The invention comprises a method of butt seaming artificial turf. The method comprises providing a piece of artificial turf comprising a primary backing material having an upper surface and a lower surface, a plurality of tufts of filament material formed in the primary backing material, wherein the tufts are arranged to simulate blades of grass extending outwardly from the upper surface of the primary backing material and the tufts have tuft backs formed on the lower surface of the primary backing material and a layer of a thermoplastic polymer formed on the lower surface of the primary backing material and the tuft backs such that the layer of thermoplastic polymer attaches the tuft backs to the primary backing material. The method further comprises heating a portion of the layer of thermoplastic polymer adjacent an edge of the artificial turf until the portion of the layer of thermoplastic polymer softens and pressing the softened portion of the layer of thermoplastic polymer into contact with a seaming tape.

A method of joining together liner sections within a polymer-lined pipe energises an induction coil inside the pipe to spot-heat part of a circumferential interface between the liner sections. This melts and fuses the polymer material locally. The induction coil is then moved along the interface to heat other parts of the interface successively above the melting temperature. An apparatus for performing the method has a power supply for energising the induction coil and a drive system for moving the energised induction coil relative to a body of the apparatus. The apparatus may be configured as a carriage that is movable along the pipe.

An automatic bonding apparatus and a method for thermally induced seam bonding of weldable and/or gluable flat flexible material layers with each other which are each configured as a material web, material band and/or material piece and arranged so that they overlap at least partially wherein the bonding is performed by an electrically controlled contact heating arrangement through a heating wedge welding method. A temperature and/or a power of the heating wedge which is formed by a thin folded steel sheet blank is controlled as a function of a relative velocity between the material layers and the automatic bonding apparatus. This is performed so that a thermal energy that is transferred from the heating wedge to the material layers to be glued is kept constant. For this purpose the relative velocity is detected and the power of the heating wedge is automatically adjusted when the relative velocity changes.

A thermal welding marking system for attachment to a thermal welding machine including: a hammer arm rotatably connected to a mounting bracket attached to the thermal welding machine, wherein a distal end of the hammer arm is shaped to receive a marker or pen therein; a cable or spring connected to the distal end of the hammer arm; a cable connecting the hammer arm to a hand lever mounted adjacent to hand controls on the thermal welding machine, wherein movement of the hand lever raises or lowers the distal end of the hammer arm and thereby raises or lowers the marker or pen therein. In operation, the thermal welding machine is advanced across the edges of overlapping building roofing material and the marker or pen is intermittently lowered/raised to mark locations along a seam of the edges of overlapping building roofing material where the seam is either open or closed.

A machine for welding an overlapped region of two adjacent strips of material and a method of using the same. The machine includes a housing with front and rear ends, a wheel train engaged with the housing for moving the housing across the material; a nozzle on the housing having a welding head at a free end; the nozzle being positionable at least partially beneath the housing's bottom wall for welding the overlapped region; front and rear pressure rollers engaged with the housing, where the front roller is positioned forwardly of the welding head and the rear roller is positioned rearwardly of the welding head; wherein the rear pressure roller applies pressure to the overlapped region when the wheel train moves the housing in a forward direction; and the front pressure roller applies pressure to the overlapped region when the wheel train moves the housing in a reverse direction.

A fusion machine which can be top-loaded on very large polyolefin pipes and pipelines has jaws which consist of an upper half jaw and lower left and right complemental jaws which pivot on the half jaw. Left and right actuators connected between the complemental jaws and the half jaw operate in one direction to cause the complemental jaws to rotate to an opened condition in which the upper half jaw can be lowered onto and lifted from the pipes to be fused and in the other direction to cause the complemental jaws to rotate to a closed condition in which the pipes to be fused are gripped so substantially around their circumferences as to resist their deformation from round during manipulation by the machine. The top-loading machine minimizes the need for heavy equipment to load and unload pipe to and from the fusion machine.

A method for fastening material webs, such as roofing sheets made of plastic on a surface with fastening points (head disks including a hot-melt adhesive layer) arranged thereon using a self-propelled fastening unit (20) comprising the following steps: (A) detecting a route marking by means of a first detector (22) on the fastening unit (20) and moving the fastening unit along the route marking; (B) detecting and calculating the position of a head disk (14) by means of a second detector (24); (C) approaching and remaining at an operating position during the subsequent fastening process; (D) positioning an induction heater (30) and heating up the head disk (14) for a period of time Th; (E) removing the induction heater (30) and pressing the material web against the head disk by a cooling device (32); (F) taking off the cooling device after a predetermined time Tk has passed; (G) continuing with (A), until an end of the route marking is reached.

A fusion machine which can be top-loaded on very large polyolefin pipes and pipelines has jaws which consist of an upper half jaw and lower left and right complemental jaws which pivot on the half jaw. Left and right actuators connected between the complemental jaws and the half jaw operate in one direction to cause the complemental jaws to rotate to an opened condition in which the upper half jaw can be lowered onto and lifted from the pipes to be fused and in the other direction to cause the complemental jaws to rotate to a closed condition in which the pipes to be fused are gripped so substantially around their circumferences as to resist their deformation from round during manipulation by the machine. The top-loading machine minimizes the need for heavy equipment to load and unload pipe to and from the fusion machine.

A device, a method and a movable welding apparatus for thermal joining of respective two material sheets over a connecting piece arranged areally on a bottom side, wherein the material sheets are arranged with a respective side surface facing one another abutting against each other at least partially with a respective bottom side lying areally on a top side of the connecting piece are provided. In particular, the two material sheets and the connecting piece can be joined together in one pass.

An automatic welding machine for thermally joining sheets of material, in particular for edge side joining of an overlapping upper material sheet to a lower of material sheet, to be connected to one another in a materially bonded manner under the application of heat and subsequent application of pressure, is provided comprising: a heating device for at least partially heating the material sheets to be joined in a connection region; a support frame with a housing; a pressure roller; at least two traveling rollers; wherein the pressure roller and the traveling rollers are arranged on the support frame and together with the support frame form a chassis, wherein the chassis comprises a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular thereto, which span a chassis plane; wherein at least a first travelling roller of the two travelling rollers and/or the heating device is arranged to be movable by a telescopic pull-out relative to the support frame in directions parallel to the transverse axis; wherein the first travelling roller and the heating device are with respect to a longitudinal center of the chassis arranged on opposite sides of the chassis. Further a corresponding method is provided.