Patent Publication Number: US-2016221327-A1

Title: Web insertion device for a flat-bed die-cutting machine, manufacturing system for packages and method for feeding a web of printing material

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/050,554, filed Oct. 10, 2013. This application also claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. §119, of German Patent Application DE 10 2012 019 992.9, filed Oct. 12, 2012; the prior applications are herewith incorporated by reference their its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a device for inserting a web of printing material, in particular made of paper or board, into a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine, including a compensator converting a continuous movement of the web of printing material into an iterative movement. The invention further relates to a manufacturing system for the production of packages, in particular made of paper or board, in particular for the production of folding boxes from a web of printing material, including a web-fed printing press, an inserting device and a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing device. The invention additionally relates to a method for feeding a web of printing material in a manufacturing system for producing packages from a web-fed printing press to a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine using an inserting device while the web-fed printing press is in operation. 
     Die-cutting refers to cutting with closed geometric cutting shapes, which may be circular, oval, polygonal, or any desired shape. The cutting takes place against a cutting pad or die. In some cases, it may be a shearing process. What is cut is mainly sheet-shaped, sometimes web-shaped packaging material made of plastic, foil material, paper, board, cardboard, or corrugated board. A die-cutting process may additionally create crease lines or blind embossments in the blank. Since the final products are packages that are highly sophisticated in terms of their technical and graphic features (special packages for cosmetics, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, food, etc.), for optimum results, the materials themselves must meet special requirements, the die-cutting tools must operate within narrow tolerances, and the die-cutting machine needs to function with a high degree of accuracy and reliability. The process that best meets those requirements is flat-bed die-cutting. If the material to be processed is sheet-shaped, printed sheets that are stacked on a pallet are fed to the die-cutting machine. If the material to be processed is web-shaped, the web of material is fed to the die-cutting machine by inserting or feed rollers. In order to be able to process the web of printing material while it is stationary, the web of printing material is iteratively stopped by buffering the following section in a web buffer including a dancer roller. 
     European Patent Application EP 2 080 600 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 8,408,110, discloses a flat-bed die-cutting module for die-cutting a printing substrate. The module includes an upper platen and a lower platen. In order to cut a printing substrate passing between the upper platen and the lower platen, a drive is provided to drive a cutting stroke of the lower platen relative to the upper platen, which is stationary and fixed to the machine frame. That causes the lower platen to be engaged with the upper platen and the printing material to be treated by at least one die-cutting tool. A printing substrate transport device for guiding the printing substrate is fixedly received on the lower platen of the flat-bed die-cutting module. The flat-bed die-cutting module may be used in a flat-bed die-cutting machine for processing a web of printing material and may contribute to stabilizing web travel. 
     For environmental reasons and for reasons of cost efficiency, it is desirable to create as little waste as possible in the manufacturing of the aforementioned packaging materials in the printing press and in the flat-bed die-cutting machine. 
     When printing presses and die-cutting machines that are disposed in-line relative to each other are started up, the web of material is initially moved out of the machine by a wind-up device or by hand before the web of material is fed to the flat-bed die-cutting machine. That is done to meet stringent quality requirements, in particular to remove any bulges in the web that may be created by guide rollers, for example, when the press is at a standstill, before the die-cutting process starts in the flat-bed die-cutting machine, and thus to prevent the material from jamming. When that process is completed, prior art machines need to be stopped again by an operator, who then needs to cut the web of material at a location upstream of the wind-up device by a cross cut, and subsequently to feed it to the flat-bed die-cutting machine by hand. The repeated stopping of the printing press to feed the web of material to the flat-bed die-cutting machine creates flawed blanks, which means that the first blanks that leave the flat-bed die-cutting machine cannot be used. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a web insertion device for a flat-bed die-cutting machine, a manufacturing system for packages and a method for feeding a web of printing material, which overcome the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices, systems and methods of this general type, which significantly reduce the amount of waste that is created when a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine and/or a production system including a web-fed printing press and a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine is started up and which simplify handling thereof during start-up. 
     With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a device for inserting a web of printing material, in particular of paper or board, into a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine. The device comprises a compensator that converts a continuous movement of the web of printing material into an iterative movement. In accordance with the invention, the inserting device includes a clamping unit for clamping the web of printing material, a cutting unit for carrying out a cross-cut through the web of printing material, creating a cross cut edge, and an inserting unit for transporting the web of printing material, cross cut edge first, into the flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine. Thus, the device advantageously allows automatic clamping, cutting and feeding of the web of printing material into the flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine, dispensing with further stops of the upstream printing press and reducing waste. A further advantage results from the fact that the feeding of the web of printing material does not require operator invention. Furthermore, the insertion of the web of printing material into the flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine may be accelerated. 
     In accordance with another advantageous feature of the device of the invention, for inserting a web of printing material, the inserting unit includes a gripper unit for gripping the web of printing material, at least one guide path and a drive associated with the gripper device. The gripper unit is displaceable on the at least one guide path and is moved by the drive. 
     In accordance with a further feature of the device of the invention, the clamping unit and the gripper unit may be a single subassembly, resulting in a compact and cost-efficient structure. 
     In accordance with an added preferred feature of the device of the invention for inserting a web of printing material, the device includes an auxiliary wind-up device disposed downstream of the compensator and used to wind-up the web of printing material. 
     In accordance with an additional particularly advantageous and thus preferred feature of the device of the invention, the clamping unit, the cutting unit and the inserting unit are disposed between the compensator and the flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine. This allows the cutting unit to make the cross cut when the web of printing material is stationary. 
     In accordance with yet another advantageous feature of the device of the invention, the cutting unit includes at least one knife and at least one counter-element cooperating with the knife, which extend across the width of the web of printing material. 
     With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a manufacturing system for producing packages, in particular made of paper or board, in particular folding boxes, from a web of printing material. The system includes a web-fed printing press, a downstream inserting device according to the invention, and a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine disposed even further downstream. 
     With the objects of the invention in view, there is furthermore provided a method for feeding a web of printing material in a manufacturing system for producing packages, in particular as described above, from a web-fed printing press to a flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine using an inserting device according to the invention as described above while the web-fed printing press is in operation. For this purpose, in a first step, the web of printing material is wound onto an auxiliary wind-up device. In a second step, a compensatory movement of a web-guiding element is generated for a temporary standstill of the web, for example by a compensator including a dancer roller. Then, the web of printing material is clamped by a clamping unit and a cross cut is made through the web of printing material, creating a cross cut edge. In a subsequent step, the web of printing material is automatically inserted, cross cut edge first, into the flat-bed die-cutting and/or embossing machine. 
     The method of the invention likewise offers the aforementioned advantages of little waste and simple feeding of the web of printing material. 
     Any desired combination of the invention described above and the advantageous embodiments of the invention described above likewise forms an advantageous embodiment of the invention. 
     Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims. 
     Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a web insertion device for a flat-bed die-cutting machine, a manufacturing system for packages and a method for feeding a web of printing material, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. 
     The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic, longitudinal-sectional view of a flat-bed die-cutting machine including an inserting device according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged, fragmentary view of the inserting device; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  showing an alternative embodiment of the inserting device; 
         FIG. 4  is a view showing a detail of the manufacturing system of  FIG. 1 , namely the compensator; 
         FIG. 5  is a view showing a detail of the manufacturing system of  FIG. 1 , namely the inserting device, at a moment before the inserting device is actuated; 
         FIG. 5 a    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment when the clamping rollers are clamping the web and the cutting edges are cutting the web; 
         FIG. 5 b    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment when the clamping rollers are functioning as grippers and still clamping the web and the cutting is finished; 
         FIG. 5 c    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment after the gripper is moved towards the gap of inserting rollers of the flat-bed die-cutting machine; 
         FIG. 5 d    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment when the cut web is moved towards the gap of inserting rollers of the flat-bed die-cutting machine; 
         FIG. 5 e    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment when the transportation of the cut web is taken over by the inserting rollers of the flat-bed die-cutting machine; 
         FIG. 5 f    is a view showing the inserting device at a particular moment when the subassembly of the clamping, cutting and gripping unit is moved back to its initial position; and 
         FIG. 6  is an even more detailed view of the inserting device with its elements, in which the view is taken at a moment directly after the web is cut. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings, in which like elements and components bear like reference symbols, and first, particularly, to  FIG. 1  thereof, there is seen a diagrammatic representation of a flat-bed die-cutting machine  10  according to the invention, which is part of a manufacturing system  100 . In the illustrated embodiment, the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10  includes a flat-bed die-cutting module  12  and has a modular and horizontal construction. In this figure, a web  24  of printing material, for example folding boxes printed on a web  24  of cardboard in an upstream web-fed printing press  8 , is processed from the right-hand side to the left-hand side. The web  24  of printing material comes from a web entrance section  14  and enters the flat-bed die-cutting module  12  in a direction B of web travel. In the flat-bed die-cutting module  12 , the web  24  of printing material is cut by a stroke H of a lower platen  28  equipped with cutting dies against an upper platen  26  in such a way that in subsequent processing steps, on one hand, individual sheets are severable from the web  24  of printing material and, on the other hand, individual printed products are strippable from the web  24  of printing material and separable from each other. The separation into individual sheets is achieved at the exit of the flat-bed die-cutting module  12 . A transporting unit  16  disposed downstream in the flat-bed die-cutting module  12  moves the severed sheets into a stripping unit  18  and a blanking unit  20  in which the printed products are separated from the cut sheets and from each other finally to be delivered in a delivery  22 . An inserting device  30  of the invention, which is provided for inserting the web  24  of printing material into the flat-bed die-cutting module  12  and is provided directly upstream of the flat-bed die-cutting module  12 , will now be described in more detail with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
     The web  24  of printing material comes from a web-fed printing press  8 , passes over various rollers  37 , a pulling group  40 , and a compensator  31  functioning as a web buffer to enter the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10 . The web buffer which is shown in  FIG. 4  has a conventional and well known construction. The compensator  31  includes a motor  52  rotating a shaft  51 . Two parallel arms  50  are attached to the shaft  51 . The arms rotate together with the shaft  51 . Mounted between the two arms  50  is a support roller  37  supporting the web  24 . The support roller  37  can rotate freely and can take different positions  37 ,  37 ′,  37 ″ to compensate for web tension. The roller will start from the position  37 ′ and continue via the position  37  to the position  37 .″ By doing so, the web  24  upstream has a velocity v=v 1  and downstream it has a velocity v=v 0  or zero, i.e. the web  24  is standing still in the downstream part. An iterative movement of the downstream part of the web can thereby be generated. When a new processing job is set up or when the upstream web-fed printing press  8  is stopped and is creating waste, the web  24  of printing material is not guided directly into the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10  but is initially wound onto an auxiliary wind-up device  35  in a direction w. 
     As soon as all sections of the web  24  of printing material that contain waste have been wound onto the auxiliary wind-up device  35 , the web  24  of printing material may be introduced into the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10 . This is achieved with the aid of the inserting device  30  of the invention. The situation in this particular moment is shown in more detail in  FIG. 5 , wherein the web  24  is lead through the inserting device  30 , cutting edges  33 . 1  of a cutting unit  33 , clamping rollers  32 . 1  of a clamping unit  32  and a gripping unit  34 . 1  of an inserting unit  34  are still spaced apart, letting the web  24  pass freely. The web  24  of printing material may be clamped and thus held in a defined way in the clamping unit  32 . Then the cutting unit  33  may carry out a cross cut through the web  4  of printing material as a severing cut. While the auxiliary wind-up device  35  may continue to wind-up a flawed end of the web  24  of printing material, the flawless web  24  of printing material coming from the web-fed printing press  8  is guided, cross cut edge first, into the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10  by using the inserting unit  34  and the gripper unit  34 . 1  thereof. The gripper unit  34 . 1  is moved in a direction m on a guide path  34 . 2  in a direction B of web travel by a drive  34 . 3  and transfers the web  24  of printing material, cross cut edge first, to inserting rollers  36  of the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10 . Once the transfer has been completed, the gripper unit  34 . 1  returns on the guide path  34 . 2  to its original position in the immediate vicinity of the clamping unit  32  and of the cutting unit  33 , where the web  24  of printing material is transferred from the clamping unit  32  to the gripper unit  34 . 1  of the inserting unit  34 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the inserting device  30 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , the clamping unit  32  and the cutting unit  33  on one hand and the gripper unit  34 . 1  of the inserting unit  34  on the other hand, are embodied as separate units and subassemblies. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , however, the clamping unit  32  and the gripper unit  34 . 1  are embodied as a single subassembly. Once a severing cut in the direction s has been made by the cutting unit  33 , the web  24  of printing material remains clamped in a direction c by the clamping unit  32 , which is simultaneously the gripper unit  34 . 1 , and is moved in the direction m by this subassembly, driven by the drive  34 . 3 , on the guide path  34 . 2  in the direction B of web travel to be fed to the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10 . 
     The steps carried out during the operation of the inserting device  30  are explained below by making reference to  FIGS. 5 a   - d,  which should be read along with  FIG. 6  showing the details of the inserting device  30  including the clamping unit  32 , the cutting unit  33  and the inserting unit  34  on an enlarged scale. The steps are performed as follows:
           FIG. 5 a   ) The web  24  is clamped in a direction c and cut in a direction s by closing the two clamping rollers  32 . 1  of the clamping unit  32  and moving the two cutting edges  33 . 1  of the cutting unit  33  towards each other, with the clamping rollers  32 . 1  and cutting edges  33 . 1  being actuated by the drive or motor  34 . 3 . The wind-up device  35  continues to wind up the web  24  that has already passed the inserting device  30  until its trailing edge  24 . 1 .     FIG. 5 b   ) The web is now cut into two pieces, forming an upstream part and a downstream part. The cutting edges  33 . 1  of the cutting unit  33  are opened. The downstream part of the web is wound-up completely by the wind-up device  35 . The upstream part of the web has to be fed to the flat-bed die-cutting machine  10 .     FIG. 5 c   ) The clamping unit  32  changes its function to act as the gripper unit  34 . 1  and the drive or motor  34 . 3  moves the gripper unit  34 . 1  in the direction m along a transport or guide path  34 . 2 . The movement m is carried out by transmitting the rotation of the motor to guide wheels  34 . 4  which roll along the guide path  34 . 2 . A leading edge  24 . 2  of the web  24  remains gripped.     FIG. 5 d   ) The gripping force of the gripper unit  34 . 1  is reduced and the motor  34 . 3  rotates the clamping rollers  32 . 1  to move the web  24  with its leading edge  24 . 2  towards a gap between the rollers  36 .       

     Afterwards, the subassembly  32 ,  33 ,  34 . 1  is moved back into its initial position and transportation of the web  24  is carried out by the rollers  36  (see  FIG. 5 e   ). In  FIG. 5 f    the subassembly is back in its initial position, with the web passing freely between the clamping rollers  32 . 1  and along a guiding roller  34 . 5 .