Patent ID: 7780432

Claim:
Apparatus for connecting a plastic workpiece ( 10 ) to a further workpiece ( 12 ) comprising: a drilling element ( 3 ), an annular piston ( 5 ) which surrounds the drilling element ( 3 ) and which has a piston surface ( 6 ), and a heating ring ( 7 ) which surrounds the piston and which has an annular locating surface ( 8 ), the heating ring ( 7 ) being heatable, the piston ( 5 ) being displaceable in the axial direction of the drilling element ( 3 ) between a retracted position in which the piston surface ( 6 ) is set back behind the locating surface ( 8 ) and an advanced position in which the piston surface ( 6 ) runs in the plane of the locating surface ( 8 ), and the drilling element ( 3 ) being displaceable in its axial direction between a first position, in which the tip ( 9 ) of the drilling element ( 3 ) is arranged in the plane of the piston surface ( 6 ) when the piston ( 5 ) is in the retracted position, and a second position, in which the tip ( 9 ) of the drilling element projects beyond the plane of the locating surface ( 8 ).