretched plastic material, whether or not filled with a fluid such as gas or air, is wound with some tension about a smooth heated mandrel. During its curved path of travel said casing is on the one hand subjected to a contact or a radiation heat and on the other hand to a convection heat, said contact radiation heat prevailing during a period of time which is greater than that of the convection heat, thus causing the inner curved portion of the said casing to set during the time that the outer portions of the casing windings have already cooled down, so that smooth curved surfaces are obtained.

Abstract: A stretched plastic casing is tensioned by means of a fluid medium after having been introduced into two clamping rollers, and conveyed to a bending member in front of or at the location of which it is subjected to a thermal treatment such, that it is bent out of its original path, while being thermally deformed, and is subsequently conveyed in the same direction of curvature, in a bent form, so as to be cooled down.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process in which, as essential components, liquid epoxy resins, carboxylic anhydrides, zinc fluoroborate complex compounds, water, tetrahydropyrane and compounds (X) which contain OH groups, COOH groups or both groups together, are reacted. Selective choice of the special quantity ratios results in reaction mixtures which, at low temperature (e.g. at 100.degree. C.), require only short moulding times and have a sufficiently long pot life. As the reaction is only slightly exothermic, the process can be used very advantageously for encapsulating electronic components.

Abstract: Helical plastic members are formed by rotating an extrusion die while extruding a filament in a generally horizontal direction just above a tank of liquid. The plastic helix so formed is cooled and solidified in the liquid. A mandrel in the liquid can be used to guide the helix downwardly, and the helix is removed from the tank with extraction rollers. As a variation, the tank can rotate relative to a fixed extrusion nozzle which extrudes the plastic horizontally just above the rotating liquid in the tank.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for making a self-coiling sheet. The apparatus includes a work station at which a relatively short section of a sheet of flexible material, e.g., crystalline polyethylene terephthalate, is folded upon the remainder of the sheet. The sheet is then advanced onto the carrier plate which, in turn, is mounted for movement toward and away from a gap defined by a pair of superposed pressure-applying rollers. The carrier plate is adapted to deposit the sheet between the rollers such that the folded section of the sheet is located in engagement with one of the rollers and the underlying portion of the sheet is in engagement with the other roller. The rollers are rotated in the same direction so as to drive the folded section of the sheet toward the carrier plate while simultaneously driving the remainder of the sheet in the opposite direction. This action results in the sheet being ejected from the gap of the rollers as a multi-layered generally cylindrical coil having a permanent set.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing helical members from a synthetic plastic material comprises the step of leading the extruded material while still deformable along the helical path and permitting it to harden while retained in that path. The invention also comprises a machine for carrying out this process and the article produced thereby.

Abstract: A method for curling plastic filaments to produce simulated hair for doll wigs in which the curled plastic filaments are given a permanent set by a heat treatment, in a chamber with a combination of steam and electrical heat. By the use of this combination of heat, melting of the filaments on the mandrel during interruption of the method is avoided.

Abstract: Continuous method of manufacturing coil type slide fasteners by forming synthetic monofilaments into a pair of uncured fastener element coils. The fastener coils are then intermeshed in coupled relation and sewn onto the adjacent edges of a pair of uncured knit tapes. The coil, sewing thread and knit tapes are each composed of the same thermosetting resin. The fastener chain is advanced at uniform tension and velocity through a pressing stage and viscous dye bath containing a dispersion type thermosoling dye. The advancing chain is then vacuumed to provide uniform deposition of the dye on the tape and coil. The chain is then dried and led through a heating zone maintained at a temperature which simultaneously fixes the dyestuffs and cures or thermosets the coil and knit tapes. Thereafter, the moving chain is washed and calendered while being maintained under tension. The continuous zipper chain is then cut to length and supplied with a slider and end stops.

Abstract: A machine for the crimping of yarns, in particular for producing false, wavy hairs for wigs, wherein the yarn, coming from a delivery package, is spirally wound about a cylindrical, supporting element, said yarn being eccentrically led through a mandrel, which is revolvingly driven about said supporting element, coaxially therewith.

Abstract: A strip of heated thermoplastic material is extruded from a die past first and second stations while the strip is drawn down between the die and the first station. Initial cooling of the strip is performed at the first station and further drawing down of the strip is effected between the first and second stations. The strip is thereafter guided through a plurality of spaced convolutions about a journaled cylindrical member driven at a peripheral speed substantially equal to the linear speed of the strip as it enters the second station.

Abstract: A continuous process for making endless toothed belts using a reinforced toothed belt preform of indefinite length by spirally winding the preform around toothed wheels spaced a variable distance while fusing the spiral wraps into a belt tube. One of the wheels forms a closed arc shaped mold chamber sealed toward the outside by a molding belt with one end of the chamber sealingly closed by the entering length with the laterally exiting flexible length or tube advancing axially through the other end and cut to the desired width to form individual belts. The circumferential length is varied by varying the distance between the wheels. The preform can be accurately formed from an unfinished belt by fusing around the fixed radial distance supported reinforcement using wheels in cooperation with a closed chamber prior to forming the tube.

Abstract: A plurality of groups of mandrels are arranged for movement successively through a plurality of workstations with each group being worked on at a station while other groups are being worked on simultaneously at other stations to produce continuously automatically groups of retractile cords. Cordage is fed from a supply into clamping engagement with each of the mandrels in the group in a cord-loading position and then wound helically in a plurality of spaced-apart convolutions on each of the mandrels of that group after which the wound cords are severed from the cordage supplies. The wound cords are advanced incrementally through a heating zone, wherein the cords are exposed to radiant heating supplemented by preheating of the mandrels, while cordage is being wound on the next successive groups of mandrels.

Abstract: Coupling elements of slide fastener stringers are deformed by transverse forces of mating elements. The longitudinal spacing of coupling elements is modified by stretching or shrinking tape portions supporting the elements.

Abstract: A method of making slide fastener coils is disclosed wherein coils of filamentary material are secured to adjacent edges of a pair of carrier tapes. Each coil of filamentary material is formed from a filament having a specially shaped cross section which is arranged in a mirror image relationship with respect to its adjacent filamentary coil. During formation of the filamentary coils, they are simultaneously wound on a mandrel having differently shaped surfaces which aid in the final shaping of each coil.

Abstract: A method of forming a slide fastener having terminal fastener elements reduced in size relative to the remaining fastener elements includes supporting a slide fastener chain to expose the terminal fastener elements, reducing the size of the terminal fastener elements, and fusing a mass of fusible material onto each slide fastener tape to form stop members.

Abstract: A method for producing arcuately curved film casings particularly suitable for a foodstuff such as meat or the like, by an inflation process, wherein a non-stretched resin tube is advanced along and in contact with a circumferential surface of a cylindrical shaping member at the time of inflation of the tube.

Abstract: A plurality of groups of mandrels are arranged for movement successively through a plurality of workstations with each group being worked on at a station while other groups are being worked on simultaneously at other stations to produce continuously automatically groups of retractile cords. Cordage is fed from a supply into clamping engagement with each of the mandrels in the group in a cord-loading position and then wound in a plurality of spaced-apart convolutions on each of the mandrels of that group after which the wound cords are severed from the cordage supplies. The wound cords are advanced incrementally through a heating zone, wherein the cords are exposed to radiant heating supplemented by preheating of the mandrels while cordage is being wound on the next successive groups of mandrels.