Patent GB-1135318-A (GB)
Title: Method and apparatus for joining strip and sheet material
IPC: B23K9/00
Filed: 1966-05-19
Abstract: 1,135,318. Seaming non-metallic sheet material. GUILD METAL JOINING EQUIPMENT CO. 19 May, 1966 [11 Oct., 1965; 3 March, 1966], No. 22379/66. Heading B5K. [Also in Division B3] An apparatus for joining metal or plastics strips and sheets comprises a pair of strip clamping means 3, 4 which hold the strips and position them for the end shearing and welding process, a slitter knife assembly 45 which cooperates with stationary shear knives 49, 50 and a welding head, the slitter knife assembly 5 and the welding head 6 are mounted on a carriage 10 which is reciprocable transversely of the strips on rails 25 . The first strip (A), Fig. 9 (not shown), is fed through the open clamps 3, 4 and the trailing end is gripped by the clamp 4 which moves the strip end to the shear position. The clamps 3, 4 each comprise a platen (70), Figs. 4-5 (not shown), reciprocably mounted on a pair of horizontal shafts (71), and a vertically reciprocable clamping beam (72) mounted above the platen on posts (73),(74). The beam (72) is preferably releasable from the post (74) so that it may pivot about the post (73) to facilitate removal of the joined strips. The beam is made of non-ferrous material and has inserts (87) of insulating material. When the clamp 4 is indexed to the shear position a hump is formed in the strip (A), Fig. 10 (not shown), to provide sufficient slack for indexing the sheared end to the welding position. The slitter assembly 5 is lowered by a fluid cylinder 52 and the carriage 10 is driven by screw means across the strip to sever off the end. The positioning of the slitter blade 45 relative to the stationary blade 50 is facilitated by a guide 60 entering shear knife extentions. At the end of the shear cycle the carriage 10 is returned to its initial position. A second strip (B), Fig. 12 (not shown), is then fed into the clamp 33 and its leading end is sheared by the slitter assembly 5 as described above. The carriage 10 however does not return to its initial position. The clamps 3, 4 index the sheared ends together to form a butt or lap joint and a back-up bar 90 is raised between the stationary blades 49, 50 to press the strips against the beams (72), Figs. 4 and 5 (not shown), to flatten the strip ends. The welding head assembly is then lowered and the strips welded together by arc welding using a torch. The welding may alternatively be seam wheel welding, spot welding electrodes, spot stitch welding, gas welding, flash butt welding, tungsten inert gas or metal inert gas welding, projection, plasma or electron beam welding, or mechanical welding using rollers. During the welding the carriage 10 is returned to its initial position moving the welding head assembly across the joint. The clamps 3, 4 are opened, returned to their initial position and the strips removed. In an alternate embodiment, Figs. 15 and 16 (not shown), the slitter knife assembly (133) and the welding head assembly (140) mounted at either end of an arm (132) which is pivoted to the carraige 10 at its centre so that the welding assembly is lowered and the slitter knife assembly is raised and vice versa. Mounted on the arm (132) adjacent the welder (140) is a holder (158) for a cutting tool (157) which follows the welder across the strips and removes any flash formed. The tool (157) could be mounted on a separate carriage. The tool could be replaced by other types of cutting tool, e.g. milling cutters. The tool (157) is positioned relative to the work by rollers (160), (161), Fig. 16 (not shown), which run in grooves (162), (163) in the strip holders (164), (165).