Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – With air blast or suction
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-18
2001-01-30
Moore, Chris K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
With air blast or suction
C015S256500, C015S309100, C101S425000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06178589
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to web presses in general, and to devices for cleaning a moving web in particular.
Paper is manufactured of fibers, typically of cellulose fibers made from wood. The fibers are formed into a sheet or web of paper which is pressed, dried, and wound onto a jumbo reel. Reels sized for printing newspaper are split from the jumbo reel and supplied to newspapers for printing.
A certain amount of dust, mainly loose cellulose fibers, is attached to the surfaces of the web as it is supplied to the presses, and this loose fiber tends to accumulate on roll surfaces and blankets within the press. In offset lithographic printing, the primary process used for newspaper printing, an oil-based ink is repelled from wetted portions of the printing plates. The cellulose fiber dust readily becomes wet and hence prevents ink from being properly applied to the paper. The buildup of loose fibers requires periodic cleaning of the press, reducing press availability and increasing the cost of press time.
Web cleaners have been developed to pre-clean paper. These cleaners include vacuum, air knife, and tack cleaners. One type of cleaner employs counter-rotating cleaning rolls which have stacks of canvas disks mounted on shafts and positioned on either side of the web to be cleaned. The rolls rotate counter to the direction the web is traveling and are positioned to create a boundary layer which penetrates the web boundary layer, to thereby strip off dust and fiber particles which are then removed by vacuum from the cleaning rolls. Web cleaners including rotating cleaners are relatively easily employed in presses designed for higher grades of printing such as magazines and books where the paper is fed into the press from front or back. Newspaper printing, however, will often utilize many webs, with each press typically having a web fed from beneath. The only suitable location for locating a web cleaner is above the press floor in the archway beneath the press. However, this space must be kept clear for threading the web, removal of inking rolls and access during a paper break.
What is needed is an apparatus for cleaning a web as it is fed from beneath a newsprint press.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The track assembly of this invention allows the placement of a pair of web cleaning buffs on either side of a paper web moving upwardly through the floor of a press. The track assembly facilitates mounting of the web cleaning buffs within the press archway, as well as rapid removal from the press archway without the use of tools. The frame of a press unit creates an arch overlying a press floor. The press floor, which may be constructed of removable metal plates, has a web slot through which a paper web is drawn from a press basement up into the press rollers. The track assembly has a docking plate which is installed on the operator side of the press. The docking plate extends vertically from the press floor and can be bolted into existing press floor attachment bolt holes in some presses. The docking plate bolts extend through the deck to attach both the docking plate and the deck to underlying structure. On the opposite side of the press, a pivotally mounted flip plate is bolted at a location spaced from the slot through which the paper web is drawn. Lightweight aluminum extrusions are used to form a pair of tracks which are mounted on either side of the web slot and which extend between the docking plate and the flip plate. Each aluminum extrusion has a pair of extensions on the operator side which slide into the docking plate. On the drive side, a pair of drive side extensions are linked to a cross structure which incorporates a screw clamp. A slot in the pivotally mounted flip plate allows the flip plate to slide over a clamping bracket and engage the end of the extrusion and to be clamped to the drive side of the extrusion by rotating a bolt forming a screw clamp. The tracks formed by the aluminum extrusions are fixed to the press floor by a single bolt on each track screw clamp, which clamps the extrusions to the pivotal flip plate, the opposite end of the extrusions engage the docking plate so preventing pivoting of the extrusions on the flip plate.
A removable ramp can be hooked to a bar above the cross structure containing the screw clamp on the drive side of the press.
Cleaning assemblies are moved up a removable ramp and positioned on each of the tracks formed by the extrusions. Each cleaning assembly has a web cleaning buffing cylinder mounted on pneumatic actuators in a vacuum plenum. The plenum and actuators are in turn mounted to a frame. An operator side carriage roller assembly and a drive side carriage roller assembly are mounted beneath the frame. The operator side carriage roller assembly comprises a bracket mounted for rotation about a vertical swivel axis. This bracket supports a shaft for rotation. The shaft supports for rotation a pair of guide wheels which straddle the extrusion, and a pair of rollers which ride on the top of the extrusion. The operator side carriage roller assembly bracket has a tang which mates with the docking plate. The drive side carriage roller assembly has a bracket rigidly mounted to the cleaner frame. This bracket supports a shaft for rotation, and the shaft supports a pair of guide wheels which straddle the extrusion, and a pair of rollers which ride on the top of the extrusion. The drive side carriage roller assembly supports a clamp operated by a palm nut which causes a pair of jaws to clamp the sides of the extrusion.
The cleaning cylinders are driven by motors mounted to the cleaner frames. Each cleaning assembly has an electrical power cord, two quick-disconnect pneumatic hoses and bayonet mounted vacuum hose, all attached from the operator side of the press. The buffing cylinder, buffing cylinder housing, and the cleaner frame are conventional. The pneumatic mounting of the buffing cylinder allows rapid retraction of the buffing cylinder from the web when a web splice occurs or when a web is fed through the press. The track assembly allows the web cleaners and track to be completely removed, except for the flip plate, from the archway of a press in less than three minutes, making practical web cleaning on bottom fed newsprint presses.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for rapidly installing and removing a web cleaner from the archway of a printing press.
It is a further object of the present invention to reduce the cost of operating certain presses which heretofore have not been able to practically accommodate a web cleaner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an easily installed and removed track system beneath a printing press.
It is yet further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method of reducing contamination in the ink train, dampeners and blankets in a bottom fed newspaper press.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for enhancing print quality on bottom fed newspaper presses.
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“Turbo Surface Treatment System”—D& R Engineering.
Kaim & Associates International Marketing, Inc.
Lathrop & Clark LLP
Moore Chris K.
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