EP0553449A1 - Method and means for manufacturing products from webs folded once or several times - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for feeding webs made of paper, tissue, nonwoven material or the like to a folding machine for producing web sections which have been folded once or more than once in the transverse direction and for delivering the web sections into packs with a fixed number of components and an apparatus for implementing the method. Webs are wound off four supply reels. The webs are separated in a longitudinal direction into two single webs in each case. The direction of movement of the single webs is respectively deflected through 90 DEG into horizontal guiding planes. In the new direction of movement, the single webs formed from different webs are situated in each case one on top of the other and aligned with one another in different horizontal guiding planes. They are folded in the longitudinal direction and are rotated into a common vertical plane. Two single webs are fed to each pair of folding cylinders. The folded stacks are separated into subsidiary stacks in their vertical central plane and each subsidiary stack is divided up into packs. The apparatus has an unwinding station, downstream of which there are arranged longitudinal cutting devices (4.1, 4.2) as well as guiding apparatuses, deflection apparatuses (5.1 - 5.8) and longitudinal folding apparatuses (6.1 - 6.8), a folding machine (7.1 - 7.4), a tape measure device (8.1, 8.2) and a delivery device (11.1 - 11.8). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a method for feeding webs of paper, tissue, nonwoven or the like to a folding machine and for producing web sections folded one or more times in the transverse direction and for delivering the web sections in packages consisting of counted individual pieces with the features from the preamble of patent claim 1 The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the method with the features from the preamble of patent claim 5.

A method with the features described in the preamble of claim 1 is described for example in DE-OS 28 53 741. In this known method it is assumed that a single web is separated into several, for example three adjacent individual webs after unwinding. These adjacent individual webs are first continued in different horizontal planes and then folded lengthways in such a way that the web plane of each folded single web is rotated into a vertical plane. The individual webs rotated in this way are then deflected by 90 ° and guided out of their previous web level into a common vertical plane in which the individual webs with vertically aligned web planes are aligned one above the other. In this form, several, for example three, individual webs are fed to a folding machine which has a pair of folding cylinders to which three individual webs can be fed one above the other.

The stacks, which are dispensed by the folding machine and are arranged one above the other, are each separated by means of a band knife device into two adjoining partial stacks consisting of folded web sections.

The object underlying the invention was to design the known method in such a way that a multiple of the production output can be achieved without particularly high technical outlay, in particular the webs should be fed to the folding machine at very high speeds without any removal problems in the folding machine arise in the folded products.

This object is achieved according to the invention with the features from the characterizing part of the patent claim 1. Advantageous further developments of the method according to the invention are described in subclaims 2 to 4.

A device for carrying out the method according to the invention has the features from claim 5. Advantageous developments of this device are described in subclaims 6 to 11. The basic idea of the invention is to unwind several webs at the same time with the least possible design effort, to separate them in the longitudinal direction and to fold them, and thus to feed a larger number of individual webs to a folding machine which has several, preferably an even number of folding cylinder pairs, with each folding cylinder pair having several, preferably two single tracks are fed. In this way it is possible to simultaneously produce a larger number of partial stacks of the folded products, which can be delivered in counted packages. The devices for producing and delivering the packets from counted individual pieces can in principle be designed as described in DE-PS 24 27 635. Here, a structurally particularly inexpensive design of the delivery device can be achieved if the packages formed from the stacked partial stacks are placed alternately on a common conveyor, which can be done in such a way that the packages from the bottom stack in each case directly on the bottom arranged conveyor are deposited, while the packages from the partial stack arranged above are first placed on a package transfer table, which then lowers and places the package on the conveyor.

Furthermore, a structurally particularly simple solution for producing the partial stacks from the stack delivered by the folding machine can be achieved if the folding machine with two pairs of folding cylinders is assigned a common band knife device with a band knife rotating in a vertical plane, the downward run of the band knife being two or Several stacked stacks of one pair of folding cylinders split into partial stacks, while the upward running strand separates the stack of the other pair of folding cylinders one above the other into partial stacks. In this way, eight or more partial stacks can be produced with a band knife device.

A particular advantage of the method and the device according to the invention is that the device can be easily expanded by being constructed from a plurality of units, each of which has a folding machine with two pairs of folding cylinders, each of these units coming from two of the unwound webs Partial webs are fed, from which a total of eight partial stacks consisting of web sections are generated. In this case, an even number of webs are processed, these webs are jointly subjected to a pretreatment, for example in an embossing calender, in order to be separated and then fed to the folding machines after the longitudinal separation and the longitudinal folding.

The unwinding and merging of several webs has the additional advantage that webs with different characteristics, for example in different colors or with different imprints, can be processed at the same time, but only each partial stack Contains products that come from a web, so that the products contained in a package are each of the same color, but packages with products of different colors are delivered. The joint feeding of the webs to an embossing calender has the advantage that even thin single-layer material can be subjected to steel-on-steel embossing, which is difficult when feeding only one web. Of course, each of the unwound webs can be passed through its own pretreatment station, for example for printing, before being brought together. The construction of the device from several units offers the possibility, depending on the desired output, to put all or only some of the units into operation.

The fact that each folding machine has two pairs of folding cylinders arranged horizontally next to one another, to which two individual webs are fed one above the other in a vertical plane, guarantees a particularly low design effort for producing a larger number of partial stacks. Of course, it is also possible to arrange more than two pairs of folding cylinders next to one another in a folding machine, to which more than two individual webs lying one above the other can also be fed.

An exemplary embodiment of a device according to the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, on the basis of which the method according to the invention is described in more detail.

Fig. 1

in einer Aufsicht in stark schematisierter Darstellung eine Vorrichtung zur Zuführung von insgesamt vier Bahnen zu einer Falzmaschine mit vier Falzzylinderpaaren zur Erzeugung von insgesamt 16 Teilstapeln aus gefalteten Bahnabschnitten;

Fig. 2

ebenfalls schematisch in einem Schnitt nach der Linie II-II in Fig. 1 in gegenüber Fig. 1 vergrößerter Darstellung einen Teil der Vorrichtung nach Fig. 1;

Fig. 3

in einer Teilaufsicht den in Fig. 1 strichpunktiert eingerahmten Teil III der Vorrichtung nach Fig. 1 in vergrößerter detaillierterer Darstellung;

Fig. 4

in gegenüber Fig. 3 leicht verkleinerter Darstellung eine Seitenansicht des Vorrichtungsteils nach Fig. 3.

The drawings show:

Fig. 1

a top view in a highly schematic representation of a device for feeding a total of four webs to a folding machine with four folding cylinder pairs for producing a total of 16 partial stacks from folded web sections;

Fig. 2

likewise schematically in a section along the line II-II in FIG. 1 in an enlarged representation compared to FIG. 1, a part of the device according to FIG. 1;

Fig. 3

in a partial view, the dashed-dotted part III of the device according to FIG. 1 in FIG. 1 in an enlarged, more detailed illustration;

Fig. 4

in a slightly reduced representation compared to FIG. 3, a side view of the device part according to FIG. 3.

Fig. 1 shows a highly schematic representation of a device with four in a known manner in the web running direction BR behind the arranged unwinding stations 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, of which four webs of paper, tissue, nonwoven or the like are unwound, the following and in Fig. 2 are designated B1, B2, B3 and B4. These webs are continued one on top of the other and are initially fed together to an embossing calender 2 (see also FIG. 2). From the embossing calender 2 they are guided together by a guide device 3 with guide rollers 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, by means of which they are finally separated from one another in pairs and carried on at different heights. The pair from the webs B1 and B2 reaches a longitudinal cutting device 4.1 via the guide roller 3.2, while the pair from the webs B3 and B4 is guided via guide rollers 3.3, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 to a longitudinal cutting device 4.2 which is at the same height as the slitter 4.1.

In the longitudinal cutting device 4.1, the webs B1 and B2 are each split in the longitudinal direction into two sub-webs, which are designated EB1.1, EB1.2 or EB2.1 and EB2.2. The partial webs EB1.1 and EB1.2 created from the web B1 are guided into an upper horizontal plane, while the partial webs EB2.1 and EB2.2 originating from the web B2 are guided into a lower horizontal plane. This guidance takes place via guide rollers 3.4 or 3.5. The partial webs EB1.1 and EB1.2, which are arranged next to one another in the upper level, are guided over deflecting rods 5.1 and 5.2, by means of which they are deflected by 90 ° in their direction of movement into a horizontal guide plane, in which they are continued at a predetermined distance ( see also FIGS. 2 and 3).

In an analogous manner, the partial webs EB2.1 and EB2.2 arranged in the lower horizontal plane are deflected by deflecting rods 5.3 and 5.4 and continued so that the partial web EB2.1 under the partial web EB1.1 and the partial web EB2.2 under the Partial web EB1.2 lies (Fig. 2).

Similarly, the webs B3 and B4 are separated by the slitter 4.2 into the sub-webs EB3.1 and EB 3.2 or EB4.1 and EB4.2, with the sub-webs EB3.1 and EB3.2 being guided into an upper one via the guide roller 3.10 horizontal level and over the guide roller 3.11, the partial webs EB4.1 and EB 4.2 are guided into a lower horizontal level. The partial webs are also deflected by deflecting rods 5.5 and 5.6 or 5.7 and 5.8 by 90 ° in their direction of movement into the respective horizontal guide plane, in which they are arranged at horizontal intervals so that the partial web EB4.1 below the partial web EB 3.1 and the Sub-track EB4.2 is below sub-track EB 3.2.

Each of the partial webs is then fed in its guide plane to a longitudinal folding device, each of which is labeled 6.1 to 6.8. The longitudinal folding devices work in an analogous manner. For example, the partial web EB1.1 is folded by the longitudinal folding device 6.1 along a line running in the longitudinal direction in such a way that the web plane of the folded single web EB1.1 is rotated into a vertical plane. The partial web EB2.1 is rotated into the same vertical plane by the longitudinal folding device 6.3, so that these two individual webs are aligned one above the other in the same vertical plane. In an analogous manner, the partial webs EB1.2 and EB2.1 or EB3.1 and EB4.1 or EB3.2 and EB4.2 are in each case under the effect of the longitudinal folding devices 6.2 and 6.4 or 6.5 and 6.7 or 6.6 and 6.8 arranged in a common vertical plane. In these vertical planes, the individual webs are fed to the folding machine, which has a total of four pairs of folding cylinders 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4, to which two individual webs lying one above the other are fed.

The folding cylinders can be designed in the manner customary in folding machines. For this purpose, reference is made, for example, to DE-OS 19 52 449.

The partial webs are folded in a known manner by the folding cylinder pairs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4, and after the transverse folding, the finished product per folding cylinder pair is delivered in two stacks one above the other. These stacks are each separated in the vertical center plane into two adjacent partial stacks consisting of folded web sections. Band knives are used for the separation, each of which is part of two band knife devices 8.1 and 8.2. The band knife device 8.1 is the folding cylinder pairs 7.1 and 7.2 assigned, while the band knife device 8.2 is assigned to the folding cylinder pairs 7.3 and 7.4. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the band knife of each of the band knife devices is arranged in such a way that both the downward run and the upward run separate two stacked stacks. For example, the band knife device 8.1 can be arranged such that the downward run lies behind the folding cylinder pair 7.1 and the upward run behind the folding cylinder pair 7.2. Eight partial stacks are thus created by a band knife, which move further on partial stack sections, of which the partial stack sections 9.1, 9.2 and 9.5 and 9.6 lying in the upper level and the partial stack section 9.3 lying in the lower level are visible in FIGS. 3 and 4 are.

In an analogous manner, the band knife device 8.2 also produces eight partial stacks, of which the partial stack sections 10.1, 10.2 and 10.5 and 10.6 lying in the upper level are visible in FIG. 3.

The band knife devices 8.1 and 8.2 are mounted on rails 8.3 running in the transverse direction, on which they can be displaced in the lateral direction. This has the great advantage that they can be moved to the side when changing the band knife or when adjusting the pairs of folding cylinders. In this way, the overall system can be constructed very compactly and the folding cylinder pairs can be arranged relatively close to one another in the transverse direction.

A total of eight horizontal conveyors 11.1 to 11.8 are arranged below the partial stack sections, each of which on two partial stack sections lying one above the other formed packages are stored. For this purpose, at the end of each partial stacking section, a storage fork which can be swiveled downward and is hook-shaped in longitudinal section is arranged. 4 shows two of these storage forks, namely the storage fork 12.1 arranged at the end of the partial stack section 9.1 and the storage fork 12.3 arranged at the end of the partial stack section 9.3 below. In the formation of packets from counted individual products in the delivery device, use is made of functions and device parts known per se, which are described for example in DE-PS 24 27 635. At the end of each partial stack section, the delivery device has a holding finger that can be moved into the partial stack from above, transversely to the direction of movement. This is shown in FIG. 4 by means of the partial stacks 9.1 with the holding fingers 13.1 and 9.3 with the holding fingers 13.3. Furthermore, at the end of each partial stack section in the area of the storage fork there is a holding stop 14.1 which can be pressed against the front side of a partial stack, displaceable with the advancing partial stack and then returned to an initial position. Such a stop is shown in FIG. 4 at the end of the partial stack section 9.1. At the end of the partial stacking section 9.3, a stop is arranged in the same way, but not shown for the sake of clarity.

The mode of operation of the above-described device parts is explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 4. On the partial stack sections 9.1 and 9.3, the partial stacks move forward in individual packs from counted folded products, ie in the direction of movement to the right in FIG. 4. The products shown in FIG. 4 are inside each packet Arranged in such a way that the first piece of a packet is raised the most and the height decreases to the last piece. The upper surface of the partial stack thus has a sawtooth-like profile. The hook-shaped sensing edge of a control slide, which advances with the partial stack, lies against the raised front edge of the foremost packet in the partial stack. When moving forward, the parcels of the partial stacks finally reach the swung-up storage forks. In the swiveled-up position, the storage forks are not horizontal, but rather, as shown in FIG. 4 by means of the storage fork 12.1, with a dash-dot line, slightly inclined downwards. As soon as the partial stack comes into the area of the storage fork, the stop 14.1 is also present on its front side and is carried along when the partial stack advances onto the storage fork. When the partial stack 9.1 has advanced a predetermined distance on the storage fork, a control process is triggered by the control slide, due to which the holding finger 13.1 moves into the partial stack and separates the packet P1 lying in front of it from the partial stack. At the same time, the downward movement of the storage fork and a return of the control slide is triggered. The holding stop 14.1 is returned to its starting position at the beginning of the storage fork 12.1 after the storage fork has been pivoted up again. As soon as the stop abuts the front end of the partial stack, the holding finger 13.1 can be moved out of the partial stack again. After the downward pivoting movement of the storage fork 12.1 has ended, the packet P1 lying thereon with horizontally lying track sections is placed on a transfer table 15. For this purpose, both the holding fork 12.1 and the transfer table 15 are designed in a manner not shown in such a way that the respective support elements interlock. The transfer table 15 is moved downwards after placing the packet P1 and places the packet P1 on the horizontal conveyor 11.1. In order for this to be possible, the support elements of the transfer table 15 and the horizontal conveyor 11.1 are again designed in a manner not shown in such a way that they interlock when the transfer table 15 is lowered and the packet P1 can be placed directly on the conveyor.

The parcel P3 is delivered in an analogous manner by means of the storage fork 12.3 from the partial stacking section 9.3, with the difference that with this lower partial stacking section 9.3 no transfer table is required, but the parcel P3 can be deposited directly on the conveyor 11.1 by the holding fork 12.3 .

As can be seen from Fig. 4, the two storage forks 12.1 and 12.3 are arranged offset from one another in the horizontal direction, and the control of the storage operations is carried out in such a way that two packets P1 and P3 from the two stacking sections lying one above the other are conveyed onto the conveyor 11.1 substantially simultaneously can be stored offset in the horizontal direction. In an analogous manner, storage forks (not shown) and transfer tables for the upper partial stack sections are arranged on the remaining partial stack sections, through which the packets produced on these partial stack sections are deposited on the horizontal conveyors 11.2 to 11.8.

At the end of the horizontal conveyor, in this embodiment, as can be seen from FIG. 4, the parcels are lifted by means of a second transfer table 16 and pushed onto a storage surface 18 by a ram 17 moved in the horizontal direction.

This device is also present in an analogous manner at the end of the conveyors 11.2 to 11.8.

Claims (11)

Method for feeding webs of paper, tissue, nonwoven or the like to a folding machine and for producing web sections folded one or more times in the transverse direction and for delivering the web sections in packages consisting of counted individual pieces, in which a web is unwound from a supply roll and in the longitudinal direction in two or more individual webs lying next to one another in a plane are separated and individual webs are continued in different horizontal planes and each individual web is folded along a longitudinal line in such a way that the web plane of the folded single web is rotated into a vertical plane and each has at least two folded individual webs their path planes in a vertical plane, one above the other, are fed flush to the folding machine and the stack emitted by the folding machine in the direction of movement of the individual paths in the vertical center plane in two next to one another horizontal sub-stack consisting of folded web sections is separated and each sub-stack is divided into packets of counted individual pieces which are removed, characterized in that webs are unwound from at least two supply rolls (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) and are carried on one another together and after the separation in the longitudinal direction, the individual webs created from the same web (EB1.1, EB1.2; EB2.1, EB2.2; EB3.1, EB3.2; EB4.1, EB4.2) are guided in the same horizontal plane and deflected by 90 ° in their direction of movement into a horizontal guide plane and in the new direction of movement with a horizontal one Distance be continued, while the individual tracks created from different tracks are guided such that at least two individual tracks (EB1.1, EB2.1; EB1.2, EB2.1; EB3.1, EB4.1; EB3) in the new direction of movement .2, EB4.2) are aligned one above the other in different horizontal guide planes, which are folded in the longitudinal direction and rotated into the common vertical plane, so that each folding cylinder pair of the folding machine having at least two folding cylinder pairs (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4) has at least two different ones Folded single webs created can be fed. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the webs (B1, B2) unwound from two supply rolls are jointly divided in the longitudinal direction into a total of four individual webs (EB1.1, EB1.2, EB2.1, EB2.2), which in the new direction of movement after the deflection in pairs in two horizontal guide planes, the vertical distance of which corresponds at least to the width of the folded individual webs. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the webs which are unwound from four supply rolls (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) in pairs in the longitudinal direction in a total of eight individual webs (EB1.1, EB1.2; EB2.1, EB2.2; EB3. 1, EB3.2; EB4.1, EB4.2), which lie in pairs in the new direction of movement after the deflection in two horizontal guide levels, the vertical distance of which corresponds at least to the width of the folded individual webs and each folding cylinder pair of the total of four folding cylinder pairs (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4) folding machine each fed two folded individual webs. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the parcels (P1, P3) formed from superposed partial stacks (9.1, 9.3) are placed alternately on a common conveyor (11.1). Device for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 3, with an unwinding station, the longitudinal cutting devices are arranged downstream and guide, deflection and longitudinal folding devices for the webs or single webs and a folding machine, which are arranged downstream of a band knife device and a delivery device that the unwinding station has at least two supply rolls (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) arranged one behind the other in the web movement direction and each longitudinal cutting device (4.1, 4.2) acts on at least one of the unwound webs for separation into individual webs and each longitudinal cutting device first has guide rollers (3.4, 3.5; 3.10, 3.11) for guiding the separated webs in at least two different horizontal planes and then deflecting rods (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.8) for redirecting the individual webs created from the same web by 90 ° in their Direction of movement in the h are arranged downstream of the horizontal guide planes and the longitudinal folding devices (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8) are arranged downstream of the deflecting bars, the deflecting bars and longitudinal folding devices being arranged in such a way that the individual webs lying in the same guide plane have a predetermined lateral distance have from each other and the individual tracks created from different tracks in the different guide levels have a predetermined vertical distance from each other, which is at least corresponds to the width of the folded individual webs and the longitudinal folding device is followed by a folding machine with at least two pairs of folding cylinders (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4) arranged side by side in the horizontal direction with vertical axes of rotation, each folding cylinder pair having a height such that at least two are in the same vertical Single sheets lying one above the other in alignment can be fed. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the unwinding station has an even number of supply rolls (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) arranged one behind the other and the unwinding station is followed by a pretreatment station (2) to which all the webs are fed together and the pretreatment station (2nd ) Are arranged downstream of the guiding devices (3), via which the webs are fed in pairs on paths running at different heights for each pair to the longitudinal cutting devices (4.1, 4.2) at the same height, where they are separated into individual webs in pairs and the arrangement of the guide rollers (3.4 , 3.5, 3.10, 3.11) and deflecting rods (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8) is such that all upper guide levels and all lower guide levels of the path pairs are each at the same height. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that each web pair (B1, B2; B3, B4) is assigned a folding machine with two pairs of folding cylinders (7.1, 7.2; 7.3, 7.4). Device according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that each folding machine with two pairs of folding cylinders (7.1, 7.2 or 7.3, 7.4) has a band knife device Subordinate (8.1 or 8.2), which has a band knife rotating in a vertical plane perpendicular to the stacking direction, which is arranged so that the downward run behind one pair of folding cylinders (7.1 or 7.3) and the upward run behind the other pair of folding cylinders (7.2 or 7.4) is arranged. Apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that each band knife device (8.1, 8.2) is arranged to be displaceable in the transverse direction to the direction of movement of the stack. Device according to one of Claims 5 to 9 for carrying out the method according to Claim 4, characterized in that the delivery device for the partial stack sections (9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.5, 9.6, 10.1, 10.2) which are located one above the other and which are arranged downstream of the band knife device (8.1, 8.2) , 10.5, 10.6) has a common horizontal conveyor (11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8) arranged underneath the lowermost partial stack section and offset at the ends of the partial stack sections (9.1, 9.3) in the direction of movement of the partial stack Storage forks (12.1, 12.3) which can be pivoted at the bottom are arranged, as well as a holding finger (13.1, 13.3) which can be moved into the partial stack transversely to the direction of movement and a holding stop (14.1) which can be pressed against the front of a partial stack and moved with the advancing partial stack , which are designed and controlled so that the stop (14.1) with d em is moved to the storage fork (12.1) advancing part of the stack and after a predetermined movement distance the inward movement of the Holding fingers (13.1) in the partial stack and the pivoting of the storage fork (12.1) are triggered, after which the holding stop (14.1) is returned to the starting position. Apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that a parcel transfer table (15) which can be lowered to the height of the horizontal conveyor (11.1) is arranged below the storage forks (12.1) of the partial stack sections (9.1) arranged above the lowermost partial stack section (9.3).

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