Kent Corporation

Walter J Hood

Anthony C Costello

Eugene L Conaway

George Gulden, Jr

A system (10) for supplying strip material (S) to a processing line includes a strip uncoiler assembly (11) and a strip take-out assembly (12). The uncoiler assembly (11) carries a plurality of adjacently positioned coils (C) of strip material (S) with the trailing end of the strip material (S) of each coil (C) being attached to the leading end of the strip material (S) on the serially adjacent coil (C). The uncoiler assembly (11) also includes a drive mechanism (26) to rotate the coils (C) as the strip material (S) is payed off to the take-out assembly (12) which has a take-out arm (44) movable by an indexing device (73) to always be aligned with the individual coil (C) currently paying off strip material (S). Take-out assembly (12) also includes a dancer roller (57) which moves in response to the demand of the processing line to control the speed at which strip material (S) is payed off by the uncoiler assembly (11).

System for supplying strip to a processing line

An arbor (28) for a strip accumulator (10) includes a hollow generally cylindrical body having an outer curved surface (60) and closed ends (62, 64). The curved surface (60) is provided with a plurality of apertures (82) arranged in a helical pattern around the curved surface (60). Air under pressure is provided to the inside of the arbor (28) and passes through the apertures (82) to support strip material (S) as it travels around the arbor (28) on the helical path.

Arbor for a strip accumulator

A control device for a continuous processing line which is fed material from a coil utilizes information regarding the outside diameter of the material on a coil having a constant inside diameter as a basis for its control functions. A typical application is in the control of a strip accumulator (15) in a strip processing line wherein strip(s) on a revolvable coil is drawn from an uncoiler (10) by the revolvable pinch rolls (16) of the accumulator at which point a certain quantity of material is stored so that when the end of a coil is reached a new coil may be attached to the old coil without stopping the line. In such instances it is highly desirable that the accumulator be substantially filled so that a maximum time is available to attach the new coil. The control device includes means (31) providing a signal proportional to the revolutions of the pinch rolls and means (30) providing a signal proportional to the revolutions of the supply coil. The pinch roll revolutions are counted by a counter (38) and if the counter receives the signal proportional to the revolution of the supply coil before counting a predetermined number of pinch roll revolutions, it is reset to count again until such time that the counter reaches the predetermined number of counts before receiving a supply coil revolution signal at which time accumulator control is initiated.

Growing community of inventors

Shaker Heights, OH, United States of America

Walter J Hood