Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Descri~tion
AUTO~ATIC ROLL WRAPPER REMOVING APPARATUS AND ~ETHOD
Technical Field
This in~ention pertains to apparatus and method
~or automatically removing the wrapper ~rom a cylindrical
roll such as a roll of paper such a~ newsprint paper.
Backqround af the Invention
Paper rolls are wrapped with one or more layers
of heavy wrapping paper to protect the surface of the
outer layers of paper on the roll. The wrapped roll
usually (but not always) includes "heads," namely, a dis~
of paperboard at each end o~ the roll, which must be
removed by another process, manually or mechanically. The
; remaining wrapper is referred to as the '~sleeve." For the
purposes o~ this application the paper on the roll will be
described as newsprint paper although the invention
pertains to any roll protected by a wrapper. Various ways
have been employed to cut the wrapper from the roll. One
te~hnique is for a workman to merely take a knife, press
the blade inwardly against the outer surface of the
wrapper at one end of the roll -and slice through the
wrapper ~rom end to end on the roll. This technique can
be injurious to the wor~man and ~requently results in some
of the newsprint paper ~eing cut also. This newsprint
paper is then wasted.
Another manual technigue ~or cutting the wrapper
is to start a blunt sloped knife under the outer wrapper
and manually push the knife from one end o~ ~he roll to
the other through the wrapper. This technique tends to be
more certain of not cutting the newsprint but is time-
consuming and if the workman is not careful the cutting
tool can also engage the newsprint damaging the outer
layers o~ newsprint paper.
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Attempts have been made to automate the wrapper
cutting procedure. Generally, these automated techniques
have used a motor driven rotary cutting blade which is
lowered onto the wrapper and moved from one end of the
5 roll to the other. The rotary cutting blade tends to
~requently cut through the wrapper, into the newsprint
paper damaging the newsprint paper.
In automated handling of rolls it is desirable
to not only save labor but reduce the waste caused by
10 manual or powered cutting tools cutting into the newsprint
paper. The saving of two or three wraps of newsprint
paper often adds up to savings of tens of thousands of
dollars in a single years time. It is also desirable to
put the heavy wrapper removed into a convenient form for
15 handling and disposal. Disposal is typically by baling
for recycling.
Summary of the Invention
It is an object of this invention to automate
20 the roll unwrapping process.
It is another object o~ this invention to
automate the roll unwrapping process and at the same time
Dmini~ize the waste caused when an operator or powered
wrapper cutter slits through the wrapper and damages the
25 newsprint paperO
Yet another object of ~his invention is to
provide a means for placing the removed wrapper in
condition for convenient handling and disp~sal.
The objects are obtained by moving a knife
30 gauged accurately to a preferred depth along a
predetermined cutting path under the wrapper and slit this
wrapper from the inside out. In this way the knife can
effectively slit through the outer wrapper only. In
addition to cutting the wrapper, the invention also
35 removes the cut wrapper and discharges the cut wrapper at
a location remote from the paper roll.
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Brie~_DescriPtion of the Drawin~s
Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus
~or cutting and removing the wrapper.
Figure 2 is an end elevation.
Figure 3 is an end elevation of a portion o~ th~
apparatus showing the wrapper c~tting blade positioned on
a roll.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of a portion of the
wrapper cutting apparatus.
Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of the cutting
and wrapper removal apparatus.
Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of the wrapper
removal apparatus.
Figure 7 is a plan of the apparatus shown in
figure 6.
Figure 8 is a plan of the apparatus for removing
the wrapper ~rom the wrapper collecting mandrel.
Figure 9 is a side elevation of the apparatus
shown in Figure 8.
Figure 10 is an isometric of the cutting blade.
Figures llA-llD are schematic illustrations
showing ~he steps of removing the wrapper.
Figure 12 is a fragmentary view of a sensor ~or
locating the outer edge of the wrapper.
~etailed ~escri~tion_of the Invention
Figure 1 illustrates a main ~rame 10 having a
cut wrapper collecting mandrel assembly 12, an air shower
tube 13 (Figure 3) for guiding the cut wrapper into the
mandrel assembly, and a wrapper removing assembly 16 for
stripping the cut wrapper from off of the mandrel assembly
12.
As best shown in Figure 2 the ~ain ~rame 10 also
supports a cutter carriage 18 vertically and reciprocably
mounted. A pair of cylinders 20 raise and lower the
carriage via chains and sprockets 21. A movable cutter
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assembly 22 is raised and lowered on the carriage 18 by a
set of hydraulic cylinders 24.
As will be described in more detail below, the
roll will then be rotated at half speed until the outer
edge of the wrapper is located on the roll. This is done
to position the cutter at the lapped area of the wrapper
in the unglued area.
The carriage 18 is provided with a rider roller
30 which, when the carriage is lowered, will move down
therewith into engagement with a paper roll R located on a
pair of rotatable turning rollers 32. The roll will have
a wrapper of one or more wraps surrounding the paper of
the roll. The rollers are capable of handling wrapped
rolls of various diameters such as the second wrapped roll
shown in phantom lines R2.
The cutter assembly 22 is best shown in Figures
3 and 4 and includes a set of gauge rails 34 to position a
cutter blade 36. The cutter carriage 18 will stop
downward movement when the rider roller engages the roll
R. A photo-capacitive sensor 37 will thQn sense the
presence of the roll R on the rollers 32 and activate the
pneumatic cylinders 24 to lower the cutter assembly until
th~ gauge rails 34 are positioned directly on the surface
of the wrapper ~ on the roll. The gauge rails are paced
apart sufficient to allow the forward tip of the cutter
blade 36 to enter beneath the outer wrap of the wrapper
between .011-.016 inches below the radially outer surface
of the wrapper. The cutter blade has a beveled tip 38
(Figure 10) sloping up and rearwardly to an edge 39 and
sloping down on either side from the edqe to a flat guide
sur~ace 40. The blade thus is intended to ~e slipped in
from an end of the roll under the outermost wrap of the
wrapper and tear the wrapper by pushing out from within.
In this way, the ~lat guide surface 40 canno~ penetrate
beyond the wrap on which it lays when the blade is
inserted and the continued movement of the blade ~rom the
one end of ~he roll to the other will have no occasion to
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penetrate furt~er into the next radially inward wrap of
the wrapper. In this way it is highly unlikely that any
more than the top wrap or the first two wraps of the
wrapper will be torn open by the blade and the newsprint
paper will not be engaged by the blade. $he spacing
between the gauge rail~ 34 is such that the curvature of
the roll will be slightly above the bottom surface o~ the
guide rails in the gap between the guide rails and the
blade is set to be at the precise dimension given above.
This position, of course, can be adjusted if necessary for
various types of wrappers.
The cutter blade 36 is propelled through the
wrapper from one end of the roll to the other by an
endless cable drive 42 (Figure 4) driven by a pneumatic
cable cylinder 44. The cable is fixed to a trolley 46
having a plurality of guide wheels 47 that move on a guide
track 48. Thus, by actuating the pneumatic cylinder 44,
the blade can by moved along the guide track 48 the full
length of a roll.
Once the roll wrapper has been cut all the way
through, ~he cutter blade is retracted to its original
position spaced endwise from the roll, the cutter carriage
18 is raised, and the rollers 32 are rotated to rotate the
roll R in the counterclockwise direction as shown in
~igures 2 and 3.
The air shower tube 13 emits a generally
horizontal stream of air to the left as shown in Figure 3.
As the air passes over the cut free end of the wrapper,
the free end is lifted by the air stream and guided into a
guide slot 62 (Figure 5). The cut free end of the wrapper
is moved to the left in Figure 5 by the counterclockwise
rotation of the roll R and the air stream from the air
stream tube 13 and is drawn up against the surface of the
guide bar 61 over the support bar 60 and then into the
slot 62. After passing through the slot 62, the free end
of the wrapper enters ~he gap between the spaced forks 72
o~ the cut wrapper collector mandrel assembly 12.
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A web sensing photo sensor 79 signals the
presence of the wrapper just before it enters the coiling
mandrel 12. After a short delay the mandrel will start to
rotate. The mandrel is best shown in Figures 6 and 7 and
includes a motor 70 that rotates a pair of forks 72
carried on a spindle 74. Spindle 74 is driven by a drive
belt 76 driven by the motor. The cut wrapper is then fed
through the gap or nip 78 between the forks and as the
forks rotate the wrapper becomes wrapped around the forks
in a coil. The mandrel motor is designed to accelerate to
its final speed and once it reaches that speed lmmediately
begins to decelerate slowly. This is to prevent over-
tightening of the wrapper coil on the forks. The
deceleration curve will be in the range of 50 seconds.
When the wrapper is completely unwound from the
roll R, the glue holding the inner end of the wrapper W to
the roll should release and the inner end of the innermost
wrap of the wrapper should pull free. As the inner end of
the wrapper ~eeds past the web sensing photo sensor 79,
the sensor will open a circuit, stopping the turning rolls
32 thus bringing the rotation of the roll R to a stop and
starting a short time delay. After this delay, the
mandrel motor will decelerate to a very slow indexing
speed and then will shut off with the mandrel forks
aligned vertically as shown in Figure llD.
A cylinder 83 swings the motor and forks
counterclockwise as shown in Figure 6 away from the roll
and raises it into alignment with the collecting roller
assembly 16.
The collecting roller assembly 16 is best shown
in Figures 8 and 9 and includes a set of vertical rollers
82 pivotally mounted on a pivot rod 84 and rotatably
driven by belt 86. The belt is carried on sheaves 87
mounted on the pivot rod 84. The pivot rod is rotated by
35 a motor 88. A cylinder 90 connects to linkages 92 and 94
to pivot the rollers toward one another. One roller 82 is
driven so that the wrapper can be caught between the nip
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between the two rollers when the rollers are moved toward
one another. The wrapper is thus pulled or stripped off
of the mandrel fGrks. The coil is flattened and driven
away from the machine to be received by a cart or
container for disposal.
If the inner end of the wrapper glued to the
newsprint paper does not pull free, the presence of the
newsprint paper entering the mandrel assembly will be
sensed by a light/dark photo sensor 97 (Figure 5). The
sensor will then close a circuit to actuate a conventional
tail cutter which will cut off the newsprint paper. The
tail cutter employs a cylinder 98 (Figure 2~ which is
connected to the guide bar 60 that carries an elongated
wire 99. The wire runs the length of the roll and is a
conventional paper cutting wire. When the wire cutting
cylinder piston rod is lowered, the wire is passed down
past the guide slot 62 to sever the newsprint.
The operation of the apparatus is now described.
A roll such as a newsprint paper roll R, enters the
turning rolls 32 and is cushioned to a stop in a
conventional manner.
~ bracket 200 carries a light source 103 and a
photo sensor 102 and is pivoted toward the roll by a
cylinder 201. The light 103 is directed at the surface of
the wrapper. The roll will be rotated in the unwinding
direction at a reduced speed. When the outer end 108 of
the wrapper passes beneath the light, it creates a shadow.
The shadow is detected by the photo sensor 102. Once the
photo sensor 102 finds the wrapper outer end, the turning
rolls 32 stop and the cutter assembly 22 is lowered onto
the roll.
The cutter carriage 18 is then lowered by the
cylinders 20 until the downward motion of the cutter
carriage is stopped by the rider roll 30 contacting the
roll of newsprint paper. The capacitive proximity sensor
37 (Figure 3) on the cutter carriage will sense the roll
of newsprint paper causing the cutter assembly 22 to be
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raised by the cylinders 24 relative to the carriage 18.
When the cutter assembly 22 is raised to its upper
position, it activates a photo sensor 100. The sensor 100
then signals to begin, slowly rotating the roll
counterclockwise to assure the desired overlap area is at
the cutting path.
The cutter assembly gauge rails 34 will rest on
the roll so that the tip 38 of the cutting blade 36 is
positioned beneath the outermost wrap on the roll as
lo determined by the gauge rails and beyond the glue area as
was determined by the location of the outer end of the
wrapper by sensor 102. The lowered presence of the cutter
assembly 22 is detected by a sensor 104 which activates
the cable cylinder to drive the trolley 46 and cutter
blade. The cutter blade then travels along the top of the
roll, slitting the wrapper~ After completing the cut, the
cutter assembly is raised, the air shower is emitted from
tube 13. The roll is then turned in the unwind direction
slowly. The air shower flows over the leading cutting
edge of the wrapper, drawing it up and guiding it through
the wrapper guide slot G2. The web sensing photo sensor
79 will then signal the presence of the wrapper just
before it enters the forks 72 of the coiling mandrel 12.
After a short delay, the mandrel will start to rotate as
discussed earlier.
When the wrapper is completely unwound from the
roll the glue holding the wrapper to the roll should
release and the end of the wrapper should pull free. As
the tail of the wrapper feeds past the web sensing photo
sensor 79, the photo sensor will open a circuit stopping
the turning rolls 32 and starting a short time delay.
After this delay, the mandrel motor will decelerate to
index speed and then shut off with the mandrel forks
aligned vertically.
If the wrapper does not pull free as described
earlier, the newsprint paper will be fed through the
wrapper guides and sensed by the light/dark photo sensor
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97. The photo sensor will actuate the newsprint paper
cutter cylinder 99 which will lower the wire 99 and cut
off the newsprint paper. When the newsprint paper is cut,
the turning rolls 32 will be shut off and the timer will
be started as described above. After the time delay, the
mandrel motor will be rotated to its indexed position and
then shut off. The turning rolls will be reversed to wind
up the free end of the newsprint onto the roll R.
After the mandrel motor is shut off, the
cylinder 83 will swing the mandrel upward. The end of the
coiled wrapper tube extending beyond the mandrel forks 72
will be fed between the discharge rollers 82. The
discharge rollers will be closed on the end of the wrapper
tube. The newsprint roll R will also be ejected from the
turning rollers 32. ~fter the discharge rollers 82 are
closed, the discharge roller motor 88 will start. The
discharge rollers will pull the wrapper tube off the
mandrel forks, flattening the wrapper tube as it feeds
through the rollers and will discharge the flattened
wrapper tube into a bin or receptacle. As the wrapper
tube is being discharged, the next roll R of newsprint
enters the turning rollers and the sequence repeats.
The method of this invention is best shown
schematically in Figures llA-llD. The steps include
rotating a roll wrapped with one or more wraps of a
wrapper until the outer edg2 of the wrapper is located,
automatically moving a cutting knife having a beveled tip,
guided by gauge rails on the roll, along a predetermined
cutting path to penetrate beneath the outer wrap at a
predetermined distance circumferentially from the sensed
wrapper outer edge, drawing tha cutting knife through the
wrapper from one end of the roll to ths other, tearing the
wrapper open from the inside out, and rotating the roll
while guiding the cut severed end of the wrapper to a
gathering location. At the gathering location, wrapping
the wrapper into a coil and then stripping the coiled
wrapper from the gathering location for discharge. ~he
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method includes sensing the presence of newsprint paper
attached to the cut wrapper and cutting the newsprint if
it is accidently so attached to the wrapper.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention
have been illustrated and described, it should be apparent
that variations will be apparent to one skilled in the art
without departing from the principles herein.
Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the form
illustrated in the drawing.
