GB2175572A

GB2175572A - Loading/unloading device

Info

Publication number: GB2175572A
Application number: GB08605744A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dermid Rainger Gardner
Original assignee: EUROBOND
Current assignee: EUROBOND
Priority date: 1985-05-24
Filing date: 1986-03-07
Publication date: 1986-12-03
Also published as: GB8513206D0; GB8605744D0; GB2175572B

Abstract

A reel loading/unloading device 1 for machinery 3, comprising a wheeled bogie 5 or trolley, a pair of upstanding, spaced-apart, support arms 9 carried by the bogie 5, each support arm 9 being provided with an upwardly open slot 10 of width capable of accepting a stub shaft 21 or axle projecting from each end of a reel 2, and lifting/lowering means 14-18 attached to the arms 9 and capable of lifting the stub shafts 21 from the bottoms 13 of the slots 11, and also capable of lowering the stub shafts 21 to the bottoms 13 of the slots 11. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Loading/unloading device This invention relates to a loading/unloading device, particularly though not exclusively for the loading and unloading of reels of material from manufactu ring/processing machinery.

For instance, in the printing industry, laminating machines are known, in which a thin transparent film is applied either to individual items of artwork, or to a continuous ribbon of artwork (the artwork may for instance be an advertisement, a photograph etc.) for purposes of enhancement and/or protection of the artwork, with laminating machines being used extensively in the production of record sleeves, book jackets etc. Depending upon the output required for the laminating machine, the artwork may be fed manually, or automatically onto a bed of the machine, with the latter provided with a reel of film, and with an exit end of the machine provided with driven a take-up reel, by which laminated artwork is collected, as a continuous ribbon, as the film is continuous and as the individual items of artwork (and their laminating films) have not at that stage been separated.Eventually, the take-up reel becomes full, requiring removal and replacement by an empty reel. In the past such removal and replacement has been effected manually, by lifting a full reel from its supporting brackets on the laminating machine, and it follows that the quanity of laminated artwork that can be collected on any one reel is restricted to a weight that can be comfortably lifted. Furthermore, it is necessary in an automatic feed machine, to stop the laminating machine until the full reel has been removed and an empty reel is ready to receive the laminated product, but stopping the machine results in undesirable 'stop' lines being produced on the conventionally provided adhesive roller of the laminating machine, in turn requiring the employment of scrap stock upon machine restart. Similar considerations apply if the reel is a feed reel, which may be driven or free running.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device whereby manual loading/unloading of reels is avoided, whereby a greater weight of material can be accommodated on a single reel, and an automatic machine need not be halted during take-up reel changing operations.

According to the present invention there is provided a reel loading/unloading device for machinery, comprising a wheeled bogie or trolley, a pair of upstanding, spaced-apart, support arms carried by the bogie, each support arm being provided with an upwardly open slot of width capable of accepting a stub shaft or axle projecting from each end of a reel, and lifting/lowering means attached to the arms and capable of lifting the stub shafts from the bottoms of the slots and also capable of lowering the stub shafts to the bottoms of the slots.

Thus, to load an empty reel carried by the bogie, with the reel stub shafts engaging the slots in the bogie support arms, the bogie is wheeled to a location adjacent the reel receiving members of the machinery, and if required is coupled to such machinery in this location, and the lifting/lowering means is then activated to elevate gradually the stub shafts and hence the reel, until the stub shafts, whilst still retained in the slots are transferred to reel receiving members of the machinery whereby the reel is rotatably supportable by the receiving members, with any real latching mechanism then activated.

To effect unloading of a full reel from machinery, then basically a reversal of the loading procedure is followed, with any mechanism latching the reel to the machinery released, and the lifting/lowering means actuated to lift the full reel from the receiving members of the machinery, and then to lower the stub shafts to the bottom of the slots, whereupon the bogie is wheeled from the machinery, so that, if required, a second bogie, carrying an empty reel, is presented to the machinery, with the lever means again actuated to transfer the empty reel from the bogie to the machinery.

If as would normally be the case, the machinery is of variable speed throughput, the machinery would be slowed to its minimum, crawl speed during reel changing operations. Although after loading an empty reel into the machinery the bogie can be removed, it preferably remains in position, coupled to the machinery, until full, when reel removal is required.

The reel would normally comprise a centre portion e.g., a rubber or synthetic plastics roller, extending over substantially the entire length of the reel, with a stub shaft of substantially reduced diameter compared with the roller, projecting from each roller end. If the reel is of a drivable kind, one or both stub shafts is conveniently provided with a drivable pinion, to mesh with a drive pinion or chain of the machine.

Preferably, the lifting/lowering means comprises a lever arrangement pivotally attached to the support arms. In detail, the lever means comprises a first lever member, which is pivotally attached to each arm at a location spaced from the slot of that arm, with a rail or bar interconnecting each lever member, so that the rail or bar may be grasped by the user, firstly for manoeuvering the bogie into position with respect to the machinery and secondly - by pushing upwardly or downwardly on the bar - to rotate the lever members to cause lifting or lowering of the reel with respect to the bogie, for subsequent loading and unloading of the reel to and from the receiving members of the machinery.

In detail, the bogie may comprise a lower framework provided with four, floor-engaging wheels or castors, with the arms projecting upwardly from the lower framework. Thus, the bogie may comprise two, inverted "T'-shaped side members interconnected by a beam. The extent of projection of the arms, and the disposition of the slot of each arm, is dictated by the height above the floor of the receiving members of the machinery in question.

The receiving members would normally each comprise an open cradle or slot, at each side of the machinery, to support the reel stub shafts for rotation about a horizontal axis, the cradles being so spaced apart that one stub shaft of the reel is supportable by each cradle and in particular by an arcuate bearing surface of each cradle. To ease transfer of a reel to and from the machine and bogie, each cradle is preferably provided with a projecting, inclined tongue which in effect constitutes a ramp, up or down which the stub shafts may be rolled, transfer to the reel receiving members of the machinery comprising a lifting movement, an uphill rolling movement, and a lowering movement on the stub shafts, with transfer from the reel receiving members comprising a lifting movement, a downhill rolling movement, and a lowering movement on the stub shafts.The presence of the ramps assumes of course that the bearing surfaces of the reel receiving members are located at a slightly greater height than the bottoms of the slots of the support arms of the bogie. Clearly, to enable the bogie to be adaptable to machinery having reel receiving members at differing heights, the bogie support arms may be adjustabie in length by an convenient means, to provide a coarse height adjustment facility, with the lengths of the slots of the support arms being selected to provide adequate fine height adjustment.

If the machinery is a laminating machine, then when the required amount of stock is gathered on the driven take-up reel, the machine is slowed to a crawl, the web cut and the lever means rotated to lift the reel from the receiving members of the machinery, such lifting automatically disengaging a driven pinion carried by one stub shaft from mesh with a drive gear wheel, or chain of the machine, and the bogie removed from the machine. Thereafter, a second bogie carrying an empty reel is presented to the machinery, the lever means is rotated to lift the reel and it is loaded into the receiving members of the machinery after being run up the ramps and its driven pinion meshed with a drive gear. The web is then wrapped around the new drum and the machine speed raised to operational speed.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a diagrammatic side elevation of a reel loadinglunloading device in accordance with the invention.

In the drawing, is illustrated a reel loading/unloading device 1 for loading an empty reel 2 into machinery 3 exemplified as the exit end of a laminating machine 4, and for unloading a full reel 2 from the machinery 3.

In detail, the device 1 comprises a bogie 5 comprising a lower framework 6 provided with four castors 7 engaging the floor 8. From the framework 6 a pair of spaced apart, support arms 9 project upwardly, with an upper element 10 of each arm 9 being formed with an upwardly open slot 11 having sidewalls 12 and a bottom 13. The device 1 is also provided with a lifting/lowering means in the form of a lever arrangement 14 comprising a pair of first lever members 15, one of which is attached at pivot point 16 to each upper element 10, and with ends of the first lever members 15 remote from the pivot point 16 being interconnected by a second lever member in the form of a rail or bar 17, the lever 15 in the drawing being illustrated in an intermediate position, and each first lever member 15 having an engagement surface 18.

The reel 2 is rotatable about its longitudinal axis 19 which, when mounted in the machinery 3, is horizontal, the reel 2 comprises a rubber roller 20 extending over substantially the entire axial length of the reel 2, with a stub shaft 21 slightly less in diameter than the width of the slots 11 and of sub stantially reduced diameter compared with the roller 20 projecting from each roller end, with the spacing between the arms 9 being such that one stub shaft 21 is engageable in each slot 11, seating on the bottoms 13 of each slot, while with one or both stub shafts 21 are provided with a drivable pinion 22.It follows that, with a reel 2 supported in the slots 11 of the bogie support arms, when the lever 14 is rotated clockwise from the position illustrated, the engagement surface 18 of each first lever portion 15 will engage its associated stub shaft 21, with continued clockwise rotation lifting the stub shafts from the bottom of the slots 11, and consequently elevating the reel 2. Conversely, rotation of the lever 14 in an anti-clockwise direction lowers the stub shafts and hence the reel.

The laminating machine 4 comprises a laminator base 23 supporting a pair of downwardly depending arms 24 which are spaced apart by a distance corresponding to the spacing of the stub shafts 21 and which, at their lower ends, carry receiving members 25 for the stub shafts 21, the receiving members 25 comprising an open cradle or slot 26, of throat width approximating to the diameter of the stub shafts 21, and with each slot 26 terminating in an arcuate bearing surface 27 for each stub shaft 21. Furthermore, each cradle is provided with an inclined tongue, operable as a loading/unloading ramp 28 with an upper end of the ramp contiguous with mouth 29 of the slots 26, the arrangement being such that when the trolley 5 has been moved adjacent the machinery 3, the stub shafts 21 of a reel 2 may be rolled up or down the ramp 28 to load an empty reel 2 into the machinery 3, or to unload a full reel 2 from the machinery 3.

When a reel 2 is located in the machinery 3, then in a conventional manner, the drivable pinion 22 is in mesh with a drive pinion 30 driven by a duplex pinion 31, in turn driven by a chain 32.

Claims

1. A reel loading/unloading device for machinery, comprising a wheeled bogie or trolley, a pair of upstanding, spaced-apart, support arms carried by the bogie, each support arm being provided with an upwardly open slot of width capable of accepting a stub shaft or axle projecting from each end of a reel, and lifting/lowering means attached to the arms and capable of lifting the stub shafts from the bottoms of the slots, and also capable of lowering the stub shafts to the bottoms of the slots.

2. A device as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the lifting/lowering means comprises a lever arrangement pivotally attached to the support arms.

3. A device as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the lever means comprises a first lever member, which is pivotally attached to each arm at a location spaced from the slot of that arm, with a rail or bar interconnecting each lever member.

4. A device as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the bogie comprises a lower framework provided with four, floor-engaging wheels or castors, with the arms projecting upwardly from the lower framework.

5. A device as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the bogie comprises two, inverted "T"-shaped side members interconnected by a beam.

6. A device as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the support arms are adjustable in height.

7. A device as claimed in any preceding Claim, in combination with machinery for the transfer of a loaded reel from the machinery to the bogie or trolley, or for the transfer of an empty reel from the bogie or trolley to the machinery, wherein the reel receiving members comprise an open cradle or slot, at each side of the machinery, to support the reel for rotation about a horizontal axis, the cradles being so spaced apart that one stub shaft of the reel is supportable by each cradle.

8. A device as claimed in Claim 7, wherein each stub shaft is supported by an arcuate bearing surface of each cradle.

9. A device as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8, wherein each cradle is provided with a projecting, inclined tongue which in effect constitute ramps, up or down which the stub shafts may be rolled.

10. A loading/unloading device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

11. A loading/unloading device in combination with machinery, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.