The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 17, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2002
Roberto Menin, Grugliasco, IT;
Comau S.p.A., Grugliasco, IT;
Abstract
Two or more metal sheets, at least one of which has a protective layer made of material having a low vaporization temperature, are welded to each other by means of a laser beam after that a gap has been provided between the sheets to enable the vapors of the protective material which are created during welding to escape. The gap is obtained by exploiting the elastic return of one of the sheets starting from an elastically deformed condition in which this sheet is brought following the engagements of the device hich is used to clamp the sheets with each other during welding. In a first stage, the clamping device is closed to bring the sheets in complete contact with each other, by causing the above-mentioned elastic deformation of one of the sheets, in a second stage, the clamping device is opened again by a limited extent, until a predetermined position is reached, so as to define a gap between the sheets having substantially predetermined dimensions.