US Patent 8162643 - Nanotube film splicer

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8162643.html

Nanotube films have been proposed as a material for hydrogen storage useful to fuel cells. This patent teaches an apparatus to interconnect nanotubes to maximize the surface-to-volume and the strength of the films. Claim 1 reads:

1. An apparatus for producing a continuous nanotube film from a first nanotube forest on a first substrate and from a second nanotubes forest on a second substrate;

a puller mechanism configured to attach to nanotubes in the first nanotube forest on the first substrate and to pull a first length of nanotube film from the first nanotube forest on the first substrate; and

a splicer mechanism, wherein the apparatus pulls the first length of nanotube film from the first nanotube forest on the first substrate, the splicer mechanism splices the first length of nanotube film to nanotubes of the second substrate, and continues to pull the nanotube film such that, spliced to and continuous with the first length of nanotube film, a film of nanotubes is pulled from the second nanotube forest on the second substrate.