Abstract: Rings formed as slitter knives or counter-members are secured against axial displacement from selected positions along a slitter roller by inflating a number of pneumatic tubes carried in recesses formed in the circumferential surface of the roller, the recesses running lengthwise of the roller and being all located on one side of a plane containing the rotational axis of the roller. A flat is formed on the roller at a position diametrically opposite the pneumatic tubes to provide more positive location of the rings. Air is supplied to the tubes via a hollow shaft fitted to one end of the roller, the tubes being in pairs each formed from a tube of U-shape, the legs being disposed in adjacent recesses one end being connected to the hollow shaft and the other closed. Balancing of the roller is obtained by the use of different length set screws to which different numbers of washers are fitted, and also weights may be fitted to the inside of the roller.

Abstract: In a machine for cutting a paper web into sheets and forming them into a stack, the sheets are fed from the cutter to a primary conveyor on which they are spaced apart, and then to a secondary conveyor driven at a slower speed so that the sheets are overlapped, and finally fed onto the top of a stack. In one arrangement a pair of rollers, between which the sheets are gripped, is positioned between adjacent ends of the primary and secondary conveyors, which rollers are driven at a speed which is cyclically variable between the speeds of the two conveyors so as to decelerate the sheets. In another arrangement the secondary conveyor is dispensed with and the sheets are fed directly onto the stack from the variable speed rollers.

Abstract: A change-speed gearbox has coaxial input and output shafts. Five intermediate shafts are equi-spaced around the input shaft and each has two gears fixed thereto, one of which meshes with a common gear on the input shaft, the intermediate shafts being movable axially.Five gears of different diameters are fixed to the output shaft around which five secondary shafts are carried by a rotatable cage. The five secondary shafts each have two gears fixed thereto, one of which meshes with a different one of the gears on the output shaft.Any one of a possible twenty five gear ratios between the input and output shafts may be obtained by rotating the cage until a selected one of the secondary shafts is in the same radial plane as a selected one of the intermediate shafts, that intermediate shaft then being moved axially to bring the second gear thereon into mesh with the second gear on the selected secondary shaft.

Abstract: To join the start of a new web to an expiring web a splicing assembly is provided which includes a light source and photoelectric cell. When a splice is to be effected, the splicer is moved towards the new reel and when the light beam is interrupted by the periphery of the reel the splicer is stopped in the correct position for splicing, and the position of the cell used as an indication of the diameter of the reel; a signal from the cell also causing the reel to be driven at such a speed that the speed of the new reel matches the linear speed of the old web so that the splice may be effected properly.

Abstract: A stack of sheets is formed in a paper cutter by feeding spaced sheets from a first conveyor to a second and slower conveyor to overlap the sheets which are then fed onto a pallet, the latter being lowered as more sheets are fed. When a stack is near completion the first and second conveyors are decelerated and some sheets diverted from the first conveyor to form a gap in the flow of sheets, the second conveyor only is then accelerated for a period of time to enlarge the gap and then decelerate, both conveyors then being accelerated to normal speed. An auxiliary support is then moved into the path of the sheets falling on to the pallet in the gap previously created. While the completed stack is being removed a new stack is forming on the auxiliary support. The full pallet is replaced by an empty one and the auxiliary support is withdrawn to permit the new stack to drop onto the pallet.

Abstract: A number of values of a variable defining a program of operations are settable by means of three potentiometers, connected to a controlled apparatus, which control respectively the initial, final, and rate of change of the variable, each potentiometer having an associated plate one edge of which indicates the value set against a scale. The plate edges form a curve of a graph indicative of the program. In a modification a plurality of linear potentiometers are located at different positions along a scale showing stages in the program, the sliders of the potentiometers being used to set and also indicate the value of the variable at each stage.