Plural-component, composite-material highway dowel bar fabrication methodology
First Claim
1. A plural-component, composite-material, highway dowel-bar making method comprisingpreparing an elongate core train having a long axis, and possessing, along that axis, endo-abutting, longitudinally alternating, (a) elongate, cylindrical cores, each core having a common, constant cross section at every location along the long axis, and (b) elongate, but shorter, cylindrical, fibre-reinforced plastic-resin end-plug blanks having opposite ends, and each end-plug blank having a constant cross section at every location along the long axis matching the constant cross section of the cores,using the core train as a longitudinally moving mandrel, pultrusion-forming a fibre-reinforced plastic-resin sleeve continuously and bondedly around the core train so as to produce a pultrusion-result, intermediate, dowel-bar product, andfollowing said pultrusion-forming, cross-cutting the intermediate, dowel-bar product at longitudinal locations therein which are intermediate the opposite ends of end-plug blanks, and thereby forming completed dowel bars.
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Abstract
A method for making a plural-component, composite-material, highway dowel-bar including (1) preparing an elongate core train possessing endo-abutting, longitudinally alternating, (a) elongate, high-shear-strength, cylindrical cores having a common cross section, and (b) elongate, but shorter, cylindrical, fiber-reinforced plastic-resin end-plug blanks having opposite ends, and each having a cross section matching the cross section of the cores, (2) using the core train as a longitudinally moving mandrel, pultrusion-forming a fiber-reinforced plastic-resin sleeve continuously and bondedly around the core train so as to produce a pultrusion-result, intermediate, dowel-bar product, and (3) following pultrusion-forming, cross-cutting the intermediate, dowel-bar product at each longitudinal location therein which is intermediate the opposite ends of the end-plug blanks, thereby to form completed dowel bars.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A plural-component, composite-material, highway dowel-bar making method comprising
preparing an elongate core train having a long axis, and possessing, along that axis, endo-abutting, longitudinally alternating, (a) elongate, cylindrical cores, each core having a common, constant cross section at every location along the long axis, and (b) elongate, but shorter, cylindrical, fibre-reinforced plastic-resin end-plug blanks having opposite ends, and each end-plug blank having a constant cross section at every location along the long axis matching the constant cross section of the cores, using the core train as a longitudinally moving mandrel, pultrusion-forming a fibre-reinforced plastic-resin sleeve continuously and bondedly around the core train so as to produce a pultrusion-result, intermediate, dowel-bar product, and following said pultrusion-forming, cross-cutting the intermediate, dowel-bar product at longitudinal locations therein which are intermediate the opposite ends of end-plug blanks, and thereby forming completed dowel bars.
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6. A method of manufacturing a composite-material highway dowel-bar, the method comprising:
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providing a train of cylindrical steel cores along a long axis, with each adjacent pair of steel cores separated by a single cylindrical blank; forming a fiber-reinforced plastic-resin sleeve around the train by passing the train through a pultrusion die, thereby forming an intermediate dowel-bar product; and cutting through the intermediate dowel-bar product to form completed dowel-bars; wherein cutting through the intermediate dowel-bar product includes cutting through each blank so that a first portion of each blank is included in a first completed dowel-bar and a second portion of each blank is included in a second completed dowel-bar. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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Specification