Patent Abstract:
An apparatus for fully automated roll packing of compressible mattress spring assemblies, including a radially collapsible mandrel for easy removal of finished rolls. In-fed spring assemblies are precompressed prior to winding on the mandrel, which is mounted to a pivotable arm to permit controlled compression of the spring assemblies against a fixed compression roller. The apparatus further includes devices for placing the finished rolls on pallets and wrapping pallets for shipping and storage.

Full Description:
Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.78(a)(4), this application claims the benefit of and priority to prior filed co-pending Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/347,449, filed Nov. 1, 2001, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to the packaging of compressible spring assemblies used in the manufacture of mattresses and the like, and is more particularly directed to an apparatus for packaging such compressible spring assemblies into a roll. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   A large majority of mattresses are manufactured with inner spring assemblies. These inner spring assemblies are comprised of a multitude of interconnected coil springs arranged in a matrix of rows and columns of springs. The inner spring assemblies are most often shipped in a stacked and compressed condition. It has been found that such inner spring assemblies and the finished mattresses made from the spring assemblies can be compressed and packaged into a roll, providing improvements in efficiency of storing and shipping the mattresses and spring assemblies. Roll packing generally involves winding up spring assemblies or mattresses to form a roll and then securing the roll to prevent uncoiling during handling and storage. In many applications it is desired to incorporate a packing material into the wound roll such that the packing material is positioned between successive layers of the roll to keep each layer separate and to aid in the removal of individual spring assemblies or mattresses from the roll. U.S. Pat. No. 2,114,008 to Wunderlich discloses a machine for packaging spring assemblies into a roll. 
   Roll packing machines of the prior art are generally very labor intensive, requiring the close attention of an operator at various stages of the roll packing process. For example, in the apparatus disclosed by Wunderlich, an operator must manually start the feeding of packing material to a mandrel for winding the spring assemblies into a roll. Operators must also manually feed the compressible spring assemblies to the mandrel and manually cut and secure the packing material at the end of a roll to prevent premature uncoiling of the roll packed assemblies. When a roll of spring assemblies is complete, the operator must remove the mandrel from the machine and manually collapse the mandrel to remove the finished roll. 
   Another drawback of prior roll packing machines is that operators must manually change out rolls of packing material to switch to a new type of material or to replace a spent roll. These labor intensive operations consume a considerable amount of time, often during which time the roll packing machine may not be operated. Labor intensive operations also increase the possibility for human error which lead to inconsistent quality of roll packed material. For at least the reasons discussed above, a need exists for a roll packing machine which reduces labor intensive operations and improves efficiency and ergonomics of roll packing spring assemblies to provide roll packed units of consistent quality in shorter cycle times. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides an improved machine for roll packing mattress spring assemblies. The machine is fully automated to permit efficient roll packing of spring assemblies of consistent quality. To this end and in accordance with the present invention, an apparatus is provided having a radially collapsible mandrel for winding in-fed spring assemblies into a roll. The mandrel is mounted to an arm that can be pivoted about an axis of the arm to move the mandrel toward and away from a fixed compression roller, whereby the in-fed spring assemblies are compressed in a controllable manner as they are wound upon the mandrel. 
   The apparatus also includes an automated feeding system which includes rollers to precompress in-fed spring assemblies and a moving guide system for controlling the spacing of the spring assemblies. Packing material is automatically fed to the spring assemblies as they are rolled on the mandrel, and a cutting and gluing unit automatically cuts the packing material and applies an adhesive to a final layer of packing material to secure the finished roll. 
   A roll pusher removes finished rolls of spring assemblies from the collapsed mandrel and a finished roll manipulator places the finished rolls on an automated palletizer which wraps pallets of finished rolls for shipping and storage. The apparatus further includes a controller and power supply which control the operation of the apparatus and provide power to various driving systems of the apparatus. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the invention. 
       FIG. 1  is an elevational view of a roll packing apparatus according to the principles of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an elevational view of the roll packing apparatus of  FIG. 1  depicting a spring assembly being fed between precompression rollers and directed to the mandrel; 
       FIG. 3  is an elevational view of the roll packing apparatus of  FIG. 1  depicting a fully wound roll of spring assemblies on the mandrel; 
       FIG. 4  is an elevational view of the roll packing apparatus of  FIG. 1  depicting a finished roll of spring assemblies in position against the fixed compression roller after a gluing step; 
       FIG. 5  is a plan view of the roll packing apparatus of the present invention, further including a finished roll manipulator, a pallet magazine, and a finished roll palletizer. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   An apparatus is provided for fully automated roll packing of spring assemblies which reduces labor intensive operations and provides faster cycle times. The present invention may be described and understood by a description of an exemplary apparatus. 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown an illustration of one embodiment of a roll packing apparatus  10  incorporating the principles of the present invention. The apparatus  10  includes a radially collapsible mandrel  12  for receiving in-fed spring assemblies  14  and winding them into a roll. Collapsible mandrel  12  is attached to a pivot arm  16  having pivot axis  18 . The collapsible mandrel  12  has a rotational axis  20  which is substantially parallel to the pivot axis  18 . A fixed compression roller  22  is located proximate the mandrel  12  and has a rotational axis  24  substantially parallel to the rotational axis  20  of the mandrel  12 . 
   Pivot arm  16  pivots about pivot axis  18  to position the mandrel  12  relative to the fixed compression roller  22  to compress in-fed spring assemblies  14  in a controllable manner as they are wound upon the mandrel  12 . The apparatus  10  further includes a precompression guide roller  26  upstream of the mandrel  12  for receiving in-fed spring assemblies  14  and directing them toward the mandrel  12  and fixed compression roller  22 . The precompression guide roller  26  provides a gradual initial compression of the spring assemblies  14  prior to being further compressed between the mandrel  12  and fixed compression roller  22 . Advantageously, the precompression guide roller  26  provides precompression to spring assemblies  14  having tall or small diameter springs which are susceptible to shifting that would otherwise occur if they were subjected to rapid compression by being directed to the fixed compression roller  22  and mandrel  12  without any precompression. 
   A feed table  28  upstream of the precompression guide roller  26  supports in-fed spring assemblies  14  and directs them toward the precompression guide roller  26 . The feed table  28  includes a plurality of rollers  30  disposed on a support surface  32  of the feed table  28  to transport spring assemblies  14  toward the precompression guide roller  26 . The feed table  28  further includes a precompression conveyer  34  which operates in conjunction with the precompression guide roller  26  to precompress spring assemblies  14  and automatically feed the spring assemblies  14  between the mandrel  12  and fixed compression roller  22 . Moving side guides  36  on the feed table  28  aid in automatically in-feeding the spring assemblies  14  and ensure proper spacing between the in-fed spring assemblies  14 . The feed table  28  includes a frame  38  having casters  40  located at the bottom of the frame  38  to allow movement of the feed table  28  toward and away from the precompression guide roller  26 . The casters  40  are positioned on guide rails  42  which control the path of the feed table  28 . Drive motors  44 ,  46 ,  48 ,  50  coupled to the feed table frame  38 , the feed table rollers  30 , the side guides  36 , and the precompression conveyor  34  provide the motive forces to move spring assemblies  14  along the feed table  28  and between the precompression roller  26  and conveyor  34  to be directed to the mandrel  12  for winding. 
   The apparatus  10  includes one or more packing material dispensers  52  positioned near the mandrel  12  for receiving and dispensing packing material  54 , such as paper, foil, or various fabric materials, to the in-fed spring assemblies  14  as they are being wound upon the mandrel  12 . Each packing material dispenser  52  has associated packing material feed rollers  56  and a tension compensator  58  for feeding and directing packing material  54  from the dispenser  52  toward the mandrel  12  and fixed compression roller  22 . The packing material feed rollers may be supported on pneumatic cylinders whereby the position of the feed rollers may be adjusted. As spring assemblies  14  are directed through the precompression guide roller  26  toward the mandrel  12  and fixed compression roller  22 , packing material  54  is pushed toward the mandrel  12  by the spring assemblies  14 . The mandrel  12  includes a vacuum system which draws the packing material  54  toward a surface  60  of the mandrel  12  so that it is wound tightly upon the mandrel  12  prior to compressing and winding of spring assemblies  14  upon the mandrel  12 . Referring further to  FIG. 2 , as spring assemblies  14  are wound upon the mandrel  12 , pivot arm  16  pivots about pivot axis  18  to move the mandrel  12  away from the fixed compression roller  22  in a controlled manner so that successive spring assemblies  14  are uniformly compressed and rolled upon the mandrel  12 . 
   The apparatus  10  further includes an automated cutting and gluing unit  62  in line between the packing material dispensers  52  and the mandrel  12 . The cutting and gluing unit  62  automatically cuts the packing material  54  near the end of a finished roll  64  of compressed spring assemblies  14  and applies adhesive to a final layer of packing material  54 , which is wound to secure the finished roll  64 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , pivot arm  16  holds the finished roll  64 , still on the mandrel  12 , against the fixed compression roller  22  to provide pressure to the end of the final layer of packing material  54  until the adhesive has cured and the finished roll  64  may be removed from the mandrel  12 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , pivot arm  16  rotates to move the finished roll  64  away from the fixed compression roller  22  and places the finished roll  64  on a finished roll support  66 . At this point, the mandrel  12  may be collapsed radially inward to release the finished roll  64  and a roll pusher  68  is activated to push the finished roll  64  off the mandrel  12  along the finished roll support  66 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 5 , the apparatus  10  further includes a controller  70  connected to the various drive motors and to sensors positioned at various locations on the apparatus  10  for controlling the automated roll packing of spring assemblies  14 , as described above. The controller  70  is also configured to count the number of spring assemblies  14  that have been wound upon the mandrel  12 . A power supply  72  provides electrical current to the apparatus  10  and its components. While the apparatus  10  is designed for completely automated roll packing of spring assemblies, it can also be used without an automated feed table  28  when manual feeding of spring assemblies  14  is desired. As more clearly shown in  FIG. 1 , the roll packing apparatus  10  includes a frame structure  74  for supporting the components described above. The frame structure  74  may be configured to have a modular design, wherein various sections of the apparatus  10  may be separately assembled and disassembled to facilitate transportation and assembly of the apparatus  10 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 5 , an automated system  80  for providing roll packed spring assemblies  14  includes a roll packing apparatus  10 , as described above, and further includes a finished roll manipulator  82  which receives finished rolls  64  of spring assemblies  14  from the finished roll support  66  and moves them to a finished roll palletizer  84 . The finished roll palletizer  84  includes a pallet magazine  86 , a roll wrapping machine  88  for wrapping finished rolls  64  for shipment and storage, and a conveyor  90 . 
   In one exemplary embodiment, a roll packing apparatus  10  according to the principles of the present invention has a radially collapsible mandrel  12  having a diameter of about 300 mm. The exemplary apparatus  10  can receive rolls of packing material  54  up to about 2100 mm in width and about 1000 mm in diameter, and can accommodate spring assemblies  14  up to about 200-mm wide and about 240-mm high. The exemplary apparatus  10  can produce finished rolls  64  of spring assemblies  14  of up to about 650 mm in diameter, each roll containing 10-12 spring assemblies  14 , at a rate of about 12-20 rolls per hour. 
   While the present invention has been illustrated by the description of an embodiment thereof, and while the embodiment has been described in considerable detail, it is not intended to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the scope or spirit of Applicant&#39;s general inventive concept.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8