Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Material guide or guard – Fluid suspension
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-10
2001-10-16
Jillions, John M. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Material guide or guard
Fluid suspension
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302353
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a turning bar apparatus disposed in a running path of a web and adapted to change the running direction of the web.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, air outlet openings are formed in a turning bar disposed in a web path, in order to cause a web looped around the turning bar to float above the outer circumferential surface of the turning bar by means of air discharged therethrough. Such a turning bar is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (kokai) Nos. 5-28632 “Turning bar Apparatus” and 5-32353 “Web Guide Roll” and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 6-345306 “Turning Bar.”
FIG. 6
shows the turning bar apparatus (hereinafter, called the first conventional art) disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 5-28632. As shown in
FIG. 6
, a turning bar
30
of the turning bar apparatus includes an exterior pipe
32
having a hollow space
31
formed therein. A number of air outlet openings
33
are formed in the exterior pipe
32
so as to extend from the hollow space
31
to the outer circumferential surface of the exterior pipe
32
, which comes into contact with a web W.
The air outlet openings
33
are positioned in the circumferential direction of the exterior pipe
32
at: a web-looping-region upstream-end-portion
34
of the turning bar
30
; a web-looping-region downstream-end-portion
35
of the turning bar
30
; a web-looping-region center-portion
39
located at the center between the web-looping-region upstream-end-portion
34
and the web-looping-region downstream-end-portion
35
; a web-looping-region upstream-portion
37
extending between the web-looping-region upstream-end-portion
34
and the web-looping-region center-portion
39
; and a web-looping-region downstream-portion
38
extending between the web-looping-region downstream-end-portion
35
and the web-looping-region center-portion
39
. In each of the positions, a plurality of air outlet openings
33
are arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction of the turning bar
30
.
The turning bar
30
is disposed in a web path of a rotary press. Compressed air supplied to the hollow space
31
is discharged through the air outlet openings
33
formed in the turning bar
30
so as to cause the web W to float above the outer circumferential surface of the exterior pipe
32
, thereby preventing blurred printing which might otherwise result from rubbing or contact between the web W and the outer circumferential surface of the turning bar
30
.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 5-28632 (hereinafter, called the second conventional art) also discloses a turning bar apparatus improved from the turning bar apparatus of the first conventional art. According to the second conventional art, an air duct is disposed on the side of the exterior pipe
32
where the web W does not contact the exterior pipe
32
. Compressed air is supplied to the air duct. Nozzles are attached to the air duct so as to discharge compressed air therethrough in a direction tangent to the exterior pipe
32
toward the web-looping-region upstream-end-portion
34
, where the web W begins to be looped around the exterior pipe
32
, and toward the web-looping-region downstream-end-portion
35
, where the web W leaves the exterior pipe
32
. According to the second conventional art, through discharge of compressed air through the nozzles, the web W is caused to be floated farther above the outer circumferential surface of the exterior pipe
31
.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 6-345306 (hereinafter, called the third conventional art), as shown in
FIGS. 8A and 8B
, a turning bar
2
for changing the running direction of a web
1
by substantially a right angle is disposed in combination with an upstream guide roller
13
and a downstream guide roller
14
. The upstream guide roller
13
is adapted to lead the web
1
toward the turning bar
2
and is disposed upstream of the turning bar
2
with respect to the direction of travel of the web
1
such that an axis level thereof is equal to that of the turning bar
2
and such that phase thereof differs 45 degrees from that of the turning bar
2
. The downstream guide roller
14
causes the web
1
to separate from the turning bar
2
and is disposed downstream of the turning bar
2
such that an axis level thereof is equal to that of the turning bar
2
and such that phase thereof differs 45 degrees from that of the turning bar
2
and 90 degrees from that of the upstream guide roller
13
.
At least three rows of nozzles
5
are arranged on the surface of the turning bar
2
along the longitudinal direction of the turning bar
2
over a length corresponding to the width of the web
1
, as well as within a circumferential web-looping region of the turning bar
2
. The nozzles
5
are arranged at longitudinally equal intervals over a portion or the entirely of the length corresponding to the width of the web
1
. Central angles defined by adjacent rows of nozzles
5
are equal to each other. An additional row of nozzles
5
is arranged longitudinally inward and at greater density than are the three rows of nozzles
5
on the surface of the turning bar
2
over an appropriate length from a portion of the turning bar
2
corresponding to a web side edge portion at which the length of the web
1
extending between the upstream guide roller
13
and the turning bar
2
is shorter than that as measured at the other web side edge. Similarly, an additional row of nozzles
5
is arranged longitudinally inward and at greater density than are the three rows of nozzles
5
on the surface of the turning bar
2
over an appropriate length from a portion of the turning bar
2
corresponding to a web side edge portion at which the length of the web
1
extending between the downstream guide roller
14
and the turning bar
2
is shorter than that as measured at the other web side edge. Through such arrangement of nozzles
5
, compressed air is supplied in greater amount to a portion of the web
1
which would otherwise be floated to a lesser extent, thereby establishing sufficient floating of the web
1
over the length of the turning bar
2
.
As shown in
FIGS. 9A and 9B
, a web guide roll
2
(hereinafter, called the fourth conventional art) disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 5-32353 is used for changing the running direction of a web
1
while the web
1
is floated above the surface thereof by means of air. A plurality of small holes
4
are formed in a web-looping region of the web guide roll
2
so as to discharge air therethrough for floating the web
1
. The small holes
4
are distributed on the web guide roll
2
circumferentially within a range from the position where the web
1
begins to be looped around the web guide roll
2
, to the position of a quarter circumference. In addition to the small holes
4
, Coanda-type slits
5
(or a row of Coanda-type small holes
5
′) are formed for discharging air therethrough.
On the upstream side of a region of distributed small holes
4
, a longitudinal Coanda-type slit
5
or a row of Coanda-type small holes (not shown) is arranged along the axial direction of the guide roll
2
such that air is discharged therethrough in an inclined manner so as to follow travel of the web
1
. On the downstream side of the region of distributed small holes
4
, a longitudinal Coanda-type slit
5
or a row of Coanda-type small holes (not shown) is arranged along the axial direction of the guide roll such
2
that air is discharged therethrough in an inclined manner so as to flow against travel of the web
1
. Circumferential Coanda-type slits
5
′ are formed on the opposite sides of the region of distributed small holes
4
with respect to the web-width direction such that air is discharged therethrough in an inclined manner so as to flow inward with respect to the axial direction of the guide roll
2
.
T
Motegi Akira
Ohno Kinichiroh
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Jillions John M.
Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho Ltd.
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