Patent ID: 6260788
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
A reel-up for winding a traveling web of paper onto reeling drums to form paper reels, coupling devices being mounted on opposite ends of each reeling drum, the reel-up comprising:a surface winding drum that rotates about an axis such that the traveling web is carried along an outer envelope surface of the winding drum;a drum supply arranged to support one to a plurality of empty reeling drums vertically above the envelope surface of the winding drum, the drum supply defining a stand-by station from which an empty reeling drum is retrieved to have paper wound thereon;a secondary system operable to support and rotatably drive a reeling drum in a reeling position adjacent the winding drum such that the web carried along the winding drum is wound onto the reeling drum to form a reel of paper; anda primary system operable to retrieve an empty reeling drum from the stand-by station of the drum supply and lower the empty reeling drum into engagement with the winding drum to allow the web to begin winding onto the empty reeling drum as the winding of the reel of paper held in the secondary system is being completed, the primary system comprising a pair of primary arms respectively mounted for pivotal movement in a pair of spaced parallel vertical planes generally aligned with the coupling devices on the opposite ends of the empty reeling drum, each primary arm being pivotable about a pivot axis and having a free end spaced from the pivot axis by a lesser distance than that from the pivot axis to the reeling drum in the stand-by station, each primary arm including a gripper movable along the arm generally toward and away from the pivot axis of the arm and operable to grip the coupling device on the end of the empty reeling drum proximate the arm, the grippers being movable outwardly along the arms into a collection position in which the grippers are extended beyond the free ends of the arms to enable the grippers to grip the coupling devices of the reeling drum for retrieving the reeling drum from the drum supply, the primary arms then being pivotable downwardly and the grippers being movable inwardly along the arms to carry the reeling drum to a winding position engaging the winding drum so that the web begins winding onto the reeling drum in the primary arms.