Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is entitled to the benefit of, and incorporates by reference, essential subject matter disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/764,930, filed on Jan. 18, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,399. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to an apparatus that redirects and may reorient, or ‘flip’ from one side facing up to the other, a continuous web of material under tension, such as paper, fabric and the like between two processing devices such as printers, web winding machines, cutters, slitters, mergers, or folders. It is particularly directed to an apparatus that may reorient or flip a continuous paperweb prior to the web&#39;s entry into a processing devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In addition to the “Background of the Invention” stipulated in the parent application referenced above, there is a need in print shops to selectively orient a paperweb so that one or the other side of the web faces up upon entering a web processing machine. Certain print jobs require single side printing, while others require printing on both sides of the web. It may be advantageous to rewind a roll of printed web with one side or the other facing up, or to slit or crosscut a web with either the even numbered or odd numbered pages facing up. What is needed in the art is an apparatus that will allow the user to select which side of the web faces up or down upon its entry into a subsequent processing machine without the need for additional processing steps or movement of equipment. In the past, print jobs were often performed in a batch process rather than a continuous process line taking a virgin roll of paperweb to a completed printed product. For example, a print job may have been partially printed on a web which was then wound on a rewind roll, the roll was then moved into alignment with the next processing device, and so on. As compared to a continuous process line, a batch process is time consuming, labor intensive, requires numerous rewind machines, and subjects the paper web to greater risk of tears and misalignment. One system that alleviates this problem for certain pre-positioned machinery is shown in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,707, herein incorporated by reference. That patent is tailored to two processing devices whose control panels face each other, referred to as an “H-1” setup. But this system alone does not allow a user to selectively choose whether the web being fed into the second printer is in the face up or face down orientation. 
     Many common print jobs are executed by passing a web between two printers. In one such job requiring two-sided printing, a first printer prints on one side of the web and a second printer prints on the other side. Another such job requires printing on one side only, but the first printer executes only a portion of the print (such as black and white text) and the second printer executes the remaining portion of the print (such as color highlights). This technique optimizes speed in certain print jobs since color generally prints slower than black and white but is often less pervasive on a page. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a web control matrix between two processing devices with the ability to selectively choose which side of the web faces up prior to the web&#39;s entry into a subsequent processing device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, a matrix is provided that enables a plurality of alternative paths for a web to pass therethough. The web has a first side facing up upon entering the matrix in a first direction and an obverse side, and exits the matrix via a second direction that may or may not differ from the first direction. The web moves through the matrix from one processing device to another such device under tension imposed by at least one of these processing devices. The matrix comprises a plurality of upright supports spaced laterally from each other; a first turnbar mounted to at least one support at an angle α with the first direction; a second turnbar mounted to at least one support at an angle β with the first direction; and a third turnbar mounted to at least one support at an angle φ with the first direction. The web&#39;s obverse side faces up as it exits the matrix if the web passes about only one or all three of these turnbars, and its first side faces up as it exits the matrix if the web passes about two of these turnbars. In this manner, the web&#39;s orientation or flip, that is, whether the web&#39;s first side or its obverse side faces up, can be determined merely by threading the web in one way or another through the matrix. 
     The matrix may be further improved by the addition of a fourth turnbar parallel and opposite to the third, allowing the user to choose not only web orientation but the direction the web passes out of the matrix. More turnbars may be added for increased flexibility, though the most pertinent capabilities are present in the matrix incorporating four turnbars. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an overhead view of the preferred embodiment whereby a paperweb is routed so as to exit face-down and turned 90° to the right as compared to its orientation and direction upon entering the apparatus. 
     FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 except the paperweb is routed to remain in a face-up orientation. 
     FIG. 3 is an overhead view of the preferred embodiment whereby a paperweb is routed so as to exit face-down and turn 90° to the left as compared to its orientation and direction upon entering the apparatus. 
     FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 except the paperweb is routed to remain in a face-up orientation. 
     FIG. 5 is an overhead view of the preferred embodiment whereby a paperweb is routed so its net passage is straight through the apparatus and its resultant orientation is face-down as compared to its orientation upon entering. 
     FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 except the paperweb is routed to remain unflipped, and may even pass through without touching the apparatus. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A more complete understanding of the present invention may be gleaned with reference to the illustrations, wherein each of the drawings depict a matrix  10  provided for routing paper or other continuous web material under tension between two processing devices. An array of processing devices are arranged in FIGS. 1-6 with the matrix  10  centrally located between them. A paperweb  12  is fed into the matrix  10  in the direction of the arrows from a printer or other processing device. The paperweb  12  is oriented such that a first side  14  faces up as it enters the matrix  10 , and an obverse side  16  faces down. For clarity, the first side  14  is depicted as having printed matter on it, and the obverse side  16  remains blank in each of the FIGS. 1-6. The matrix comprises four upright supports  18  spanned by an upper diagonal turnbar  20 , a lower diagonal turnbar  22  lying in a plane horizontally lower than that of the upper diagonal turnbar  20 , and other turnbars to be later described. All turnbars of the preferred embodiment lie substantially in a horizontal plane, though such geometry is merely for convenience and simplicity. Each turnbar may be fixed or may rotate about its longitudinal axis, the preferred embodiment incorporating fixed turnbars of relatively small diameter as are commonly used in the paper processing art, generally less than 1.5″ in diameter. The threading of the web  12  through the matrix  10  as shown in FIG. 1 is taken first. In order to route the paperweb  12  from the printer shown to the rewind machine labeled POST, the paperweb  12  is merely passed about the upper diagonal turnbar  20  as is common practice. This of course inverts or flips the web so that its obverse side  16  faces up as the web departs the matrix  10 , and the web is re-directed 90° from its original direction. 
     When the opposite orientation for the web is desired, that is, when it is preferred that the web enter the rewind machine with its first side  14  facing up just as it left the printer, the web need merely be re-routed through the matrix  10  as shown in FIG.  2 . The web  12  is passed about the lower diagonal turnbar  22 , then about a left side turnbar  24  that redirects the web  12  toward the rewind machine. The web  12  undergoes a flip at each of the turnbars  22  and  24 , resulting in the first side  14  facing up as the web  12  exits the matrix  10 . The left side turnbar  24  spans two adjacent upright supports  18  of the matrix  10 , and is mounted in a horizontal plane between that of the two diagonal turnbars  20  and  22 . 
     For routing the paperweb to turn 90° to the left (respecting its entry into the matrix) rather than to the right as in the previous discussion, the web is routed in a mirror fashion depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4. To orient the web  12  so that its obverse side  16  faces up upon the web&#39;s exit from the matrix  10 , the web  12  is routed about the lower diagonal turnbar  22  as in FIG. 3 where the web travels from the printer to a cutter. The web may alternatively be oriented so that the first side faces up upon entry into the cutter, shown in FIG.  4 . There, the web is routed around the upper diagonal turnbar and subsequently about a right side turnbar  26  that is similar to the left side turnbar  24  but on an opposing side of the matrix  10 . 
     Finally, the web may be oriented with either the first side  14  or the obverse side  16  facing up when the web passes through the matrix  10  without a net 90° turn, such as when routed from the printer to the folder of FIGS. 5 and 6. When orienting the web so that the obverse side faces up, the web can be threaded as in FIG.  5 . The web first passes about the upper diagonal turnbar  20 , then the right side turnbar  26 , and finally about the lower diagonal turnbar  22 . Though the web  12  is flipped three times and redirected 90° twice and 180° once while within the matrix  10 , its net change is to pass ‘straight’ through the matrix and be flipped once, or inverted. The same result may be obtained with a mirror threading as that shown in FIG.  5 . In this mirror arrangement that is equivalent, the web  12  passes first about the lower diagonal turnbar  22 , then about the left side turnbar  24 , and finally about the upper diagonal turnbar  20 . Of course, the web may pass through the matrix  10  without encountering any turnbars and pass out unflipped along its original direction, as in FIG.  6 . 
     It is elementary that the direction of web travel may be reversed from that depicted in FIGS. 2 and 4 with the same result. In each such reversal, the web would move from the POST or CUTTER devices depicted in FIGS. 2 and 4, which may be any processing device, to first encounter the left side turnbar  24  or right side turnbar  26 . The web subsequently passes about one of the diagonal turnbars  20  or  22  to exit the matrix toward the device labeled PRINTER in FIGS. 2 and 4. That is, rather than pass about the side turnbar after the diagonal turnbar, the web may equivalently be passed about the side turnbar prior to the diagonal turnbar. Such an embodiment and re-ordering of method steps is within certain explicit claims below, and is hereby stipulated as an equivalent to those claims directed particularly toward the preferred embodiment as illustrated. 
     It will be appreciated that the web  12  may be threaded in numerous ways to achieve any of the net results depicted in FIGS. 1-6. The depictions herein are the simplest routing for a given desired net change in web direction and orientation. Merely complicating the threading without changing the fundamental operation of the matrix on a web is hereby considered an equivalent. More turnbars may be added along the sides adjacent to the left  24  and right  26  side turnbars so that the matrix is symmetric as viewed from above. The advantage there is that any of the purposes shown in FIGS. 1-6 may be achieved regardless of which particular matrix side faces the upstream device. 
     Throughout this disclosure and the ensuing claims, the term ‘substantially’ as referring to an angle or a horizontal, vertical or parallel alignment is hereby limited to be within 7.5° of the stipulated angle or direction. For example, substantially 90° includes all angles between 82.5° and 97.5°, inclusive. Similarly, an angle substantially bisecting 90° includes all angles between 37.5° and 52.5°, and an angle substantially bisecting a substantially 90° angle includes all angles between 33.75° and 56.25°. 
     When the web is described or claimed as passing about a turnbar, the term ‘about’ excludes passing over or under but not being redirected by the turnbar. To pass ‘about’ a turnbar is herein restricted to exclude those instances wherein the web circumscribes less than 90 degrees around the surface of the turnbar. For example, the web in FIG. 2 passes about the lower diagonal turnbar and the left side turnbar because it circumscribes approximately 180 degrees along the surface of each turnbar. These two turnbars act to purposefully change the direction of the web. That same web in FIG. 2 does not pass ‘about’ the upper diagonal turnbar. Even if the web touches the upper diagonal turnbar, it circumscribes less than 90 degrees and this latter turnbar has no purposeful effect on the direction of web travel. 
     While the preferred embodiment has been shown and described, additional modifications will be apparent to skilled mechanics without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The embodiments described above are hereby stipulated as illustrative rather than exhaustive.

Technology Category: 7