Tubelet panel and method of and apparatus for manufacture thereof

Abstract

A tubelet panel of fabric face sheets and parallel, continuous film, partition strips normal to the face sheets and having their longitudinal edges fused into the fabric of the face sheets is formed by thermal fusion by applying heat and pressure to the outer surfaces of the face sheets in the regions in registry with the partition edges. The partition material is chosen to have a lower melting temperature than the face sheet material and the applied heat is at a temperature above the melting temperature of the partition material and below the melting temperature of the face sheet material. Parallel tines spaced about the thickness of the partition strip guide the strips through a bonding region for one face sheet followed along the path of advance of the face materials and partition strips by a bonding station for the other face sheet and are of a thickness which varies as the bonds are progressively formed to limit the displacement of heating means against the partition edges to the amount of material of the edges to be fused into the bond. Adjuncts include feeding of the face sheet material and partition material as strip stock, as from a reel, slitting the partition material to the desired strip width in line, and cutting off lengths of the tubelet panel as for battery plate casing lengths.