Patent ID: 6318623
Filing Date: 2001-11-20
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
A strip connecting apparatus wherein a leading strip and the trailing strip have centers thereof in a width direction aligned with each other, and the leading strip has a tail edge welded to a front edge of the trailing strip, comprising:a position detector for the leading strip and a position detector for the trailing strip, each of the position detectors being provided along each of the strips to detect a deviation of a center line of each of the strips in the width direction with respect to a center line of a processing line; andat least two alignment devices for the leading strip and at least two alignment devices for the trailing strip, the alignment devices for the leading strip and the alignment devices for the trailing strip being provided so as to be separated from each other by a certain distance along each of the strips in a transferring direction of the strips, and each of the alignment devices clamping each of the strips and adjusting a position of each of the strips in the width direction in response to each of the detected deviations to align the center line of each of the strips with the center line of the processing line,wherein each of the position detector for the leading strip and the position detector for the trailing strip comprises two position detectors, which are provided so as to be separated from each other by a certain distance in the transferring direction,wherein each of the positions detectors has a contacting piece provided thereon so as to be capable of contacting with a lateral edge of a strip for detection of the deviation, and the contacting piece has a buffer to absorb impact in the width direction, which is caused when the contacting piece contacts with the lateral edge.