Method of making a bellows

Claim 1

The method of making a bellows, said method comprising the steps of: forming a plurality of centrally apertured plastic discs, each being symmetrical about an axis and having an approximately planar central annular portion and inner and outer annular flanges connected to said central annular portion around a corresponding aperture and around an outer edge thereof, respectively, said flanges lying generally in parallel planes normal to said axis and on opposite sides of the plane of said central annular portion; placing the inner flanges of two reversed discs in contact with each other with one inner flange on a first fixture; placing a first ultrasonic welding horn with a hollow cylindrical end portion on the other inner flange; exciting said first horn in a manner to cause said two inner flanges to weld together; repeating said placing and exciting steps to weld a plurality of pairs of said discs together at corresponding contacting inner flanges thereof and to form a plurality of respective subassemblies; having respective axes of symmetry; sliding a first subassembly onto a second fixture with the outer flanges of the two discs of the first subassembly straddling a semicircular projection of said second fixture; sliding a second subassembly onto a second ultrasonic welding horn with the outer flanges of the two discs of the second subassembly straddling a semicircular projection of said second horn; and aligning said second fixture and said second horn until one outer flange of said first subassembly contacts and is coaxial with that of said second subassembly; and exciting said second horn to weld the contacting outer flanges of said first and second subassemblies together; and repeating said sliding and exciting steps while replacing said first subassembly on said second fixture with said second subassembly and ultrasonically welding a third subassembly to said second, a fourth to said third, a fifth to said fourth, and so on.

Claim 2

The method of making a bellows, said method comprising the steps of: forming a plurality of centrally apertured plastic discs, each being symmetrical about an axis and having an approximately planar central annular portion and inner and outer annular flanges connected to said central annular portion around a corresponding aperture and around an outer edge thereof, respectively, said flanges lying generally in parallel planes normal to said axis and on opposite sides of the plane of said central annular portion; placing the inner flanges of two reversed discs in contact with each other with one inner flange on a first fixture; placing a first ultrasonic welding horn with a hollow cylindrical end portion on the other inner flange; exciting said first horn in a manner to cause said two inner flanges to weld together; repeating said placing and exciting steps to weld a plurality of pairs of said discs together at corresponding contacting inner flanges thereof and to form a plurality of respective subassemblies; having respective axes of symmetry; sliding a first subassembly onto a second fixture with the outer flanges of the two discs of the first subassembly straddling a semicircular projection of said second fixture; sliding a second subassembly onto a second ultrasonic welding horn with the outer flanges of the two discs of the second subassembly straddling a semicircular projection of said second horn; and aligning said second fixture and said second horn until one outer flange of said first subassembly contacts and is coaxial with that of said second subassembly; and exciting said second horn to weld the contacting outer flanges of said first and second subassemblies together; and repeating said sliding and exciting steps while replacing said first subassembly on said second fixture with said second subassembly and ultrasonically welding a third subassembly to said second, a fourth to said third, a fifth to said fourth, and so on.