Patent ID: 6722606
Filing Date: 2004-04-20
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
An unwind system for simultaneously unwinding two rolls of material comprising:a frame including a first unwinding subsystem and a second unwinding subsystem, each of the subsystems including: a primary unwind location and a secondary unwind location; a first drive device adapted to engage a center portion of a roll of material to be unwound, said first drive device being positioned to engage said roll of material when said roll of material is in the primary unwind location; a second drive device adapted to engage an outside surface of said roll of material when said roll of material is in the primary unwind location, said second drive device operating in conjunction with said first drive device to unwind said roll of material, the second drive device providing supplemental torque to the outside surface of the roll of material; a transfer mechanism that transfers said roll of material from the primary unwind location to the secondary unwind location after a portion of said material has been unwound from said roll; and a third drive device positioned at the secondary unwind location, the third drive device for further unwinding said roll of material; wherein each of the subsystems are in communication with a converting system for receiving a first sheet from a first roll of material being unwound by the first unwinding subsystem and a second sheet from a second roll of material being unwound by the second unwinding subsystem, said converting system forming a multi-ply product.