Apparatus for the registration of printed matter during the manufacture

Abstract

An apparatus for facilitating the registration of printed matter during the manufacture of bags on fixed-size bag formation equipment, from a continuous web of a substantially non-stretchable material. Printed matter, printed upon the continuous web at regularly-spaced intervals, includes a plurality of periodically spaced reference markers. While a finishing drum propels the continuous web in a direction of flow emanating from a supply of web material, at a substantially constant speed, feed rollers, positioned upstream from the finishing drum, propel the continuous web at a variable speed, relative to the substantially constant speed. As a cutting roller severs a substantially fixed length of web material from a leading edge of the web, at a substantially fixed position relative to an associated reference marker, downstream from the feed rollers, a programmable controller senses the passage of the reference marker past a predetermined position, and further senses the rotational positioning of the cutting roller, comparing these inputs to determine whether the web is being severed at a proper location. Subject to this sensing, a differential transmission adjusts the speed of the feed rollers, to, in turn, vary the position along the continuous web where the cutting roller severs the web in relation to the associated markers.