Flying splice apparatus and process

An apparatus and process for effecting a flying splice of vertically positioned rolls of plastic film mounted on a reel. Each supply roll of film has an adhesive strip extending diagonally across the leading edge of the film web with a sleeve member mounted to the bottom of the adhesive strip. The sleeve member is moveably mounted on a guide member mounted to the reel to hold the leading edge in position and in correct orientation for its engagement with the film web of the expiring roll. The supply roll when rotated by the reel positions the leading edge of the supply roll with its adhesive strip against film web dispensed from the expiring roll, so that the leading edge of the film web of the supply roll is carried off the roll, with the sleeve member being carried off of the guide member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention is basically directed towards a flying splice for 
attaching the leading end of a roll of replacement material to the 
trailing end of an expiring roll of material, and is more particularly 
directed towards a flying splice for attaching the leading edge of a 
vertically oriented replacement roll of plastic material to the trailing 
edge of a vertically oriented expiring roll of plastic material to form a 
continuous film web. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The concept of a flying splice joining the leading edge of a new roll of 
material onto the trailing edge of an exhausted roll of material is old in 
the art. One such example is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,612. This patent 
discloses an automatic tape splicer in which an elastic member is placed 
on the outer surface of a removable covering so that a hook member of a 
splicer head can engage the elastic member to peel off the removable 
covering permitting adhesive material placed on the roll to be exposed for 
the splicer. 
Two lengths of adhesive tape having both inner and outer surfaces coated 
with adhesive material are placed on the outer surface of the leading 
portion of the rolled paper along the tapered edges of the roll. The two 
lengths of adhesive tape are covered with flexible tapes, preferably made 
of paper having an inner surface coated with a suitable material which has 
no affinity to the adhesive material coated on the adhesive tapes. When 
the elastic member of the supply roll is subsequently engaged by a needle 
portion of the hook member, the covering is moved away from the peripheral 
surface of the supply roll causing the corresponding removal of the pair 
of flexible tapes to expose the adhesive tapes on the tapered surface. The 
adhesive tapes are placed on the leading edge portion of the paper of the 
supply paper roll along the tapered edges, and adhere gradually but 
steadily to the trailing end portion of the expiring paper roll to 
maintain a continuous web feed completing the splicing operation. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,452 discloses a flying splice apparatus in which the 
supply roll is cut in a zig zag pattern to provide greater contact area 
across the web with the splicing tape being applied at an angle with 
respect to the axis of the roll. A first adhesive is applied to the roll 
along a portion of the border zone adjacent the leading edge of the new 
web roll and a second adhesive is then applied to the remaining portion of 
that zone. Raised non-adhesive strips are secured to the roll in the 
remaining position of the zone. The roll is rotated by a drive belt which 
runs over the non-adhesive strips so that the roll will obtain a requisite 
speed in relation to that of the tensioned web being discharged from the 
expiring roll to effect a satisfactory splice. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,379,495 discloses a flying splice arrangement in which an 
air blast emanating from a nozzle is used to start the severed web end 
around the rotating core roll initiating winding of a new roll. U.S. Pat. 
No. 1,739,381 utilizes a layer of grease between the top and underlying 
layers of a leading end of a fresh roll, so as to hold the web end against 
the roll prior to splicing and eliminate resistance to the end being taken 
off the running web. 
Another U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,367 relates to a flying splice in which a 
suction transfer roll removes the lead end of the web from a fresh roll 
and transfers it to the nip to press it against a strip of adhesive 
applied across the web width by a glue application. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,172,766 is directed to a flying splice arrangement in which 
the leading edge of a fresh roll of web material has an adhesive strip 
provided with a shield and held in place by frangible tabs. When the tabs 
are severed the shield is removed by centrifugal force to expose a tacky 
adhesive strip. In another U.S. Pat. No. 2,320,657 adhesive shields are 
provided for covering the tacky adhesive on the leading end of a new roll 
of web material. These shields are removed at the time of the splice by a 
retractable transfer roll. 
In addition many other patents are directed towards various embodiments of 
apparatus for flying splices. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,110,976; 2,149,833; 
2,386,345; 2,553,928; 3,001,735; and 3,198,452 are all directed to various 
arrangements of tacky adhesive tabs or strips on a fresh roll to be 
utilized in a roll replenishing flying splice operation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,974,490; 3,948,715; 3,920,502; 3,915,399 and 3,895,763 disclose various 
concepts for splicing the trailing end of an expiring web of an old roll 
to the leading web of a new roll and are included primarily for purpose of 
presenting a broader picture of patents in the area of flying splice 
apparatus and processes. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
While the aforementioned prior art splicing apparatus works well on 
materials such as paper and the like, they do not operate effectively with 
vertically oriented rolls of plastic material such as polypropolene, 
polyvinylchloride and polyethylene. The rolls being positioned vertically 
have a tendency for the leading edge of the film web to unroll and to fall 
downward covering the adhesive strip or presenting a small portion of the 
adhesive strip for splicing purposes. When the leading edge of a film roll 
is correctly oriented on tacky films such as polyvinylchloride or tacky 
polypropolene a resistance between film layers is encountered which when 
combined with the imbalance of forces brought about by the difference in 
film speed between the supply roll film web and the rapidly moving 
expiring film web may be sufficient to prevent a flying splice. The 
present invention solves this problem by eliminating the takeup force 
necessary for pulling the leading edge of the film off of the supply roll, 
while orientating the position of the leading edge of the film web of the 
supply roll, so that the adhesive splice is true and the film is carried 
away. In the inventive flying splice arrangement both the preceding and 
succeeding rolls are mounted on a pivotally moveable reel which moves the 
supply roll into the position of the expiring roll when the flying splice 
is to be effected. The leading end of the fresh or supply roll is provided 
with a diagonally extending strip of tacky adhesive along its forward edge 
by means of which the attachment of the leading end of the trailing end of 
the expired roll is effected. The adhesive strip is wrapped around a 
sleeve member at the bottom of the roll which is in turn mounted on a 
guide to keep the film in a correct position. 
The above-mentioned purposes and operation are more readily apparent when 
read in conjunction with the following detailed description of a preferred 
embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
The flying splice apparatus as shown in FIGS. 1 through 9 comprises 
apparatus which can be used in conjunction with U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,179 
and 4,050,211 both of which patents are incorporated by reference into 
this application for the purposes of showing apparatus on which the flying 
splice apparatus 10 could be used. 
The flying splice apparatus 10 comprises a reel 12 mounted to a rotatable 
rod 14 which is adapted to be rotated by rotation means 18 which is well 
known in the art. The rotation means can comprise a motor driven belt, 
chain linkage, gear assembly, roller assembly, rack and pinion gear or any 
other means well known in the art. The reel 12 has guide members 16 and 26 
mounted on it along with roll support rods 22 and 32. A lead roll of film 
20 is mounted on the roll support rod 22 with one end abutting a circular 
stop 24 which keeps the roll positioned on the roll support rod, so that a 
film web 21 can be withdrawn from the roll and wrapped around a load not 
shown. The film web 21 is preferably stretched by brake means which 
engages the film roll or by a series of dancer bars not shown to tension 
the film so that it is stretched as it is wrapped around a load. 
A supply roll 30 is mounted on roll support rod 32 and abuts stop 34 which 
holds the roll vertically in position parallel with roll 20 and vertical 
to the reel 12. The supply roll is provided with an adhesive strip 38 
which is fastened to the forward edge of the film web. The strip is coated 
on both sides with adhesive and is diagonally orientated with respect to 
the axis of the roll. The end of the strip is wrapped around a sleeve 
member 40 which is preferably a plastic soda straw portion. The edge of 
the film web is severed along the edge of the adhesive strip so that the 
leading edge of the film web is diagonally shaped with the lower edge of 
the web extending forward of the upper edge of the web. The guide member 
26 extends through the sleeve member 40 and holds the film edge in 
position for the flying splice. This relationship is best shown in FIGS. 
1, 3 and 4 of the drawings. When the lead roll 20 has almost expired as 
shown in FIG. 5 the reel 12 is rotated to effect the take-up of the 
leading end of the supply roll of film 30. The expiration of the film roll 
20 can be sensed by electric eye means, feeler gauge means, electrical 
circuit means or any other means known in the art. 
In operation of the flying splice the leading edge of the film from the 
supply roll 30 is rotated into the trailing web of the film being 
discharged from roll 20, so that the film web 21 engages the leading edge 
and adhesive strip of the supply film web. The sleeve member 40 wrapped in 
the adhesive strip 38 is mounted on the guide member 26. When the splice 
is effected the diagonally cut film edge is readily picked up by the 
trailing web of the expiring roll 20 with the sleeve member 40 being 
carried away with the film as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Thus a splice is 
consistently accomplished without separation of the leading edge of the 
supply roll from the trailing edge of the lead roll. 
It should be noted that the steps of the splicing process can be 
interchangeable in order without departing from the scope of the 
invention. Furthermore, it is apparent that the initial steps of placing 
the adhesive strip onto the film web and severing the film web can be 
interchanged and are equivalents. 
In the foregoing description the invention has been described with 
reference to a particular preferred embodiment although it is to be 
understood that the specific details shown are merely illustrative and 
that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from 
the true spirit and scope of the following claims.