APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR VARYING SPEED OF SHEET MATERIAL ARTICLES IN A TRIMMER
A trimmer is provided. The trimmer includes an infeed for transporting a sheet material article at a first speed, a trimming station transporter for decelerating the sheet material article for trimming by a trimmer, and a decelerator between the infeed and the trimming station transporter. The decelerator forms a deceleration nip for transferring the sheet material article from the infeed to the trimming station transporter. A method of operating a trimmer is also provided.
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The present invention relates generally to sheet material trimmers and more specifically to a transporting sheet material articles in sheet material trimmers.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONU.S. Pat. No. 7,555,975 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,252, which are both hereby incorporated by reference herein, disclose sheet material trimmers.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA trimmer is provided. The trimmer includes an infeed for transporting a sheet material article at a first speed, a trimming station transporter for decelerating the sheet material article for trimming by a trimmer, and a decelerator between the infeed and the trimming station transporter. The decelerator forms a deceleration nip for transferring the sheet material article from the infeed to the trimming station transporter.
A method of operating a trimmer is also provided. The method includes transporting a sheet material article at an infeed at a first speed and receiving the sheet material article from the infeed at a deceleration nip. A surface speed of the deceleration nip is equal to the first speed as the deceleration nip receives the sheet material article from the infeed. The method also includes decelerating the sheet material using the deceleration nip and passing the sheet material article to a trimming station transporter.
The present invention is described below by reference to the following drawings, in which:
As deceleration nip 32 receives the sheet material article from infeed 12, a trailing edge of the sheet material article is still in contact with forwarding belts 28, 30 and a surface speed of the deceleration nip 32 is equal to the infeed speed (i.e., the surface speed of belts 20, 22, 28, 30). After the sheet material exits infeed 12, i.e., after a trailing edge of the sheet material article is no longer in contact with forwarding belts 28, 30, the surface speed of deceleration nip 32 is decreased, decelerating the sheet material article using deceleration nip 32. As sheet material enters into trimming station 18, i.e., when a leading edge of the sheet material articles contacts a trimming station transporter 46, which is formed by an upper transport conveyor 48 for contacting the upper side of the sheet material article and a lower transport conveyor 50 for contacting the lower side of the sheet material article, the surface speed of deceleration nip 32 is equal to a surface speed of trimming station transporter 46. Deceleration nip 32 and trimming station transporter 46 then decelerate the sheet material article together until the sheet material article exits deceleration nip 32, i.e., when a trailing edge of the sheet material articles is no longer in contact with lower decelerator section 34 and upper decelerator section 40.
After the sheet material article exits deceleration nip 32, trimming station transporter 46 continues to decelerate the sheet material article until the sheet material article comes to a complete stop. Once the sheet material article is stopped, a trimming device 52 trims an edge of the sheet material article. In this embodiment, decelerator 14 and trimming station transporter 46 are driven by a common drive, such that the surface speed of trimming station transport 46 is always equal to the surface speed of deceleration nip 32. In order to avoid problems for a following sheet material article entering deceleration nip 32 while the surface speed of deceleration nip 32 is lower than the infeed speed (i.e., the surface speed of the following sheet material article), deceleration nip 32 is opened after the sheet material article exits deceleration nip 32 (as shown with respect to book 58 in
A cam 104 is driven by a chain 106 connected to the mechanism that also raises and lowers upper knife 84. Cam 104 rotates once per cycle just as upper knife 84 moves up and down once per cycle to cut each book. A cam follower bearing 108 rotates on cam 98 and is mounted to a lever 110, pivoting on a stud 112. Lever 110 is loaded against cam 104 by a spring 114. A connecting rod 116 connects cam lever 110 to a drive lever 118 mounted on the end of a belt actuating shaft 120. Belt actuating shaft 120 is also splined to allow adjustment of upper decelerator section actuators 92, 94 for different book width.
A timing belt pulley 138 is mounted on a splined bore sleeve 140 that is connected to deceleration belt lever 128 and sleeve 136 by a bearing 142 which allows deceleration belt lever 128 to pivot up and down while timing belt pulley 138 spins upper deceleration belt 42. Splined bore sleeve 140 is driven by splined upper drive shaft 102. Upper deceleration belt 42 wraps an idler pulley 144 mounted on bearings 146 to the end of deceleration belt lever 128. Upper deceleration belt 42 is positioned directly above lower deceleration roller 36 and deceleration nip 32 is created between belt 42 and roller 36 as deceleration belt lever 128 and belt 42 pivot downward.
In the preceding specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments and examples thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive sense.
Claims
1. A trimmer comprising:
- an infeed for transporting a sheet material article at a first speed;
- a trimming station transporter for decelerating the sheet material article for trimming by a trimmer; and
- a decelerator between the infeed and the trimming station transporter, the decelerator forming a deceleration nip for decelerating and transferring the sheet material article from the infeed to the trimming station transporter, the deceleration nip having a surface speed equal to the first speed when the deceleration nip receives the sheet material article.
2. The trimmer as recited in claim 1 wherein the deceleration nip receives the sheet material article from the infeed at the first speed and decelerates the sheet material article with the trimming station transporter.
3. The trimmer as recited in claim 1 wherein the decelerator includes a first decelerator section contacting a first side of the sheet material article and a second decelerator section contacting a second side of the sheet material article.
4. The trimmer as recited in claim 3 wherein the first decelerator section is movable away from the second decelerator section such that the first decelerator section does not contact the first side of the sheet material article.
5. The trimmer as recited in claim 4 wherein the decelerator includes an actuator moving the first decelerator section away from the second decelerator section after the sheet material article is released from the decelerator nip.
6. The trimmer as recited in claim 3 wherein the first decelerator section includes at least one belt or at least one roller contacting the first side of the sheet material article.
7. A trimmer comprising:
- an infeed for transporting a sheet material article at a first speed;
- a trimming station transporter for decelerating the sheet material article for trimming by a trimmer; and
- a decelerator between the infeed and the trimming station transporter, the decelerator forming a deceleration nip for transferring the sheet material article from the infeed to the trimming station transporter,
- wherein the infeed includes a pair of forwarding belts for releasing the sheet material article to the decelerator.
8. The trimmer as recited in claim 1 wherein the trimming station transporter includes a first transport conveyor for contacting a first side of the sheet material article and a second transport conveyor for contacting a second side of the sheet material article, the first transport conveyor and the second transport conveyor decelerating the sheet material article for trimming.
9. The trimmer as recited in claim 1 wherein the decelerator contacts both sides of the sheet material article before the sheet material article is released from the infeed and contacts both sides of the sheet material article after the sheet material article has been received by the trimmer station.
10. The trimmer as recited in claim 9 wherein a surface speed of the decelerator is equal to a surface speed of the infeed while both the decelerator and the infeed contact the sheet material article and the surface speed of the decelerator is equal to a surface speed of the trimming station transporter while both the decelerator and the trimming station transporter contact the sheet material article.
11. A method of operating a trimmer comprising:
- transporting a sheet material article at an infeed at a first speed;
- receiving the sheet material article from the infeed at a deceleration nip, a surface speed of the deceleration nip being equal to the first speed as the deceleration nip receives the sheet material article from the infeed; and
- decelerating the sheet material using the deceleration nip and passing the sheet material article to a trimming station transporter.
12. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising receiving the sheet material article from the deceleration nip at a trimming station transporter, a surface speed of the trimming station transporter being equal to the surface speed of the deceleration nip as the trimming station transporter receives the sheet material article from the deceleration nip.
13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the trimming station transporter includes a first conveyor for contacting a first side of the sheet material article and a second conveyor for contacting a second side of the sheet material article.
14. The method as recited in claim 13 wherein the deceleration nip is formed by a first decelerator section contacting the first side of the sheet material article and a second decelerator section contacting the second side of the sheet material article, the first decelerator section and the second decelerator section transporting the sheet material article together with the first transport conveyor and second transporter conveyor after the infeed releases the sheet material article.
15. The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the receiving the sheet material article from the infeed at a deceleration nip includes moving the first decelerator section toward the second decelerator section to contact the first side of the sheet material article.
16. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein a surface speed of the deceleration nip is varied during sequential cycles, each cycle including accelerating the deceleration nip to match the first speed of the infeed and decelerating the deceleration nip to slow down a corresponding sheet material article for trimming.
17. The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the surface speed of the trimming station transporter is equal to the surface speed of the deceleration nip throughout each cycle.
18. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising opening the deceleration nip after the decelerating step before a following sheet material article enters the deceleration nip, the deceleration nip have a surface speed greater than a surface speed of the following sheet material article as the following sheet material article enters the deceleration nip.
19. The method as recited in claim 18 further comprising increasing surface speed of the deceleration nip after the opening step.
20. The method as recited in claim 19 further comprising closing the deceleration nip when the surface speed of the deceleration nip equals the surface speed of the following sheet material article.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 28, 2013
Publication Date: Aug 28, 2014
Applicant: Goss International Americas, Inc. (Durham, NH)
Inventors: Louis John Doucet (Salem, NH), Glenn Alan Guaraldi (Kingston, NH)
Application Number: 13/780,610
International Classification: B65H 5/34 (20060101);