US3655142A - Spirally wound web pay-out apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus for paying out a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions comprising a reel for mounting the web in coil form, reel drive means and a pair of rotatable feed rollers, one of the pair of feed rollers being a fixed roller having a fixed axial position and the other feed roller being a movable roller adapted to be urged by a spring to bear against the fixed feed roller. Gear teeth are formed on the outer circumferential surface of one coaxial side plate of the reel and a gear is attached to each of the pair of feed rollers coaxially with the respective rollers with the gear of the fixed feed roller being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of the reel and the gear of the movable feed roller.

Description

United States Patent Mase et a1.

[15] 3,655,142 5] Apr.l1,1972

[54] SPIRALLY WOUND WEB PAY-OUT APPARATUS [72] inventors: Takehisa Mase; Hirosi Kawaura, both of Kariya; Terumoto Yamaguchi; Yosinao Amano, both of Anjo, all of Japan 2,730,309 1/1956 Baer ..242/183 2,779,410 1/1957 Leslie ..242/55 X 3,107,064 10/1963 Price et al ..242/55 3,417,934 12/1968 Palm ..242/55 3,473,751 10/1969 Quenot ..242/67.2

F OREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATION S 1,055,825 4/1959 Germany ..242/183 Primary ExaminerStanley N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-Wemer H. Schroeder Att0rneyCushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus for paying out a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions comprising a reel for mounting the web in coil form, reel drive means and a pair of rotatable feed rollers, one of the pair of feed rollers being a fixed roller having a fixed axial position and the other feed roller being a movable roller adapted to be urged by a spring to bear against the fixed feed roller. Gear teeth are formed on the outer circumferential surface of one coaxial side plate of the reel and a gear is attached to each of the pair of feed rollers coaxially with the respective rollers with the gear of the fixed feed roller being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of the reel and the gear of the movable feed roller.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented April 11, 1972 3,655,142

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 SPIRALLY WOUND WEB PAY-OUT APPARATUS This invention relates to a spirally wound web pay-out apparatus for automatically paying out and supplying a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions. One type of spirally wound web pay-out device known in the art comprises a reel for supporting a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions thereon, and a pair of feed rollers for paying out the web from the reel. The reel is rotatably supported on a support bed and the pair of feed rollers are driven by an electric motor for forcibly pulling the web from the reel, whereby the reel can be rotated and the web can be paid out. In the conventional arrangement described above, no means is provided for regulating the rate of rotation of the reel, so that a force of impact tends to be exerted on the web wound in convolutions on the reel by the inertia of the reel when the feed rollers are started and the web in coil form tends to be loosened because the reel is delayed in stopping rotation when the rotation of the feed rollers is terminated. Under these circumstances, the prior art has a disadvantage in that the rate of paying out of the web cannot be increased over and above a certain level and must remain in a generally lower speed range.

This invention obviates the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a spirally wound web pay-out apparatus which permits to pay out a web wound in convolutions on a reel at high speeds while precluding the exerting of a force of impact on the web in coil form and the loosening of the spirally wound web.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spirally wound web pay-out apparatus of the type described which is provided with means for automatically starting and shutting off reel drive means by responding to the amount of a length of paid-out web.

According to the invention, there is provided a spirally wound web pay-out apparatus comprising a reel for supporting a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions thereon, reel drive means and a pair of rotatable feed rollers. The reel has gear teeth formed on the outer circumferential surface of a side plate and a gear is attached to each of the pair of feed rollers concentrically therewith, one of the pair of feed rollers being a fixed roller having a fixed axial position and the gear associated therewith being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of the reel, the other feed roller having a movable axial position and slidably supported to bear against the fixed feed roller by the biasing force of resilient means whereby the gears of the two feed rollers are maintained in meshing engagement with each other. The spirally wound web pay-out apparatus is further provided with means for automatically starting and shutting off the reel drive means by responding to the amount of a length of paid-out web in a storage.

In the apparatus of this invention, the reel supporting the web wound in convolutions thereon and the pair of feed rollers are maintained in a fixed rotational relationship at all times, making it possible to prevent the spirally wound web from being subjected to a force of impact or from being loosened.

Additional objects as well as features and advantages of the invention will become evident from the description set forth hereinafter when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the spirally wound web pay-out apparatus according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a paid-out web storage used with the device of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view, on an enlarged scale, of the web payout mechanism comprising the essential portions of the device according to this invention; and

F IG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the feed roller portion of FIG. 3.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. A web 1 of thin gauge wound in convolutions is supported on a reel 2 which has gear teeth 2a formed on the outer circumferential surface of a side plate thereof. A pair of rotatable feed rollers 3 and 4 which have gears 5 and 6 respectively attached thereto concentrically therewith are arranged in a support box 7. The feed roller 3 is a fixed roller having a rotatable shaft connected to the support box 7 in a fixed position and the feed roller 4 is a movable roller having a rotatable shaft inserted in a slot 7a formed in the box 7 for sliding motion within the extend of the slot 7a. The gear 5 of the fixed feed roller 3 is maintained in meshing engagement with the gear 6 of the movable feed roller 4 which is urged by the biasing force of a spring 8 to bear against the fixed feed roller 3. A paid-out web storage 9 for temporarily storing therein a length of the web paid out from the spirally wound web 1 on the reel 2 includes a receiving plate 10 disposed in the lower portion of the storage 9 and supported at one end by one side wall of the storage 9. A spring 11 for supportingthe other end of the receiving plate 10 and a limit switch 12 are arranged on the bottom of the storage 9. The reel 2 is connected to a drive motor 17 through pulleys l4 and 15 and a belt 16. A paid-out web outlet opening 18 is formed in the lower portion of a side wall of the storage 9.

The limit switch is a normally closed switch which is adapted to be opened to shut off the motor 17 when the spring 11 supporting the other end of the receiving plate 10 is compressed by the weight of a length of paid-out web disposed on the receiving plate 10 in the storage 9.

The operation of the spirally wound web pay-out apparatus constructed as described hereinabove will now be explained. If the motor 17 is started, the rotation of the motor will be transmitted through the pulleys l4 and 15 and belt 16 to the driving shaft 13 which will rotate the reel 2. The rotation of the reel 2 will rotate the fixed feed roller 3 because the gear teeth 20 of the reel 2 are in meshing engagement with the teeth of gear 5 of the fixed feed roller 5. This will rotate the movable feed roller 4 because the gear 6 of the roller 4 is in meshing engagement with the gear 5 of the roller 3. In this way, the apparatus according to this invention permits to smoothly pay out the web I wound in convolutions on the reel 2 by means of the pair of feed rollers 3 and 4 without exerting a force of impact on the web 1 in coil form, so that the web 1 can be fed into the storage 9 without any trouble. When the weight of the length of web 1 on the receiving plate 10 overcomes the biasing force of the spring 11 supporting the other end of the receiving plate 10, the spring 11 is compressed and the normally closed limit switch 12 is opened, whereby the motor 17 is shut off. Shutting off of the motor 17 results in the reel 2 and the rollers 3 and 4 immediately stopping rotation. This arrangement is conducive to the prevention of exerting of a force of impact on the web 1 in coil form on the reel 2 or of loosening of the web 1 in coil form which would otherwise occur when the motor 17 is shut off. On the other hand, the length of paid-out web in the storage 9 is successively taken out through the outlet opening 18. When the weight of the length of web on the receiving plate 10 is thus reduced, the other end of the receiving plate 10 is restored to its original position by the biasing force of the spring 11. This closes the limit switch 12 which starts the motor 12 again.

It will be evident that if the peripheral velocities of the pair of feed rollers 3 and 4 are set at a level slightly higher than the peripheral velocity of the coil of web 1 when it has a maximum outer diameter, a slip corresponding in amount to the difference in peripheral velocity between the feed rollers and reel will take place at all times between a pair of feed rollers 3 and 4 and the coil of web 1, so that it is possible to pay out the web 1 by pulling the same by the feed rollers 3 and 4 while the coil of web is tensioned at all times.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the spirally wound web pay-out apparatus according to this invention comprises a reel for supporting a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions thereon, reel drive means and a pair of feed rollers. The reel has gear teeth formed on the outer circumferential surface of a side plate thereof and a gear is attached to each of the feed rollers concentrically therewith, with the gear on one of the pair of feed rollers being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of the reel and the gear of the other feed roller. The arrangement set forth hereinabove offers many advantages. The reel and the pair of feed rollers are maintained in a fixed rotational relationship at all times, thereby preventing the exerting of a force of impact on the coil of web and the loosening of the coil of web when the drive motor is started or shutoff. It is thus possible to increase the pay-out rate to a high level which has hitherto been unattainable by prior art devices.

One of the pair of feed rollers which has a gear not maintained in direct meshing engagement with the gear teeth of the reel has a movable axial position and is urged by the spring to bear against the other feed roller which has a fixed axial position. This arrangement is conducive to the elimination of an excess load which would be applied to the spirally wound web if a pair of fixed rollers were employed as is the case with the prior art device. Besides, since the reel and the pair of feed rollers are maintained in a fixed rotational relationship at all times in the present invention, it is possible to pay out the web by the pair of feed rollers while maintaining the spirally wound web in a tensioned state at all times if the peripheral velocities of the feed rollers are set at a level slightly higher than the peripheral velocity of the spirally Wound web when the latter has a maximum outer diameter. This permits to positively pay out a web of very thin gauge from its coil.

What we claim is:

1. A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus comprising: a reel for supporting a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions thereon, said reel including at least one flange-like side plate, reel drive means, and a pair of rotatable feed rollers, said reel having gear teeth formed on the outer circumferential surface of said side plate thereof, two gears, each being attached to a respective one of said feed rollers coaxially therewith, one of said feed rollers being a fixed axis roller having a fixed axial position and the gear associated therewith being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of said reel side plate, means mounting the other feed roller for limited movement radially forward and away from the one feed roller, said other feed roller thereby being slidably supported, and resilient means resiliently biasing said other feed roller in such sense as to cause the other feed roller to bear against the fixed feed roller, whereby the gears of said pair of feed rollers are maintained in meshing engagement with each other.

2. A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising: a storage means for temporarily storing a length of web paid-out from said reel, means for resiliently supporting said length of paid-out web in said storage means, and switch means responsive to the weight of said length of paid-out web in the storage means for automatically starting and shutting off said reel drive means.

UNTTED STATES PATENT oTTTcE QEHMQATE 0F QGEQTWN Patent No. 3,655 1M2 Dated April 11, 1972 Inventor(s) MASE, Takehisa and KAWAURA Hiros i- It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

"Nippondense Kabushiki Japan as --Assignee: Kariyashi, Aichi-Lcen,

In the heading readAssignee: Ka isha, Kariyashi, Aichi-Ken, Nippondenso Kabushiki Ka isha, Japan,

Signed and sealed this 5th day of September 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM po-1o5oflo6g) USCOMM-DC 6037s P69 a U15, GOVERNMENT PRINYING OFHCE t 959 -356334

Claims (2)

1. A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus comprising: a reel for supporting a web of thin gauge wound in convolutions thereon, said reel including at least one flange-like side plate, reel drive means, and a pair of rotatable feed rollers, said reel having gear teeth formed on the outer circumferEntial surface of said side plate thereof, two gears, each being attached to a respective one of said feed rollers coaxially therewith, one of said feed rollers being a fixed axis roller having a fixed axial position and the gear associated therewith being maintained in meshing engagement with the gear teeth of said reel side plate, means mounting the other feed roller for limited movement radially forward and away from the one feed roller, said other feed roller thereby being slidably supported, and resilient means resiliently biasing said other feed roller in such sense as to cause the other feed roller to bear against the fixed feed roller, whereby the gears of said pair of feed rollers are maintained in meshing engagement with each other.

2. A spirally wound web pay-out apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising: a storage means for temporarily storing a length of web paid-out from said reel, means for resiliently supporting said length of paid-out web in said storage means, and switch means responsive to the weight of said length of paid-out web in the storage means for automatically starting and shutting off said reel drive means.

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