US3338487A

US3338487A - Continuous form stationery burster

Info

Publication number: US3338487A
Authority: US
Inventors: Rudolph W Schutz
Original assignee: Varco Inc
Current assignee: Varco Inc
Priority date: 1965-10-21
Filing date: 1965-10-21
Publication date: 1967-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 1984-08-29

Description

Aug- 29, 1967 R. wQscHUTz 3,338,487

CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY BURSTER Filed oct.' 21, 1965 4 sheets-sheet 1 Aug. 29, 1967 R. w. SCHUTZ CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY BURSTER 4 Sheets-5heet Filed Oct. 2l, 1965 Aug. 29, R W SCHUTZ 3,338,487

CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY BURSTER Filed Oct. 2l, 1965 4 Sheets-Smet 5 Aug. 29, 1967 R. w. SCHUTZ CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY BURSTER Filed OCt. 2l, 1965 4 Sheets-$heet 4 a, /6 Z fw F/Qf 2 M f Z E F j F 6) 144@ 4 f United States Patent Oliice 3,338,487 Patented Aug. 29, 1967 3,338,487 CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY BURSTER Rudolph W. Schutz, Walnut Creek, Calif., assignor to Varco Incorporated, a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 499,312 Claims. (Cl. 22S-100) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A continuous form stationery burster having two pairs of driven rollers spaced a fixed distance apart, one pair of which is normally driven at a greater speed than the other pair with slip clutch means interposed in the drive of the one pair of rollers to reduce the speed of the one pair of rollers and increase the torque thereof responsive to simultaneous gripping of said stationery by both pairs of rollers to increase tension in the stationery and cause the stationery to break on transverse lines of weakening.

This invention relates to a mechanism for separating continuous form stationery along transverse lines of weakening and more particularly to a new and improved burster wherein the front and rear set of bursting rollers is maintained at a Xed distance relative to each other.

Continuous form stationery is typically zig-zag folded about transverse lines of weakening which separate or burst the continuous form into individual form lengths. For separating the forms, some previous bursters have operated on the principle of setting the front and rear rollers a distance apart which was equal to or slightly greater than one form length with the rear outfeed rollers traveling at a faster rate than the front rollers to pull the forms apart. Another method of bursting stationery is to use sets of rollers that are mounted a xed distance apart wherein the rear set of rollers is movable in and out of frictional contact with the upper in timed relation to the length of paper fed through the machine. In these former bursting devices, adjustment would necessarily have to be made for bursting dilferent strips of continuous form stationery wherein the individual form lengths were of different dimensions. With the former type of burster, a change in individual form lengths required a change in the distance between the sets of rollers. In the latter case, a change in the form lengths required a change in the timing mechanism which moved the rear rollers in and out of contact with each other. Moreover, it was not possible to burst continuous form stationery wherein each form length or ticket within the strip might have a different length than others in the strip.

It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a new and improved burster for separating continuous form stationery into individual form lengths.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a new and improved stationery burster which does not require an adjustment in the distance between the rollers for bursting continuous form stationery of different individual form lengths.

Another object of this invention s to provide a new and improved burster for continuous form stationery which is capable of separating continuous form stationery into individual form lengths wherein the dimensions of the form lengths in each strip of stationery may differ one from the other.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and vimproved burster for continuous form stationery wherein the front and rear outfeed bursting rollers are mounted in the burster so as to continually maintain a vxed distance between the rollers.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved burster wherein the rear outfeed bursting rollers are normally associated with the drive means to be driven at a faster rate than the front set of bursting rollers but slow substantially to the speed of the front bursting rollers during those periods of burster operation when both sets of rollers are gripping the continuous stationery strip.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a section view (generally in side elevation) of the burster of this invention taken along the line 1 1 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the burster shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section view through the rear outfeed rollers of the burster of this invention taken along the line 3 3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a section view of the clutch mechanism associated with the rear outfeed set of burster rollers taken along the line 4 4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is another section view of the clutch mechanism taken along the line 5 5 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a section view of the burster taken along the line 6 6 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a top diagrammatic view of the separation of a form length from the continuous strip by means of the burster of this invention;

FIGURE S is a side diagrammatic view showing the function illustrated in FIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 9 is a diagrammatic view similar to FIG- URE 8 showing the front and rear outfeed bursting rollers simultaneously gripping a portion of the continuous stationery strip.

The burster 10 of this invention includes a front set of bursting rollers 12 and a 'rear or outfeed set of bursting rollers 14 driven by a motor 16 through suitable drive means 18. The function of the burster is to drive a continuous strip of stationery 20 which may be folded in a zig-zag stack 22 in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIGURE 1 and to separate the continuous strip along the transverse lines of weakening 24 into individual tickets or form lengths 26. The form lengths are ejected from the machine in the direction indicated by the arrow B and stacked in a stack 28.

The drive means 18 includes a system of belts and pulleys interconnecting the motor and the bursting rollers. Motor 16 rotates a drive shaft 30 which has a pulley wheel 32 mounted on its free end. Belt 34 is wrapped about pulley 32 and also about the enlarged portion 36a of pulley 36. Pulley 36 is mounted for rotation on a rotatable shaft 38 and has a reduced pulley portion 36b which carries belt 40. Belt 40, in turn, is wrapped about reduced portion 42a of pulley 42 which is mounted on front lower roller shaft 43. Pulley 42 also has an enlarged peripheral portion 42b about which the belt 46 is wrapped. Belt 46 is in turn also wrapped about pulley 48 which is operably associated with rear lower outfeed roller shaft 49 by means of clutch 50. In addition, belt 46 engages idler 51 in a portion of its path of travel to provide suitable tension in belt 46. i

Front roller unit 12 includes a pair of front bursting rollers mounted in vertical tandem such as upper roller 52 and lower roller 56. The rollers have reduced end portions 52a which are adjacent the opposite sides of the frame and longitudinally extending relieved portions or flats such as 52h. In addition, the yrollers are provided with spaced annular recesses 52C. The upper roller is mounted on the upper roller shaft 53 which is held in the frame in a bearing block 54 to permit free rotation of the roller. Lower roller 56 is mounted on shaft 43 which maysimilarly be rotatably mounted in a bearing block (not shown). The upper land lower roller shafts are provided with meshing gears at the side opposite from the pulleys and belts, such as gear 58 on upper roller shaft 53, so that rotation of the lower roller shaft 43 by the drive means will be transmitted to the upper roller shaft to drive the lower roller in a clockwise direction and the upper roller in a counterclockwise direction (as indicated by the arrows C and D, respectively, in FIGURES 6, 8 and 9) and propel paper fed therebetween toward the rear of the burster. A handle 59 may be mounted on the one end of the lower roller shaft 43 for manual rotation of the rollers, if desired.

The rear or outfeed roller unit also includes a pair of upper and lower rollers 60 .and 62 mounted in vertical tandem on

shafts

61 and 49, respectively. These rollers also have reduced end portions such as 60a near the sides of the frame. Each of these rollers is similarly provided with two longitudinally extending relieved portions or ats 6017, 180 apart, as well as annular recesses 60e and 62e, respectively. In addition, these rollers may be mounted for rotation in bearing blocks 60d positioned in the side walls of the frame. The lower rear outfeed roller shaft 49 is provided with a gear 64 at the end thereof opposite from clutch 50 which meshes with gear 66 on the upper roller shaft 61 so that the lower roller is driven in a clockwise direction and the upper roller is driven in a counterclockwise direction (as indicated by the arrows E and F in FIGURES 6, 8 and 9) to similarly feed the stationery out of the rear of the burster in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIGURES 1, 7, 8 and 9.

Through the several pulleys and belts of the drive system, the drive ratio is such that the rear rollers are to be normally driven at an increased speed relative to the front rollers.

A breaker unit 68 may be mounted in the frame between the front and rear burster rollers, preferably slightly behind the front rollers. Breaker unit 68 includes a shaft 70 which extends across the frame and which supports disc segments 72. Preferably the shaft is at least mounted so that a portion of the periphery of the disc segment 72 projects slightly above the normal path of travel of stationery through the burster to cause the stationery to ride over the breaker unit 68 and encourage stationery to tear along the line of weakening as the line of weakening passes the peripheral projection of segment 72. It is to be understood that either the segments 72 or the shaft 70 could be mounted in the burster in such a manner as to provide for the vertical adjustment of the breaker unit 68 for optimum bursting conditions.

Clutch means 50 which is mounted about shaft 49 of the lower rear bursting rollerprovides an adjustable means for automatically changing the speed of the rear burster rollers responsive to load conditions imposed thereon. Clutch 50 includes 'a housing 74 having front and rear generally disc-like upstanding walls 76a and 76b, respectively. Rear wall 76h is an integral extension of pulley 48 and rotates therewith. Front wall 76a supports an adjustment knob 78 which has a threaded shank 78a threada-bly received in opening 80 in the front wall to provide a means for adjusting the clutch.

The clutch housing also includes a circular cylindrical wall 82 which is secured to and extends between the front and rear walls. The interior of the circular cylindrical wall is provided with a longitudinally extending keyway 84 which receives an elongate key 86. The interior of the clutch is provided with a plurality of first dics 88 positioned on shaft 49. Discs 88 have an inner diameter substantially larger than the outer diameter of shaft 49 and further have an outer diameter generally coextensive with the inner diameter of the cylindrical wall 82. These discs 88 are notched at a portion of the periphery to provide a keyway 90 for receiving key 86 which is positioned within keyway 84 of the wall 82 so that rotation of housing 82 will in turn cause rotation of discs 88.

The clutch also includes second discs 92 positioned on shaft 49 between discs 88. Discs 92 have an outer diameter substantially smaller than the inner diameter of the housing wall 82 but have an inner diameter substantially coextensive with the outer diameter of shaft 49. Moreover, these discs 92 are provided with a notched inner diameter portion 94 for receiving a key 96 which is also positioned in the keyway 98 in shaft 49 so that rotation of discs 92 in turn causes rotation of shaft 49.

A collar 100 is positioned over the free end of shaft 49 and is held in place by means of a screw 102 and washer 103. A spring 104 bears against the face of the outermost disc 88 and also against the face of an adjusting disc 106 which abuts the threaded end 78a of adjustment knob 78. By turning knob 78 and threading shank 78a inwardly and outwardly, disc 106 will move inwardly and outwardly to adjust the pressure exerted by the spring on the

several discs

88 and 92. As the discs are more tightly urged into facial engagement with each other, there is more direct drive from housing 74 to shaft 49; whereas, when the tension in the spring is reduced, there is more slippage between the discs. However, a load or pull on the rear rollers will induce a greater slippage in the clutch which causes the clutch to transmit maximum torque to shaft 49. In this manner, the output of the clutch changes as different load conditions are encountered without necessitating an adjustment in the drive system.

The burster may further be provided with a paper guiding means including a sheet-like lower guide 110 having finger-like portions 110a and 110]? which extend through the annular recesses in the front and rear

lower rollers

56 and 62, respectively. The fingers 110a may be secured to a bar 112 which extends across the forward end of the burster ahead of the front bursting rollers and lingers 11019 may be secured to a bar 114 which extends across the rear of the burster to mount the lower guide 110 in the burster and provide a supporting platform for stationery fed therethrough.

A front upper paper guide 116 having forwardly extending fingers 116a which extend through the annular recess 52e of front upper roller 52 is secured to a bar 118 which extends across the front of the machine ahead of the front bursting rollers. This guide 116 facilitates initial infeed of stationery into the burster. Intermediate paper guide 120 is preferably a grid or finger-like structure secured at one end to a bar 122 which extends across the burster slightly behind the front bursting rollers and secured at its other end to a bar 124 which extends across the rear of the burster behind the rear bursting rollers by means of clamp 126. The intermediate paper guide 120 serves to guide the leading edge of the stationery into the rear bursting rollers.

A significant feature of this invention is that the front and rear sets of

rollers

12 and 14 are mounted in the frame a xed distance apart and are not movable relative to each other as has been common in this type of mechanism. This is made possible by driving the rear roller unit at a faster speed than the front roller unit through the medium of the adjustable clutch. When no loads are present on the roller units, the rear roller unit will be driven at its normal increased rate of speed resultant from the ratio of the belts and pulleys of the drive system. However, as paper is fed through the burster and simultaneously grasped by the front and rear rollers, the drag on the rear roller unit caused by the front roller unit grasping the same piece of paper and driving it at a lower rate of speed will cause the rear roller unit to slow down and induce tension in the paper. When the line of weakening or perforations in the paper passes the front roller unit and is substantially in alignment with the breaker means 68, the increased tension or pull produced by the rear roller unit will separate the paper along the line of weakening. The paper does not tear in the portions intermediate the lines of weakening because the full strength of paper is presentat these points and is sufficient to overcome the pull.

For example, typically continuous form stationery of .003 inch in thickness has a strength of about l() lbs. per inch of width. If the strip of stationery is 14 inches wide, it would take about 140 lbs. of pull to tear this strip. It is common that in the line of perforation 24 there are six ties (the portions of paper which are not perforated) per each inch of width of the stationery, and each tie is generally .040 inch in width. Thus in each one inch of stationery width, the total paper area holding the stationery together along the line of perforation is 6 (each tie) x .040 (the width of each tie) or .240 inch. Therefore, it would take approximately only 2.4 lbs. of pull along one inch width of a line of perforation to separate the paper as opposed to the l0 lbs. it would take to separate the paper along one inch width of the paper itself.

The adjustment knob 78 permits the clutch to be adjusted for different paper weights, strengths, and widths so that tearing will not take place between the line of perforation but will only take place at the line of perforation. By turning the knob to thread the shaft in and out and therefore change the pressure of the spring against the several discs of the clutch, the amount of tension produced in the paper while it is simultaneously grasped by the front and rear rollers can be changed to accommodate the specic paper being threaded through the burster and insure that separation will only take place along the lines of weakening.

FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 diagrammatically illustrate the operation of the burster. The continuous strip of stationery shown in FIGURE 7 has form lengths of different dimensions 26a, 26h, and 26C. In FIGURES 7 and 8, form length 26a has just been separated from the remainder of the strip as the line of weakening passed over the breaker means 68. As soon as the separation is accomplished, the rear set of rollers 14 accelerate to their normal increased speed to advance the separated ticket 26 at an increased rate and eject the ticket out of the burster in the direction indicated by the arrow B. In FIGURE 9, form length 26h is between both sets of

rollers

12 and 14 and therefore the rear set of rollers 14 slows down and produces a tension in the strip between the rollers. As soon as the line of weakening 24 between form lengths 26h and 26e advances to a point generally above breaker means 68, the tension in the stationery will cause it to break along the line of weakening. Form length 26b will then be advanced at an increased rate of speed similar to that shown in FIGURE 8 with respect to form length 2Gb.

Thus the burster of this invention provides a novel means for separating continuous form stationery without the necessity for adjustment of the distance between the bursting rollers. This permits, rst of all, a more compact bursting device. Secondly, it reduces the complex components necessary when the adjustable sets of rollers are being driven by the same drive means. Furthermore, the burster is not only capable of bursting different strips of stationery without adjustment between the rollers, but is also capable of bursting stationery which has individual forms or tickets of different lengths within the same strip.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limita-tions should be understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A burster mechanism for separating continuous form stationery into individual form lengths between transverse lines of weakening, comprising: a frame; drive means mounted in said frame; a rst pair of rollers mounted in said frame in the path of stationery travel for gripping and feeding stationery through the burster, said rst pair of rollers being driven by said drive means; a second pair of rollers mounted in said frame in the path of stationery travel for gripping and feeding stationery through the burster; and slip means connecting said drive means to said second pair of rollers, said slip means responsive to paper feeding to normally drive said second pair of rollers at a faster rate of speed than said first pair of rollers and to drive said second pair of rollers at a reduced rate of speed responsive to simultaneous gripping of paper by said rst and second pairs of rollers to thereby create tension in the stationery between said first and second pairs of rollers of sucient force to separate the stationery along a transverse line of weakening.

2. A burster mechanism for separating continuous form stationery into individual form lengths between transverse lines of weakening, comprising: a frame; a rst pair of driven rollers mounted in said frame in the path of stationery travel for gripping and feeding stationery through the burster; a second pair of rollers mounted in said frame in the path of stationery travel for gripping and feeding the stationery through the burster, said second pair of rollers positioned in the frame a fixed distance from said first pair of rollers; drive means mounted in said frame, said drive means connected to said rst and second rollers for driving said rollers; and clutch means interconnecting said drive means to said second pair of rollers for normally driving said second pair of rollers at a faster rate than said rst pair of rollers, said clutch means responsive to the simultaneous gripping of paper by said first and second pair of rollers to reduce the speed and increase the torque of the second pair of rollers to thereby increase the tension in the stationery between the rst and second rollers to cause separation of the stationery along a transverse line of weakening when the stationery is advanced to a point where the line of weakening is between the pairs of rollers.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein a single source of power is used to drive said first and second pairs of rollers.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein said clutch includes a housing driven by said drive means, said housing being positioned about the drive shaft for the second pair of rollers and a plurality of rst discs in the housing rotatable with the housing and a plurality of second discs in the housing rotatable with the shaft, said discs juxtaposed for sliding facial engagement with each other, rotation of said housing by said drive means causing said first discs to rotate said second discs and thereby rotate said second roller drive shaft.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said clutch is provided with a biasing member normally urging said discs into facial engagement with each other and wherein said clutch is further provided with an element for changing the amount of force produced by said biasing member to thereby selectively increase or decrease the facial engagement between said discs to adjust the burster for operation with stationery of different characteristics.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,429,944 10/ 1947 Rayburn et al 225-4 2,513,093 6/1950 Hageman 225--100 2,862,554 12/ 1958 Davidson 22S-100 FOREIGN PATENTS 808,379 1/1956 Great Britain.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

I. M. MEISTER, Assistant Exam-liner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3 ,338 ,487 August 29 1967 Rudolph W. Schutz It is hereby certified that error appears n the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

In the heading to the printed specification, line 4, for "Varco Incorporated" read Uarco Incorporated Signed and sealed this 24th day of September 1968.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD I. BRENNER Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer

Claims

1. A BURSTER MECHANISM FO SEPARATING CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY INTO INDIVIDUAL FORM LENGTHS BETWEEN TRANSVERSE LINES OF WEAKENING, COMPRISING: A FRAME; DRIVE MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME; A FIRST PAIR OF ROLLERS MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME IN THE PATH OF STATIONARY TRAVEL FOR GRIPPING AND FEEDING STATIONERY THROUGH THE BURSTER, SAID FIRST PAIR OF ROLLERS BEING DRIVEN BY SAID DRIVE MEANS; A SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME IN THE PATH OF STATIONERY TRAVEL FOR GRIPPING AND FEEDING STATIONERY THROUGH THE BURSTER; AND SLIP MEANS CONNECTING SAID DRIVE MEANS TO SAID SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS, SAID SLIP MEANS RESPONSIVE TO PAPER FEEDING TO NORMALLY DRIVE SAID SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS AT A FASTER RATE OF SPEED THAN SAID FIRST PAIR OF ROLLERS AND TO DRIVE SAID SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS AT A REDUCED RATE OF SPEED RESPONSIVE TO SIMULTANEOUS GRIPPING OF PAPER BY SAID FIRST AND SECOND PAIRS OF ROLLERS TO THEREBY CREATE TENSION IN THE STATIONERY BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND PAIRS OF ROLLERS OF SUFFICIENT FORCE TO SEPARATE THE STATIONERY ALONG A TRANSVERSE LINE OF WEAKENING.