Presses – With additional treatment of material – Winding or folding sheet – web or strand
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-31
2001-09-11
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Presses
With additional treatment of material
Winding or folding sheet, web or strand
C053S118000, C242S532000, C242S541200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286419
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to an apparatus and a method for rolling compressible sheet material. More particularly, the invention relates to rolling fibrous sheets of insulation into a compressed roll. The method and apparatus are suitable for packing glass fiber insulation material.
Rolling sheets of insulation material into compressed rolls is well known. The prior art discloses or teaches machines for use in rolling sheet material. Such machines are commonly referred to as roll-up machines. Roll-up machines generally include a mandrel upon which the sheet material is rolled and one or more drive rollers for rolling the sheet material on the mandrel. To roll the sheet material on the mandrel, the sheet material is first fed between the drive rollers and the mandrel, then folded back around the mandrel, and subsequently tucked between the mandrel and the drive rollers. The sheet material is usually overlapped before it is tucked between the mandrel and the drive rollers to reduce the risk that the sheet material will wrinkle up at the core of the roll. This is commonly referred to as “crimping.”
Currently, sheet material is manually tucked by machine operators who after tucking the sheet material must wrap the sheet material around the mandrel at least three times to sufficiently start the sheet material on the mandrel. Wide sheet materials are often difficult to tuck uniformly and wrap around the mandrel. If the machine operators are unable to tuck uniformly and start the sheet material, the sheet material may still wrinkle even if the sheet material is overlapped prior to being tucked and started. In an effort to solve this problem, a number of machine operators have been assigned the arduous task of manually tucking and starting the sheet material on the mandrel. However, this solution has not been entirely effective because the machine operators fail to tuck and start the sheet material uniformly relative to one another.
The sheet material not only has to be tucked uniformly and started, but constant uniform pressure must be applied on the sheet material as the sheet material is being rolled. This poses yet another problem. Conventional roll-up machines do not maintain a constant uniform pressure on the sheet material as the sheet material is being rolled on the mandrel. This results in an axial displacement of the core of the rolled sheet material relative to the outermost layers. The axial displacement of the core of the rolled sheet material is commonly referred to as “telescoping.” A solution to this problem has yet to be presented.
In addition to being ineffective and labor intensive, manually tucking and starting sheet materials on the mandrel may pose risk of injury to the machine operators. This may be a safety concern to manufacturers and processors of sheet materials. A roll-up machine that will eliminate the need for manually tucking and starting sheet material on a mandrel is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed towards a tucking bar for tucking sheet material between a drive roller and a mandrel of a roll-up machine. The tucking bar comprises an elongated member having opposing ends that are supported by an arm. The arm is adapted to pivot about an axis that is substantially parallel to an axis of rotation of the drive roller to move the elongated member along an arcuate path about the drive roller.
The invention is also directed towards a roll-up machine comprising a drive roller supported by a frame and a mandrel supported adjacent the drive roller. A tucking bar supported by a forward end of the frame is provided for tucking the sheet material between the drive roller and the mandrel.
The invention is further directed towards a method for rolling sheet material comprising the steps of displacing the tucking bar to direct the sheet material between the drive roller and the mandrel and rolling the sheet material on the mandrel.
Various objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.
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Barns Stephen W.
Eckert Inger H.
Gerrity Stephen F.
Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology Inc.
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