U.S. patent number 3,886,030 [Application Number 05/311,678] was granted by the patent office on 1975-05-27 for web splicing apparatus.
Invention is credited to Peter Hurst.
United States Patent |
3,886,030 |
Hurst |
May 27, 1975 |
Web splicing apparatus
Abstract
The invention is a simple and inexpensive means for splicing
together webs of paper, particularly for a newspaper printing press
where it is desirable to be able to change reels of paper without
stopping the press. The splicing means comprises a pair of rollers
mounted on a common carrier which is trunnion mounted for rotation
about an axis disposed between the rollers. The splicing means can
be moved from a position where two webs to be joined pass between
rollers without contacting one another, to a transposed position in
which the webs are brought together and the resultant combined web
is constrained to follow a sinuous path about the rollers. The end
of the new web is pasted in any convenient manner. The mechanism
for rotating the carrier may be a rack and pinion device actuated
by a double-acting pneumatic ram.
Inventors: |
Hurst; Peter (Rochford, Essex,
EN) |
Family
ID: |
10477140 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/311,678 |
Filed: |
December 4, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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|
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Dec 6, 1971 [GB] |
|
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56634/71 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
156/504;
242/555.1; 156/157 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H
19/1873 (20130101); B65H 19/1831 (20130101); B65H
2301/4633 (20130101); B65H 2301/4641 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65H
19/18 (20060101); B65h 019/18 () |
Field of
Search: |
;156/157,159,502,504,505,544,545 ;242/154,58.1,58.3,58.4,58.5 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Powell; William A.
Assistant Examiner: Leitten; Brian J.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brady, O'Boyle & Gates
Claims
I claim:
1. Apparatus for splicing a moving web comprising, a pair of
parallel web guides which are spaced apart to define between them a
single path through which the moving web can pass, a common carrier
on which said pair of web guides are mounted, said carrier having a
pivot axis spaced laterally between and parallel with said pair of
web guides, said carrier being pivotable about said axis to cause
orbital movement of the web guides, means adjacent said carrier and
spaced from the web guides for releasably holding a second web
under tension and adjacent one web guide of the pair of web guides,
which second web is stationary and a portion of which is provided
with an adhesive coating whereby it can be secured to said moving
web, and means connected to pivot said carrier to move said web
guides from positions in which the moving web and the second web
are mutually remote to positions in which the webs are brought into
surface-to-surface contact with one another and the resultant
combined web is constrained to follow a sinuous path about said
pair of web guides to ensure intimate contact between the two webs,
whereupon the second web is released by the tensioning means, the
means for releasably holding the second web under tension being
disposed such that the stationary web can be held against either
web guide, the arrangement being such that pivoting of the carrier
in one direction will effect splicing of the webs when the
stationary web is held against one of the web guides and pivoting
of the carrier in the other direction will cause splicing of the
webs when the stationary web is held against the other of the web
guides.
2. Web splicing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the web
guides comprise rollers.
3. Web splicing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means
for pivoting the carrier comprises a rack and pinion device
actuated by a double-acting pneumatic ram.
Description
The invention relates to printing machinery and more particularly
to automatic reel changing apparatus for high speed printing
presses and to reel stands incorporating such automatic reel
changing apparatus.
It is a disadvantage of many known reel stands that in order to
replace an expired reel by a fresh reel of paper during a printing
run it is necessary to stop the printing press, thus effectively
reducing the output of the press, perhaps by as much as forty
per-cent. Such a reduction can only be avoided at present either by
using a printing press of higher output or by using an automatic
reel changing device which is complicated and thus costly.
It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and thus
inexpensive device whereby reels may be changed without the
necessity of stopping the printing press, and it will be
appreciated that the invention finds particular application in
situations where a high printing speed is essential, e.g. in the
printing of newspapers.
From one aspect the present invention provides web splicing
apparatus comprising means for bringing an adhesive coated portion
of a first web and a second web into surface-to-surface contact and
for constraining the newly joined webs to follow a sinuous path to
ensure intimate contact between the two webs. The apparatus may
comprise a parallel pair of web guides, e.g. rollers, on a common
carrier which is adapted for orbital movement about an axis
disposed between the rollers and parallel with the axes thereof,
the two webs being passed between the rollers, and means for
rotating the carrier. In operation the arrangement is such that the
rollers can be moved from a position in which the webs pass
therebetween without contacting one another to a position in which
the webs are brought together and the resultant combined web is
constrained to follow a sinuous path about the rollers, which
ensures that the webs are firmly secured together.
Any suitable means may be provided for rotating the carrier, e.g. a
rack and pinion device actuated by a double-acting pneumatic ram.
It has been found desirable when joining the webs to move the
rollers from their non-operative to their operative position as
quickly as possible.
The apparatus preferably comprises means for holding the end of the
new web under tension and against one of the pair of rollers prior
to and during the joining. The means may comprise one or more and
preferably two spring biased tapes releasably secured to the web
(.e.g. by an adhesive) to permit the tapes to become detached from
the webs immediately after the webs have been joined. The apparatus
may also comprise means for pasting the end of the new web and/or
means for severing the expired web.
From another aspect the invention comprises a reel stand comprising
web splicing apparatus as defined above, the reel stand having for
each web a loading and a running position whereby a fresh reel can
be loaded while the other web is being consumed.
From yet another aspect the invention comprises printing machinery
having web splicing apparatus as defined above or having a reel
stand as defined above.
One embodiment of the invention will now be described with
reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:
FIGS. 1 and 1A are respectively a perspective view and a side view
of automatic web splicing apparatus in a first position of
operation;
FIGS. 2 and 2A to FIGS. 10 and 10A are respectively perspective
views and side views of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 1A in further
positions;
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the web splicing mechanism;
FIG. 12 is a side elevation of a reel stand incorporating web
splicing apparatus as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, and which permits
reels to be changed.
Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 1A to FIGS. 10 and 10A of the
drawings there is shown automatic web splicing apparatus 10 for use
in association with a reel stand for a printing press and by means
of which an expired reel can be changed for a new reel without the
necessity of stopping the press. With a high speed printing press
producing newsprint it will normally be necessary to slow the press
to crawl speed during reel changing, but this, of course, will
depend on the tensile strength of the web, the normal speed of
operation of the press, and the inertia of the new reel. The
drawings show a pair of reels 1 and 2 associated with each press,
only one of the reels being used at one time. Preferably the
configuration of the reel stand is also such that expired reels can
be replaced with fresh reels without impeding the drawing of web
from the other reel.
The reel changing apparatus comprises a pair of web guides in the
form of rollers 3 and 4 mounted on a carrier 5 for orbital movement
about an axis 6 equispaced between the axes of the rollers 3 and 4
and parallel thereto. A web 12 being fed to the press from the reel
2 passes between the rollers 3 and 4. The end of the new web 8 to
be joined to the end of the expiring web also passes between the
rollers 3 and 4, and is held in this position by tensioning means
7, e.g. a pair of spring urged flexible tapes whose ends are
temporarily stuck to the web by means of an adhesive. At this stage
the disposition of the carrier 5 is such that the webs 12 and 8 are
disposed remotely from one another as is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, the reel 2 has been consumed so that it is
necessary to change-over to the new reel 1.
Before the leading end of the new web 8 is joined to the expiring
end of the old web, the end of the new web is coated with an
adhesive in conventional manner, for example, using a strip of
double-sided adhesive tape.
When the two webs are to be united, the carrier 5 is rotated
through 180.degree. in the direction shown in arrow X, see FIGS. 3
and 3A, so that the adhesive-coated surface of the new web contacts
the surface of the web 12. At the same time the transposition of
the rollers 3 and 4 causes the joined web to follow a sinuous path
which ensures intimate contact between the two webs to be joined.
During rotation of the carrier, which is done as quickly as
possible by means of a rack and pinion device actuated by a double
acting pneumatic ram which is more fully described below, the
tensioning tapes of means 7 become detached from the end of the web
8. After the joining has been completed the carrier 5 is rotated in
the opposite direction through 180.degree. (arrow Y) into the
position shown in FIG. 4. Also the end of the expiring web 12 is
severed as indicated at 16 in any suitable manner e.g. manually or
automatically, either in the FIG. 3 or in the FIG. 4 position as
desired. Web is now fed to the press from the reel 1. As shown in
FIG. 5 the expired reel 2 is then displaced by a fresh reel 14.
When the reel 1 expires it can be replaced by the newly loaded reel
in the manner described above. This sequence is shown in FIGS. 6
and 6A to 10 and 10A. In this case however joining is effected by
rotating the carrier 5 in the opposite direction to that effected
when joining the web 8. This is shown by the arrow Z of FIG.
8A.
The web splicing mechanism 10 shown in FIG. 11 of the drawings
comprises a pair of web guide rollers 3 and 4 which are mounted on
a carrier 5 which is supported by trunnions 17 whereby the rollers
can be rotated about the trunnion axis. One trunnion shaft 17 has a
pinion 18 secured thereto, the pinion meshing with a toothed rack
19. The rack is connected to a double-acting pneumatic ram 21 by
means of a piston rod 20, and the ram 21 is fixed to the machine
frame by a bracket 22. In this manner the rollers can at will be
rotated in either direction.
Referring to FIG. 12 of the drawings there is shown a reel stand
structure 13 which simultaneously serves four printing units. The
structure holds eight reels 1, 2 arranged in four groups of two so
that two reels are associated with each printing unit, one being
used while the other is being loaded. An automatic web splicing
apparatus 10 as described above is associated with each pair of
reels. The configuration of the stand is such that expired reels
can be replaced without stopping the press, the new reels being
inserted between the reels mounted in the stand, as indicated at
14.
* * * * *