A fiber placement system for manufacturing composite components includes at least one material storage enclosure including a material spool assembly, a swiveling roller assembly, and a redirect roller assembly, for each tow to be produced per course, at least one material feeding/cutting station configured with a nip roller drive system, and a cutting mechanism, at least one material transfer station configured with an individual, moveable guide tray for each tow to be produced per course, the moveable guide trays respectively being configured with a vacuum system, and at least one layup station comprising a vacuum table/layup surface, and a pick-and-place device equipped with an end-effector.

A method allows for rapid manufacture of relatively thick adhesive coatings using a continuous process, where a single thin coating is continuously converted into a single thicker adhesive laminate. An exemplary process includes the steps of: (1) producing a web having a first surface with an adhesive layer and a second surface with a release liner; (2) slitting the web longitudinally into a first section and a second section; (3) laminating a backing film to the adhesive layer of the first section; (4) removing the release liner of the laminate of step (3) exposing the adhesive layer of the first section; and (5) laminating the second section to the laminate of step (4), wherein the adhesive layer of the laminate of step (4) is combined with the adhesive layer of the second section.

Composite tape is laminated onto a substrate using a gantry to move a tape laminating head along the length of the substrate. The laminating head is mounted for movement along a beam on the gantry that extends across the width of the substrate. The direction of lamination may be altered by changing the angular orientation of the beam.

An automatic applicator of a sticky back material to a printing sleeve is disclosed. The applicator includes a controller that is programmable with data relating to the size and desired positioning of the sticky back material to the sleeve. The sticky back material is secured to a transport system and cut to the desired size by a cutter, creating a sheet. The sheet is then transported between a pressure roller and the sleeve. The pressure roller applies pressure to the sticky back sheet, applying the sheet to the sleeve. A mandrel grips and rotates the sleeve to apply the sticky back sheet around an exterior surface of the sleeve.

A fiber placement system for manufacturing composite components includes at least one material storage enclosure including a material spool assembly, a swiveling roller assembly, and a redirect roller assembly, for each tow to be produced per course, at least one material feeding/cutting station configured with a nip roller drive system, and a cutting mechanism, at least one material transfer station configured with an individual, moveable guide tray for each tow to be produced per course, the moveable guide trays respectively being configured with a vacuum system, and at least one layup station comprising a vacuum table/layup surface, and a pick-and-place device equipped with an end-effector.

An automatic applicator of a sticky back material to a printing sleeve is disclosed. The applicator includes a controller that is programmable with data relating to the size and desired positioning of the sticky back material to the sleeve. The sticky back material is secured to a transport system and cut to the desired size by a cutter, creating a sheet. The sheet is then transported between a pressure roller and the sleeve. The pressure roller applies pressure to the sticky back sheet, applying the sheet to the sleeve. A mandrel grips and rotates the sleeve to apply the sticky back sheet around an exterior surface of the sleeve.

Composite tape is laminated onto a substrate using a gantry to move a tape laminating head along the length of the substrate. The laminating head is mounted for movement along a beam on the gantry that extends across the width of the substrate. The direction of lamination may be altered by changing the angular orientation of the beam.

A mold and a method for making a heterogeneous composite outer shoe sole. The mold includes a press cutting die, a positioning plate, a positioning jig and a pressing jig. The method involves using the press cutting die to cut a first base material into cut pieces, positioning the press cutting die on the positioning jig with the positioning plate held therebetween, using the pressing jig to push the cut pieces into the material receiving holes of the positioning plate; preparing a shoe sole preform that is made of a second base material and has binding portions positionally corresponding to the material receiving holes; applying adhesive to the binding portions and to the cut pieces; and butting the positioning plate with the shoe sole preform, whereby the cut pieces of the first base material are bound with the binding portions in a batch.

A thread material cutting device is provided which is used in an extraction bag sheet manufacturing apparatus. The thread material cutting device has tension application means such as a pressing plate configured to engage with the thread material placed between adjacent tags so as to apply tension to the thread material. While the welding means is press-heating the thread material onto the tags, the tension application means applies tension to the thread material so as to cut the thread material.

Provided are a cutting information determination method that can use a simpler process to improve yield, and a strip-shaped polarizing sheet manufacturing method using such a method, an optical display unit manufacturing method using such a method, a strip-shaped polarizing sheet, and a polarizing sheet material. A cutting position in the width direction A2, in which a polarizing sheet material MP is to be cut along its longitudinal direction A1, is determined based on the numbers of defects counted with respect to plural points in the width direction A2 of the polarizing sheet material MP. This makes it possible to determine the cutting position in such a way that a region with many defects does not fall within the cut width, so that a higher-yield cutting position can be determined. The cutting position can also be determined using a simple process in which defects are counted with respect to plural points in the width direction A2.