U.S. patent application number 15/827140 was filed with the patent office on 2018-12-06 for floor underlayment slicing machine.
The applicant listed for this patent is MP Global Products, L.L.C.. Invention is credited to Reid Borgman, Alan B. Collison.
Application Number | 20180347105 15/827140 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 64456376 |
Filed Date | 2018-12-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180347105 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Collison; Alan B. ; et
al. |
December 6, 2018 |
FLOOR UNDERLAYMENT SLICING MACHINE
Abstract
A method and equipment for manufacturing floor underlayment is
provided. The equipment is configured to produce floor underlayment
having a consistent density and thickness. The equipment has a
series of rollers configured to pull a formed batt into a moving
transverse blade and to cut the underlayment into two portions
having random fiber distribution and even thicknesses and
densities.
Inventors: |
Collison; Alan B.; (Pierce,
NE) ; Borgman; Reid; (Norfolk, NE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
MP Global Products, L.L.C. |
Norfolk |
NE |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
64456376 |
Appl. No.: |
15/827140 |
Filed: |
November 30, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62512378 |
May 30, 2017 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D06H 7/04 20130101; B23D
53/00 20130101; B23D 55/046 20130101; D06H 7/005 20130101; B26D
3/28 20130101; E04F 15/182 20130101; D06H 7/02 20130101 |
International
Class: |
D06H 7/02 20060101
D06H007/02; D06H 7/00 20060101 D06H007/00; D06H 7/04 20060101
D06H007/04 |
Claims
1. A machine for slicing a batt of material into two pieces
comprising: a moving saw blade; a table which slidably accepts the
batt of material; a pair of pulling rollers disposed on top and
bottom surfaces of the material batt, wherein the pulling rollers
pull the material batt off of the table and push it against the
moving saw blade in a first direction; and a biasing member that
biases the moving saw blade toward the material batt in a second
direction that is opposite of the first direction, wherein the
moving saw blade cuts the material batt into two separate pads
having a thickness about half the thickness of the batt.
2. The machine according to claim 1 further comprising a series of
guides to ensure the pads do not engage one of the pulling rollers
and the moving saw blade, after the material batt is sliced.
3. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the pulling rollers are
driven by at least one roller, rotating in a direction opposite to
the direction of the pulling rollers.
4. The machine according to claim 1 further comprising a blade jaw
defining a channel, wherein the moving saw blade is a band saw
blade supported in the channel.
5. The machine according to claim 4 wherein the biasing member is a
spring-loaded carbide pusher disposed within the channel and
supporting the band saw blade.
6. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the pads are treated
after being formed by splitting the material batt.
7. The machine according to claim 1, the table has a tapered nose
portion disposed between the pulling rollers.
8. A machine for slicing a batt of material into two pieces
comprising: a moving band saw blade; a table having a top surface
which slidably accepts the batt of material; a pair of pulling
rollers disposed on top and bottom surfaces of the material batt,
wherein the pulling rollers pull the material batt off of the table
and push it against the moving band saw blade in a first direction;
and a biasing member that biases the moving band saw blade toward
the material batt in a second direction that is opposite of the
first direction, wherein the moving band saw blade cuts the
material batt into two separate pads.
9. The machine according to claim 8 further comprising a series of
guides disposed adjacent the pulling rollers to ensure the material
batt and pads do not engage the pulling rollers or the moving band
saw blade after the material batt is sliced.
10. The machine according to claim 8 wherein the pulling rollers
are rubber and are driven by at least one roller, rotating in a
direction opposite to the direction of the pulling rollers.
11. The machine according to claim 8 further comprising a blade jaw
guide defining a channel, wherein the moving band saw blade is
supported in the channel.
12. The machine according to claim 11, wherein the jaw guide has a
tapered nose portion disposed between the pulling rollers.
13. The machine according to claim 11 wherein the biasing member is
a spring-loaded carbide pusher disposed within the channel and
supporting the moving band saw blade.
14. The machine according to claim 11 wherein the pads are treated
after being formed by splitting the material batt.
15. The machine according to claim 11 wherein the table has tapered
surfaces and the jaw guide has a tapered nose portion disposed
between the pulling rollers and located opposite of the tapered
surfaces of the table.
16. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the biasing member is
a spring-loaded carbide pusher.
17. The machine according to claim 1 further comprising a blade jaw
guide defining a channel, wherein the moving saw blade is supported
within the channel.
18. The machine according to claim 17 wherein the biasing member is
disposed within the channel and supports the moving saw blade.
19. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the material batt is a
batt of underlayment material, and the pads are underlayment
pads.
20. The machine according to claim 8 wherein the biasing member is
a spring-loaded carbide pusher.
21. The machine according to claim 8 wherein the material batt is a
batt of underlayment material, and the pads are underlayment
pads.
22. The machine according to claim 11 wherein the biasing member is
disposed within the channel and supports the moving band saw blade.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/512,378, filed on May 30, 2017. The entire
disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by
reference.
FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to a method and equipment for
manufacturing floor underlayment, and more particularly to
equipment for producing floor underlayment having a consistent
density and thickness.
BACKGROUND
[0003] This section provides background information related to the
present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
[0004] Textile pads are widely used in flooring applications. A pad
is desirable when wood flooring is applied over a sub flooring.
These pads used in flooring applications serve multiple purposes.
They may absorb impact, such as from persons walking on the
flooring. They may provide sound deadening, and may provide
insulating properties against heat transfer. Pads also may
accommodate roughness, unevenness, or other flaws in the sub
flooring, and may provide a barrier against moisture and dirt.
Finally, pads may lessen impact stresses on the flooring to
lengthen the life of the flooring and make the flooring appear to
be more durable and of a higher quality.
[0005] In the related art, textile pads are not used under ceramic
flooring. This is because a pad would have to be relatively thin so
as to not cause any unevenness in transition areas (i.e., areas of
flooring type transition, such as in doorways, etc.). Furthermore,
ceramic tiles traditionally must be placed on a solid floor
substructure to prevent cracking of the tile or the adhesive or
tile grout.
[0006] What is needed, therefore, are improvements in methods and
apparatus for forming textile pads for a laminate floor
underlayment as well as a textile pad which can be used under a
ceramic tile floor.
SUMMARY
[0007] This section provides a general summary of the disclosure,
and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of
its features.
[0008] A method and equipment for manufacturing floor underlayment
is provided. The equipment is configured to produce floor
underlayment having a consistent density and thickness. The
equipment has a series of rollers configured to pull a formed batt
into a moving transverse blade and to cut the underlayment into two
portions having random fiber distribution and even thicknesses and
densities.
[0009] According to one teaching, a machine for slicing a non-woven
batt of material into two pieces is provided. The machine has a
first table portion which slidably accepts a batt of non-woven
underlayment material. A pair of pulling rollers are disposed on
top and bottom surfaces of the batt material. The pulling rollers
pull the batt material off of the table and push it against a
moving saw blade which cuts the batt underlayment material into two
separate non-woven underlayment pads having a thickness about half
the thickness of the first underlayment pad. A series of guides are
provided to ensure the underlayment pads do not engage the moving
rollers or the moving blade after the non-woven material is
sliced.
[0010] According to another teaching, the pulling rollers are
driven by at least one roller, rotating in a direction opposite to
the direction of the pulling rollers.
[0011] According to another teaching, the band saw blade is
supported in a channel defined in a blade jaw.
[0012] According to another teaching, the band saw blade is
supported by a carbide element.
[0013] According to another teaching, the pads are treated after
being formed by splitting the non-woven batt.
[0014] According to another teaching, the first table portion has a
tapered nose portion disposed between the first and second pulling
rollers.
[0015] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the
description provided herein. The description and specific examples
in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and
are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
DRAWINGS
[0016] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes
only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations,
and are not intended to limit the scope of the present
disclosure.
[0017] FIG. 1 represents a slicing machine used to form the
flooring underlayment according to the present teachings.
[0018] Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding
parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows a side or cross-sectional view of an apparatus
7 for forming an insulative floor batt 8'',8', according to the
teachings of the present invention. The insulative floor batt 8' is
manufactured from any of a wide variety of textile compositions
comprising, for example, polyester, nylon, acrylic, cotton,
polypropylene, denim etc., or combinations thereof, including both
natural and man-made fibers. Randomly distributed textile and
binder fibers having lengths between 1/16 inch to 1.5 inches and a
denier of between 5 and 12 are used to form a textile batt 8',
which is processed to form the insulative floor pad.
[0021] The two textile pads 8' and 8 can be treated before or after
slicing. For example, anti molding agents can be sprayed onto the
material. Additionally, the sliced underlayment can be bonded to
vapor barrier layers after they are formed to form the two textile
underlayment pads. The resulting pads may be used as a laminate
flooring underlayment or as a pad for other types of flooring or
for other purposes. The textile batt 8 is first heated in an oven
and compressed to form an insulative floor pad 8. The insulative
floor pad 8 can be split into two partial pads 8' and 8'', and each
pad post treated.
[0022] Each partial thickness pad 8' and 8'' may be of equal
thickness (i.e., the textile insulative floor pad is split in
half), or may be of unequal thickness'. The present invention is
capable of forming a partial thickness batt of about 1/16 of an
inch or greater. The starting insulative floor pad 8 may be split
longitudinally to provide two, three or more partial thickness
batts.
[0023] The thermoplastic binder fibers and reinforcement fibers are
laid randomly yet consistently in x-y-z axes. The reinforcement
fibers are generally bound together by heating the binder fibers
above their glass transition temperature. Typically, less than
about 20% by weight binder fiber is used, and preferably about 15%
binder fiber is used to form the insulative floor pad 8.
[0024] Thermoplastic binder fibers are provided having a weight of
less than 0.2 pounds per square foot and, more particularly,
preferably about 0.1875 pounds per square foot. The remaining
reinforcement fiber is greater than 0.8 pounds per square foot, and
preferably 1.0625 pounds per square foot. The binder fibers are
preferably a mixture of thermoplastic polymers which consist of
polyethylene/polyester or polypropylene/polyester or combinations
thereof.
[0025] The insulative underlayment nonwoven porous material, after
slicing can have a compression resistance at a compression of 25%
of the original thickness of greater than about 20 psi. This same
material can have a has a compression resistance at 50% of the
original thickness of greater than about 180 psi.
[0026] The slicing machine can further be used to slice
underlayment material having a low density. In this regard, the
material after slicing can have a compression resistance at a
compression of 25% of the original thickness of between 0.5 and 1.3
psi and a 25% CPF of 0.3 to 5.5 psi. The material after slicing can
have a compression resistance at a compression of 50% of the
original thickness of between 0.7 and 1.8 psi and a 50% CPF of 0.6
to 1.11 psi.
[0027] As further shown in FIG. 1, the mechanism 7 used to produce
the floor underlayment consists of a roller or pair of rollers 9
which are used to compress the underlayment under heat and
pressure. The underlayment has a consistent thickness and density
is then fed into a slicer. To drive the underlayment into the
moving band saw blade 10, the slicer has a set of driver rollers
which both pull the underlayment 8 into the slicer, but also force
the underlayment 8 into the moving band saw blade 10. The driver
rollers include, a counter roller 11, a top grip roller 12, a
bottom grip roller 13, and a rubber roller 14. The pulling rollers
are driven by at least one roller, rotating in a direction opposite
to the direction of the pulling rollers. To ensure the underlayment
8 and subsequent underlayment sections 8' and 8'' are located in
the correct orientation with respect to the blade 10 and the drive
rollers, the slider has a plurality of guides or scrapers which
direct the underlayment 8, 8', 8'' through the appropriate slots
defined between the rollers the blade and supports. These guides
include the Front Scraper 15 and back scraper 16 for Top Grip
Roller 12.
[0028] The top and bottom gripping rollers 12 and 13 can have an
outer diameter between 45 and 55 mm. The spacing between the
rollers 12 and 13 can be between 340 and 50 mm with a maximum
allowable opening being 50 mm. The speed of the band saw blade as
115 RPM.
[0029] The table guide 17 has a pointed section which is opposite
the saw blade and is partially disposed between the top and bottom
grip rollers 12 1nd 13. It has a nose portion that is sloped away
from the top surface to direct the flow of the underlayment 8 into
the moving band saw blade 10. The moving band saw band 10 is moved
in a direction perpendicular to an edge surface of the underlayment
8. The moving band saw blade 10 moved in a channel formed in a jaw
plate insert or inserts 18, 20. The jaw plate insert supports a
spring loaded carbide pusher 19 which applies pressure onto the
moving saw blade 10. Further, the jaw plate insert or guide has a
tapered nose portion disposed between the first and second pulling
rollers located opposite the tapered surfaces of the table.
[0030] The jaw plate insert has opposed top and bottom surfaces 21,
22 which meet at the channel 23 defined within the jaw plate. The
top and bottom surfaces are tapered at an angle between 10 and 35
degrees to facilitate the movement of the flooring underlayment 8'
and 8'' away from the moving saw blade 10. Opposed to the bottom
surface 22 is a bottom roller scraper 23 which guides the
underlayment 8'' so that it does not get engaged with the bottom
gripper roller. The upper underlayment 8' is transferred onto a
horizontal surface which prevents engagement with the rollers.
[0031] Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure
will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are
skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as
examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a
thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It
will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details
need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in
many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit
the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments,
well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known
technologies are not described in detail.
[0032] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing
particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be
limiting. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the"
may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprises,"
"comprising," "including," and "having," are inclusive and
therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,
operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the
presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,
steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The
method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to
be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the
particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically
identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood
that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
[0033] When an element or layer is referred to as being "on,"
"engaged to," "connected to," or "coupled to" another element or
layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the
other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be
present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being
"directly on," "directly engaged to," "directly connected to," or
"directly coupled to" another element or layer, there may be no
intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to
describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in
a like fashion (e.g., "between" versus "directly between,"
"adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.). As used herein, the
term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of
the associated listed items.
[0034] Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used
herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers
and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or
sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be
only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or
section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as
"first," "second," and other numerical terms when used herein do
not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the
context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section
discussed below could be termed a second element, component,
region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of
the example embodiments.
[0035] Spatially relative terms, such as "inner," "outer,"
"beneath," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," and the like, may be
used herein for ease of description to describe one element or
feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as
illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be
intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use
or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the
figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over,
elements described as "below" or "beneath" other elements or
features would then be oriented "above" the other elements or
features. Thus, the example term "below" can encompass both an
orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise
oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the
spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted
accordingly.
[0036] The foregoing description of the embodiments has been
provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual
elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not
limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are
interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if
not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in
many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure
from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be
included within the scope of the disclosure.
* * * * *