Patents Represented by Attorney Dirk J. Veneman
  • Patent number: 5673870
    Abstract: A reel apparatus for reeling a traveling web produced on a papermaking machine comprises a rotatable support drum which is fixedly mounted in a frame. A pair of parallel, horizontally disposed rails are mounted to the frame with the tops of the rails above the apex of the support drum. New reel spools are brought into supporting engagement on the rails at a location downstream of the apex of the support drum and intermediate the apex of the support drum and a jumbo-sized wound web roll which is being wound while being powered by a centerwind assist drive, as well as nipping engagement with the support drum. Each reel spool is supported in a pair of carriages which are mounted to travel over the rails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 7, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Fielding, Andrew D. White
  • Patent number: 5667642
    Abstract: A drum having a longitudinal axis, and an outer periphery, has a multiplicity of longitudinal, drainage grooves formed therein, and a cylindrical sheath encloses the drum, the sheath having a multiplicity of holes formed therein. The drum is imperforate. A pair of the drums is employed in a twin-roll press as press rolls, and one thereof is used in a single roll press with a compaction baffle. In one embodiment, the press roll has its grooves formed in a herringbone pattern, the same pointed in the direction of rotation, to enhance drainage. In another embodiment, the longitudinal drainage grooves have increasing depth, toward a mid-length of the press roll where they open into inner-drum drainage conduits which discharge the filtrate adjacent the rotary axis of the press roll.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 16, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Oscar Luthi
  • Patent number: 5664737
    Abstract: A drive shaft is moved in a machine direction and a cross-machine direction to engage a spool on a winder. The drive shaft has an inner drive shaft which is elastically linked to an outer cylindrical shell, thereby allowing misalignment between the inner shaft and the outer shell and allows angular as well as horizontal and vertical displacement when the drive head engages the spool to provide centerwind assist to a roll of paper being formed thereon. The location of the drive shaft axis is determined at all times from geometric considerations and this data is used to position the drive shaft on the axis of the winding spool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 9, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Noel R. Johnson, David A. Smith
  • Patent number: 5665163
    Abstract: A uniform film of coating is delivered onto a substrate at high speed by a film applicator, such as a coater apparatus for a papermaking machine, which has a static converging wedge, an adjustable converging wedge, and an extraction channel located between the two wedges. As a unit, the film applicator minimizes the hydrodynamic flow instabilities, as well as reduces flow variations associated with a nonuniform feed and a dynamic contact line. The film applicator also removes entrained air and excess coating from the application zone in order to improve the flow stability and machine runnability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 9, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Alfred C. Li, Rex A. Becker, Leroy H. Busker
  • Patent number: 5650048
    Abstract: An extended nip press has a shoe driven by two pistons to engage a blanket-supported web against a crown controlled roll. Each ENP shoe piston is offset from the line of force application of the crown control piston by a moment arm distance. A balancing of the hydraulic pressures in the ENP shoe cylinders and the crown control cylinder is achieved by two equalizer valves. Each valve has a slidable spool with faces of a selected cross-sectional area to respond to hydraulic fluid from the various cylinders to retain the correct proportion between the forces applied by the ENP shoe pistons and the crown control piston.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 22, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis X. Swietlik
  • Patent number: 5643416
    Abstract: An Extended Nip-type press has a blanket which passes over a shoe which is urged against a backing roll to form a press nip. A hydraulic system and controller provides for automatic continuous oscillation of the blanket in the cross machine direction. The oscillation results in a region of high fatigue continuously moving over the blanket surface so that the amount of time any particular region sees wear is minimized. Positioning of the heads to which the blanket ends are mounted is controlled by hydraulic pistons mounted between a support beam and the heads. A controller operates a valve to reverse the direction of motion of the blanket when sensors indicate one end of the blanket has reached a stop. A throttle valve controls the rate at which hydraulic fluid is supplied to the cylinders which urge the head away from the shoe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: David V. Lange, David J. McCarville, Jeffrey R. Garde
  • Patent number: 5641387
    Abstract: An on-line coater apparatus is disclosed for coating a web of paper. The apparatus includes a dryer section having a plurality of single-tier dryer groups, each successive group drying an alternate side of the web, the web being restrained against cross-machine directional shrinkage during passage through the plurality of dryer groups. A further single-tier dryer group is disposed downstream relative to the plurality of groups such that the web extends in an open draw between the plurality of groups and the further group. A tail cutter is disposed adjacent to the open draw for cutting a tail from the web for subsequent threading through the further group. A calender is disposed downstream relative to the further group for calendering the dried web. A coater is disposed downstream relative to the calender for coating one side of the web, and a single-tier coating dryer group is disposed downstream relative to the coater for drying the coated one side of the web.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Giorgio Baldini
  • Patent number: 5640782
    Abstract: A vacuum roll apparatus is disclosed for transferring a web supported on a dryer felt from a first to a second drying cylinder of a dryer section. The apparatus includes a rotatable perforate shell having a first and a second end, the shell defining a cavity which extends from the first to the second end of the shell. The arrangement is such that the dryer felt extends from the first dryer around the perforate shell to the second dryer with the web extending contiguously with the dryer felt, and the dryer felt being disposed between the shell and the web. At least one fin is rigidly secured to the shell and is disposed within the cavity such that when the shell is rotated, the fin generates a flow of air through the perforate shell towards the cavity for drawing the web into close conformity with the dryer felt during movement thereof around the vacuum roll apparatus so that the web is restrained against cross-machine directional shrinkage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Rajendra D. Deshpande, William R. McGraw, Jeffrey H. Pulkowski
  • Patent number: 5639045
    Abstract: In order to be able to manufacture large-caliber reels of high quality in a twin drum reel-up, the king rolls (11) and (12) have different diameters and are situated at different elevations. The main load of the reel is carried by the king roll (11), while the king roll (12) contacts the reel (13) with the smallest possible nip pressure which just suffices for transferring the torque difference required for generating the desired winding tension of the reel. The king roll (12) may be lowered as the diameter of the reel increases, namely depending on the fact if the winding shaft (13A) is displaced along a predetermined line of motion (14; 15), preferably a linear vertical or slightly tilted line of motion. An additional center drive which is made possible due to the aforementioned measures may additionally improve the winding result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 17, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Gerhard Walter Dorfel
  • Patent number: 5636810
    Abstract: A winding machine for winding one or more traveling webs into a corresponding number of wound web rolls includes a backing roll for supporting the one or more traveling webs, a winding station for each traveling web, at least one such winding station disposed on each side of the backing roll, each winding station including a winding device for rotatably supporting a web roll as it is wound, and adhesive applicators mounted on a guide to travel longitudinally parallel with the axis of each roll being wound. The adhesive applicators are movable radially inwardly to a working position and outwardly to a stand-by position relative to the axis of rotation of the wound web roll so as to be retracted in the stand-by position when the last wrap of the web on the wound roll is made to attach the severed end of the web onto the finished wound web roll.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 10, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerhard W. Dorfel, Michael Taxis
  • Patent number: 5632861
    Abstract: A high temperature pressing roll has a cast or formed steel roll which is coated with a molybdenum-containing alloy. The preferred alloy has 14 to 16 percent molybdenum, 28 to 30 percent nickel, 30 to 34 percent chromium, 1.2 to 1.8 percent silicon, 4 to 4.5 percent boron, a maximum of 0.2 percent carbon and copper between 3 and 3.8 percent with the balance being iron. The roll is first coated with a bonding coating consisting of nickel and chromium. This bonding layer is then flame sprayed or plasma sprayed with a molybdenum alloy. The coating once applied is ground to a 30 RA or smoother surface. The molybdenum alloy is sprayed on to achieve a surface depth of approximately forty thousandths of an inch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Jere W. Crouse
  • Patent number: 5630909
    Abstract: A guide vane is provided in a pin fluffer to assist in pulp mat retention during fluffing by providing a cyclic lift component to the mat as it passes over the vane thereby also further increasing retention time obtained in the fluffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 1994
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher J. LaRiviere
  • Patent number: 5628409
    Abstract: A garbage separation apparatus utilizes a vibrating conveyor to form a thin layer of individual items in a stream of municipal waste. The individual items of municipal waste are then transferred to conveyor belts in spaced apart relation. The conveyor belt passes the items of municipal waste under an array of infrared lamps. Immediately after being illuminated by the infrared lamps, the items of municipal waste are imaged by an infrared video system. The infrared video camera produces a video image wherein specific colors refer to a specific range of temperatures. The output of this video camera is processed to separate mono-temperature images which are processed so as to drive the actuation of individual vacuum grippers out of an array of vacuum grippers placed over the conveyor belt transporting the items of municipal waste.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel W. Thomas
  • Patent number: 5628124
    Abstract: A single tier drying section is disclosed for drying a web. The drying section includes a dryer and a felt guided about the dryer such that the web is disposed between the dryer and the felt for drying a first side of the web. A further dryer is disposed downstream relative to the dryer and a further felt is guided about the further dryer such that the web is disposed between the further dryer and the further felt for drying a second side of the web. A dryer transfer mechanism is used for transferring the web from the dryer to the further dryer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Borgeir Skaugen, Gregory L. Wedel, Dale A. Brown, David J. Archer
  • Patent number: 5626297
    Abstract: An apparatus produces elongate multi-fiber particles of extremely small size to facilitate substantially complete penetration of high consistency pulp fibers by ozone when exposed thereto. A housing is provided having first and second ends and a substantially smooth interior housing surface. A means is provided for introducing high consistency wood pulp into the housing. A source of ozone gas bleaches the high consistency pulp within the housing. A pin rotor is rotatably mounted within the housing, and includes a plurality of pins, each pin having a pin tip. A means is provided means for limiting the build up of high consistency pulp fiber accretions on the pin tips.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Lawrence A. Carlsmith, A. Sean Vote, Oscar Luthi, Anthony G. Abdulmassih
  • Patent number: 5622601
    Abstract: A clipped tail, which is the severed lead end of a paper web tail formed on a papermaking machine, is produced in the tail supported on a roll by combining the operation of a water jet, which projects a high pressure stream of water and is moved laterally to sever the tail transversely to its direction of travel, with the operation of a doctor having a blade, which moves with the water jet and which lifts and deflects the tail clip and following tail from the roll. An air stream is used to guide the tail downstream of the doctor blade. Both the water jet and doctors are mounted on a traversing apparatus to move transversely together across the traveling tail to automatically produce the tail clip and direct it to thread the downstream portion of the papermaking machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard J. Adams, Edward L. Brossard, Curtiss R. Dahl, Timothy E. Lee, Mark A. Sorenson
  • Patent number: 5611860
    Abstract: A coater head has a housing which defines a coating pond supplied with coating under pressure. A plurality of bars extend within the coating pond in the cross-machine direction, and are spaced parallel to one another in the machine direction. A paper web is engaged against a backing roll, and travels through the coating pond past a metering blade which applies coating from the pond to the web. The bars induce a turbulent flow which shears bubbles of air entrained in the coating pond, thereby reducing the bubble diameters and air-induced imperfections in the coating. Greater machine speed, which tends to entrain more air, induces greater shear at the bars which causes bubble size to be more greatly reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Theodore G. Waech
  • Patent number: 5611500
    Abstract: A mechanism and method for the continuous winding of a web of paper into rolls including a shear type load cell for measuring the horizontal component of the reactive force on the winding drum with the output of the load cell being used to control the nip pressure between the winding drum and the roll being wound. Another load cell measures the tension of the incoming paper web, and this measurement is subtracted to give the net nip pressure. An initial reading is taken when the core on which the web is to be wound is lowered onto the load cell and an initial reading is taken to provide the index point of the weight of the core and reel, and when the core is being pivoted downwardly over the drum, the vertical and horizontal components with the total nip load are calculated to control the nip load. Thus, the nip load is carefully controlled at all positions to provide an improved drum winder obtaining controlled nip load and controlled density of the roll being wound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Philip W. Smith
  • Patent number: 5609729
    Abstract: A screen aperture blinding prevention and liquid overflow prevention and level control apparatus for a knot drainer senses liquid level within the knot drainer and compares the sensed level to a setpoint level. Differences in the two levels generate control signals of appropriate magnitude and direction, and those control signals are transmitted to a valve whose degree of responsiveness and openness is adjusted to change the outflow rate of accepts liquor from the accepts chamber of the rejects separator. In addition, passive level control is provided in the discharge line for establishing accept flooded screen apertures regardless of variations of inflow and outflow rates during operation while active level control to create accept flow rate greater than, less than, or equal to inlet flow rate is provided by the combination of siphonic loop, barometric leg and control values for accepts outflow and for backwash nozzle flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ian J. H. Clarke-Pounder, Douglas L. G. Young
  • Patent number: 5600898
    Abstract: The paper dryer section has a single tier of all top felted dryer rolls seven to nine feet in diameter. Air caps are employed over the dryer rolls to simultaneously dry both sides of the web to prevent curl and to increase drying rates. The air caps employ blown air at a temperature of 200-1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and air speeds of 8,000-40,000 feet per minute. The felt employed is foraminous with a permeability of between 300-1,500 cubic feet per minute per square foot and is designed to withstand peak temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and average temperatures of between 500-600 degrees Fahrenheit. A single dryer roll, or more advantageously, two vacuum rolls in a vacuum box are disposed between the dryer rolls to maximize the circumferential wrap of the web and, at the same time, support and transport the web between dryers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1997
    Assignee: Beloit Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Rajendra D. Deshpande, Jeffrey H. Pulkowski