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[0001] The present invention relates to a rewinding machine for the production of rolls of wound-up weblike material, for example rolls intended for the production of small rolls of toilet paper, kitchen towel and the like.
[0002] In particular, but not exclusively, the invention relates to a rewinder of the peripheral or superficial type, that is to say one in which the roll or log being formed is retained in rotation in a winding-up cradle by means of winding-up members which are in contact with the roll being formed over its peripheral surface, transmitting thereto the rotational winding-up movement.
[0003] The invention also relates to a winding method which can be implemented on the abovementioned rewinder.
[0004] In the paper converting industry, use is frequently made of machines known as winders or rewinders, which receive an incoming weblike material coming from a parent reel or plurality of parent reels, to wind it up in the form of rolls or logs of diameter equal to the diameter of the finished product and great length. These rolls or logs are subsequently cut orthogonally to their axis to form small rolls of toilet paper, kitchen towel and the like.
[0005] Machines of this type, based on the peripheral winding-up procedure, are described and illustrated, for example, in: U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,724, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,725, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,195, U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,897, U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,377, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,130, U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,106, U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,252, GB-A-2 105 688, WO-A-94/21 545. Machines based on the central or mandrel winding-up procedure are described in U.S. Pat. No. Re-28,353, U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,572, U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,670, U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,552, U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,423.
[0006] The rewinding machines are normally designed on a large scale and operate at very high speeds. In particular, the present trend is toward producing rewinding machines suitable for processing weblike material of ever-increasing width.
[0007] In some applications, however, it would be appropriate to have rewinding machines of modest size available, in particular to meet the needs of emerging markets where high production speeds are not necessary.
[0008] To meet these needs, a peripheral rewinding machine of particularly modest size has been developed and is described in WO-A-97/32 804. This rewinding machine provides a special winding-up system, with means of gluing the final free edge of the roll located downstream of the winding-up cradle. Normally, the unloading of the finished log and its gluing require a cyclical slowing of the production line in order to obtain correct positioning of the free edge of the weblike material to be glued in order to seal the roll.
[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine, especially but not exclusively of the peripheral or superficial type, of modest size, and therefore particularly easy to transport and such as to take up little space when in use.
[0010] According to a particular aspect, it is also an object of the invention to produce a compact machine in which the feed speed of the weblike material need not be reduced at the end of each winding-up cycle.
[0011] Substantially, these and other objects and advantages, which will be clear to the person skilled in the art from reading the text that follows, are achieved in a rewinding machine equipped with a winding-up system, generally of the central or peripheral type, and with a system for severing the weblike material at the end of each winding-up cycle in order to generate a final edge and an initial edge, wherein an adhesive applicator applies the adhesive to the final free edge of each roll in a position upstream of the roll in the final phase of winding-up in the winding-up system.
[0012] Normally, contrary to what is envisaged by the present invention, the adhesive for sealing the free edge is applied to the final edge or to the roll downstream of the winding-up system, when the roll has been unloaded from said system. For this purpose, suitable gluing machines are usually provided, disposed in line with the rewinding machine, optionally with the interposition of a storage unit. This makes the line complex and bulky.
[0013] According to the invention, conversely, the adhesive is applied to an end portion of the weblike material before the latter is wound up onto the roll and before the roll is unloaded from the winding-up system. This makes the machine more compact and enables other advantages to be achieved, which will become clear in due course.
[0014] U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,377 describes a system in which the adhesive is applied to the final edge of the weblike material before completion of the roll. However, in this case, the adhesive is not applied by an applicator directly onto the weblike material. To the contrary, it is delivered onto a winding-up core and the latter, when it is inserted into the winding-up system, transfers some of the adhesive applied thereto to the final edge in order to achieve sealing thereof. This known solution has significant limitations.
[0015] Specifically, it is applicable only with special winding-up systems and only with certain systems for severing the weblike material and introducing new winding-up cores. Furthermore, it is not applicable in cases where the winding-up takes place without a central core. It should also be borne in mind that it is not always possible or appropriate to use the same adhesive for the final free edge of a roll and to anchor the initial free edge to the winding-up core in order to initiate the winding-up of the subsequent roll.
[0016] These limitations are overcome by the present invention.
[0017] According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the adhesive is applied to the weblike material before the latter is cut, torn or otherwise severed by the severing system. This may take place, for example, by disposing the adhesive applicator upstream of the severing system. However, in principle, it would also be conceivable to dispose the adhesive applicator downstream of the area in which the severing system acts or on the severing system itself.
[0018] Although the winding-up system may be of any kind, including the central type (i.e. the type in which the winding-up movement is imparted to the roll by means of a central mandrel around which the material is wound up), according to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention the winding-up system comprises a peripheral winding-up cradle. In this case, the adhesive applicator may be disposed upstream of the winding-up cradle, for example facing one of the winding-up rolls which form part of said cradle.
[0019] By comparison also with the more compact rewinding machines describe, in WO-A-97/32 804, the present invention provides the possibility of a further reduction in the bulk of the machine and the possibility of achieving a high level of reliability and precision in gluing, even without temporary reductions of the feed speed of the weblike material.
[0020] Furthermore, it is possible to wind up even rolls of large diameter. This is possible because, once the adhesive has been applied, before completion of the winding-up of the final free edge of the roll, the latter performs a rotation in the winding-up cradle and subsequently on an unloading surface to exert pressure on the final free edge and stabilize the latter for gluing to the final turn of the roll. In practice, the roll may also perform a complete revolution in the winding-up cradle before being unloaded, so that at the time of unloading the final free edge has already been pressed against the last turn of the roll.
[0021] In the traditional systems, conversely, this operation requires especially in the case of rolls of large diameter—very long rolling surfaces in order to ensure that pressure is always exerted on the final free edge, and hence large bulk.
[0022] In practice, the adhesive applicator may comprise one or more nozzles disposed side by side to spray the necessary dose of adhesive onto the weblike material. However, different systems for applying the adhesive, for example a contact system with brush or pad members which touch the weblike material, transferring the necessary adhesive thereto, are not ruled out, although the use of nozzles is advantageous because it is simpler in design and from the standpoint of maintenance and preparation, as well as being more flexible.
[0023] In a practical embodiment, the winding-up cradle may possess a winding-up system comprising a first winding-up roller and, optionally, a second and a third winding-up roll, in accordance with a technology known per se, although the possibility of a different configuration of the winding-up cradle is not excluded.
[0024] When at least a first winding-up roller is provided, the spray nozzle or nozzles which apply the adhesive in order to seal the free edge of the weblike material are disposed, relative to the first winding-up roll, in a manner such as to spray the adhesive onto the weblike material when the latter is supported and moved around said winding-up roll. The means for severing the weblike material are advantageously disposed downstream, in the direction of movement of the weblike material, relative to the position of the spray nozzles which apply the adhesive.
[0025] The rewinding machine may be of the type which winds up onto tubular cores, but the possibility is not excluded of applying the same criterion to rewinding machines which produce rolls of weblike material wound-up without a central winding-up core, using known winding-up techniques described, for example, in EP-A-0 580 561 and EP-A-0 611 723.
[0026] According to a further aspect of the present invention, a particular configuration of an embossing and laminating unit is also proposed, of particular compactness, capable of being inserted into a rewinding machine of modest size. According to this aspect of the invention, the embossing unit has a first and a second embossing cylinder and a first and a second pressure roller, the embossing cylinders and the pressure rollers being supported by the side frames which also support the perforating unit, the winding-up cradle of the rewinding machine, particular compactness thereby being achieved.
[0027] In practice, a reduction in bulk may advantageously be obtained by placing the embossing cylinders one above the other vertically, in a manner such that the first embossing cylinder is located above the second embossing cylinder, for example and advantageously (but not necessarily) with the axes placed one above the other in a vertical plane. In this case, the first pressure roller is positioned above the first embossing cylinder, while the second pressure roller is disposed below the second embossing cylinder, but offset laterally relative to the plane containing the axes of the embossing cylinders, which plane may advantageously and preferably (but not necessarily) be approximately vertical. In this configuration, the winding-up cradle is situated, relative to the plane in which the axes of rotation of the embossing cylinders lie, on the side opposite that on which the second pressure roller is located. In this manner, as will become clear from the detailed description of an example of embodiment, a configuration of particularly reduced size is achieved.
[0028] A system for combining the plies that constitute the weblike material may be associated with the embossing unit. For example, a ply-bonding unit may be provided. in an alternative embodiment, an adhesive dispenser may be provided which, in a manner known per se, applies an adhesive to one of the two plies of the weblike material, after the ply has been embossed. In this case, the adhesive dispenser is advantageously disposed above the second pressure roller, again in order to obtain a very compact configuration. The possibility of disposing both an adhesive dispenser and a ply-bonding unit in the same machine, so as to permit the user to employ both methods, is not excluded.
[0029] The invention also relates to a winding-up method for the production of rolls of weblike material.
[0030] Further advantageous features of the machine and method according to the invention are indicated in the attached claims.
[0031] The invention will be better understood by reference to the description and the attached drawing, which shows a practical, nonlimiting example of said invention. In the drawing:
[0032]
[0033] FIGS.
[0034] A detailed description will be given below of a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, complete with accessories and elements which may also, in part, be omitted. The embodiment illustrated is of the type having tubular winding-up cores on which the individual rolls are formed, but, as stated previously, the machine may also be designed for winding-up without a tubular core.
[0035] The rewinder, generally designated
[0036] The first winding-up roller
[0037] Below the first winding-up roller
[0038] The winding-up cores A are fed to the winding-up cradle
[0039] A rotating inserter
[0040] Above the surface
[0041] Along the path of the weblike material N coming from the unwinder (not shown) is disposed an embossing and laminating unit generally designated
[0042] Interacting with the first embossing cylinder
[0043] The first and second embossing cylinders
[0044] Interacting with the first embossing cylinder
[0045] Also interacting with the first embossing cylinder
[0046] Two plies of weblike material, designated V1 and V2, are fed to the embossing and laminating unit
[0047] In the example of embodiment shown, there is provided along the path of the weblike material N coming from the laminating/embossing unit
[0048] Along the path of the weblike material N, between the ply-bonding unit
[0049] The weblike material N which passes through the perforating unit
[0050] The perforated weblike material N coming from the perforating unit
[0051] Interacting with the first winding-up roller
[0052] As clearly illustrated in
[0053] Expediently, the nozzles
[0054] More expediently, moreover, contamination of the severing member
[0055] While the foregoing has provided a description of the possibility of using a series of spray nozzles
[0056] The use of two series of nozzles
[0057]
[0058] In
[0059] In the example shown, the machine also has a printing unit, generally designated
[0060] It is understood that the drawing shows only a simplification of the invention, provided by way of a practical demonstration, and that it may be varied in shapes and arrangements without thereby departing from the scope of the concept underlying said invention.