Importance

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Abstract

A tape as unwound from a roll is passed through a preheater where it is preheated, and then heated to the softening temperature of the tape material by a main heater. The tape having ceased to retain its flat configuration due to being softened will drape over and come into close contact with generally the entire side surfaces of convex molds except for those portions of the tape located between adjacent convex molds. The tape thus generally brought into close contact with the convex molds continues to be moved with a rotating drum and is exposed to vacuum drawn through the slits formed at the roots of the opposed side walls of the convex molds while it is urged against a drum by the hold-down roller whereby those portions of the tape remote from the convex molds and located between adjacent convex molds are drawn into close contact with the front and back surfaces of the convex molds. With further rotation, the tape arrives at the position of a cooling device where it is sprayed with air containing a coolant such as water. At the point at which the tape is cooled down back to substantially the normal temperature, it is removed from the rotating drum while the slits are disconnected from the vacuum source, and then taken up around a take-up.

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First Claim