REVERSIBLE SURFACE WINDER
Disclosed is a winder having: a drum about which a web passes in use; a cutter which severs the web as it passes around the drum into segments; a suction facility which draws air through a suction portion of the drum such that, when severed, the trailing web segment is carried by the suction portion to a release position; a loader which, for each segment, receives a core at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by contact with said drum and whereat the core receives the leading edge of said trailing segment, without fold-over, from said drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position; a guide which receives the core after the segment has started to wind thereupon; and a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in driven contact with the drum as the segment is wound the Disclosed is a winder having: a drum about which a web passes in use; a cutter which severs the web as it passes around the drum into segments; a suction facility which draws air through a suction portion of the drum such that, when severed, the trailing web segment is carried by the suction portion to a release position; a loader which, for each segment, receives a core at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by contact with said drum and whereat the core receives the leading edge of said trailing segment, without fold-over, from said drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position; a guide which receives the core after the segment has started to wind thereupon; and a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in driven contact with the drum as the segment is wound thereon.
Not Applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to winders, i.e. devices for reeling or winding a travelling or advancing web onto a tube or core.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIt is well known to wind webs or films on reels or spools after manufacture for shipment to end-users, such as packaging companies, and the demands made of winders are constantly increasingly. The increasing prevalence of multi-layer webs has made reversible winders of great advantage. Demands for better and flatter rolls make it important that web transfer between rolls is carried out without tension change and without fold-over. Straight line cutting, i.e. squared-off web ends is also viewed favorably, as is relatively fast and simple web transfer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA winder for use with an advancing web and a supply of cores forms one aspect of the invention. The winder comprises: a rotating drum around which said web passes in use and including a suction portion; a cutter mechanism adapted to sever said web, as it passes around said drum, into segments to be wound one each around respective cores from the supply; a suction facility adapted to draw air through the suction portion of the drum such that, when the web is severed, the trailing segment is carried by the suction portion of the drum to a take-up position; a core loader which, for each segment, receives a core from the supply at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by operative driven contact with said drum and whereat the core receives, without fold-over, the leading edge of said trailing segment from said rotating drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position; a guide, to which, after said each segment has started to wind upon the core, the core is moved, and which supports the core as said each web segment is partially wound thereon; and a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in operative driven contact with the drum until such time as said each web segment is completely wound thereon.
A winder for use with an advancing web and a supply of adhesive cores forms another aspect of the invention. The winder comprises: a rotating drum around which said web passes in use and including a suction portion; a cutter mechanism adapted to sever said web, as it passes around said drum, into segments to be wound one each around respective cores from the supply; a suction facility adapted to draw air through the suction portion of the drum such that, when the web is severed, the trailing segment is carried by the suction portion of the drum to a take-up position; a core loader which, for each segment, receives a core from the supply at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by operative driven contact with said drum and whereat the core adhesively receives the leading edge of said trailing segment, without fold-over, from said rotating drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position; a guide, to which, after said each segment has started to wind upon the core, the core is moved, and which supports the core as said each web segment is partially wound thereon; and a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in operative driven contact with the drum until such time as said each web segment is completely wound thereon.
These winders provide for relatively fast and simple web transfer, without problematic tension change and without fold-over, and permit reversible winding and straight line web cutting. Further advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter being briefly described hereinafter.
With general reference to
With reference to
With reference to
The suction facility is adapted to draw air through the suction portion 38 of the drum 22 and takes the form of a simple compressor.
With reference to
The transfer mechanism 32 comprises a pair of longitudinally-spaced support arms 64, pivotally mounted at respective lower ends thereof for movement controlled by hydraulic cylinders 104 between winding and offloading positions which correspond to winding and offloading configurations of the transfer mechanism 32 shown, respectively, in
The upper 34 and lower 36 nip rollers are each mounted on a respective pivoting arm 70, 72 and movable, respectively, into and out of engagement with the drum by fifth 74 and sixth 76 hydraulic cylinders. Movement of the upper nip roller 34 into engagement with the drum 22 is shown in the sequence of
The winder 20 is used with an advancing web of plastic film or the like 78 and a supply of cores 80. Each core includes an exteriorly adhesive coated cardboard tube operatively mounted about an air shaft 110 shown in
When winding, the web 78 normally exits the extruder in a downward orientation, is directed to the drum 22 via a series of buffer rollers 82 and is introduced to the drum 22 by the upper nip roller 34, as shown in
When webbing has built up appreciably on the core, preparations are made to transfer reeling operations to a new core.
As an initial step, the loading arms 56 and the cradles 58 are caused to assume the loading configuration, wherein the cradles open 58 upwardly, for receiving a core, and a core is loaded therein, for example, by an overhead crane (not shown). Cradles 58 receive bearings 116 of the air shaft 110, such that the cardboard tube and reeled webbing thereon is readily rotatable. Once the core 80 has been received into the cradles 58, as shown in
When the web is to be severed: the suction facility is engaged to draw the web tightly across the channel 40; the core loader 28 is caused to move to the starting configuration, as shown in
When the web is severed, the leading segment and the trailing segment follow different paths.
The leading segment continues its original trajectory around the drum 22, to complete the spool. Upon spool completion, the support arms 64 move to the offloading position, as shown in
In contrast, the trailing segment is carried by the suction portion 38 of the drum 22 to a take-up position, as shown in
After the core loader 28 has released the shaft, support arms 64 pivot to wrap hooks 66 around the shaft, specifically, around bearings 118, and the fourth cylinders 68 extend, to lock the core in position, as shown in
If it desired that the web be reeled or winded upside-down on the roll, this can be easily done with the winder, simply by retracting the upper nip roller 34 from contact with the drum 22, rethreading the web so as to pass about the lower nip roller 36, extending the lower nip roller 36 into contact with the drum 22, and driving the drum in reverse, as shown in
A second embodiment of the invention is shown in
While but two embodiments of the present invention have been herein shown and described, it will be understood that various changes can be made.
For example, whereas the illustrated embodiments utilize adhesive cores, it could be possible to use plain cardboard cores, and an adhesive applicator which applies adhesive to the core at any point in the process before the leading edge of the segment reaches the take-up position.
Equally, it could be possible to utilize plain cores, and an adhesive applicator which applies adhesive to the leading edge of the segment before it reaches the tackle-up position.
Further, whereas the embodiment of
Accordingly, it should be understood that the invention is to be limited only by the claims appended hereto, purposively construed.
Claims
1. A winder for use with an advancing web and a supply of cores, said winder comprising:
- a rotating drum around which said web passes in use and including a suction portion; a cutter mechanism adapted to sever said web, as it passes around said drum, into segments to be wound around one each respective cores from the supply;
- a suction facility adapted to draw air through the suction portion of the drum such that, when the web is severed, the trailing segment is carried by the suction portion of the drum to a release position;
- a core loader which, for each segment, receives a core from the supply at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by operative driven contact with said drum and whereat the core receives the leading edge of said trailing segment, without fold-over, from said rotating drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position;
- a guide, to which, after said each segment has started to wind upon the core, the core is moved, and which supports the core as said each web segment is partially wound thereon; and
- a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in operative driven contact with the drum until such time as said each web segment is completely wound thereon.
2. A winder for use with an advancing web and a supply of adhesive cores, said winder comprising:
- a rotating drum around which said web passes in use and including a suction portion;
- a cutter mechanism adapted to sever said web, as it passes around said drum, into segments to be wound around one each respective cores from the supply;
- a suction facility adapted to draw air through the suction portion of the drum such that, when the web is severed, the trailing segment is carried by the suction portion of the drum to a take-up position;
- a core loader which, for each segment, receives a core from the supply at a starting position whereat the core is rotated by operative driven contact with said drum and whereat the core adhesively receives the leading edge of said trailing segment, without fold-over, from said rotating drum when the trailing segment reaches the take-up position;
- a guide, to which, after said each segment has started to wind upon the core, the core is moved, and which supports the core as said each web segment is partially wound thereon; and
- a transfer mechanism which receives the core from the guide and supports same in operative driven contact with the drum until such time as said each web segment is completely wound thereon.
3. A winder according to claim 1, further comprising
- an adhesive applicator which applies adhesive to the core before the leading edge of the segment reaches the release position, such that said core adhesively receives the leading edge of said segment from said rotating drum when the web reaches the take-up position.
4. A winder according to claim 1, further comprising
- an adhesive applicator which applies adhesive to the leading edge of the segment before it reaches the release position, such that said core adhesively receives the leading edge of said segment from said rotating drum when the web reaches the take-up position.
5. A winder according to claim 1, wherein the rotating drum is a reversible rotating drum and the transfer mechanism provides for the winding of said segment on said core either web face up or web face down, depending upon the direction of drum rotation.
6. A winder according to claim 1, wherein the drum has a longitudinal channel in the outer circumferential surface thereof, and the cutter mechanism has a knife which is selectively inserted into said channel to sever the web.
7. A winder according to claim 6, wherein, when the web is to be severed, the knife is carried to a position near the drum and caused to pivot in sync with the drum such that knife rotates in mesh with the channel.
8. A winder according to claim 7, wherein a cam pin on the drum and a pivotable fork which is engaged by and moved by the pin on rotation of the drum provides for said pivotal movement of the knife in sync with the drum.
9. A winder according to claims 6 wherein the knife moves longitudinally in the channel to sever the web in use.
10. A winder according to claim 9,
- wherein the fork is pivotally mounted to a knife carriage that moves radially from a retracted position, relatively distant from the drum, to an extended cutting position, relatively proximal to the drum, when the web is to be severed; and
- wherein longitudinal movement of the knife is provided by coacting cam surfaces provided, respectively, on the fork and the knife carriage.
11. A winder according to claim 1, wherein the core loader, for each segment, receives a core from the supply and moves same to the starting position and, after said each segment has started to wind upon the core, moves the core to the guide.
12. A winder according to claim 11, wherein the core loader comprises
- a pair of radially-extending, longitudinally-spaced loading arms disposed at opposite ends of the drum,
- a core cradle for and mounted to each guide arm for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the drum axis for substantially radial movement,
- the loading arms and the cradles: having a loading configuration, for receiving a core;
- being movable, by pivotal movement of the cradles, from the loading configuration, to a starting configuration, for movement of the core to the start position and whereat the core cradles each support an end of the core in use for rotatable movement by the drum; and being movable, by pivotal movement of the loading arms about the drum axis, to a transfer configuration, for movement of the core to the guide.
13. A winder according to claim 1, wherein the transfer mechanism moves the core from the guide to an offloading position whereat the core is released as said each segment is wound upon the core.
14. A winder according to claim 13, wherein the transfer mechanism comprises:
- a pair of longitudinally spaced support arms, pivotally mounted at respective lower ends thereof for movement between transfer and offloading positions which correspond to the transfer and offloading positions of the transfer mechanism, each support arm supporting an end of the core in use for rotatable movement by the drum during movement of the core between the transfer and offloading positions.
15. A winder according to claim 6, wherein, the knife is caused to rotate in mesh with the channel to sever the web.
16. A winder according to claim 15, wherein the knife rotates in sync with the rotation of the drum and is carried to a position near the drum so as to rotate in mesh with the channel when the web is to be severed.
17. A winder according to claim 16, wherein the knife is coupled to a motor which is actuated when the web is to be severed to cause the knife to rotate in mesh with the channel.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 14, 2007
Publication Date: Sep 18, 2008
Inventors: Miroslav Planeta (Mississauga), Jozef Suhay (Orangeville), Roy Rodetsky (Brampton)
Application Number: 11/686,041
International Classification: B65H 35/06 (20060101);