Method and apparatus for disposing of web material

Presses – With additional treatment of material – Separating materials

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C100S15500G, C100S170000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06425323

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the disposal of flexible material, which is in the form of at least one moving material web, which is fed in a feed direction with a feed web speed to a disposal device, particularly for disposing of used stamping film web during the operation of a hot stamping apparatus.
In hot stamping, in a hot stamping apparatus a material layer to be stamped is guided at a constant speed through a stamping gap, which is formed between a stamping cylinder having the stamping tool and a counterpressure or impression element, particularly an impression cylinder. Over the material layer a stamping film web is so concomitantly moved that it is displaced at the same speed as the material layer during a stamping interval. During the stamping interval, stamping material on the stamping film web, e.g. discreet, successive stamping units such as images or texts, or part of a colour layer to be stamped on is transferred to the material layer, under the action of pressure and temperature. Using a suitably constructed conveying mechanism, the stamping film web is drawn off of a preferably roll-like film supply and moved through the stamping gap, whilst the used stamping film is removed and has to be disposed of.
In known hot stamping devices of this type disposal takes place in that the used stamping film web is wound onto a wind-up storage roll. When the roll is full on the waste side, it is necessary to interrupt the stamping process or the feed to the waste roll for roll change purposes. This normally gives rise to machine downtimes reducing the overall stamping efficiency. In addition, on stopping the installation or restarting, malfunctions and/or waste production with respect to the stamped material can arise. In order to avoid such problems a continuous disposal of used web material is sought.
2. Description of Related Art
A stamping apparatus known from GB 2 254 586 has on the waste side a disposal device functioning in the manner of a shredder and which is supplied with the spent web material by means of an upstream conveying station. The latter has two contrarotating transfer rollers, between which the web material is jammed and conveyed through. The free web material end passing out of the conveying mechanism on the discharge side passes into the feed slot of the shredder, which tears the web material into small pieces and conveys same into a storage tank, which is emptied every so often. Particularly in the case of relatively thin, only slightly inherently rigid web material, malfunctions can arise in the cutting mechanism of shredders, e.g. as a result of incomplete tearing of the material or clogging of the cutting mechanism.
The problem of the invention is to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, a method and an apparatus are to be provided, which permit a troublefree, continuous disposal of in particular also very thin web material, such as used stamping film web.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve this problem, the invention proposes
a method for the disposal of flexible material in the form of at least one moving material web, the material web being supplied in a feed direction with a feed web speed to a disposal apparatus, the method comprising the following steps:
holding fast a first web section of the material web the second web section being spaced from the first web section;
holding fast a second web section of the material web;
separation of the material web in an intermediate section located between the first web section and the second web section.
In addition, the invention proposes a disposal apparatus for the disposal of flexible material in the form of at least one moving material web, the material web being supplied in a feed direction with a feed web speed to the disposal apparatus, the disposal apparatus comprising:
first holding means for the retention of a first web section of the material web in a retention area;
second holding means for the retention of a second web section of the material web in a retention area, the first holding means being spaced apart from the second holding means;
a separating device cooperating with the holding means for separating of the material web in an intermediate section located between the first web section and the second web section.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, in the case of a disposal method according to the preamble, a first material web section and a second material web section preferably laterally spaced from the first web section are held fast and that the material web in an intermediate section located between the first and second web sections is separated or cut through for producing web material pieces. The web material pieces can then be collected and optionally undergo further processing steps. As a result of the preferably flat or areal holding fast of the web material on either side of the separating area, it is possible to ensure that during the separation process the web material is not drawn into the separating area, i.e. does not give way to a preferably mechanically acting separating member and instead opposes the same with a resistance facilitating separation. This is particularly advantageous in the case of very thin web material having a limited inherent rigidity, such as e.g. stamping film webs, which have a typical thickness between 10 and 20 &mgr;m. Such stamping film webs provided with a carrier film of tough plastic have a tendency in the cutting mechanisms of conventional shredders, whose cutting mechanisms have cutting rollers in cutting engagement with one another, due to inadequate film tension tend to be not or incompletely separated and/or to clog the cutting mechanisms. As a result of the inventive holding fast of the web material on either side of the separating or intermediate section, the web material is kept under tension in the separating section, which aids an easy, reliable and complete separation.
According to a further development, the web material is separated in an intermediate or separating section freely suspended and/or held taut between the stopped web sections. As a result it is possible to aid a complete separation, because a separating member used for separating purposes can completely pass through the surface area defined by the web material. To attain a reliable separation it is advantageous if the length of the freely suspended intermediate section, i.e. not in contact with a substrate, is kept as short as possible, so as to minimize the deflection aside of the web material during separation aided by the extension elasticity of the web material to be separated. The length of the free intermediate section can correspondingly be less than 1 cm, particularly between approximately 1 and approximately 5 mm.
According to a preferred development, the first web section is at the front in the feed direction and the second web section at the rear in the feed direction and that separation takes place transversely, particularly substantially perpendicular to the feed direction. In the case of this cross-separation normally taking place over the entire material web width, the web portion at the front can be separated and easily disposed of, whereas the rear portion can still be held and can serve as the front portion for the following separation. As a result of the holding fast of the in each case rear web section, it is also ensured that the supplied material web cannot slip out of the disposal device and is instead constantly securely held.
Alternatively or additionally, it is also possible, considered in the feed direction, for the first web section to at least zonally be positioned alongside the second web section and for the separation to take place at an acute angle or substantially parallel to the feed direction. As a result of a longitudinal cut or preferably several parallel, particularly simultaneously performed longitudinal cuts optionally narrow strips of web material can be produced, which can optionally be further sho

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