Patent ID: 7594523

Claim:
Machine for manufacturing a continuous strip of metal lattice by means of a single wire of flexible metal supplying said machine continuously, said lattice being produced by repeating a same motif of metal wire in a plane, each motif being superposed on the preceding motif with an offset of constant pitch in an axial direction in which the strip of lattice is produced, the machine comprising: a stage at which the metal wire is stored; a stage at which the machine is continuously supplied with metal wire; a shaping stage at which said wire is configured in a succession of identical motifs; a transfer stage for displacing each motif of metal wire successively towards the plane at which the strip of lattice is formed; a stage at which each motif is retained in the plane and offset at a constant pitch before the subsequent motif arrives; a stage at which the motifs are affixed to one another, wherein, the shaping stage comprises a shaping drum, retained in a fixed arrangement during the shaping process, around which the metal wire is wound, the shaping stage is pivotable relative to a shaping axis, and the machine further comprising: means for constraining the wire so that the wire conforms to a shape of said shaping drum, the means being provided at a periphery of the shaping drum, and the movement of said means being synchronised with a winding movement of the wire.