Patent GB-687517-A (GB)
Title: An automatic machine for converting flexible sheet material, such as paper, into a tight roll or stick having no centre airspace
IPC: B31C5/00
Filed: 1950-09-19
Abstract: 687,517. Winding fabrics; cutting webs. FISHER, R. A. Sept. 19, 1950. No. 22971/50. Classes 31 (i) and 42 (ii). [Also in Groups VI and XVII] A machine for the manufacture of tightly rolled sticks or rolls from paper or other flexible sheet material comprises an assembly of parallel rollers all rotatable in the same direction and including pressure rollers R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP> and guide rollers M<SP>1</SP>. M<SP>2</SP> mounted on fixed axes and a pressing roller R<SP>3</SP> mounted on a movable axis so as to be movable between said guide rollers towards and away from said pressure rollers, means for feeding sheets of paper or other flexible material individually into said roller assembly, and means for first moving said pressing roller towards pressure rollers to cause a sheet of paper or other flexible material fed into the roller assembly to be rolled thereby into a tight compact stick or roll and for then moving said pressing roller away from said pressure rollers to eject or release the formed paper roll or stick. The bottom sheet of paper of a stack 10 is torn off a supporting pin 36, a suction nozzle (not shown) being provided to remove paper fragments, and fed forward by an intermittently rotated feed roller 30 between a continuously driven crimping roller 37 and a co-operating pressure roller 38, thence being guided by a member 42 between two fixed pressure rollers R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP> into the space between the ring of parallel rollers R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP>, M<SP>2</SP>, R<SP>3</SP>, M<SP>1</SP>. These rollers all rotate in the same direction and cause the sheet to be curled into a loose roll, whereupon the roller R<SP>3</SP> is moved inwardly towards the rollers R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP> causing the loosely rolled sheet to form into a tight roll or stick having little or no air gap at its centre, a gumming brush 29 applies gum to the roller R<SP>1</SP> when the roller R<SP>3</SP> is at a position in which the rollers form a circle and the gum is transferred to the outer turns of the loosely rolled sheet. When the tight roll has been formed the roller R<SP>3</SP> moves back to allow the roll to drop through a chute onto a conveyer which carries it through a drying chamber to a collecting container. The feed roller 30 is intermittently rotated part of a revolution by pawl and ratchet means, the pawl of which is carried by a pivoted lever 34 moved by a cable 24b operated by a cam 24 (not shown) on a driven shaft 26 (not shown). The roller R<SP>3</SP> is rotatably mounted in one end of each of a pair of levers 56 pivoted intermediate their ends on the shaft of the roller M<SP>2</SP>. A link 58 attached to the other end of one of the levers 56 is moved by a cable 25b operated by a cam 25 (not shown) on the shaft 26 to rock the levers 56 to move the roller R<SP>3</SP> in or out. The gumming brush 29 is mounted on a rotary support 63 oscillated by a cable 23b operated by a cam 23 (not shown) also on the shaft 26. In a modification, Fig. 7a, a paper strip 72 is fed to the apparatus to pass between the rollers 37, 38 through cutting means 80, comprising a knife 76 on a slide member 77 reciprocated by camactuated cable means 78 to sever the strip as it passes through a slot 82 in the means 80, to the rollers R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP>, R<SP>3</SP>, M<SP>1</SP>, M<SP>2</SP>, the roller 37 in this embodiment being intermittently rotated in the same way as the roller 30 in the previous embodiment. The tightly wrapped roll is intended for use as a stick for a toffee apple or other confection ; however, a machine of suitable size may be used for producing rolls of wallpaper.