EP0181280A1

EP0181280A1 - Tape affixing apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP0181280A1
Application number: EP85730149A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Toshihide Kato
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1984-10-31
Filing date: 1985-10-30
Publication date: 1986-05-14
Also published as: JPS61111264A; AU4924485A

Abstract

A tape affixing apparatus can be utilized in a splicer such as a paper processing machine. The apparatus includes a device which simultaneously affixes a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape, peels off a back paper and cuts an original paper, a knife for cutting the original paper and a spring-loaded knife. The apparatus has a gear ratio which can always give tension to the pressure sensitive adhesive tape so that the tape speed at a take-up side of the tape is always higher than that at a feed side. The rotation at the take-up side is effected through a friction plate which can adjust a frictional force. When the apparatus is lifted up, the rotation at the feed side is locked and the spring-loaded knife cuts only the pressure sensitive adhesive. Accordingly, the apparatus makes it possible to shorten a preparatory time for paper connection.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(i) FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tape affixing apparatus which can be utilized in a splicer such as a paper processing machine.

(ii) RELATED ART

When paper to be taken up approximates a terminating end during continuous feeding of the paper or the paper is exchanged for new paper of different type, a taken-up paper . connecting device (hereinafter referred to as a splicer) puts new paper 2 on old paper 1 to be taken up at a connection portion to connect them as shown in Fig. 12.
In a prior art as shown in Fig. 8, one side of a known pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape 3 is slicked on an end 2a of the new paper 2 over the width of the . paper and the end 2a of the new paper 2 is cut off by a knife 4 as shown in Fig. 9. A back paper 3a of the double coated tape 3 is then peeled off as shown in Fig. ₁0 and the old paper 1 is put on the new paper 2 with pressure sensitive adhesive 3b being exposed as shown in Fig. 11 to connect them by the connection portion of the splicer as shown in Fig. 12.
The preparatory operation as shown in Figs. 8 to 11 for putting the old paper 1 on the new paper 2 to connect them is attained by hand of an operator and the operator is curbed by the preparatory operation. Furthermore, since the operation shown in Figs. 8 to 11 can not be attained at the same time, it takes excessive time for the preparation. When the old paper is short in length, the continuously running speed of the paper can not be increased until the preparation is finished.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above drawbacks in the prior art that the excessive preparatory time is required.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel tape affixing apparatus which shortens the preparatory time for connecting paper in a splicer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tape affixing apparatus designed so that a series of paper connection operation can be automatically performed.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention is constructed as follows.
The tape affixing apparatus of the present invention comprises means for sequentially feeding a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape, means for affixing the tape on an object to be affixed, means for sequentially taking up a back paper of the tape while peeling off the back paper, first cutting means for cutting only the pressure sensitive adhesive after affixing the tape on the object, second cutting means for cutting an end of the object over the whole width of the object to reshape the end of the object, and a body for mounting the tape feeding means, the tape affixing means, the back paper taking up means, the first cutting means and the second cutting means and capable of moving in the direction of the width and the vertical direction of the object.
Accordingly, the present invention is featured in that there is provided a device which simultaneously affixes a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape, peels off a back paper and cuts an original paper, a knife for cutting the original paper and a spring-loaded knife, a gear ratio is designed to be capable of always giving tension to the tape so that the tape speed at a take-up side of the tape is always higher than that at a feed side, and the rotation at the take-up side is effected through a friction plate which can adjust a frictional force for sliding, and when the apparatus is lifted up, the rotation at the feed side is locked and the spring-loaded knife cuts only the pressure sensitive adhesive.
The present invention attains the following effects with the above structure.
The apparatus of the present invention can simultaneously and automatically attain affixture of tape, cutting of an end of new paper and peeling off of back paper of the pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape and hence the preparatory time for paper connection can be shortened. A device which can automatically move over the whole width of paper in the tape affixing apparatus and detect both side edges of new paper is provided to be able to achieve the unattended operation. Accordingly, the automatization of tape connection operation can be attained and a burden bom on an operator can be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. ₁ is a front view of a tape affixing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II - II of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III - III of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 schematically illustrates the operation of a principal portion of Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 illustrates in detail a portion shown by V of Fig. 1;
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI - VI of Fig. 1;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII - VII of Fig. 1; and
Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 illustrate the tape affixing operation in a prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in conjunction with the drawings and Figs. 1 to 7 show an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 2, a case 9 is rotatably supported by a pin 12 fixed to a frame 6a. A gear 9a is fixedly mounted on the case 9 near the frame 6a. An external thread 9b is formed on a core portion of the case 9. A core 3c of a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape 3 can be fixed on an outer periphery of the case 9 by fixedly screwing the external thread 9b of the case 9 into an internal thread 7a provided in a nut 7.
A case 15 is rotatably supported by a pin 14 fixed to the frame 6a and a core 3c-1 is mounted on a periphery of the case 15 with a proper interference that does not cause any slip between the case 15 and the core 13c-1. A nut 8 holds a spring 17 fitted on a core 15a of the case 15 by fixedly screwing an external thread 14a formed on the pin 14 into an internal thread 8a provided in the nut 8. A plate 16, a friction plate 18 and a gear 11 are rotatably fitted on the pin 14. The plate 16 can be rotated together with the case 15 by fixedly fitting a projection 16a provided on the plate 16 into a hole 15b formed in the case 15. The friction plate 18 is adapted to abut against a boss portion of the gear 11 through the plate 16 by screwing the nut 8 to compress the spring 17.
On the other hand, a gear 10 is rotatably mounted on a pin 13 fixedly mounted in the frame 6a. The gear 10 is meshed with the gears 9a and 11. Referring to Fig. 3, pins 28, 29, 30 and 31 are fixedly mounted in the frame 6a. Links 22a and 22b are rotatably mounted on the pin 28. A roll 21 covered with a elastic material 21 a on a surface of the roll is rotatably mounted on the pin 29. A roll 19 is also rotatably mounted on the pin 30. A lever 26 is rotatably mounted on the pin 31.
The opposite side of the lever 26 to a side forming a nail 26a of the lever 26 is rotatably coupled with a link 25 by means of a pin 33. The links 22a and 22b are integrally fixed by means of connecting beams 37 and 38 so as to form a framework 22. A roll 20 is rotatably fitted on a pin 35 and the roll 20 has a central portion of a diameter smaller than that of both ends 20a thereof. A link 25 is rotatably supported to the link 22b through a pin 32. A center of a pin 34 is urged to be drawn upward by a spring 2₄ shown in Fig. 1, which has an upper end being hung to a pin 35 disposed on the frame 6a. A knife 27 is fixedly mounted on the frame 6a at a position shown in Fig. 1. The knife 27 is disposed on a knife mount 101 fixed on the frame 6a on a line X-X (coinciding with a side end of the tape) shown in Fig. 2.
A horizontal beam 102 is fixedly mounted on a frame ₁03 of the splicer. A feed nut 104 is mounted by means of a guide plate 109 so that the frame 6a is held between the feed nut 10₄ and the guide plate 109, and the feed nut 104 is meshed with a feed screw rod 105. A gap t, is provided between a support portion 109a of the guide plate 109 and the frame 6a so that the tape affixing apparatus 5 can move up and down. The feed screw rod 105 is rotatably supported by a bearing fixed on the horizontal beam 102 but can not move in the axial direction thereof.
The feed screw rod ₁05 is driven through proper means or mechanism using a sprocket wheel 106, a chain and the like by a drive source incorporated in the splicer body not shown. The whole tape affixing apparatus 5 is supported in sliding contact with a metallic sliding member 107 mounted on the feed screw rod 105 and the horizontal beam 102. A mount ₁₁0 for supporting an air cylinder ₁08 required to move the whole tape affixing apparatus 5 up and down is fixedly mounted on the feed nut 104. The air cylinder 108 is coupled with a upper plate 6b mounted on the fram 6a of the tape affixing apparatus 5.
Operation of the embodiment constructed above will now be described. Fig. 1 snows the whole tape affixing apparatus 5 which goes down in the direction of an arrow c on the basis of a table 36 and moves in the direction of an arrow a on the basis of the table 36 while peeling off the back paper 3a of the pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape 3 to take up the back paper 3a on the core 3c-1. At the same time, the pressure sensitive adhesive 3b is unwound from the tape 3 to be affixed on new paper 2 disposed on the table 36. Fig. 5 illustrates in detail this state.
At this time, the roller 20 recieves a pressing force F, in the direction of arrow as a fulcrum of a pin 28 by an extension force F, in the direction of arrow of the spring 24. The roller 20 has the large diameter portion 20a shown in Fig. 3 and disposed outside of edges of the adhesive 3b in the direction of the width thereof, the large diameter portion 20a being pressed on the table 36 through the new paper 2 so that the adhesive 3b stuck on the new paper 2 is not stuck on the roller 20. Accordingly, the framework 22 generally tilted by the spring 24 as shown in Fig. 4 is lifted up as the fulcrum of the pin 28 as shown in Fig. 1 to be maintained flat so that a gap t between the new paper 2 and an edge of the knife 23 mounted on a right end of the framework 22 is maintained as shown in Fig. 5. Further, the lever 26 is angularly moved around a fulcrum 31 through the link 25 and the nail 26a of the lever 26 is detached from the gear 9a so that the gear 9a can be rotated.
The whole tape affixing apparatus is then moved in the direction of arrow a to stick the pressure sensitive adhesive 3b on the new paper 2 and the double coated tape 3 is unwound. Thus, the gear 9a is rotated in the direction of arrow to rotate the gear 11 through the gear 10 so that the core 3c-1 is rotated in the direction of arrow and the back paper 3a is taken up on the core 3c-1. An end of the back paper 3a is previously stuck on the core 3c-1 by means of an adhesive or the like. The number of teeth for the gear 11 is determined so that the speed of the outer periphery of the core 3c-1 is always faster than that of the outer periphery of the tape 3.
Accordingly, the tape 3 to be unwound is always tensioned. The core 3c-1 is rotated with slip through the plate ₁6 by the frictional force of the friction plate 18 as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, the tension applied to the unwound tape 3 can be adjusted by a condition of fastening the nut 8.
In Fig. 1, when the adhesive 3b has been affixed on the new paper 2 to reach the right end of the new paper 2 in width (known detection means 100 mounted on the frame 6a can detect that the adhesive reaches the end of the new paper in width), the movement of the apparatus 5 in the direction of arrow a is stopped.
Subsequently, as shown in Fig. 4, when the whole tape affixing apparatus is lifted up in the direction of arrow b, the abutment of the roll 20 against the table 36 is released and the framework 22 is tilted as the fulcrum of the pin 28 by the extension force of the spring 24 as shown in Fig. 4. Accordingly, the adhesive 3b is cut off by the knife 23 mounted on the right end of the framework 22 with the adhesive being tensioned.
Previously to this operation, the lever 26 is angularly moved around the pin 31 by the link 25 and the nail 26a of the lever 26 is engaged between teeth of the gear 9a so that the rotation of the gear 9a is stopped. Accordingly, the tension of the tape 3 is never loosened.
Then, the end 2a of the new paper 2 is cut off. More particularly, the whole tape affixing apparatus 5 moves in the direction of arrow a so that the adhesive 3b is stuck on the new paper while the back paper 3a is peeled off. At the same time, the cutting edge 27a of the knife 27 entering into a groove 36a provided in the table 36 as shown in Fig. 6 cuts off the end 2a of the new paper 2 over the width of the new paper 2 to reshape it as shown in Fig. 11.
The affixture for connecting the old paper 1 and the new paper 2 can be performed by a paper connection device, not shown, to connect both papers as shown in Fig. 12.

Claims

(1) A tape affixing apparatus comprises means for sequentially feeding a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape, means for affixing the tape on an object to be affixed, means for sequentially taking up a back paper of the tape while peeling off the back paper, first cutting means for cutting only the pressure sensitive adhesive after affixing the tape on the object, second cutting means for cutting an end of the object over the whole width of the object to reshape the end of the object, and a body for mounting said tape feeding means, said tape affixing means, said back paper taking up means, said first cutting means and said second cutting means and capable of moving in the direction of the width and the vertical direction of the object.
(2) An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said back paper taking up means includes a mechanism in which a speed of tape at a side of said back paper taking up means is always faster than that at a side of said tape feeding means so that the tape is always tensioned and a sliding mechanism capable of adjusting a frictional force.
(3) An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein when said body is moved upward, the movement of the tape feeding operation is locked and said second cutting means being spring-loaded cuts only the adhesive.
(4) An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said tape affixing means includes a spring-loaded roller.