Patent ID: 6299052
Filing Date: 2001-10-09
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
A method of welding a plurality of workpieces, comprising the steps of:positioning a welding tip and a tip guide adjacent to one another;controllably advancing a gathering block toward the tip guide to stop it in an initial position at a predetermined distance from the tip guide, thereby establishing a preset width of a partly open workpiece nest;loading workpieces to be welded in the nest on the ultrasonic tip, said preset width being selected so that the workpieces are loaded in a vertical alignment with one another to form at least one vertical column adjacent to the tip guide and the gathering block;controllably displacing an anvil downward toward the welding tip to peripherally close the workpiece nest, thereby exerting a predetermined pressure upon the column;ultrasonically agitating the working tip to produce a splice;displacing the gathering block away from the initial position to a rest position;resting said gathering block in the rest position for a predetermined period of time, thereby removing the splice from the workpiece nest; andmoving the gathering block back to the initial position, thereby establishing the preset width of the workpiece nest for receiving workpieces to be welded.