The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a flexible skin which has at least one insert adhered thereto. In a first step, the skin is molded on a mold surface. In order to adhere the insert to the skin, an opening is first made in the skin giving access to the back face of the insert. The insert is positioned with its back face against the front face of the skin and an adhering layer is provided which is adhesively connected to the back face of the skin layer which surrounds the opening in the skin layer and, through this opening, to the back face of the insert. The adhering layer is preferably produced by applying a layer of a hardenable material, in particular a curable polyurethane composition. Since the back face of the insert engages the front side of the skin penetration of hardenable material to the front face of the insert is avoided.

A system for forming a tendon sleeve on an atmospheric balloon is described herein, the system comprising a coupling assembly including a seam coupling mechanism that forms a seam joint between a first gore panel and a second gore panel, the seam joint is spaced from respective first and second lateral edges of the first and second gore panels to form first and second edge flanges, and an edge coupling mechanism that forms an edge joint between the first and second edge flanges and closes a tendon sleeve, the edge joint spaced from the seam joint, the tendon sleeve includes a tendon sleeve passage between the seam joint and the edge joint and between the first and second edge flanges. The system also includes a tendon positioning mechanism that positions a tendon within the tendon sleeve passage. A tendon sleeve formed by this system is also described herein.

The invention relates to a brush including a brush head body which includes a recess through which a bundle of bristles passes, the securing-side end of which is provided by means of a melt process with a thickened portion for securing the bundle of bristles to the brush head body, wherein the brush head body forms a collar which extends up to the thickened portion and circumferentially surrounds the bundle of bristles and which is provided at a distance from a brush head body surface projected over by the bundle of bristles at the use side, and is bonded to the thickened portion by means of a melting process.

An automobile interior trim has a resin core material and a skin material that is joined on a surface of the resin core material. The automobile interior trim has stitches that are formed on the skin material by sewing the skin material with threads. The skin material and the stitches are cut by a laser beam to generate a cut section. The vicinity of the cut section has a structure in which threads of the stitches and the raw material of the skin material are melted by heat of the laser beam, mixed together, and solidified.

A method for producing a breathable web, comprising: feeding a web on the surface of an anvil roller rotatable about its axis and having a plurality of welding protrusions cooperating with a welding element, welding said web at a plurality of welding spots on head surfaces of said welding protrusions and forming respective annular welding seams at said welding spots, about respective welding projections, and respective thin membranes located within said annular welding seams and adjacent to the head surfaces of said welding protrusions, and removing said thin membranes after said welding by means of a peeling roller having an outer surface tangent to said head surfaces of said welding protrusions.

A film fin sealing device is disclosed herein which may have a groove defining a base. The base of the groove of the fin sealing device may be oriented at a skewed angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the conveyor of a heat sealing machine. Edges of a thermoplastic sheet or two stacked layers of thermoplastic sheets are introduced into the groove of the film fin sealing device and placed in contact therewith to both heat and fuse the distal edge portions of the thermoplastic sheet(s) to join the edge portions thereof to form a fin seal.

The present invention relates to a method for welding a 3D bellows. The method includes: repeatedly laminating a unit cell material, a second adhesion-preventing film, a different unit cell material, and a first adhesion-preventing film; forming ventilation holes on the unit cell materials by pressing a hole-processing cutter on which a hole-circumference welding heater is installed onto the laminated unit cell materials and the first adhesion-preventing films, and then heating the circumference of the ventilation holes; finishing two sides of the unit cells by positioning, on two outermost surfaces of the laminated unit cell materials, a first finishing unit cell material and a second finishing unit cell material provided with an air injection port; and cutting the first finishing unit cell material, the unit cell materials, and the second finishing unit cell material and heating the periphery of the cut area by pressing a contour-processing cutter.

A covering for an architectural feature having generally horizontal vane elements coupled to and located between generally front and rear generally vertical support members, which in preferred embodiments are adjustable to control the amount of light transmitted through the covering. In one embodiment the covering has three dimensional multi-layered, cellular vanes, and in another embodiment, the one or more support members are formed of a dark color, the rear support member(s) may be formed of material that is darker than the front support member(s), or vise versa. In another embodiment, the support members, e.g., sheers, have an openness factor, preferably as low as about sixty-five percent (65%) to as large as about ninety percent (90%). Other embodiments include structure, assemblies and methods for controlling the closure of the covering as well as embodiments of bottom rail assemblies. Also provided is a method of manufacturing the covering.

Systems useful for reinforcing a support mat over at least one seam formed between upper and lower panels of the mat include at least one extruder configured to apply weld-forming material over the seam(s) to form at least one weld atop the seam(s) and at least one electronic controller associated with the extruder.

A film edge sealing device is disclosed herein which has a groove defining a base. The base of the groove of the edge sealing device is oriented at a skewed angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the conveyor of the heat sealing machine. Edges of a thermoplastic sheet or two stacked layers of thermoplastic sheets are introduced into the groove of the edge sealing device and placed in contact therewith to both heat and melt the edges of the thermoplastic sheet(s) to form a bead and join the edges thereof to form an edge bead seal.