Patent Application
20150090833
The invention relates generally to the controlling dispensing of material from a roll, and more specifically, dispensing packaging material from a roll.
Various sheet-type materials are provided in roll form for easy storage, shipping, and dispensing for use. In the packing material industry, for example, Kraft paper is crumpled and used to fill empty portions of shipped containers. In various applications, it is advantageous to have the material be unrolled and crumpled in a continuous and easy manner to facilitate quick and efficient packing of objections for shipping.
Devices exist that facilitates fast crumpling of the packing material as it is dispensed from the roll by passing the material through a relatively small passage. The engagement of the material with the passage crumples the paper for the user to then quickly apply to the shipped load. Rolls of packing material such as Kraft paper, however, are generally not uniform in their form. For example, typical Kraft paper rolls are wound around a cylindrical core. This core, however, may not have perfectly near circular circumference, either through manufacturing or through the handling of the roll before it is disposed for dispensing the material. Then, when that core is disposed on a support around which the roll will rotate during dispensing of the packing material, the roll will have an uneven rotation rate. For instance, the roll may rotate at a first rate until a flat portion of the core engages the roll's support, at which time the roll may slip and rotate quickly and then stop suddenly. Such motion can cause a tear in the packing material, which can render that portion of the material unsuitable for the packing task at hand.
Generally speaking and pursuant to these various embodiments, a rolled material dispenser includes a brake mechanism designed to govern the rolling of a roll of packing material during dispensing of the packing material to reduce unintended tearing of the packing material or improve the user experience of handling such material dispensing. In one example, the brake mechanism includes a first portion configured to engage the roll during normal unloading of material from the roll and a second portion configured to engage the roll to impede rotation of the roll when unloading of material is uneven.
In one example, the brake mechanism is biased to engage the roll with a brake structure to impede roll rotation. When the packing material is tensioned such as when paper is pulled from the roll, the tensioned paper effects removal of the brake mechanism from engagement with the roll. If during the dispensing of paper the roll rotates unevenly or for another reason the paper tension reduces, the reduced tension allows the brake mechanism to re-engage the roll to slow and/or stop its rotation. So configured, uneven rolling of the packing material is restrained to reduce the amount of unwanted tearing of the material and to improve the user experience. These and other benefits may become clearer upon making a thorough review and study of the following detailed description.
The above needs are at least partially met through provision of the brake to facilitate dispensing of material from a roll described in the following detailed description, particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.
Referring now to the drawings and, in particular to
The packaging material dispensing apparatus 100 also includes an idler roller 125 configured to engage and roll with the packing material 105 dispensed from the roll 120. The idler roller 125 may include a surface portion 128 on all or part of its outer cylindrical surface. This surface portion 128 has a relatively high tackiness or outer surface friction such that the surface portion 128 engages the packing material 105 when the packing material is being pulled from the packaging material dispenser. As the packaging material is pulled from the dispenser, it separates from the roll 120 and passes over and around the idler roller 125. The surface portion 128 of the idler roller 125 engages the packaging material 105 such that the idler roller 125 rolls together with and at generally the same speed as the packaging material 105 as it is dispensed from the roll 120.
The idler roller 125 is supported on a rod 130. The rod 130 is optionally spring supported such that the forces of tension on the packaging material 105 in the direction around the idler roller 125 is somewhat absorbed by the support to avoid unnecessary tearing of the packaging material 105 when being pulled around the idler roller 125. In the illustrated example, the support includes a post 133 around which a spring 135 extends. The spring 135 engages a washer 136, which washer 136 supports the weight of the rod 130 thereby supporting also the weight of the idler roller 125. Accordingly, the spring 135 absorbs at least some of the downward forces applied to it during the dispensing of packaging material 105 around the idler roller 125. The tension on the spring 135 can be adjusted by rotation of the nut 137 disposed opposite of the spring 135 relative to the support rod 130. The absorption of forces on the idler roller 125 takes some of the forces off of the packaging material 105 such that the packaging material 105 is less likely to tear on application of certain forces.
In the illustrated example, a brake arm 140 is disposed to extend along the length of the roll 120 to engage the roll 120 with at least one brake arm roller 142 during dispensing of packaging material 105 from the roll 120. In the illustrated example, the brake arm 140 includes a first edge 144 that supports the at least one brake arm roller 142. Three rollers 142 are illustrated in this example, although any number of rollers can be used based upon the length of the roll of packaging material and/or the type of packaging material. The brake arm 140 also includes a second edge 146 of the brake arm 140 disposed opposite of the first edge 144. This second edge 146 with the brake arm 140 comprises a brake edge 146, wherein the brake arm 140 is configured to engage the roll 120 with the brake edge 146 in response to uneven rolling of the roll 120 on the support arm 110.
In the illustrated example, the brake arm 140 is supported to rotate to selectively engage the roll 120 with either the at least one brake arm roller 142 of the first edge 144 or the second edge 146. The brake arm 140 is biased to engage the roll 120 on a side of the roll 120 toward the idler roller 145 with the second edge 146 to restrict rotation of the roll 120. For instance,
In the illustrated example, the brake arm 140 includes a metal body although other materials can be used that provide the friction used to slide over the dispensed packaging material and yet impede or stop the roll's rotation when so engaged. The illustrated brake arm 140 also includes an indented middle portion 148 such that a cross-section of the brake arm 140 resembles the number “3.” The brake arm is supported by two posts 150 and 152 configured to engage and support the brake arm 140 and bias the brake arm 140 to engage the roll 120. For example, as illustrated in
In this case, the brake arm 140 defines two apertures 155 and 157 configured to individually engage the individual ones of the two posts 150 and 152. The two posts 150 and 152 individually define tapered portions 160 to engage the brake arm 140 at the two apertures 155 and 157. The tapered portions 160 begin with a wider portion 162 disposed at a post end 165 that taper down to a smaller width at a tapered portion 166 further down the post 150. The contour of the aperture 155 defined by its location at the middle portion 148 of the brake arm 140 creates several surfaces available to engage different tapered portions 160 of the post 150 as well as possibly an non-tapered portion of the post 150 itself, as illustrated in
Turning to
So configured, through the arrangement of the aperture within the shape of the brake arm and the respective engagement with the tapered nature of the post, the brake arm is biased to engage the roll 120 with the brake edge 146 of the brake arm 140. Whereas, when tension is applied to the packing material 105 to overcome that biasing, the brake arm 140 is rotated to engage the roll 120 with the brake arm rollers 142. Such a configuration can mediate or modulate the occasional uneven forces created during the unrolling and dispensing of packaging materials 105 such as craft paper from its roll 120, which forces may cause unwanted tearing and user dissatisfaction.
Referring now to
In another aspect, the method may further include engaging 725 the packing material with an idler roller during dispensing of the packing material from the roll. Further, the idler roller may be resiliently supported 730 to absorb forces imposed on the idler roller by the packaging material during dispensing of the packaging material. The resilient support thereby can absorb some of the excess forces on the packaging material that could cause an undesired tear.
So configured, packaging material can be dispensed from a roll with modulated uneven rotation and other features to decrease undesired tearing of the material. Such an approach can improve efficiency whereby less material is thrown out because of having unwanted tearing. Further, user satisfaction with the device is then improved.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of modifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, the profile of the brake arm and tapered portions of the support posts for the brake arm could be modified. Also, brake arm need not extend the length of the paper roll; instead, one or brake portions could be stationed along the roll as long as the feedback regarding paper tension is provided to selectively engage the roll with the brake to ameliorate paper tearing and user frustration with uneven roll rotation. Similarly, the spring based biasing described herein can be accomplished using any number of known biasing structures. Such modifications, alterations, and combinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventive concept.
