Abstract A process and apparatus for manufacturing tubes from coils of fiber glass which have been impregnated in a suitable resin. The fiber glass initially is in the form of roving strands which are guided through a suitable impregnating bath. Suitable combs guide the rovings between pressure rollers which have a configuration imparting to the rovings a flat band shape, giving the rovings a rectangular cross section. Not only are the rovings thus provided with a rectangular cross section and a flat tapelike configuration, but in addition the pressure rollers serve to maintain the rovings at a distance from each other which is substantially less than their width, the distance between the flat rovings being much less than one-half of their width and in some cases as small as one-tenth their width. In this condition the rovings are angularly fed onto a rotary mandrel on which the coils are formed so as to provide the desired tube. Because of the small distance between the flat rovings an exceedingly strong tube with a high burst strength is achieved.
In an apparatus for the manufacture of fiber glass reinforced plastic tubes or similarly shaped bodies with roving strands, an improved installation, comprising in combination, guide roller means operatively mounted in said apparatus, a tank adapted to hold a resin impregnating bath, said guide roller means being adapted to guide roving strands through said impregnating bath for the purpose of impregnating them, support means pivotably mounted for a reciprocal angular movement in a predetermined plane in said apparatus, pressure roller means rotatably mounted in said support means, said roving strands being adapted to be guided between said pressure roller means, thereby being shaped by said pressure roller means into an essentially flat band shape, and a cylinder drum rotatably mounted in said apparatus in a plane substantially parallel to said predetermined plane in which said reciprocal angular movement of said support means occurs, said cylinder drum being adapted to spool said flat band shaped roving strands onto its cylindrical periphery, said pressure roller means including at least one pair of coacting pressure rollers respectively formed with circumferential grooves and ribs therebetween of rectangular cross section with the ribs of one of said pressure rollers meshing with the grooves of the other of the pressure rollers, and said pressure rollers having roving flattening coacting ribs and grooves of relatively great width and separating coacting ribs and grooves of much smaller width situated between the ribs and grooves of great width, so that the roving strands flattened between said pressure rollers are spaced from each other by a distance substantially less than their width.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
118 words
In an apparatus for the manufacture of fiber glass reinforced plastic tubes or similarly shaped bodies with roving strands, the improved installation as set forth in claim 2, including first comb means mounted in said apparatus adjacent said guide roller means, and second comb means mounted in said apparatus adjacent to said pressure roller means, said first and second comb means having respectively a plurality of teeth projecting therefrom and said roving strands being adapted to be guided respectively between said plurality of teeth of said first and second comb means, the distance between said plurality of teeth of said first comb means being larger than the distance between said plurality of teeth of said second comb means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
82 words
In an apparatus for the manufacture of fiber glass reinforced plastic tubes or similarly shaped bodIes with roving strands, the improved installation as set forth in claim 2, including scraper means operatively connected to said pair of pressure rollers and adapted to scrape excess resin from said roving strands passing between said pair of pressure rollers, and a second tank mounted on said support means below said pair of pressure rollers and adapted to receive said excess resin from said scraper means.