Patents by Inventor Timothy C. Prochnow

Timothy C. Prochnow has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5406869
    Abstract: An air bearing assembly for supporting a running web in a paper slitting apparatus is particularly adapted for use in slitting a corrugated paperboard web and includes a flat web-supporting plate which is slotted to receive a thin annular slitting blade rotatably supported above the web. The flat supporting plate includes a series of apertures for directing a flow of compressed air upwardly through the plate to support the web on an air bearing or cushion as it travels over the plate and through the slitting blade. The air apertures are preferably concentrated along the edges of the slot. The slot is contoured to the shape of the cross sectional profile of the blade such that the slot tapers to an upstream point where the blade passes through the web and into the slot and where blade load on the web is greatest. Additional air bearing support may be provided at this point as well, and across the entire supporting surface of the plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 18, 1995
    Assignee: Marquip, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy C. Prochnow, Carl R. Marschke
  • Patent number: 5375492
    Abstract: A stack of folded and glued corrugated paperboard boxes is slit in unison with a thin cutting blade having a linear cutting edge disposed parallel to the plane of the boxes and moved through the stack in an angular direction to slit essentially one box at a time. The stack is squared before slitting to align the box edges, however, the force of the blade on the stack as it moves therethrough holds the receding stack together such that the cut halves of each box may part laterally as the blade passes therethrough to avoid any crushing of the corrugated paperboard media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 27, 1994
    Assignee: Marquip, Inc.
    Inventors: Dean W. Smitterberg, Richard F. Paulson, William R. Nachtrab, Jr., Timothy C. Prochnow, Eugene C. Carlson
  • Patent number: 5203246
    Abstract: A system for aligning and squaring folded and glued boxes being conveyed serially in line or in a shingle utilizes a fixed set of alignment wheels positioned parallel to and on one side of the shingle and a set of adjustable alignment wheels positioned on the opposite lateral edge of the shingle. The adjustable alignment wheels can be adjusted as a unit to pivot on a vertical axis and to move laterally slightly into the path of the shingle. The pivot arm on which the adjustable wheels are mounted accommodates major misalignment of the initially incoming shingle, but is pivoted to an aligned position in the direction of shingle movement by the force of the moving shingle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 20, 1993
    Assignee: Marquip, Inc.
    Inventors: Dean W. Smitterberg, Timothy C. Prochnow, William R. Nachtrab, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5090281
    Abstract: An apparatus for providing longitudinal, laterally spaced slits in a continuously moving sheet or web of corrugated paperboard or the like includes a plurality of upper tool heads each supporting a thin, circular rotary slitting blade. The blades are coaxially mounted and driven by a common drive shaft and each blade-carrying tool head is independently positionable across the width of the paperboard sheet. Each slitting assembly includes a lower tool head or counterhead carrying a roller assembly which supports the underside of the moving board and provides a firm surface to support the board against the upper rotary slitting blade. The roller assembly includes a circumferential radially extending slot in its outer surface through which an edge portion of the upper cutting blade travels with the sheet firmly supported by the roller surfaces on each side of the slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1992
    Assignee: Marquip, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard F. Paulson, Kent L. Ross, Timothy C. Prochnow, David W. Dix, Luke A. Stout
  • Patent number: RE35086
    Abstract: An apparatus for providing longitudinal, laterally spaced slits in a continuously moving sheet or web of corrugated paperboard or the like includes a plurality of upper tool heads each supporting a thin, circular rotary slitting blade. The blades are coaxially mounted and driven by a common drive shaft and each blade-carrying tool head is independently positionable across the width of the paperboard sheet. Each slitting assembly includes a lower tool head or counterhead carrying a roller assembly which supports the underside of the moving board and provides a firm surface to support the board against the upper rotary slitting blade. The roller assembly includes a circumferential radially extending slot in its outer surface through which an edge portion of the upper cutting blade travels with the sheet firmly supported by the roller surfaces on each side of the slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 14, 1995
    Assignee: Marquip, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard F. Paulson, Kent L. Ross, Timothy C. Prochnow, David W. Dix, Luke A. Stout