In the manufacture of a modular building panel having a three-dimensional welded wire matrix, the matrix is comprised of a plurality of essentially identical truss-like matrix subunits which are assembled in a machine which includes means for periodically adjusting for the adverse effects of tolerance accumulation so that the matrix subunits may be fabricated in an essentially continuous array in which each subunit has a length within predetermined tolerance limits. A plurality of strips of prefabricated truss units are introduced in synchronism into a matrix fabrication unit which is insensitive to the particular machine upon which matrix subunits were fabricated. In the matrix fabrication machine, a welding station is provided for each subunit of the matrix and includes coaxially aligned first and second electrodes movable toward and away from each other along their common axis, and a central electrode. The central electrode has a welding position in which the central electrode intersects the common axis of the adjacent first and second electrodes to serve as a conductive anvil for the first and second electrodes. The central electrode at each station also has a retracted position spaced from the common axis of the adjacent first and second electrodes to accommodate movement of material to be welded, including the aforesaid matrix subunits, into place between the first and second electrodes.
A spacer plate construction for use in selective spacing between the head end and tail end of strips to be welded end-to-end by a welding machine. Sensors in the form of spring biased pivotal (or otherwise moveable) elements are mounted in longitudinally spaced cavities in the spacer plate to assure that the strip ends are held flush against the spacer plate before clamping for subsequent flash or butt welding. It is only when the sensor elements are moved inwardly to the sides of the spacer plate sufficiently to actuate a proximity switch mounted within the sensor plate that a circuit for initiating clamping of the head end and tail end of the strips can be initiated for subsequent welding.
The invention relates to an apparatus for forming elongate reinforcing elements having a pair of rods and transverse rungs welded perpendicularly between said rods, said rods being fed parallel to one another in stepwise fashion between the welding electrodes, and said rungs being inserted perpendicularly between said rods before welding.
The invention relates to multi-spot-welding machines for the production of lattice gratings suitable for use for example as walk ways, and which consist of upright flat bars parallel to one another and cross-bars welded transversely into these and again parallel to one another. The flat bars are usually fed intermittently to welding electrodes. The machine of the invention has at least one pair of cooperating electrodes which are aligned in the feed direction of the flat bars and spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the desired spacing of the cross-bars. The or each pair of electrodes is pressed in turn against each pair or cross-bars to be welded and the upright flat bars themselves act as current bridges between the electrodes of the or each pair. An abutment supports the flat bars against the force of the welding electrodes and this abutment has considerably greater hardness and wear resistance than the flat bar material. The abutment is of suitable design and is suitably positioned to correct the deformation of the longitudinal bars which occurs when the transverse members are welded thereon.
A wire matrix for a construction panel has a plurality of parallel longitudinal trusses, each truss having a pair of parallel longitudinal wire runners and a plurality of transverse wire struts in which the struts associated with one truss are all parallel to each other and extend diagonally between the parallel runners, with the struts in alternate ones of the trusses being parallel and the struts in adjacent trusses being skewed. The trusses are formed by making a grid of parallel longitudinal runners joined by diagonal cross wires which are then cut between adjacent pairs of runners to form separate trusses. The trusses are then joined by transverse wire runners forming a three-dimensional matrix.
An installation for manufacturing panels used in building construction which panels comprise a metal framework of two parallel meshes joined by connector wires which obliquely pass through a core of lightweight material between the two parallel meshes to which latter said connector wires are welded, the installation including a conveyor device for entry into the machine, a first section of an intermittent traction and advancing device within the machine, a dispensing device for feeding connector wires to a fastening device for inserting them in the lightweight core, a second section of the intermittent traction and advancing device, a column of electrodes for welding the connector wires, a third section of the intermittent traction and advancing device, a saw device for shaping the resulting panels and automated mechanisms and systems for controlling all these elements.
