Apparatus for converting paper rolls into stacks of individual folded paper sheets

• US 4,190,241 A
• Filed: 05/01/1978
• Issued: 02/26/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Corporation
• Inventors: Krueger, Gary A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Burr, Edgar S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Heinz, A.
• Application Number:
  US05/901,436
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• Field of Search: 270/60, 270/42, 270/47, 270/48, 270/6, 270/13, 270/19, 93/93 R, 93/93 M, 93/93 C, 93/93 D, 93/93 K, 93/93 DP
• US Class Current: 270/47
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/4212 of articles substantially horizontal
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/42172 simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/42266 by acting on edge of the pile for moving it along a surface, e.g. pushing
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/426 Forming batches
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/1924 Napkins or tissues, e.g. dressings, toweling, serviettes, kitchen paper and compresses
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 29/243 Suction rollers
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 29/40 Members rotated about an axis perpendicular to direction of article movement, e.g. star-wheels formed by S-shaped members
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 31/10 and applied at the top of the pile
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 31/3054 by moving the surface supporting the lowermost article of the pile, e.g. by using belts or rollers
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 31/3081 by acting on edge of the pile for moving it along a surface, e.g. by pushing
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 31/32 Auxiliary devices for receiving articles during removal of a completed pile
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 35/04 from or with transverse cutters or perforators
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 37/06 for folding

Abstract

An apparatus for converting rolls of paper web into stacks of folded sheets on a continuous high speed basis includes slitting a supply roll into plural narrow webs, folding the narrow webs longitudinally, cutting the folded webs transversely into sheets of suitable length, pre-stacking continuous streams of adjacent folded sheets emerging from the cutters before they are carried to a final stacking mechanism. The pre-stacking mechanism removes certain sheets from their original positions in the continuous streams of folded sheets and places them on top of other sheets in the streams from which they were removed in order to deliver to the final stacking mechanism sets of pre-stacked sheets with a gap between adjacent sets.

Claims

1. In apparatus for converting a continuous paper web into stacks of individual web segments, the combination comprising:

a cutting station including a cutter for transversely segmenting said web into a continuous stream of adjacent sheets of regular length as said web is carried through said cutting station;

means including a rotary transfer cylinder for receiving said stream of adjacent sheets and transferring said sheets from said cutting station to a final stacking station;

a rotary pre-stacker cylinder positioned parallel and tangent to said transfer cylinder for pre-stacking sets of sheets on said transfer cylinder before said sheets are delivered to said final stacking station, including means for removing certain sheets from said transfer cylinder, carrying them through 360°

of rotation, and placing them upon remaining sheets on said transfer cylinder, whereby sets of pre-stacked sheets, spaced by the gaps vacated by the removed sheets, are delivered by said transfer cylinder to said final stacking station; and

means at said final stacking station for stacking said sets of pre-stacked sheets as they are delivered to said stacking station, said gaps providing an interval for stacking of one set of pre-stacked sheets onto the top of said stack, before the next set is delivered.

2. In apparatus for converting a continuous paper web into stacks of individual folded tissues, the combination comprising:

means for longitudinally folding said web;

a cutting station including a cutter for transversely cutting said folded web into a continuous series of adjacent tissues of regular length as the web is carried through said cutting station;

means including a rotary transfer cylinder for receiving said stream of adjacent tissues and transferring said tissues from said cutting station to a final stacking station;

a rotary pre-stacker cylinder positioned parallel and tangent to said transfer cylinder, said pre-stacker cylinder having

(a) suction ports at regularly spaced locations around its periphery;

(b) a vacuum supply for said suction ports, and

(c) means operative as the pre-stacker cylinder rotates to connect and disconnect said vacuum supply with said suction ports for removing certain of said tissues from said transfer cylinder at the nip between said cylinders, carrying said removed tissues on said pre-stacker cylinder as it rotates, releasing said removed tissues from the pre-stacker cylinder just prior to completing 360°

of rotation on said pre-stacker cylinder, and placing said removed tissues onto tissues remaining on the transfer cylinder, so that said transfer cylinder delivers sets of pre-stacked tissues, with gaps between said sets, to said final stacking station;

and means for removing said pre-stacked sets of tissues from said transfer cylinder and stacking them as they are delivered at said final stacking station, said gaps providing an interval for stacking of one set of pre-stacked tissues on to the top of the stack before the next set is delivered.

3. In apparatus for converting a continuous paper web into stacks of individual web segments, the combination comprising:

a cutting station including a cutter for transversely cutting said web into web segments of regular length as said web is carried through said cutting staion;

means including a rotary transfer cylinder for carrying said web segments from said cutting station to a final stacking station;

a rotary pre-stacker cylinder for pre-stacking sets of web segments on said transfer cylinder, said pre-stacker cylinder including

(a) a rotatable cylindrical shell having an odd number (N) of sets of suction ports penetrating the shell and spaced regularly around the shell a distance of at least the length of a segment;

(b) a rotor rotatably mounted within said shell and having N+1 veins in substantial sealing engagement with said shell and defining an even number N+1 of alternating vacuum and air chambers between adjacent veins and said shell,

(c) a shaft for the rotor having passages communicating with said vacuum chambers and connecting said vacuum chambers to a vacuum supply,

(d) means for rotating said shell and said rotor shaft in the same direction so that the rotational speed of said shell is greater than the rotational speed of said rotor by the factor (N+1)/N, whereby said suction ports communicate with successive chambers as the rotor and shell rotate, and each set of suction ports advances from being over a vacuum chamber when at the nip between said cylinders to being over the succeeding air chamber just prior to completing 360°

of rotation of said shell, for removing alternate segments from said transfer cylinder as said alternate segments reach the nip, carrying said segments on the pre-stacker cylinder through 360°

of rotation, and releasing the segments onto web segments remaining on the transfer cylinder,

so that said transfer cylinder delivers sets of pre-stacked web segments with gaps between said sets to said final stacking station; and

means for removing said sets of web segments from said transfer cylinder and stacking them as they are delivered at said final stacking station, said gaps providing an interval for stacking of one set of pre-stacked segments by the stacking means on to the top of the stack, before the next set is delivered.

4. A pre-stacking mechanism for processing a continuous stream of substantially adjacent sheets of uniform size as the sheets are carried on a moving surface from a first station to a second station, comprising a rotary cylinder that is positioned intermediate of said stations, tangent to said surface, and perpendicular including

(a) a rotatable cylindrical shell having an odd number N of sets of suction ports penetrating the shell and spaced regularly around the shell a distance of at least the length of a segment;

(b) a rotor rotatably mounted within said shell and having N+1 veins in substantial sealing engagement with said shell and defining an even number N+1 of alternating vacuum and air chambers between adjacent veins and said shell,

(c) a shaft for the rotor having passages communicating with said vacuum chambers and connecting said vacuum chambers to a vacuum supply,

(d) means for rotating said shell and said rotor shaft in the same direction so that the rotational speed of said shell is greater than the rotational speed of said rotor by the factor (N+1)/N, whereby said suction ports communicate with successive chambers as the rotor and shell rotate, and each set of suction ports advances from being over a vacuum chamber when at the nip between said cylinder and said surface to being over the succeeding air chamber just prior to completing 360°

of rotation of said shell, for removing alternate sheets from said surface as said alternate sheets reach said nip, carrying said removed sheets on said cylinder through 360°

of rotation, and releasing said removed sheets onto sheets remaining on said surface,

so that said surface delivers sets of pre-stacked sheets with gaps between said sets to said second station.