Tidland Corporation

Timothy J Becker

William R Miller

John E Olson

An expansible shaft assembly has core-engagement shoes pivotally mounted to a shaft for pivoting outwardly into tight engagement with the interior of a roll core automatically in response to the application of torque to the shaft. The core-engagement shoes have core-engaging surfaces, some being pivotable outwardly in response to torque applied to the shaft in one axial direction and others being pivotable outwardly in response to torque applied in the opposite axial direction. The respective oppositely-actuated core-engaging surfaces can both be on the same engagement shoe or, alternatively, on different shoes spaced axially along the shaft. For maximizing the speed with which the core-engagement shoes engage the core in response to torque application, the core-engaging surfaces are preferably angularly offset significantly from a radial direction extending between the axis of rotation of the shaft and the pivot axis of the engagement shoe.

Torque-actuated expansible shaft assembly for roll core

An elongate expansible shaft for a roll core has a peripheral surface defining multiple separate elongate slots helically intertwined and oriented at a pitch angle no greater than about 30.degree. measured from a longitudinal axis. Each slot is T-shaped in cross section and contains a respective separate, elongate, resilient bladder pneumatically expandable into frictional engagement with the core. The bladder has a unitary construction with hinge portions for minimizing the loss of force due to expansion of the bladder. An air inlet fitting is inserted in one end of each bladder and is independently connected to a respective separate valve for preventing the escape of air from the bladder irrespective of the air pressure in any other bladder.

Expansible shaft for roll core

An elongate expansible shaft for a roll core has a peripheral surface defining multiple separate elongate slots helically intertwined and oriented at a pitch angle no greater than about 30.degree. measured from a longitudinal axis. Each slot is T-shaped in cross section and contains a respective separate, elongate, resilient T-shaped bladder pneumatically expandable into frictional engagement with the core. The bladder has a unitary construction with hinge portions for minimizing the loss of force due to expansion of the bladder. An air inlet fitting is inserted in one end of each bladder and is independently connected to a respective separate valve for preventing the escape of air from the bladder irrespective of the air pressure in any other bladder.

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Vancouver, WA, United States of America

Timothy J Becker