Mounting assembly for a roll of material

Abstract

An assembly for mounting a roll of paper or Mylar.RTM. film having a hollow core includes a radially expanding core insert at each end of the roll and a core insert support, mountable to a support structure, to support, position and apply a drag force to the paper roll. Each core insert has a radially expandable inner end which is expanded within the core to secure the insert in place. The outer end of the core insert extends beyond the edge of the paper roll. The core insert support includes a pair of arcuate contact surfaces and an adjustable spring biased brake shoe mounted to a frame. The brake shoe presses the outer end of the core insert against the contact surfaces to create a suitable drag on the paper roll. A flipper is pivotally mounted to the frame for movement between free movement and blocking positions to permit or prevent the core inserts from being removed from the core insert supports. Each flipper also axially biases the core insert towards the other flipper. One flipper presses on the paper roll substantially harder than the other so the paper roll is constantly biased to one side to aid proper positioning of the paper.