A non-woven textile may be formed from a plurality of thermoplastic polymer filaments. The non-woven textile may have a first region and a second region, with the filaments of the first region being fused to a greater degree than the filaments of the second region. A variety of products, including apparel (e.g., shirts, pants, footwear), may incorporate the non-woven textile. In some of these products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another textile element to form a seam. More particularly, an edge area of the non-woven textile may be heatbonded with an edge area of the other textile element at the seam. In other products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another component, whether a textile or a non-textile.

A system and method for welding thermoplastic components by positioning and moving a heated plate between the components to melt their respective faying surfaces, and as the plate moves, pressing the components together so that the melted faying surfaces bond together as they cool and re-solidify, thereby creating a composite structure. The plate has a heated portion which is positioned between and heated to melt a portion of the first and second faying surfaces. A manipulator mechanism moves the plate along an interface from between the portion to between a series of subsequent portions of the first and second faying surfaces, thereby welding the thermoplastic components along the entire interface to create the composite structure. An injection device may also move behind the plate and reciprocally inject a polymer between the first and second faying surfaces to provide toughness and crack arresting properties.

A turf joining system including a first piece and second piece of a synthetic turf and a bridge support. The first and second pieces have side edges which are closely adjacent each other. The bridge support heat welds to the overlying first and second pieces to form an elongated first heat weld and elongated second heat weld each proximate and spaced from the respective side edge to define a water channel therebetween. A method of sealing a plurality of synthetic turf pieces together is disclosed.

A system and method for welding thermoplastic components by positioning and moving a heated plate between the components to melt their respective faying surfaces, and as the plate moves, pressing the components together so that the melted faying surfaces bond together as they cool and re-solidify, thereby creating a composite structure. The plate has a heated portion which is positioned between and heated to melt a portion of the first and second faying surfaces. A manipulator mechanism moves the plate along an interface from between the portion to between a series of subsequent portions of the first and second faying surfaces, thereby welding the thermoplastic components along the entire interface to create the composite structure. The heated portion may contact the faying surfaces and melt them through conduction, or may be suspended between them and melt them through radiation and convection.

A forming-material connecting device includes a cutter that cuts a forming material constituted by plural continuous fiber bundles being impregnated with a resin material and supplied in a supply direction corresponding to an extending direction of the plural continuous fiber bundles. The cutter cuts at least a portion of the plural continuous fiber bundles. The forming-material connecting device also includes a joining portion joining portions of the forming material, which are cut by the cutter at a cutting point in the forming material, on a downstream and upstream side with respect to the cutting point in the supply direction by heating to join the resin materials of the portions of the forming material, or the joining portion joins a preceding forming material's trailing end portion and a leading end portion of a following forming material by heating to join resin materials of the preceding forming material and following forming material.

A roll-and-peel tool includes a frame, a roller, two traction rims, a peeling wheel, and a trailer arm. A roller shaft is supported by the frame, and the roller is rotatable relative to the frame on the shaft. The traction rims are axially-spaced from one another with a roller midportion between the traction rims and the traction rims extending outward of the roller midportion. The peeling wheel is rotatable about a wheel shaft and has two traction hubs axially-spaced from one another and protrusions extending proud at an exterior surface of the peeling wheel between the traction hubs. The trailer arm connects the wheel and roller shafts so that the traction hubs interface with the traction rims and a gap is defined between the roller and the peeling wheel with the protrusions extending into the gap. A method of installing a trim component may be carried out with the tool.

An automatic splicing apparatus and methods thereof are provided herein for splicing together two ends of a sheet of tire material on a tire building drum. The apparatus comprises a frame, a splicer foot assembly, and a splicer roller assembly. The frame is configured to support the apparatus relative to the drum. The splicer foot assembly and the splicer roller assembly are independently longitudinally translatable relative to the frame. The splicer foot assembly includes a splicer foot having forward lower preparation rollers and rearward lower splicer rollers, and upper preparation rollers configured to operate in coordination with the forward lower preparation rollers to pull the two ends of the sheet of tire material together over the splicer foot. The splicer roller assembly includes upper splicer rollers configured to act in coordination with the rearward lower splicer rollers to splice the two ends together.

A method of induction welding a first carbon fiber thermoplastic composite (TPC) to a second carbon fiber thermoplastic composite (TPC) using an induction coil includes aligning the first TPC with the second TPC to form a weld interface area, flexing a heat sink onto a surface of the first TPC between the weld interface area and the induction coil, and inductively heating the weld interface area with the induction coil.

A roller electrode assembly (1) for applying a high-frequency alternating electric field to a workpiece (5a, 5b) has a core (2) which is at least partially made of electrically conductive material and surrounded by a tire (3) which can be filled with a protective gas and is made of a dielectric material.

A hand tool has a plurality of similarly or identically shaped rollers aligned end-to-end along an axle such that the outer surface of each respective roller moves about an axis define by the axle. The hand tool may be a roofing roller tool that enables an impermeable vapor membrane or sheet to be applied to a vertical wall extending upwardly from an outer perimeter of a roof. The tool may be manipulated by an elongated pole handle coupled to a roller head or roller head frame.