Weaving machine for making fiberglass grating with improved tension

Abstract

A weaving machine alternately lays catalyzed resin wetted fiberglass strands within respective right angle sets of uniformly spaced, open-ended intersecting slots within the upper face of a weaving form by driving reciprocating carriages mounted on rails via rotating wheels across the top of the form bearing said right angle sets of uniformly spaced, open-ended slots. A horizontal base plate supports hydraulic cylinders whose projectable and retractable piston rods suspend a running bar having horizontal apertures through which the fiberglass strands pass. After passage across the form, the running bar is dropped to force the wetted strands into aligned slots. Detents engage the strands at each side of the open slots. A hydraulic rotary motor has a rotary drive shaft in the form of a horizontal threaded rod passing through and engaging the threads of a horizontal tapped bore of a nut fixed to the carriage base plate. The hydraulic motor is rotated bidirectionally to reciprocate the carriages across the form. Resin tanks bearing resin wet the fiberglass strands prior to weaving, with the strands wrapped about the peripheries of three laterally adjacent, spaced, parallel tension bars within the tank. Tensioning is varied by raising or lowering the center tension bar to cause more or less wrapping of the strands about all three tensioning bars.