The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 20, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2001
John R. Hanson, Appleton, WI (US);
Robert J. Seymour, Appleton, WI (US);
Mike E. Daniels, Neenah, WI (US);
James Baggot, Menasha, WI (US);
Randy LeValley, Neenah, WI (US);
Edward Marksman, Menasha, WI (US);
Preston O'Connor, Appleton, WI (US);
Kenneth Pigsley, Greenville, WI (US);
Douglas C. Thomas, Appleton, WI (US);
Jeffrey Greiner, Kaukauna, WI (US);
David Gruber, Appleton, WI (US);
Matt Storm, Appleton, WI (US);
Steve Weiland, Appleton, WI (US);
Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US);
Abstract
A system and process for unwinding rolls of material is disclosed. The system is particularly well suited for unwinding soft, high-bulk tissue webs. In one embodiment, the system includes the combination of a center unwind device and a surface unwind device to unwind the roll of material in a primary unwind location. Once the roll of material is partially unwound, the roll is then moved to a secondary unwind location while a new roll of material is moved into the primary unwind location. In this manner, multiple rolls of material can be continuously unwound without substantial downtime. The system of the present invention can be used to unwind a single roll of material or can be designed to unroll multiple rolls of material simultaneously.