Drum Unwind System for Sheet Materials

This invention relates to a drum unwind system for sheet materials in roll form such as rolls of paper, tape and the like.

Drum unwinds for the unwinding of rolls of sheet material commonly include a hard surfaced unwind drum such as a metal drum. The drum for the purpose of effecting the unwinding of the sheet material is placed against the periphery of the roll of sheet material so that a pressure nip between the peripheries of the drum and the roll is formed. Also, the roll of sheet material is mounted to be free to rotate and the drum drives the roll in rotation through the pressure existing in the nip between the drum and roll. As the unwinding of the roll takes place, the sheet material is drawn from the nip and is passed to other devices such as reels, forming boards and the like.

The pressure in the nip between the rolls as the diameter of the roll of material decreases is maintained in any convenient manner as by use of the air cylinders. For this purpose, of course, either the roll of material or the drum is mounted to be moved transversely of its axis by the action of the air cylinders.

The mentioned unwind system of the prior art is useful but suffers from certain drawbacks. A first of these is that commonly the roll of sheet material termed, for convenience, the parent roll is more subject to deformation radially than is the unwind drum. This leads to a condition in which the lineal speed of the parent roll in the pressure nip differs from the surface speed of the remainder of the roll.

Stated somewhat differently, the diameter of the parent roll as measured from the nip radially is less than the diameter of the parent roll and all other undeformed portions of the roll. A sag in the material being unwound then occurs. The difficulty mentioned is particularly apparent with sheets of material which are of low stretch and/or are of low strength.

A primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel method for the unwinding of rolls of sheet material utilizing an unwind drum system in which the unwind drum has a surface of a material which deforms much more easily than the roll of material to be unwound.

An important object of the invention is to provide a drum unwind system in which the unwind drum has a covering of a very soft deformable foam material. A further object of the invention is to describe novel apparatus arrangement for unwinding sheet material.

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a drum unwind system in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating the nip relationship between the unwind drum and material to be unwound;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating the sag which occurs in the normal prior art unwind drum system;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 but illustrating the principle of the present invention whereby the mentioned sheet sag is eliminated.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings and initially particularly to FIG. 1, the numeral 1 generally designates the frame of the equipment. The equipment includes a U-shaped base 2 which is open rearwardly at 3. The rearward portion of the frame 2 includes a pair of oppositely disposed upstanding pedestals 4. Surmounting each pedestal 4 is a pillow block 5. The numeral 6a designates a metal roll journalled in the pillow blocks 5. The roll 6a itself has a soft compressible readily deformable covering 6 of polyether foam.

The base 2 supports on opposite sides, and only one of which is shown in FIG. 1, fixed blocks as at 7. As indicated, block 7 includes stud shaft 8 which pivotally receives a standard 9. The two standards, one on each of the opposite sides of the base 2, are transversely slotted at their upper ends to provide, as indicated at 10, an open bearing structure for receipt of a spindle 11. As shown, spindle 11 itself mounts a roll 12 of wound sheet material. In the present example the sheet material is divided axially into a plurality of strips 13 and 13a to be unwound. The roll 12 with the soft covering 6 of the unwind roll forms, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, particularly a pressure nip N.

In operation the roll 6a is driven from any suitable source of power such as motor M and belt B in conventional manner. The roll 12 is then driven by friction from roll 6a. The rotational directions are shown in FIG. 1.

In order to maintain the nip pressure as roll 12 is decreased in diameter in the unwinding operation, provision is made for moving the roll 12 leftwardly in FIG. 1 against the fixedly positioned unwind roll. This mechanism includes the mentioned blocks 7 and a pair of oppositely disposed air cylinders pivoting each standard 9 leftwardly in FIG. 1 on the blocks. In connection with the air cylinder drives, numeral 14 indicates a stud which receives a clevis 15 on the end of a piston rod 16 of the air cylinder having the housing indicated at 17. The air cylinders in their operation are well-known and the connecting equipment for the supply of air is not shown in the drawings as the specific mode of air supply has no relation to the present invention. The housing 17 is pivotally connected to stud shaft 18 which extends from vertical support 19. Support 19 itself depends from the cross brace bar 20.

Referring now to FIG. 3, in prior art practice the drum indicated at 24 which drives the parent roll 12' would normally be harder than the parent roll. The parent roll would then tend to be deformed by the pressure existing at the peripheries of the roll and drum. It is considered that the reason for the sag of the material is that the diameter of the parent roll as measured from the nip is less than the diameter of the parent roll at other places on a roll surface and, consequently, the lineal speed in the nip of the parent roll is somewhat decreased over that of the remainder of the roll circumference. This decrease in speed as the material being withdrawn from the parent roll enters the nip causes the indicated sag.

In accordance witn the present invention as illustrated in FIG. 4, the drum 6a has the covering 6 which is highly deformable at least to about one-half of the covering thickness when under pressure and, importantly, the parent roll has no significant distortion in the nip. Accordingly, the diameter of the parent roll is the same whether measured from a nip area or otherwise. The speed of the sheet material being withdrawn is then the same in the nip as elsewhere. This eliminates sag from the sheet material.

As may be seen from FIG. 2, not only is sag eliminated but the arrangement of the invention is effective in instances where the roll hardness or other characteristic vary such that the roll deforms differentially in the pressure nip. Thus, for example, each one of the strips 13 may be (FIG. 2) less deformable than an adjacent strip and will deform the soft covering 6 much less and withdrawal of the plurality of strips in the manner indicated in FIG. 1 is facilitated.

In the operation of the device of the present invention it is important that the withdrawal of the unwinding material from the nip N be in a direction normal or perpendicular to the zone of contact of the peripheries of the unwind drum, and the material being unwound. Specifically, it is important that the unwinding material not be permitted to wrap the soft deformable covering 6. It is preferable in some instances that the unwinding material be guided into a very slight wrap with the material being unwound to avoid any possibility of the unwinding material following the soft covering 6.

In the embodiment illustrated the soft covering 6 was of a polyether foam and approximately 3/4 inch thick. The material being unwound is a paper sheet material having a relatively low stretch characteristic. The strips designated 13 were withdrawn from the sheet material roll in such a manner as to avoid wrapping of the covering 6 as already noted, and were then passed to guide bars 22 and to a folding board 23 for sheet folding. The deformation of the 3/4 inch thick covering when under nip pressure in sheet withdrawal was such that the foam thickness was about 1/4 inch thick. The resiliency of the foam, however, is such that it re-expands immediately outside the nip and the issuing sheet of paper or the like must be maintained clear of the re-expanding foam to avoid gripping of the sheet. In general, the pressure is applied only that sufficient to drive the unwinding roll without slippage. Foam materials preferred for the purpose are the polyether and polyester foams which compress readily, for example, under finger pressure. However, the important factor is that the foam compresses under pressure application in circumstances in which the sheet material roll compresses or deforms substantially not at all.

The strips 13a staggered in relation to the strips 13 were similarly withdrawn from the sheet material and passed to other folding boards. The sheet material of the rolls to be unwound may be paper, creped tissue paper, nonwoven fabrics and the like and the system is of particular utility in instances in which the sheet material is of low strength and low stretch. It is also of considerable utility where toilet tissue is to be formed such as in the manner of strips 13 and 13a.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.