Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – With scrap material separation or removal
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-08
2003-07-08
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
With scrap material separation or removal
C493S468000, C493S082000, C493S083000, C493S073000, C493S056000, C493S473000, C493S478000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06589148
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a blanking tool for making packaging blanks, and in particular relates to a moveable presser rail assembly for supporting blanking material during operation of the blanking tool.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is well known in the manufacture of packaging containers, such as thin cardboard boxes for facial tissue, breakfast cereal, etc., that large packaging material sheets are cut to have a plurality of smaller sheets having identical outlines. The smaller sheets of material are referred to as blanks. One method of removing the blanks from the large sheets is to manually separate the blanks from the sheets, which is very labor intensive, and hence quite costly. An alternative method of removing the blanks from the large sheets is to use a male blanker on a top side of the large sheet that is cooperatively aligned with a female blanker on a bottom side of the sheet that supports the sheet.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a male blanker
10
includes a plurality of presser members
12
A,
12
B,
12
C,
12
D,
12
E secured to a support plate
13
, and the presser members
12
A-
12
E are dimensioned to be the same shape and slightly smaller than the blanks
14
A,
14
B,
14
C,
14
D,
14
E of a large sheet
16
supported upon a female blanker
18
. Next to and between the presser members
12
A-
12
E are a plurality of prior art presser rails
20
. (Only one of the identical six illustrated presser rails in
FIG. 1
is identified by the reference number
20
to avoid confusion.) Each prior art presser rail includes two mount housings
22
A,
22
B that secure the presser rail
20
to the support plate
13
. Each mount housing
22
A,
22
B includes a guide strut
24
A,
24
B that is secured within the mount housing by a spring biasing mechanism such as a captured coil spring (not shown), and the guide struts
24
A,
24
B are secured to the presser rail
20
. The spring biasing mechanism forces the presser rail
20
in a direction away from the support plate
13
and mount housings
22
A,
22
B.
As is well known, in operation the support plate
13
is moved against the sheet
16
as shown in
FIG. 2
so that the presser rail
20
secures the large sheet
16
as the presser members
12
A-
12
E impact the blanks
14
A-
14
E to force them to break apart from the large sheet
16
and move with gravity assistance and a stacking machine (not shown) to blank staking piles
26
A,
26
B,
26
C,
26
D,
26
E. After the blanks
14
A-
14
E are removed from the large sheet
16
, the sheet is referred to as blanking scrap. As is apparent, the faster the large sheet
16
can be processed by the male and female blankers
10
,
18
, the more cost efficient is the blanking operation. A substantial limitation on efficient processing of the sheet
16
and blanks
14
A-
14
E is associated with jamming of blanking scrap that is inadequately secured by the presser rails
20
. The presser rails
10
must be able to apply a relatively uniform force to the large sheet
16
, even when the sheet is not completely flat. Therefore it has become important that presser rail assemblies permit the presser rail
20
to evenly apply a force even when the rail
20
is not aligned to be parallel with a plane defined by the support plate
13
, such as when a piece of blanking scrap is jammed between the presser rail and a subsequent large sheet.
Known presser assemblies have endeavored to solve this problem by permitting limited pivoting of a presser rail relative to a guide strut securing the presser rail to a support frame. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,565 that issued on Jun. 25, 1996 to Oetlinger, which Patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference, a presser assembly is disclosed that has a presser rail having a first end pivotally mounted to a first guide strut, and a second end mounted either rigidly or pivotally to a second guide strut so that each end of the presser rail may move toward or away from a support plate independently of the other end of the presser rail. While the Oetlinger presser assembly does permit a uniform application of force to the presser rail by the guide struts while the presser rail is not parallel to the support plate, because at least one presser rail end is pivotally secured to the guide strut, the Oetlinger presser assembly is quite difficult to mechanically secure to the support plate, and requires a complicated and strong pivot joint between the guide strut and the presser rail. Therefore the Oetlinger presser assembly requires strong metal components that are costly to manufacture and assemble onto the support plate. Additionally, the Oetlinger presser assembly is typically manufactured with both rigid and pivoting guide rod components, so a user must stock, service and replace two different types of presser assemblies.
As is apparent from prior art
FIGS. 1 and 2
, as a different sized blank is to be made from a sheet
16
, the presser rail
20
and mount housings
22
A,
22
B must be separated from each other and secured to differing positions on the support plate
13
. Because the Oetlinger presser assembly includes a pivot mechanism between the guide rod and the presser rail, it is time consuming to disconnect the many pivoting guide rods and to re-connect them in new positions. Additionally, the presser rails must be manufactured to receive a pivot mechanism to enable pivoting between the presser rail and guide rod, rather than the presser rail having just a throughbore to be rigidly secured in a non-pivoting manner to the to the guide rod or strut.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simplified, pivoting or moveable presser rail assembly that affords inexpensive manufacture and installation of a presser rail to a support plate of a blanking tool.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is a moveable presser rail assembly for supporting blanking material during operation of a blanking tool for making packaging blanks. The moveable presser rail assembly includes a mount housing having a cavity that defines at least one stop shoulder, a first conical shoulder and an opposed second conical shoulder that both protrude into the cavity. First and second tips of the first and second conical shoulders are at points of farthest protrusion of the shoulders into the cavity. A pivot sleeve is dimensioned to be secured within the cavity of the mount housing so that whenever an upper edge of the pivot sleeve contacts the stop shoulder, contact corners of first and second convex edges of the pivot sleeve are positioned adjacent to the tips of the first and second conical shoulders within the cavity of the mount housing. The first and second contact corners of the first and second convex edges of the pivot sleeve are defined as being a farthest distance from each other on the pivot sleeve. A guide strut is secured within the pivot sleeve by a spring biasing mechanism that biases a fastening end of the guide strut in a direction away from the mount housing. And, a presser rail is rigidly secured to the fastening end of the guide strut.
In use of the moveable presser rail assembly, the mount housing is secured over a throughbore of a support plate so that the fastening end of the guide strut passes through the throughbore to be rigidly secured to the presser rail, and the throughbore is dimensioned to have a substantially greater length than a diameter of the guide strut so that the guide strut may move in a direction that is not only perpendicular to a plane defined by the support plate. As the presser rail is moved directly toward the mount housing, the guide strut moves through the pivot sleeve within the cavity of the mount housing. Whenever the presser rail receives a force that is not perpendicular to the support plate but instead is toward and lateral to the support plate, the guide strut may move toward the support plate and laterally in such a non-perpendicular direction causing the contact corners of the convex edges of the pivot sleeve to slide out of contact with the tips of the conical shoulders. For example, if the presser rail were t
Chisholm, Jr. Malcolm J.
Gerrity Stephen F.
Nash Brian D
LandOfFree
Moveable presser rail assembly does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Moveable presser rail assembly, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Moveable presser rail assembly will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3085841