Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Unwinding – With supply coil replenishment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-01
2001-07-24
Rivera, William A. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Unwinding
With supply coil replenishment
C242S528000, C242S533200, C242S533700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264133
ABSTRACT:
The invention is in the field of processing flexible, flat objects, in particular printed products, and it concerns a device according to the generic part of the first, independent claim. The device serves for exchanging supports for rolls of printed products on winding stations and for transporting roll supports to or from winding stations or in general it serves for manipulating and transporting roll supports.
In the printing industry, it is known to wind up printed products and/or product parts for intermediate storage or for transport over larger distances. The products are wound in scaled formation on a winding core with the aid of a winding tape, the products are transported and/or stored intermediately as rolls and the scaled formation is unwound again for further processing. For winding-up and for un-winding, corresponding winding stations are used. A scaled stream of products and empty winding cores are supplied to winding-up stations and are conveyed away from un-winding stations. Rolls are removed from winding-up stations and are supplied to un-winding stations.
The rolls to be supplied and to be removed to and from winding stations usually have a diameter in the range of two meters and a weight in the range of one ton. The axial width of such rolls is somewhat larger than the width of the wound up products which is e.g. 30 to 50 cm.
In the manipulating and transporting steps necessary for the above mentioned functions either rolls or empty winding cores are manipulated and transported substantially without the aid of further means, as is e.g. described in the publications EP-527702 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,963) and EP-505320 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,883). However, it is possible also to manipulate and transport roll supports (also called winding cassettes) which either carry a roll or an empty winding core, as is e.g. described in the publications EP-333648 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,933) and EP-243837 (or U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,768).
These roll supports are usually simple, mobile, frequently passively movable devices on which a winding core is mounted rotatable around a horizontal winding axis. Such devices frequently also comprise devices for winding-up and for un-winding a winding tape. An empty roll support comprises an empty winding core (no products wound on it), an occupied roll support carries a scaled formation of printed products wound onto the winding core. The roll support is positioned in a correspondingly equipped winding station and is usually adapted to the winding station such that a wound-up scaled formation carried by the roll support is unwound directly in an un-winding station or such that a scaled formation supplied to a winding-up station is wound directly onto the winding core of a roll support.
Roll supports as described above are described in the publications DE-3236866 (or U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,790), EP-0149058 (or U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,496) or EP-0242607 (or U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,901).
For reasons regarding space, the roll supports are advantageously designed such that the horizontal projection of a roll support is as little larger as possible than the horizontal projection of the roll positioned on it. Again for reasons regarding space, the winding stations are mostly designed such that the roll supports can be brought into their winding position in a direction perpendicular to the winding axis through an entrance of the winding station and that they can be removed from the winding station in the opposite direction. Thereby, the winding direction for the winding-up or for the un-winding is always the same and generally identical for all winding stations of one installation. Therefore, the orientation of the roll support in the winding station needs to be always the same also. Again for reasons regarding space, the winding stations are usually arranged coaxially in a line such that the faces of rolls being wound-up or un-wound are in parallel and such that the rolls can be introduced and removed perpendicular to the winding axis.
Roll supports in winding stations or storage positions are e.g. manipulated and transported by being coupled to suitable vehicles or by being raised by the loading fork of a vehicle. Because with such manipulation/transport methods, normally only one roll support can be gripped and moved at one time many shunting steps are necessary near a winding station in which the roll supports are to be exchanged. For these shunting steps as well as for transport paths a lot of space must be provided. Furthermore, this kind of method is not suitable for a high degree of automation and is rather slow. However, it has the advantage of imposing hardly any conditions on the spatial orientation of winding stations and for storage positions for roll supports.
It is, however, a known fact that in new factory buildings, space is expensive and in existing factory buildings, is only restrictedly available. In particular in the case of extensions, it is a fact also that the space available for one predetermined function could be taken better advantage of if correspondingly flexible installations were provided, i.e. installations which can be better adapted to the form of the available space.
Considering the named facts, the object of the invention is to create a device for exchanging roll supports on winding stations or more in general for manipulating and transporting roll supports, which device on the one hand is applicable and efficiently operated in the same manner as the vehicles mentioned above, which device, however, requires considerably less shunting space such that winding stations and storage positions can be arranged as densely as possible in spaces of the most various forms. Furthermore, the device is to be completely automatable and is to be producible using known components to a high degree.
This object is achieved by the device as defined in the independent claim. The dependent claims define advantageous embodiments of the inventive device.
The inventive device substantially consists of a manipulator travelling in x-, y- and z-direction and being equipped with at least two coupling means which cooperate with coupling means arranged on the roll supports. For manipulating and transporting a roll support, its coupling means is coupled to one of the manipulator-coupling-means. The at least two manipulator-coupling-means are arranged set off from each other by 90° in relation to a vertical axis and the manipulator is pivotable around this axis (e.g. by 90°) such that by rotating the manipulator, it is possible to bring the one coupling means into the position occupied before by the other one. Each roll support has one coupling means arranged on the rear one of its two narrow sides which are substantially parallel to the winding axis, i.e. on the one narrow side which faces the entrance of the winding station when the roll support is positioned in the winding position.
The manipulator with a first roll support coupled to its one coupling means is brought into coupling position relative to its other coupling means and to the coupling means of a second roll support positioned in a winding station by being rotated and/or displaced in x-, y- and/or z-direction such that the second roll support can be coupled to the manipulator. After coupling, the manipulator is displaced perpendicular to the winding axis of the newly coupled second roll support (in a horizontal, vertical or sloping direction), such that the second roll support is removed from the winding station. Then, the manipulator is rotated by 90° such that the first roll support to be supplied to the winding station has the same position as the second roll support withdrawn from the winding station had beforehand. Then, the withdrawing movement is reversed for inserting the first roll support into the winding station (inserting movement). The newly inserted first roll support is then de-coupled from the manipulator and the manipulator is removed together with the second roll support.
For preventing unnecessary acceleration and deceleration of the mass constituted by roll and roll supp
Ferag AG
Oppedahl & Larson LLP
Rivera William A.
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