GB2062061A - Reinforcing strip - Google Patents

Abstract

A reinforcing strip of wire mesh for coatings on pipes, comprising a plurality of parallel longitudinally extending warp wires (1 to 8) provided with bent regions 11 for giving the strip a longitudinal extensibility which increases continuously across the width of the strip. Adjacent warp wires are connected by obliquely extending weft wires (12, 13, 14) which are welded to the warp wires at the crossing points, preferably by one single continuous weft wire extending in zigzag fashion along the length of the strip. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Reinforcing strip This invention relates to a reinforcing strip of wire mesh of a kind which may be unrolled from a cylindrical bobbin (the developed surface of which is a straight strip) and wrapped up in a truncated conical form (the developed surface of which is a strip extending around the arc of a circle) for reinforcing purposes. Between unrolling and wrapping up, the developed surface of the strip changes from a straight strip to a strip extending around the arc of a circle, and consequently, the strip undergoes a longitudinal deformation, which progressively changes across the width of the strip.

Such deformable strips are used for reinforcing concrete coatings on pipes for example underwater oil pipelines. Usually, the width ranges between 15 and 25 centimeter, and the transverse cross-section comprises from 6 to 20 wires of a diameter ranging from 1 to 3 millimeter and a tensile strength of from 300 to 500 Newton per square millimeter. The wires are deformed in order to give the strip and extensibility of a low modulus, that is, the force per unit of extension length is low, in order to obtain extension with forces which can easily be developed when wrapping up. This modulus can be considered sufficiently low when substantial extension of the strip can be obtained with a force that does not exceed 160 Newton per square millimeter total cross-sectional area of wire, when the strip is cut transversely.Hence, conventional crimped wire is in general not suitable and less bent regions are used, but of greater amplitude, than in conventional crimped wire. In general, the bends in a wire are limited to an average of not more than 100 per millimeter of wire length.

Not all sorts of reinforcing strips are equally easy to make or to apply, or equal quality or equally expensive for the same reinforcing ability.

One known form of wire mesh has a good extensibility in use, but can only be made on slow and complicated machines, whereas another known form has less extensibility, but can be made more cheaply and on less complicated machines, but has manufacturing defects.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a reinforcing strip which is inexpensive to manufacture with simple equipment, of good quality, easy to apply and has a good reinforcing ability.

According to the invention, there is provided a reinforcing strip of welded wire mesh comprising a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending warp wires having longitudinally spaced bent regions arranged to provide the strip with a longitudinal extensibility which increases progressively across the width of the strip, the warp wires being welded to weft wire portions extending obliquely thereto.

Welded wire mesh achieves in general the advantage that, for the same strength, fewer and thicker wires can be used which need not be twisted together as a hexagonal woven structures.

When however using welded wire mesh with longitudinal warp wires with progressively increasing extensibility across the width of the strip, then, when wrapped on a truncated conical surface, all longitudinal wires come in stretched position between the welding points, and a minimum of wire is lost. However, the wire is deformed and comes to follow a broken arc line, where the bends comes precisely at the welding points. Consequently it is important that the welds be of a good quality. It is also desirable that these welds can be made at high speed with simple equipment. This is the case when the transverse weft wires do not extend perpendicularly to the longitudinal warp wires. When they extend obliquely, that is not perpendicularly to the longitudinal wires, then the welds can reliably be made between two welding rollers.The parallel warp wires, with the transverse weft wires laid thereupon, are continuously passed between two copper rollers of which the width is slightly more than the width of the strip, and between which the welding tension is applied. Because the transverse wires extend obliquely, the different crossing points pass one after another along the welding line between the welding rollers, and the welds are made one by one in a continuous process. If a plurality of welds occur at the same time along the welding line, then the problem of reliable distribution of the welding current over the plurality of welding points, and of forming reliable welds at points precisely where the bends occur when using the structure, would make such a continuous manufacturing process between two welding rollers unusable.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of a reinforcing strip according to the invention; Figure 2 shows a second embodiment and Figure 3 a third embodiment.

As shown in Figure 1, a reinforcing strip comprises eight longitudinally extending wires warp 1 to 8 and two weft wires 9 and 10 extending the length of the strip in zigzag-form over the width of the groups of wires 1 to 5 and 4 to 8 respectively. Weft wire 9 is welded to longitudinal wires 1 to 5 and weft wire 10 to longitudinal wires 4 to 8 at the cross-points. By zigzag-form is meant, in general, that the wire, whilst running in the longitudinal direction, also travels back and forth between one side of the covered width to the other one. This can produce sawtooth-forms, as for wires 9 and 10, or sinusoids, or other forms, with or without crimping.

Each of the warp wires 2 to 8 comprises bent regions 11 at regular intervals and of the same magnitude in the plane of the strip. The bends increase from wire 2 to 8, so providing the strip with a longitudinal extensibility which increases progressively across the width of the strip from zero extensibility at wire 1 to a maximum at wire 8. This effect can in general be obtained by distributing the bends in the proper number and amplitude over the warp wires. One wire need not necessarily have bends, as is the case with wire 1 in this example, and the bends themselves can all be of the same magnitude, but vary in frequency from wire to wire, or alternatively vary in magnitude, but be invariable in frequency, in order to attain a progressively increasing extensibility across the width of the strip. A substantially linearly increasing extensibility from zero is however preferred.In this embodiment, the distance between adjacent bent regions 11 is 75 mm, the bending increasing substantially linearly from 0% at wire 1 to 12% to wire 8, the distance between adjacent longitudinal wires being 25 mm, the wire thickness 2 mm, and the wire tensile strength about 330 Newton per square millimeter. Strengths in the range between 500 and 900 N/mm2 are also possible when desired by increasing the carbon content of the steel.

The embodiment of Figure 2 is similar to that of Figure 1, with the exception that all the warp wires are welded to a single weft wire 9, which runs in zigzag fashion over the entire width of the reinforcing strip. The wire 9 crosses the wires 2 to 7 at an angle of about 600.

The embodiment of Figure 3 is similar to that of Figure 2, however between each back and forth portion 12, 13, 14 of the zigzag-form of the weft wire 9, there is only one bent region in each warp wire, except wire 1, these regions being aligned perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the strip. Care must be taken that the bend 15 in the weft wire be at least of equal length to the portion 16 between the welding points 17 and 18. The portions 1 5 or 19 at the turning points of the zigzag-form in the weft wire may be cut off, but it is preferred to keep the zigzag-form, because this avoids entangling of weft wire extremities on the bobbin and facilitates unrolling, which is an advantage of this continuous uninterrupted zigzag-form. In this embodiment, for instance, in wire 8 the average bend per millimeter of wire length is about 2.40 per millimeter.Indeed, the total bend a + je + y (the angles becoming zero when the wire is stretched) is about 450 + 900 + 1800 for the length of 75 millimeter between A and B.

The strips of each of the embodiments of Figures 1 to 3 are manufactured from a plurality of rolls of continuous wire. The longitudinal warp wires 1 to 8 are unrolled and led between rollers which impart the desired form and amplitude of bending to the wires. The weft wire or wires are similarly drawn from rolls and formed, with or without crimping, into the desired sinusoidal or zigzag-shape, e.g. by weaving back and forth between teeth located on rings at the two axial extremities of a continuously rotating drum, e.g.

continuously released from said drum. This zigzagshape is then laid on the strip of parallel longitudinal wires and the whole is led between rotating welding rollers which press the wires against each other and weld the wires together at their crossing points. Other manufacturing methods with other machine designs are possible, but it is clear that the design of this strip allows to design a continuous process, also welding, which is fast, procures reliable welding points, and with inexpensive machinery which is easy to transport.

Such strips can thus be manufactured near the site at which they are to be used.

It will be appreciated that other reinforcing strips according to the invention can be designed than those given in the embodiments described above, having similar characteristics and advantages.

Claims (6)

1. A reinforcing strip of welded wire mesh comprising a plurality of substantially parallel longitudinally extending warp wires having longitudinally spaced bent regions arranged to provide the strip with a longitudinal extensibility which increases progressively across the width of the strip, the warp wires being welded to weft wire portions extending oblique thereto.

2. A reinforcing strip according to claim 1, in which the said weft wire portions which connect a group of adjacent warp wires form part of a single continuous weft wire extending the length of the strip in zigzag-form over the width of said group of adjacent warp wires.

3 A reinforcing strip according to claim 2, including a plurality of said weft wires each extending across only part of the width of the strip.

4. A reinforcing strip according to claim 2, in which said group of adjacent warp wires comprises all of the warp wires and said weft wire thus extends across the whole width of the strip.

5. A reinforcing strip according to claim 4, in which, between each back and forth portion of said zigzag-form of the weft wire, there is not more than one bent region in each warp wire, said bent regions being aligned substantially perpendicularly to the length of the strip.

6. A reinforcing strip of wire mesh, substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 1 or Figure 2 or Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.