Inventor shows off welding process for TV viewers

While the segment on explosive welding may provide more bang for the advertiser”™s buck, a Newtown inventor”™s ultrasonic welding technique is to be included in a May 9 installment of “Modern Marvels” on The History Channel.

Welding is the process of joining metals and plastics by melting two surfaces that are in contact to create a strong joint once cooled.

Ultrasonic welding, pioneered by Robert Soloff and his Newtown company, Sonics & Materials Inc., directs high-frequency sound energy into a channel, where vibrating frequencies generate sufficient heat to melt parts together.

If it sounds like a newfangled technique to the person accustomed to factory images of sparks cascading from blowtorches, ultrasonic welding actually traces its history to at least 1963, when Soloff and Seymour Linsley patented an ultrasonic welding press as employees of Danbury-based Branson Ultrasonics Corp.

Until then, engineers had a limited tool kit for fusing plastics, including glue, screws, solvents, and unwieldy melting devices.

Plastics Technology magazine includes the breakthrough as one of the top 10 innovations in the plastic industry, along with the development of polypropylene, polyethylene and screw-injection technology.

Toy manufacturers were among the first companies to adopt the technology. Today, ultrasonic welding is used in the production of more than half of U.S. products today, from computers, cell phones and medical devices to bulletproof vests.

Plastics Technology estimates more than $500 million in ultrasonic welding gear is sold annually.

In 2002, the last year it reported revenue as a public company, Sonics had a $500,000 profit on $9.3 million in revenue, closing the year with 60 employees.

As Soloff tells it, the process was discovered after a beam of ultrasonic energy was aimed awry and two plastic parts were mistakenly fused together.

Seeing the potential of the technology, Soloff and Linsley developed a machine to press plastic parts together as ultrasonic energy washes over to create a bond.

The ultrasonic welding process continues to inspire unintended effects today. After noticing that the high-frequency sounds emitted by ultrasonic welding tools bothered children but not adults, a British entrepreneur created an ultrasonic device to deter teens from loitering near stores.

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That in turn spurred the idea for the “MosquitoTone” download for cell phones, allowing teenagers to hear a ring tone, but not many adults who have a more difficult time hearing high frequencies.

Rather than loiter around Branson, Soloff chose to leave in 1969 and launch Sonics & Materials Inc., with the company supplying ultrasonic welding gear. He has piled up a dozen patents over the years; besides welding machines the company today also sells ultrasonic devices used to cut foods on production lines.

Branson, founded in 1946 to apply ultrasonic technology to measuring the thickness of materials, still sells ultrasonic welders; Milford-based Sonic Tool Company L.L.C., meanwhile, sells ultrasonic machines for metal welding.

In 2003, Sonics and Branson tangled briefly in court over property rights to a patent, but a judge dismissed the case after Sonics did not present a case in a timely fashion.

Sonics & Materials is not the first area company to get profiled on “Modern Marvels,” which in previous episodes has spotlighted helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.

The “Modern Marvels” segment featuring welding airs Wednesday, May 9 at 10 p.m. on The History Channel.