Patent ID: 7062841

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a laminated stack in a progressive die assembly having a choke, said method comprising: providing a strip of sheet stock material; stamping a plurality of generally planar laminations from said sheet stock material in said progressive die, each of said laminations including at least one interlock feature, a first region, a second region and a connecting section extending between said first and second regions; separating said laminations from said sheet stock material and stacking said plurality of laminations in the choke wherein said first and second regions are substantially coplanar and have a first relative orientation for each of said laminations positioned in the choke and wherein said connecting sections of adjacent laminations positioned in the choke are substantially aligned; interlocking said plurality of laminations substantially concurrently with said separating and stacking of said laminations by engaging said interlock features of adjacent ones of said laminations positioned in the choke wherein said plurality of laminations form a stack of interlocked laminations within the choke; removing said stack of interlocked laminations from the choke wherein said first and second regions remain in said first relative orientation; and forming, after said removing step, said stack of interlocked laminations into a second shape wherein for each of said laminations said first and second regions are disposed in a second relative orientation.