A method for making a bicycle crank arm includes (a) providing an inner frame unit, (b) winding a first bundle of unidirectional continuous fibers on the inner frame unit to form an intersecting pattern, (c) impregnating the intersecting pattern with a curable resin material to obtain an impregnated structure, and (d) molding the impregnated structure in a mold.

In an embodiment, a paint roller manufacturing system and method uses a fabric-coating applicator to apply a fabric adhesive onto a portion of a perforated paint roller cover fabric material having a plurality of perforations through which adhesive may flow, and into the plurality of perforations and into interstitial spaces of the fabric material, to yield a length of coated fabric. An inner strip and an outer strip are wound about a mandrel in offset relation. A strip-coating applicator is used to apply a strip adhesive to the outer strip as it is wound about the mandrel. Simultaneously with the step of applying the strip adhesive to the outer strip, a portion of the coated paint roller fabric material is received at the outer strip and the length of coated fabric is wound about at least the outer strip to form a paint roller tube.

A paint roller manufacturing system includes a cover dispenser for continuously dispensing a windable width of paint roller cover fabric, a fabric supporting and advancing device for supporting the fabric and maintaining a width-wise dimension of the paint roller cover fabric as the fabric advances, a fabric coating applicator for applying a coating to the back side of the paint roller cover fabric while the fabric supporting and advancing device maintains the fabric in a width-wise dimension, and a compressing roller positioned downstream of the fabric coating applicator and configured to apply a compressive force on the coating after it has been applied to the back side of the paint roller cover fabric and while the fabric is supported by the fabric supporting and advancing device. In two-strip embodiments, first and second strip dispensers continuously dispense a first and second windable width of strip material. A guide system guides the first and second strip coming from the first and second strip dispensers to be wound about a mandrel and guides the coated paint roller cover fabric from the fabric supporting device to be wound about the first and second strips. An adhesive applicator is configured to apply adhesive on substantially all of the outer side of the first and second windable strips and positioned to apply adhesive to the outer side of the first and second windable strips upstream of a location where the coated paint roller cover fabric is wound about the first and second strips.

A method for bending a flexible panel includes first, providing an airbag assembly; second, inflating the airbag assembly; next, abutting against the bending area with the airbag assembly; and lastly, bending the flexible panel by pivoting on the airbag assembly so that a bent portion of the flexible panel tightly contacts a surface of the airbag assembly, and the terminal area is located behind the flexible panel. The airbag assembly includes a housing and an elastic film. The housing includes at least one outlet and at least one inlet. The elastic film wraps the housing to form a gas chamber. The outlet and the inlet communicate with the gas chamber.

A method for bending a flexible panel includes first, providing an airbag assembly; second, inflating the airbag assembly; next, abutting against the bending area with the airbag assembly; and lastly, bending the flexible panel by pivoting on the airbag assembly so that a bent portion of the flexible panel tightly contacts a surface of the airbag assembly, and the terminal area is located behind the flexible panel. The airbag assembly includes a housing and an elastic film. The housing includes at least one outlet and at least one inlet. The elastic film wraps the housing to form a gas chamber. The outlet and the inlet communicate with the gas chamber.

A method of continuously forming an axially extensible and retractable hose comprising: continuously forming an axially extending helix with axially spaced reinforcing coils from extruded thermoplastic material having a uniform cross-section along its length; and continuously bridging between an adjacent pair of the reinforcing coils with a continuous web of extruded thermoplastic material of substantially uniform width and relatively thin cross-section to form a continuous, helically extending sidewall, with the web having one of two opposite edge regions bonded continuously to a relatively flat outer bonding surface of a radially outwardly located portion of one of the adjacent pair of reinforcing coils, with the web having the other of the edge regions bonded continuously to a relatively flat inner bonding surface of a radially inwardly located portion of the other of the pair of reinforcing coils, and with the edge regions continuously radially separated from each other by the helix.

A system and method are provided for conditioning paint roller cover fabric inline in a continuous paint roller manufacturing process. The system and method provide an inline fabric conditioning unit upstream of the point in the process that the paint roller fabric cover strip is wrapped about the outer side of the outer strip, the fabric conditioning unit including a fabric conditioning device that conditions the paint roller fabric cover strip as it is being fed towards the outer side of the outer strip. The fabric conditioning unit may be used to perforate the fabric, to remove loose fibers from the fabric side of the paint roller fabric cover, to buff the paint roller fabric, and to orient the paint roller cover fibers. The continuous paint roller manufacturing process includes steps of feeding an inner strip and an outer strip towards a mandrel, wrapping the inner strip and the outer strip about the mandrel in offset relation, applying a strip adhesive to at least a portion of an outer side of the inner strip and at least a portion of an outer side of the outer strip, feeding a paint roller fabric cover strip having a fabric side and a backing side towards the outer side of the outer strip, the fabric side comprising loose fibers and attached fibers, forming a paint roller tube by wrapping the paint roller fabric cover strip about the outer strip at a point in the process after the strip adhesive has been applied to the outer side of the outer strip such that the backing side contacts the strip adhesive, applying compression to the paint roller tube, and cutting the paint roller tubes into like lengths.

A system and method for forming a strut. A strut comprises a laminated composite tube having a substantially hollow interior and a pair of longitudinal stiffeners attached to opposite sides of the laminated composite tube.

A tubular membrane comprises a support tube made out of one or more flexible tapes of porous support material which have been helically wound into a tube shape with overlapping tape edges which have been sealed to each other, and a semi-permeable membrane layer made of membrane forming material on an inner wall of the support tube. At least one inwardly projecting helical ridge is provided on said inner wall of the support tube, which helical ridge is covered with or forms part of the membrane layer.

A sheet laminate that can be easily affixed to a bonded surface and which can enhance handleability. The sheet laminate (1) includes a pair of sidewall parts (3), each extending toward the rear surface (2b) side from a pair of mutually opposing edges of the main body part (2). The pair of sidewall parts 3 have a curved shape projecting outward with respect to the main body part (2). Including such a sidewall part (3) makes it possible to affix the sheet laminate (1) to the B-pillar (50) by sandwiching the side surfaces (50b) of both sides of the B-pillar (50) having a bonded surface (50a) by using the curved shape of the pair of sidewall parts (3) while covering the bonded surface (50a) with the design surface of the main body part (2). As a result, the sheet laminate (1) can be affixed easily to the bonded surface (50a), which enhances handleability of the sheet laminate (1).