Patent ID: 7727452

Claim:
A process for continuous consolidation of at least one fold, said process comprising: unwinding a unit that consists of said at least one fold that is placed between two strips continuously along at least one curved path, said at least one fold being placed between guiding means and one of said two strips that is adjacent to the curved path to heat said at least one fold, at least at the curved path and to exert tension on said one strip so that the one strip compresses said at least one fold at least at said curved path; and using said two strips each having a width greater than that of said at least one fold, said width of said two strips is so that said two strips are in contact with each other on both sides of said at least one fold, said two strips being metallic, said guiding means comprising a drum, one of said two strips being in contact with said drum, said one of said two strips being in contact with said drum having a thickness smaller than a thickness of another one of said two strips, in order to obtain heat conduction between the two strips, to obtain homogenous temperatures on each face of said at least one fold and to get an optimized heat transfer from said drum to said one of said two strips and from said one of said two strips to said another one of said two strips.