Patent Application
20110099947
Springs or coils, such as are used to construct a mattress and other portions of furniture, are often coupled into a sheet of springs, i.e., a spring unit. A method of packaging, shipping, and storing a spring unit includes compressing the spring unit and wrapping the compressed spring unit around a central axis with a length of flexible wrapping material. Usually, several spring units will be compressed and wrapped with the same length of flexible wrapping material into the same spring roll pack. For example, the spring units within a spring roll pack are usually compressed and rolled into the spring roll pack one at a time. A spring roll pack is secured so that it does not unroll while being shipped and stored. For example, the flexible wrapping material is typically secured around the outside of the spring roll pack with tape or another type of temporary adhesive.
Once a spring roll pack has reached its destination, various methods might be used to unroll the spring roll pack. For example, the spring roll pack might be laid on the ground, after which the tape or other temporary adhesive is removed. After the tape or other temporary adhesive is removed, an end of the flexible wrapping material might simply be pulled to initiate an unrolling of the spring roll pack along the ground. Essentially, the roll-packed springs decompress and the spring roll pack unrolls itself in a relatively uncontrolled fashion. While this method effectively dispenses roll-packed spring units, it has various disadvantages. For example, because the spring roll pack is not confined, the relatively sudden decompression and unrolling of the roll-packed spring units present safety hazards. Moreover, the sudden decompression and unrolling often cause spring units, or individual springs, to collide with each other, thereby damaging and/or tangling the springs. Further, once a spring roll pack is opened, all spring units within the spring roll pack must be dispensed and stored loosely (e.g., decompressed and flat) until required in production, thereby inefficiently using storage space.
Another method of unrolling a spring roll pack includes placing the spring roll pack in an enclosed dispensing chamber. The flexible wrapping material is attached to a wind-up system, which pulls and accumulates the flexible wrapping material, thereby having an effect of unrolling the pack and causing spring units to exit from the spring roll pack. While this method addresses some of the safety concerns that are present with an unconfined unrolling approach, spring units are still decompressed rapidly, thereby causing damage to and/or tangling of the springs. As such, to prevent further damage and tangling to the springs and spring units, all spring units are generally unwound to be stored in a loose (i.e., unwrapped) state. All units are also generally unwound as a partially open roll pack is very hard to manipulate. As such, this approach does not resolve issues arising from having to unroll an entire spring roll pack at once and loosely store spring units.
Embodiments of the invention are defined by the claims below, not this summary. A high-level overview of various aspects of the invention are provided here for that reason, to provide an overview of the disclosure and to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed-description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present invention is directed to unrolling a spring roll pack to dispense spring units that are required to satisfy current production needs. As used herein “spring roll pack” generally describes spring units that are compressed and spirally wound around a central axis with a length of flexible material. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a device that unrolls a spring roll pack. The device includes a means for supporting the spring roll pack and a means for compressing the spring roll pack. The device also includes a means for rotating the spring roll pack while the spring roll pack is compressed. The device further includes a means for accumulating the flexible material as it is unwound from the rotating spring roll pack.
Another embodiment of the present invention includes a spring-roll-pack opener having a lower belt that is positioned to support the spring roll pack and an upper belt spaced above the lower belt. A compression mechanism moves the upper belt toward the lower belt, such that when the spring roll pack is loaded onto the lower belt, the upper belt is movable to compress the spring roll pack. Moreover, a wrapping accumulator accepts an end of the flexible material when the spring roll pack is loaded between the lower belt and the upper belt. A drive mechanism is operably coupled to each of the lower belt, the upper belt, and the wrapping accumulator. When the spring roll pack is compressed between the upper belt and the lower belt, the drive mechanism is used to rotate the upper belt and lower belt, thereby unrolling the spring units and the flexible material, which is both secured to and wound by the wrapping accumulator.
Another further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of unrolling a spring roll pack. The method includes positioning the spring roll pack onto a first surface and applying continuous pressure both against the spring roll pack and toward the first surface. Moreover, an end of the spring roll pack's flexible material is attached to a wrapping accumulator. The method further includes causing the spring roll pack to rotate while being compressed and gathering the flexible material.
Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The subject matter of embodiments of the present invention is described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. But the description itself is not intended to necessarily limit the scope of claims. Rather, the claimed subject matter might be embodied in other ways to include different components and/or steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described.
An embodiment of the present invention is depicted in
Referring now to
Referring now to
In a further embodiment, a compression mechanism moves at least part of the upper belt assembly (i.e., upper belt 136b together with rollers 142 and 144) toward lower belt 134. For example, pneumatic cylinder 146 might be used as the compression mechanism. While a pneumatic cylinder is described herein, other types of cylinders might also be utilized, such as a hydraulic cylinder. Pneumatic cylinder 146 is rotatably coupled to a mounting bracket 148 on connection member 150, which extends between rollers 142 and 144. By activating the pneumatic cylinder 146, the connection member 150 pivots relative to roller 144, such that the upper belt 136b can be moved both closer to and away from the lower belt 134. Each of
Accordingly, spring roll pack 128a can be loaded from platforms 126 and 132 onto the lower belt 134. The upper belt can start in a raised position, such as raised upper belt 136a, thereby providing sufficient space in the loading end of the space between the upper belt and the lower belt to position the spring roll pack 128b onto the lower belt 134. Using the pneumatic cylinder 146, raised upper belt 136a is moved toward the lower belt 134, thereby exerting pressure against spring roll pack 128b, such as depicted by upper belt 136b. As such, pneumatic cylinder 146 combined with upper belt 136b function as a means for compressing the spring roll pack 128b.
In a further embodiment, each of the upper belt 136b and the lower belt 134 is operably coupled to a drive mechanism, which can rotate each of the belts both clockwise and counterclockwise. For example, a drive mechanism might include a motor 160 with an axle 162. A set of sprockets 164 and 166 are coupled to the axle 162. Each sprocket 164 and 166 engages a respective chain 168 and 170. Chain 168 engages another sprocket 172, which is fixed to an end of roller 138. As such, the combination of axle 162, sprocket 164, chain 168, and sprocket 172 transfers the output of motor 160 to roller 138 (i.e., drive roller 138) and the lower belt 134. In a further embodiment, chain 170 engages another sprocket 174, which is fixed to an end of roller 144. Through these components, the output of motor 160 is also transferred to roller 144 (i.e., drive roller 144) and the upper belt 136b. As such, when spring roll pack 128b is loaded between the upper belt 136b and the lower belt 134, and the compression mechanism (e.g., pneumatic cylinder 146) is used to compress the spring roll pack between the belts 136b and 134, spring roll pack 128b can be caused to rotate in a near fixed position by rotating both belts 134 and 136b in a same direction using the drive mechanism (e.g., motor 160 with axle 162). As such, the drive mechanism and other components that transfer the output of the drive mechanism to both the lower belt assembly and the upper belt assembly function as a means for rotating the spring roll pack.
In a further embodiment, the present invention includes a wrapping accumulator 152. The wrapping accumulator 152 includes two elongated members 154 and 156, which are positioned near parallel to each other. End caps 180 and 182 are positioned at the ends of the elongated members 154 and 156. The end caps 180 and 182 function to secure the elongated members 154 and 156 in a fixed position, such that when the elongated members 154 and 156 are rotated, the elongated members serve as a spool to wind the flexible material 158a. In one embodiment each end cap 180 and 182 includes a respective pair of holes that are shaped and sized to receive ends of the elongated members 154 and 156. End cap 180 is coupled to wrapping-accumulator sprocket 184, which engages chain 186. Chain 186 also engages sprocket 176, which is coupled at the end of roller 144 together with sprocket 174. As such, when the output of the drive mechanism is transferred to drive roller 144 (as previously described), the output also rotates sprocket 176. In turn, sprocket 176 engages chain 186 and rotates the wrapping-accumulator sprocket 184, thereby transferring the output of the drive mechanism to cap 180 and the wrapping accumulator 152. In one embodiment, the wrapping accumulator 152 rotates about axis 153, which is shown as a dashed line in
In an exemplary embodiment, the wrapping accumulator 152 receives an end of the flexible material 158a of the spring roll pack. For example, as previously described, after spring units are compressed and wound into a spring roll pack, an end of the flexible material is secured with tape to the outer layer of the spring roll pack to prevent the spring roll pack from unwinding. Accordingly, to couple an end of the flexible material to the wrapping accumulator 152, the tape (or other temporary adhesive) is removed and the end that was secured to the spring roll pack is coupled to the wrapping accumulator 152. In one embodiment, to attach the flexible material 158a to the wrapping accumulator 152, an end of the flexible material 158a is passed between the elongated members 154 and 156 and folded over one of the elongated members. For example,
When the two elongated members 154 and 156 are caused to rotate about one another, the flexible material 158a is wrapped around the elongated members 154 and 156. For example, the flexible material 158a might be wrapped when the spring roll pack 128b is compressed between the belts 134 and 136b and the flexible material 158a is unwound from the spring roll pack 128b. Once a desired number of spring units have been dispensed from the spring roll pack 128b, the drive mechanism can be stopped while the spring roll pack 128b continues to be compressed between the belts 134 and 136b. The flexible material 158a that is exposed between the spring roll pack and the wrapping accumulator can be cut, thereby enabling the portion of the flexible material that has been wound around elongated members 154 and 156 (e.g., portion 158b of
A further embodiment of the present invention includes a method of unrolling a spring roll pack, which includes spring units that are compressed and spirally wound in a first direction around a central axis with a length of flexible material. For example, referring to
In a further embodiment, a method of unrolling spring units from a spring roll pack includes only dispensing spring units that are currently needed for production. As such, once a desired number of spring units have been dispensed the rotation of the spring roll pack is stopped, such that a portion of the plurality of spring units remain compressed and spirally wound. For example, if spring unit 123 (of
Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in
In a further embodiment, near end roller 318 the sheet of rollers 314 is coupled to a pair of rotatable arms 326 and 328. Rotatable arms 326 and 328 are operably coupled to sprocket 332, which engages chain 334. Chain 334 engages a sprocket 336, which is coupled to an axle of a drive mechanism, e.g., motor 330. Through sprocket 336, chain 334, and sprocket 332, the output of motor 330 is transferred to arms 326 and 328 to pivot the rotatable arms 326 and 328 from a first position (depicted in
In a further embodiment, the sheet of rollers 314 are coupled near end roller 316 to a tensioning mechanism 340. For example, cable 338 couples the sheet of rollers 314 to tensioning mechanism 340, which might include a motor or a tensioning spring. When arms 326 and 328 rotate to a second position, thereby positioning the first portion 337 of the sheet of rollers to oppose another portion of the sheet of rollers, the tensioning mechanism 340 maintains tension in the sheet of rollers by pulling on the sheet of rollers near end roller 316 in the direction of arrow 346. When spring roll pack 312 is positioned between the first portion 337 and the rest of the sheet of rollers 314, and tension is maintained in the direction of arrow 346, spring roll pack 312 is compressed between the first portion 337 of the sheet of rollers 314 and a portion of the sheet of rollers 314 that opposes the first portion 337. As such, the sheet of rollers 314 in combination with the tensioning mechanism 340 function as a means for compressing the spring roll pack 312.
A receiving platform 342 is positioned to support a spring unit after the spring unit has been dispensed from the spring roll pack 312. A wrapping accumulator 350 is positioned at the end of the receiving platform 342. Similar to the wrapping accumulator 152, the wrapping accumulator 350 includes two elongated members positioned between two end caps. Drive mechanism 352 is operable to rotate the elongated members of wrapping accumulator 350, thereby winding flexible material 358 that is secured to the elongated members. As the flexible material is pulled by the wrapping accumulator 350, the spring roll pack 312 is caused to rotate while being compressed by the sheet of rollers 314. As such, the wrapping accumulator functions as both a means for rotating the sheet of rollers and a means for accumulating the flexible material.
A further embodiment of the present invention includes a method of unrolling a spring roll pack, which includes spring units that are compressed and spirally wound in a first direction around a central axis with a length of flexible material. The spring roll pack is positioned onto a first surface, which moves in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction. For example, spring roll pack 312 (wound counterclockwise) is positioned onto sheet of rollers 314, which includes rollers (e.g., roller 322) that can rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise. In a next step, continuous pressure is applied both against the spring roll pack and toward the first surface, thereby compressing the roll-packed springs toward the central axis. For example, the sheet of rollers 314 is moved using arms 326 and 328 into a curved arrangement, such that a portion 337 of the sheet of rollers is positioned on top of the spring roll pack 312. By pulling on cable 338 with tensioning mechanism 340, portion 337 of the sheet of rollers 314 applies continuous pressure against the spring roll pack 312. In a following step, an end of the flexible material is attached to a wrapping accumulator. For example, an end of flexible material 358 is attached to wrapping accumulator 350. In a further step, the spring roll pack is caused to rotate in the first direction while the continuous pressure compresses the roll-packed springs toward the central axis and the flexible material is gathered by the wrapping accumulator, thereby unwrapping the spring units. For example, wrapping accumulator 350 is rotated, thereby pulling on flexible material 358 and causing the spring roll pack 312 to rotate counterclockwise while being compressed by the sheet of rollers 314.
Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as well as components not shown, are possible without departing from the scope of the claims below. Embodiments of our technology have been described with the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to readers of this disclosure after and because of reading it. Alternative means of implementing the aforementioned can be completed without departing from the scope of the claims below. Certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims.
