Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2003-08-06
2004-11-02
Osele, Mark A. (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S504000, C156S502000, C242S554000, C242S554500, C242S554600, C242S555000, C242S556000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06811636
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to improvements in processes and in machines, for splicing together running webs of paper or the like, e.g., webs or strips of paper or other wrapping material for use in the making of plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and/or other rod-shaped smokers' products. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in processes and machines for splicing trailing ends of lengthwise moving expiring webs or strips of paper or the like to leading ends of lengthwise advancing fresh webs in such a way that the leading and trailing ends need not be adhesively and/or thermally secured to each other. Still more particularly, the instant invention relates to improvements in processes or methods and in machines for securing the leading and trailing ends of pairs of running webs or strips of deformable material to each other while the two ends advance lengthwise, in the same direction, adjacent one another, at or close to identical speeds and are pressed against each other. Splicing undertakings of such character include folding and knurling.
Processes and apparatus or machines for splicing the leading ends of fresh running webs to the trailing ends of expiring running webs are resorted to, among other undertakings, in the tobacco processing industry, e.g., to connect the leader of a rotating fresh bobbin or reel of convoluted cigarette paper or other strip- or web-shaped deformable wrapping or confining material to the trailing end of a rotating nearly expired or exhausted bobbin or reel of wrapping material in such a way that the delivery of wrapping material to the wrapping station of a cigarette maker or another web processing or consuming machine need not be interrupted or decelerated. This greatly reduces the number of rejects and enhances the output, especially in certain modern high-speed web processing machines which are designed to turn out well in excess of 10,000 rod-shaped smokers' products or the like per minute.
Presently known methods or processes and machines or apparatus of the above outlined character are disclosed, for example, in the assignee's German patent No. 693 00 282, German Utility Model No. 1 995 937 and published German patent applications Serial Nos. 1 532 203 and 1 532 204. U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,661 (granted May 14, 1963 to Malcolm E. Phillips, Jr. et al.) discloses an automatic cigarette paper splicer wherein a fresh convoluted cigarette paper web is accelerated to the speed of a running (expiring) cigarette paper web by taking into consideration the mass of the supply (such as a bobbin) of fresh convoluted web, the speed of the expiring bobbin of convoluted web and the tensional strength of the webs. Two rotary splicing sectors are provided to connect the leading end to the trailing end when the speed of the leading end matches that of the trailing end as well as the peripheral speeds of the two sectors. The splicing involves or can involve one revolution of each sector about its respective axis. The final steps of the Patented ed splicing operation include the severing of those (foremost and rearmost) ends of the spliced-together webs which respectively extend forwardly and rearwardly of the finished splice. Such final steps are carried out by resorting to knives which are actuated in dependency upon the positions of the splicing sectors.
An advantage of the automatic splicer which is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,661 to Phillips et al. is that the operation of the web processing apparatus or machine (e.g., a machine which confines a continuous rod-like filler or natural, substitute or reconstituted tobacco in a continuous web of cigarette paper or the like) need not be interrupted when the supply of a reel of convoluted web-like or strip-like wrapping material is exhausted, i.e., that the splicing operation can be carried out while the expiring web and the fresh web are being moved at the prescribed speed of the wrapping material entering the processing machine.
Another presently known mode of splicing the leader of a fresh web to the trailing end of a moving expiring web in a cigarette maker is to resort to a magazine which is designed to temporarily store a length of the expiring web. Such proposals are not entirely satisfactory because the magazine takes up a substantial amount of space in a cigarette making or like plant wherein hundreds of wrapping machines are confined in a common hall, i.e., wherein the hall must accommodate a discrete magazine for each wrapping machine.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the instant invention is to provide a novel and improved process for splicing the running trailing end of an expiring web of paper or the like to the running leader of a fresh web in a novel and improved manner, particularly or at least as concerns the appearance, the uniformity and the strength of the splices.
Another object of our present invention is to provide a process which can be practiced with advantage in connection with the making of wrapped tobacco products and which can be carried out without resorting to magazines or similar bulky facilities for temporary storage of looped and/or otherwise deformed webs of wrapping material.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved machine or apparatus for the practice of the above outlined process.
An additional object of our invention is to provide the machine with a novel and improved mechanism for making a pressure splice between the continuously advancing trailing end of an expiring web of paper or the like and a continuously advancing leading end of a fresh web.
Still another object of this invention is to reduce the number of rejects among the products which are obtained by draping a composite running web of paper or the like around a rod-shaped tobacco filler and/or filter material for tobacco smoke or the like.
A further object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved process as well as a novel and improved arrangement for trimming the front and/or rear ends of splices between selected portions of an expiring web and a fresh web of paper or other wrapping material.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved process and a novel and improved machine or apparatus of the above outlined character which can be incorporated into or otherwise combined with presently known processes and/or machines for wrapping commodities into and/or for otherwise associating commodities with continuous running webs of paper, plastic material or the like.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved system for regulating the operation of motors and/or other prime movers in a machine of the above outlined character.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved cigarette making or other tobacco processing machine which cooperates with or embodies a machine of the above outlined character.
A further object of the invention is to provide a web splicing machine which is constructed and assembled in such a way that it allows for convenient threading of fresh webs into their prescribed path and for readily observable advancement of successive webs of paper or the like to the web processing or consuming station.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One feature of this invention resides in the provision of a process for splicing the trailing end of an expiring running web (e.g., of cigarette paper or the like) to the leading end of a fresh running web. The improved process comprises the steps of advancing the leading and trailing ends of the webs in at least substantial parallelism with and next to each other at an at least substantially identical speed along a path which is flanked by a rotary knurling surface and a rotary countersurface, and rotating the surfaces at different speeds through a majority of a plurality of revolutions. The revolutions include an n-th revolution during which the surfaces are sufficiently close to each other to splice the trailing end to the leading end in the path. Furthermore, n is greater
Grothaus Frank
Hartmann Franz
Hebels Albert-Berend
HAUNI Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft
Kinberg Robert
Osele Mark A.
Venable LLP.
LandOfFree
Process and machine for splicing running webs of paper and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Process and machine for splicing running webs of paper and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process and machine for splicing running webs of paper and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3345762