US396470A - Web-feeding mechanism - Google Patents

Description

5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

L. o. GROWELL.

WEB FEEDING MECHANISM.

Patented Jan. 22, 1889.

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(No Model.) 5 sheets-sheet 2.

' L; G. OROWELL.

WEB FEEDING MEGHANISM.

No. 396,470. Patented Jan. 22, 1889.

n. Patna momm w. Washington- .0.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

L. C. ,GROWELL. WEB PEEIDINGJMEGHANISM.

No. 396,470. Patented Jan. 22, 1 889.

(No Model. :5 SheetsSheet 4..

LC. GROWELL. v WEB FEEDING MECHANISM.

' Patented Jan. 22, 1889*;

4 lllll Hlliilil iliiiillill 27 2a 2 as 27 NITED STATES LUTHER C. OROXVELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

WEB-FEEDING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,470, dated January 22, 1889.

Application filed December 9, 1887. Serial No. 25 7.459. (No model.)

To all 2072/0712 it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER C. CROWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Impro vements in \VebFecding Mechanism, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to a web-feeding mechanism which is designed for use in connection with a web-printing or printing and delivery mechanis1n,it being the object of the invention to provide a mechanism for this purpose which shall operate to maintain a uniform and proper tension upon the web at all points in its passage through the machine.

In this class of machinesitis of course necessary to provide at different points in the machine positively-driven feeding-rolls,which act upon the web to advance it while it is operated upon by the various mechanisms and before it is severed into sheets. If these feeding-rolls are arranged to have the same surface speed as the printingcylinders, it becomes impossible to maintain the web at the proper tension during all parts of the travel, not only because it is impossible in threading up the machine to introduce the web so that it will be under a uniform and proper tension, but also because the web, even it introduced at the proper tension, would gradually tend to become slack. To overcome this difficulty and to maintain the web at the proper tension, it has been customary to drive the feed ing-rolls which operate to advance the web after it leaves the printing-cylinders, and in certain classes of machines the roll or rolls which advance the web between the printing of its opposite sides, at a slightly greater surface speed than the printing-cylinders, so that there is a constant tendency to accelerate the feed of the web, and thus take up any slack and maintain the proper tension. It will readily be seen that if the feed-rolls thus accelerated were caused to nip with a positive and unyielding bite upon the web they would gradually increase the tension until the web would become broken, and to avoid this it has been customary to so adjust the feeding-rolls that they will nip upon the web sufficiently to take up any slack and put it under the proper tension, and yet slip upon the Web before the tension is increased to the breakingpoint. To secure this operation of the feeding-rolls it was necessary that the speed of the rolls, and in those cases where the rolls nipped upon the web the biting-contact, should be adjusted with very great nicety, which Was exceedingly difficult in practice, and in addition to this the slipping of the rolls, which were frequently milled or fluted, upon the web tended to spread the ink of the freshly-printed matter, and thus damage the product. This manner of operating the rolls to produce and maintain the desired tension was also objectionable for other reasons.

The improvements constituting the present invention are designed to overcome these objections, and to that end the feeding-rolls are, as in the former constructions, accelerated to a surface speed greater than the surface speed. of the printing-cylinders; but, unlike the former organizations, these rolls are adjusted to bit-e firmly upon the web and advance it positively without slipping upon it. These rolls, however, instead of being driven positively from the prime mover, (i. a, the printing-cylinders or some other moving part of the' machine,) as in the former constructions, are connected to said prime mover through the medium of a friction-clutch mechanism which is so adjusted as to drive the feeding rolls with sufficient power to put the web under the proper degree of tension, but to slip and permit the rolls to be retarded before the web is subjected to breaking strain. By this means the web is always maintained at the proper tension and the feeding-rolls are prevented from slipping upon the web, thus avoiding the smutting of the web by spreading the ink and the difficulty of securing the nice adjustment of the rolls which is necessary when they slip upon the web, and at the same time a more accurate feed of the web is obtained. The adjustment of the frictionclutch mechanism to secure the proper tension is a comparatively easy and simple matter.

A full understanding of the invention and the manner of applying the same can be best given by a description of the same in connection with a web printing and delivery mechanism. All further preliminary description will therefore be omitted and a detailed description given, reference being had. .to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of the principal parts of an ordinary form of web printing and delivery mechanism, showing the improvements constituting the present invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a part of the delivery mechanism, looking from the direction of the arrow a. Fig. a similar view of the same part of the delivery mechanism, lookin from. the direction of the arrow 1). Fig. 4c is an enlarged section taken on the line i of Figs. 1 and 5. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 4. Fig. (3 is, an enlarged section taken on the line 6 of Fig. Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are-views of the parts of the frictionelutch mechanism. Figs. 11, 12, and 13 are views illustrating a modified form of the clutch mechanism Fig. 12 being a section on the line 12 of Fig. 13, and Fig. 13 a section on the line 13 of Fig. 12.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, it is to be understood that the printing mechanism therein partly illustrated is of an ordinary form, consisting of form-cylinders A, iinpression-cylinders B, and ordinary inking mechanisms, represented by the rolls and cylinders 0. As illustrated, the printing-cylinders are capacitated to carry three f rms abreast. The web D is led from a roll, and after being perfected in the usual manner by the cylinders A B passes into the control of tapes 2 3 4, by which it is conveyed to the delivery mechanism. In case a full-width web is used, it will be acted on by a slitter, 20, so as to be divided into two sections or narrow webs before it arrives at the delivery mechanism. This mechanism in the case illustrated consists of a web turning and associating mechanism composed of two turning bars, 30, a longitudinal folder, E, a transverse cutting, folding, and associating mechanism composed of the cylinders +25 16 and their auxiliaries, and a sheet-piling mechanism. (Not shown.)

The tapes 2 3 a are arranged as follows: The tapes 2 pass around a roll, 5, located adjacent to the impression-cylinder l3, thence around a roll, 6, over rolls '7 and 17, and around stretching-pulleys 8, returning around pulleys 9. The tapes 3 pass around a roll, 10,10- cated below the roll 5, and thence beneath the roll 6. From the roll 6 the marginal tapes of the series pass around a roll, 11, and return around stretching-pulleys 12, while the central tapes of the series pass with the tapes 2 above the roll 7, thence around a roll, 13, and return over the stretching-pulleys 16 12, passing through the space between the two parts of the roll 11. The tapes 4, which cooperate with the two marginal tapes of the series 2, pass around the roll 7, thence over the roll 13, and between a pair of feed-rolls, 14, returning around one of these rolls and the pulleys 1.6. The longitudinal folder E is of substantially the construction shown and described in my prior Letters Patent No. $31,280, it being provided with external turners, 1S, and a pair of fold-laying rolls, 19.

The cylinders 4:5 46, which constitute the transverse cutting, folding, and associating mechanism, may be equipped substantially the same as described in my former Letters Patent No. 317,749, or as described in my pending applications filed on the 9th and 10th days of November, 1887, Nos. 254:,669 and 254,765. The sh eet-piling mechanism maybe of any approved for1n+sueh, for example, as shown in my prior Letters Patent, No. 269,021 or No. 281,754. 7

The operation of the printing and delivery mechanism is as follows: lVhen it is desired to produce a product consisting of afull sheet or sheetssuch, for example, as a four or eight. page papera web of two-thirds width will be used, which web after being printed will pass into the control of the tapes 2 3 i and be conveyed over the roll 17 and thence downward over the folder E, where it will be folded longitudin ally, after which it will pass between the rolls 19 and into the control of the cylinders 45 to, where it will be severed into sheets, and the sheets will be folded or associated and folded and delivered in the usual manner.

If it is desired to produce a product consisting of one or more full sheets and one or more half-sheetssueh, for example, as a six or twelve page papera web of full width will be used, which after being printed will pass into the control of the tapes 2 3, and as it passes the roll I; will be split by the slitter 20. The narrow section (Z thus split off will be led around the turners 30, thereby being transferred laterally to the opposite side of the machine, after which it will be associated with the main portion of the web and pass forward between the tapes 2 4 to the roll 13, at which point it will leave the main portion of the web and pass between the rolls l-it and be reassociated with the main portion of the web as the two arrive at the longitudinal folder E, so that as the main portion of the web is fold ed longitudinally the narrow portion d will be inset within the main portion. The operation will then be the same as first described.

To secure the proper register between the printed pages upon the two portions of the web, the turners 230 are made adjustable, so as to vary the travel of the portion (1 of the web between the roll (1 and the longitudinalfolder. For this purpose the turners 30 are mounted rigidly upon a shaft, 31., which is supported in bearings 32, which slide in ways formed in the side frame of the machine. These bearings 32 are provided with racks, which are engaged by pinions 33, mounted upon a shaft, 3-1, which is operated by a hand-wheel, 35, so as to shift the position of the turners to effect the proper register of the webs, as before stated. The turners 30 are retained in any position to which they are adjusted by a setscrew, pawl, or any usual retaining device.

In order to maintain the webs at the proper tension during their passage from the printing-cylinders to the transverse cutting mechanism, it is necessary to provide feeding-rolls at one or more points, and in practice it is found that it is most desirable to locate these feeding-rolls so that they will act upon the web immediately after it passes over or around any stationary surface where it is subjected to frict-ionas, for example, a web turner or turn ers or a longitudinal folder-as the friction produced in moving the wcbovcr such stationary surface tends to retard it, and thereby produce slack which it is necessary to take up or compensate for. The position of such feed-rolls will therefore vary the character and organization of the delivery mechanism varies. The delivery mechanism which is herein illustrated will, however, serve to illustrate the principle of the invention and the mode of applying it to all classes of printing and delivery mechanisms.

For the purpose of maintaining the tension of the web, as before stated, the rolls 14.,which act upon the narrow or supplement portion d of the web after it passes the turners 30, and the rolls 19, which act upon the main portion of the web or the main and supplement portions of the web, as the case may be, after it or they pass the longitudinal folder, are driven so as to feed the webs. For this purpose the rolls 19 are connected by gears 21, and are driven through a gear, 22, upon the shaft of one of the rolls which communicates through an intermediate, 23, with a gear, 24, upon the shaft of the cylimlerifi, the cylinder 4.6 being in turn driven from a driving-shaft through a shaft, 26, and gearing 25.

The gearing which transmits motion to the feed-rolls 19 is so proportioned that the surface speed of the feed-rolls is accelerated considerably above the surface speed of theprinting-cylinders. In order to prevent this accelerated movement of the rolls 1.9 from breaking the web, there is provided between the prime mover and the rolls a friction-clutch mechanism which permits the rolls to be retarded below their normal speed as soon as the web is subjected to the proper tension, This clutch mechanism maybe located atany convenient point in the train of connections; but will preferably be, as herein shown, located between gears 21 22. This clutch mechanism may be of a variety of forms; but two forms which are suitable for the purpose are herein illustrated.

In the form shown in Figs. at to 10 the gear 22 is loosely mounted upon the shaft of the roll 19, while the gear 21. is fixed upon the shaft of that roll. The gear 22 provided upon its face with a disk, 27, upon the face of which are formed two lugs, 28, one of which is provided with an opening, which receives a stud projecting from the end of a spring, 29,

while the other is provided with a set-screw, 36, which acts upon the opposite end of said spring. This spring 29 lies inside of and is pressed into frictional contact with a flange, 37, extending from a disk, 38, which is secured to the face of the gear 21. From this arrangement it will be seen that the rolls 19 are not driven positively, but are only driven through the friction of the sprin 29 upon the flange 37, and that whenever the tension of the web passing between the rolls becomes sufficient to overcome the friction between the spring 29 and the flange 37 the rolls 19 will cease to act; and it will also be seen that by operating the screw 36 the friction between the spring 29 and the'flange 37 can be readily increased or diminished to put the web under any desired tension.

The rolls H, which act upon the narrow or supplement portion (Z of the web, are connected by gears 39, and are driven through a gear, 40, upon the shaft of one of the rolls which engages with a gear, 4-1, upon the shaft of the roll 17, which shaft is in turn driven through a shaft, 42, and gearing 43 from the printing-cylinders. This gearing, the same as the gearing through which the rolls 19 are driven, is so proportioned as to give the rolls 14: a surface speed greater than that of the printing-cylinders; but these rolls are provided with a friction-clutch mechanism, as i11- dicated at (0, similar to that already described in connection with the rolls 19, and which 0perates in exactly the same manner to permit the rolls to maintain the web 01 at the proper tension.

Figs. 11 to 13 illustrate another form of clutch mechanism, which may be used in place of that already described. As illustrated in these figures, the gear 22, which is loose upon the shaft of the roll 19, is made to form a flange, 37, while the spring 29 is made in two parts, and is supported upon lugs 44, projecting from the face of the gear 21, which is fast to the shaft of the roll.

Pivoted to the inner sides of the two parts of the spring 29 are a pair of toggle-levers, 47, which are acted on by arms 48, which project through openings in the web of the gear 21, and are secured to a disk, 49, which is loosely mounted 011 the shaft of the roll 19 outside of the gear 21. The bearing of the shaft of the roll 19 is provided with an inward extension, 50, which is screw-threaded, and upon which works a nut, 51, which abuts against the disk 49, so as to move the arms -18 inward and thereby str'aigl'iten the toggle-levers and press the springs 29 against the flange 37, and thus create friction between the fiange and the spring to transmit the motion of the gear 21 to the gear 22 and the rolls. The arms 48 are moved in the opposite direction by a spring, The nut 51 is provided around its edge with a series of recesses, which receive a pawl located on a stud, 53, which operates to lock the nut in any position to which it is adjusted. This construction will in some cases be preferable IIO to that first described, because it permits the clutch to be adjusted to vary the tension of the web while the machine is in operation, whereas in the construction first described such adjustment can only be eltected when the machine is at rest.

What I claim is ll. The combination, with a web-printing mechanism and a web-severing mechanism, of a longitiulinal folding mechanism, an accelerated feed-roll ['or the web, and a frictimiclutch for communicating" the motion to said roll, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a wel )rinting mechanism and a web-severing mechanism, of a web-turning mechanism, an accelerated Feed-roll for the web, and a liriction-cluteh for communicating the motion to said roll, substantially as described.

The combination, with a web-printing mechanism and a welysevering mechanism, of an accelerated feedroll for the web and a friction-clutch for communicating the motion to said roll, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a web-printing LF'IIIER (J. (ROWELL \Vit nesses:

T. H. PALMER, J. J. KENNEDY.

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