US3155016A

US3155016A - Machine for making paper sticks

Info

Publication number: US3155016A
Application number: US253650A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph S Pellicone; Edwin N Dejewski; Piccolo Salvatore Lo
Original assignee: Chesebrough Ponds Inc
Current assignee: Chesebrough Ponds Inc
Priority date: 1963-01-24
Filing date: 1963-01-24
Publication date: 1964-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 1981-11-03
Also published as: GB1027609A

Description

Nov. 3, 1964 J. 5. PELLICONE ETAL 3,155,015

MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER STICKS Filed Jan. 24, 1965 17 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR5 drra/Pxvi/S J. 5. PELLICONE ETAL 3,155,016

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MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER STICKS Filed Jan. 24, 1963 17 Sheets-Sheet 16 Nov. 3, 1964 J. 5. PELLlCONE ETAL 3,155,016

MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER STICKS Filed Jan. 24, 1963 17 Sheets-Sheet 17 United States Patent 3,155,016 MAQi-HNE EUR MAKENG PAPER STICKS iioseph S. 'Peliicone, Iericho, Edwin N. Dejewski, New

York, and Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Jericho, N.Y., assignors to Chesebrough-donds inn, Long island @ity, NYC,

a corporation of New York Filed den. 24, 1963, Ser. No. zsasse 2.9 (ilaims. (ill. 93 d) This invention relates to improvements in automatic machines of the rotary type for making paper sticks of varied diameters and lengths. Such sticks are used as confection sticks and for cotton-tipped swabs or applicators.

Most of these swabs have heretofore been made with sticks or stems of wood, and, as is well known, they have tips of soft fibrous material such as cotton secured to and projecting from one or both ends. A paper stick made by curling a section of paper sheet material of predetermined dimensions and rolling it to form a tight coil, and to compact it to a predetermined diameter, has certain advantages over the wood stick, such for example as flexibility and freedom from splintering.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machine for making paper sticks or stems of this sort and of various sizes for swabs and other articles these sticks being of uniform size and quality and being made automatically at a high rate of production. The invention also aims to provide a machine which is compact and occupies a minimum of floor space which is easy to adjust and requires little attention, so that one attendant can care for several macmnes.

The machine includes in accordance with the invention a generally circular channel of diminishing width from the intake end to the discharge end and into which successive curled sections of paper are fed, and along which they are rolled and compacted to form the paper sticks. The inner surface of such forming channel is constituted of the cylindrical face of a wheel or drum which rotates continuously at a uniform speed. The outer surface of the channel is formed by a series of rigid stationary sector members which are arranged around the circumference of the drum. The width of the wheel face and that of the sector members correspond with the length of the paper sticks to be produced.

These sector members, generally speaking, are arranged in end-to-end relationship so as to form with the cylindrical surface of the drum the circular stick-forming channel which is somewhat less in length than the complete circumference of the Wheel. Independent supporting mechanism is provided for each of the sector memers, advantageously three in number, so as to support the members in such a way as to cause the forming channel to be reduced in thickness from the intake end thereof to the vicinity of the discharge end.

Special feeding, severin and curling mechanism is provided for feeding a continuous web of paper to the severing mechanism which cuts the web into paper sections of uniform length. The feeding mechanism includes means for simultaneously feeding and crimping the successive strips or sections whereby these sections are curled, and their forward ends are successively introduced into the intake end of the'circular forming channel.

The surfaces of the forming channel, that is, the surface of the rotating drum and the surface of the stationary sector members are provided with suitable friction material, advantageously abrasive material, so as to prevent slippage and cause the initially curled paper sections to ond sector members a moistening device is arranged, and

moisture is applied to each paper roll as it moves across this device, this moisture serving to cause the starch in the paper to adhesively bind together the contiguous convolutions of the roll.

The mounting for the final sector member at the 'delivery end of the channel is advantageously made to form with the surface of the wheel throughout the final portion of its length, a channel which is of uniform thickness so that no further reduction in diameter of thepaper sticks is brought about as they travel along this portion of the wheel, but repeated rotation of the sticks in this portion of the forming channel imparts uniform roundness to the sticks. Also the starch adhesive is permitted to partially set without the shifting of any convolution of paper upon its neighbors. The sticks are discharged onto a suitable endless conveyor which removes them from the apparatus.

A serrated knife is used to sever the web of-paper into the paper sections so that the sections have a serrated edge at each end. The tongues of the serrations facilitate the adhering of the outer end of the paper'section to the adjacent layer of paper. The rolling of the sticks while maintaining the diameter uniform compacts and solidifies the serrations with the contiguous layer so that any tendency for separation to take place is avoided. The invention also includes the feeding of the web of paper from the supply roll in a special manner which eliminates whip- :ping and breakage of the paper web.

The inventionwill be described in connection with a machine for making paper sticks for cotton swabs as shown in theaccompanying drawings.

In these drawings:

PEG. 1 is a view of the machine in side elevation;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the principal elements of the machine;

FIGS. 3-8 illustrate the paper feeding mechanism and are drawn to a larger scale than FIG. 1

FIG. 3 shows this feeding mechanism in vertical section;

FIG. 4 shows the feeding mechanism in viewed from the same side as FIG. 1

PK .5 is a transverse section taken on line 55 of FIG. 3; 1

.FIG. 6 is a horizontal section taken on broken line 66 of FIG. 4- with the axes of the various rollers shown in the same horizontal plane;

elevation and FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the paper in-feed table or 7 platform;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the in-feed table; FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the delivery conveyor for removing the completed paper sticks;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the delivery conveyor; FIG. 11 shows the gear drive for the delivery conveyor and is a view in elevation looking towards the farther side of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on broken line 1212 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 shows the first or entry sector member, the water feed mechanism and a part of the second or reducing sector member in side elevation and drawn to a scale only slightly smaller than the scale of FIG. 3;

FIG. 14 (Sheet 9) is a vertical section taken on line 14-14 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a detailed vertical section taken on line 1515 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation drawn to the same scale as FIG. 13 showing the reducing sector member and its supporting mechanism in side elevation;

FIG. 17 is a vertical section taken on broken line 17l7 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevation taken on line 1818 of FIG. 14;

FIG. 19 is a side elevation of the third or pressure sector member and its mounting drawn to the same scale as FIGS. 13 and 16;

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the parts shown in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a vertical section on line 21-21 of FIG. 19;

FIG. 22 is a detailed section on line 22-22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a detailed section on line 2323 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 is a view partly in plan and partly in central section showing part of the reel for the paper supply roll and its mounting on the base frame of the machine, also drawn to about the same scale as FIGS. 13, 16 and 19; and

FIG. 25 is a view in side elevation of the parts shown in FIG. 22 looking from the right of that figure;

FIG. 26 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 3 partly broken away showing feed mechanism with rotary instead of reciprocating cutting mechanism;

FIG. 27 is a transverse section taken on line 2727 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 is a side elevation taken on line 2828 of FIG. 27;

FIG. 29 is a side elevation taken on line 29-29 of FIG. 27;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged elevation of the platen roll showing the knife impression which serves as a die;

FIG. 31 is an enlarged partial elevation of the rotary knife or cutter;

FIG. 32 is a bottom view of the cutter; and

FIGS. 33 and 34 are sections taken on lines Sit-33 and 3434 of FIG. 31.

Referring now to these drawings and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the machine comprises a housing I mounted on a sub-frame or base 2, the whole advantageously being supported on a set of casters 3 so that it may be moved from one location to another.

The components of the apparatus comprise a paper feeding unit or mechanism indicated generally by reference numeral d, and a paper stick making mechanism.

A general description of the stick making mechanism will be given first. It includes a main wheel or drum and a series, in this case 3, of

rigid sector members

6, 7 and 8. Located between the

sectors

6 and 7 at the bottom of drum 5 there is a moistening device 9 (FIGS. 2 and 13) for supplying water or other suitable liquid to the paper coils. As indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 2, the three sector members 6, '7 and 3 are supported in spaced relation to the face of Wheel 5 to form a generally circular stick-forming or reducing channel Ill which is thicker at its entrance end 11 than at its dischage end 12. The gap A adjacent entrance 11 is approximately 11', and gap D at the discharge end is .100".

The machine shown and described herein is intended for the making of paper sticks which are in diameter and 2%" in length. The paper from which the sticks are made is some .003" in thickness. The face of the main wheel or drum 5 and the widths of the three sector members, namely, entry sector member 6, reduction sector 7 and pressure sector 8, all have a width of 2%". Both the wheel and the three sector members have surfaces of abrasive material which grip the paper effectively. The wheel 5 has narrow flanges 13 on each side, one of which is shown in FIG. 1, for the purpose of preventing sidewise shifting of the paper rolls in the channel It Flange 13 on the front is of transparent plastic so that the progress of stick formation can be observed.

Associated with the paper feed mechanism 4 is a severing mechanism consisting of a reciprocating knife blade 14 and stationary block 15 which sever from the web of paper 16 successive sections or strips 17, and there is also a curling mechanism which imparts a curl to each of these paper sections. This curl is engaged by the rotating surface of drum 5 and the stationary surface of the entry sector 6 (FIG. 2), and the relative rotation results in converting the successive curled strips 17 into coils 18.

As each of these coils is rolled forward between the gradually approaching surfaces of wheel 5 and the

sectors

6, 7 and 8, the coils, which are loose at first, are rolled into tight coils and these coils are made tighter and tighter and smaller and smaller as they progress around wheel or drum 5. The coils are spaced from about 1 /2" to about 3 apart, depending on the speed of knife 14. As each coil 18 passes the moistening device 9 it receives moisture which is absorbed into the layers of paper and which activates the starch therein and causes the adjacent layers to adhere to one another. Reduction sector 7 is so mounted and adjusted as to bring about the principal reduction in diameter of the paper coils, and by the time they have reached the pressure sector 8 their diameter has about reached the final dimension.

Pressure sector 8 may be so adjusted that there is a somewhat further reduction in diameter as the paper rolls pass along the first part of this sector, but after the rolls traverse one-half to of the length of this sector their size remains constant, pressure being applied by the concentric portion of this sector to insure roundness and smoothness, and to allow the adhesive to partially set be fore the sticks are delivered at the discharge end 12. At this point they are received on an endless conveyor and removed from the machine.

Returning to FIG. 1, wheel or drum 5 is mounted on shaft 19 which is carried in suitable bearings within housing 1 and projects forwardly to support the Wheel outside of the housing. Wheel 5 is rotated at a constant speed by means of an electric motor 20 which drives the wheel through a reduction gearing 21 and endless belt 22. The electrical supply to motor 26 is through a main switch 23 and a start-and-stop button switch 24. The paper feed mechanism is driven by a separate motor 25 and endless belt 26. This motor is mounted upon a frame 27 which projects to the left of housing 1. Motor 25 is con-trolled by a second start-and-stop button switch 23.

The paper feeding and crimping unit 4 includes its own frame 2 (FIG. 3) which rests upon and is secured to an inclined member 3d that forms part of frame 27 of the machine. Frame 29 includes a front side plate 31 and a rear side plate 32. There is a platform or shelf 33 over which the paper web 16 is moved by a driven knurled feed roller 34 and a cooperating rubber faced idler roller 35. Platform 33 extends between the

side plates

31 and 32. The shaft 56 of driven roller 34 rotates in hearings in side plates 31 and 32 (FIG. 6). Rubber faced roller 35, however, is mounted to rotate in bearings which are supported by bracket members 37 which can be raised to permit the insertion of paper web 16.

This bracket 37 is pivoted at 38 between upright extensions 3? which project from the

respective side plates

31 and 32. Release levers 4t) are pivoted at 41 on the opposite sides of bracket 37. a When in horizontal position, these levers engage the inner ends of adjustable screws 42 and thereby clamp bracket 37 in the position shown in FIG. 3. By swinging the release levers 4t) upwardly they are disengaged from the screws 42, and bracket 37 with roller 35 can be raised so as to allow the paper web 16 to be placed in position over feed roller 34. Both the steel knurled feed roller 34 and its cooperating rubber faced idler roller 35 are grooved as shown in FIG. 6. The extension of platform 33 at the right of roller 34 in FIG. 3 is supported by a series of bridges which are received in these grooves. Such extension supports the web as it approaches the knives 14, 15.

The paper web 16 approaches platform 33 over an idler guide roll 43 at the outer end of the platform and then passes between a pair of side guides 44 which guide the opposite edges of the paper and direct the web to the

feed rollers

34, 35. Guides 44 are adjustable as shown in FIG. 7 for the purpose of accommodating paper webs of different widths, the wider webs being used when it is desired to make the longer sizes of paper sticks.

Parallel with knurled feed roll 34 and spaced to the right of it, as shown in FIG. 3, is a steel crimper roll 45 mounted upon a shaft 46 which rotates in bearing openings in

side plates

31 and 32. Directly above crimp- .er roll 45 there is a cooperating rubber faced roller 47. Roller 47 rotates in bearings supported inside of the

respective side plates

31 and 32. Adjusting screws such as the screw indicated at 48 in FIGS. 3 and 4 are provided for maintaining the desired fixed pressure between crimping roll 4-5 and roller 47 to bring about the crimping of the paper strips as they pass between these rolls after being severed by the knife 14.

The severing knife 14 and stationary block are mounted midway between the feed rolls 34, 35 and the crimping

roll combination

45, 4?. Knife 14 is mounted on a vertically movable holder 49 to which the knife is adjustably secured by means of a series of screws 5%. Knife holder 49 slides in guides 5 arranged at its opposite sides and secured to the

respective side plates

31 and 32. A stabilizing roller 52 (FIG. 3) rotates on a stud 53 which projects rearwardly from the lower portion of knife holder 4?. Roller 52 is disposed between the parallel surfaces 54 of a slot in a vertical member 55 which is secured near its upper and lower ends to the frame 29 of the feeding unit 4 by means of screws as shown in FIG. 3.

Knife holder 49 and knife 14 are reciprocated by means of a cam 56 having a cam slot 57 in its circular face which actuates a follower roller 58 mounted on the rear of the upper portion of knife holder 49. Cam 56 rotates on a stationary vertical shaft 59 which is secured at its lower and upper ends to the frame 29 and platform 33.

In order to drive the cam 56 and the paper web feeding and crimping mechanism a cross shaft 64) (FIG. 6) is continuously rotated by driving motor through belt 26. Shaft 60 rotates in bearings mounted in apertures in the two

side plates

31 and 32 which support the shaft just above the level of cam 56. A bevelled pinion 61 secured to shaft 60 meshes with the teeth of a bevelled gear 62 which is secured within a circular recess in cam 56 by means of screws as shown in FIG. 3.

At the end of shaft 60 which projects beyond side plate 31 a spur gear 63 is mounted. This gear meshes with an idler gear 64 which is mounted on the outer end of a short idler shaft 65 shown in FIG. 6. Idler gear 64 in turn meshes with a gear 66 mounted on the outer end of shaft 46 for the crimping roll 45. At the opposite end of shaft 16 and outside of side plate 32 there is a gear 67 which drives paper feed shaft 36 (roll 3%) through an idler gear 68 and a gear 69 on this shaft.

Idler gear 68 also serves to drive the take-oil? or discharge conveyor as will now be described. This conveyor, which is of the endless type and indicated by reference numeral '76 in FIGS. 3, 9 and 10 forms a horizontal shelf which is parallel with above platform 33. The finished paper sticks are removed from the surface of drum 5 beyond the end of pressure sector 8 by a stripper plate 7 9a. Conveyor 7t) is supported between a drive roll shaft 71 at its right end and idler roll shaft 72 at its left end.

Drive shaft 71 rotates in bearings near its opposite ends which are supported in apertures in

upward extensions

31a and 32a of the

frame side plates

31 and 32. The idler shaft 72 rotates in bearings carried in side members 73 (FIG. 10) which are supported at their outer ends on struts 74. Side members 73 also serve as edge guides for the sides of conveyor 7 0.

Drive roll shaft 71 for the discharge conveyor 70 is rototed by a gear 75 fixed to its outer end beyond side plate extension 32a. This gear 75 is driven from idler gear 68 through a gear train shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 and consisting

of'gears

76, 77, pinion '78, gear 79 arid pinion 80, which is mounted on a short shaft 31 on which idler gear 63 is mounted.

The crim-per roll 45 and its shaft 46 are driven at a slightly higher speed than the feed roller 34 and its shaft 36. Severing knife 14 is provided with serrated or sawtooth-shaped teeth 82 which are sloped with respect to the sides of the knife so that the tops of the teeth are sharply pointed. The serrated edge of knife blade 14 extends horizontally across the width of the paper feedway (FIG. 5) and thus the entire width of the web 16 is severed simultaneously.

The knife cam 56 rotates rapidly and reciprocates the knife several hundred times per minute; hence each cutting action is almost instantaneous. The rotation of the crimper roll 46 at a somewhat higher speed than the feed roll 34 maintains the paper taut during each severing action, and advances the strip 17 away from the knife and from the forward end of the web 16. There is an instantaneous retarding action by the tips of the knife 14 which tends to cause the pull of the crimping roll 45 to produce a slight tearing of the serrated tips. Knife 14 is located approximately halfway between the crimping roll 45 and feed roller 34. Since the cut is almost instantaneous all of the teeth contact and sever the paper at the same time across its width, producing a serrated edge at each end of the paper strip.

The three gears 63, 64, and 66 are replaceable with other sets of gears to either speed up or slow down the operation of the knife 14 and the feeding and crimping mechanism for the purpose of either shortening or lengthening the strips or sections 17, should it be desired to make either smaller or larger diameter paper sticks.

In order to insure that the successive strips 17 are each completely disengaged from the crimper roll 45 a set of stripper fingers 83 shown in front view in FIG. 14 and in side view in FIG. 3 are provided. These stripper fingers are mounted at the top of a stripper holder 84. They are narrow, blade-like members with pointed tips, these tips extending into circular grooves 85 (FIG. 6) in crimper roll 45, the tips of the strippers being disposed slightly below the surface of the crimper roll. The lower portion of stripper holder 84 has a series of equally spaced vertical fingers 86 to cooperate with the upper end of the entry sector member 6, as will be described.

Attention is now directed to FIGS. 13-18 which show the arrangement of entry sector member 6, reducing sector member 7 and the water feed device f.

These

sector members

6 and 7 are supported on the opposite sides of a vertically adjustable bracket support 87 which is of generally rectangular shape in front View as shown in FIG. 13. Bracket support 87 consists of a vertical rear plate 38 and two parallel plates 38a and 3812 which are welded thereto and project forwardly therefrom. Back plate 88 is mounted by means of a pair of screws 89 on the face of a rectangular steel pad 9% which is fixed to the front surface of housing 1 (FIG. 14) by welding or otherwise. Bracket support 87 can be vertically adjusted by means of a screw 91, and a lock nut, to properly set the positions of

sector members

6 and 7 as will be described.

Screws 8? pass through vertical slots in the back plate 53 in order to permit this adjustment, and which are tightened after the adjustment is made. The entry sector

Claims

1. IN A MACHINE FOR FORMING PAPER STICKS BY TIGHTLY ROLLING AND COMPACTING SECTIONS OF PAPER WEB, A DRUM ARRANGED TO ROTATE CONTINUOUSLY ON A FIXED HORIZONTAL AXIS, A SERIES OF RIGID AND UNYIELDING SECTOR MEMBERS DISPOSED AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF THE DRUM BUT EXTENDING LESS THAN THE FULL CIRCUMFERENCE THEREOF, THE WIDTH OF THE SECTOR MEMBERS BEING APPROXIMATELY THE SAME AS THE DRUM FACE, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING EACH OF THE SECTOR MEMBERS IN FIXED BUT INDEPENDENTLY ADJUSTABLE POSITION SPACED FROM THE FACE OF THE DRUM, THE INTAKE END OF THE SERIES BEING SPACED FARTHER FROM THE DRUM THAN THE DELIVERY END OF THE SERIES AND PROVIDING A REDUCING CHANNEL WHICH HAS A GRADUALLY SMALLER THICKNESS FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER REGARDLESS OF THE DIAMETER OF PAPER STICK WHICH THE MA-