Patent Application
20220402230
The present invention relates to a structure of a honeycomb paper expanding machine, and more particularly to a structure of a honeycomb paper expanding machine that provides an efficacy of making a piece of honeycomb paper not readily compressed or forming compressing marking so that the honeycomb paper so expanded may maintain an intact form of the outside appearance.
Honeycomb paper, or paper honeycomb, is a honeycomb paper structure involving the regular hexagonal shape that is found in the natural honeycombs and made for the purposes of fabricating a laminated structure as a green and energy-saving material. The honeycomb paper is a commonly and widely used packaging material due to being a green material, providing a good structure performance, exhibiting excellent cushioning, being of a low fabrication cost, and being available for specialized processing.
A piece of ordinary paper, after being folded and wrinkled, is good enough to provide a honeycombing effect. However, such a way of randomly processing of paper may not be suit for packaging purposes that often demand severer standards and may also not ensure the product of such a “honeycombed” paper structure. Packaging can be realized with paper lumps that are made by subjecting kraft paper that involves long fibers and has a high strength to processing with a specialized device, for the purposes of retaining, wrapping, or filling for commercial products, in order to provide protection to the commercial products. However, if the hexagonal structure of the paper honeycomb is damaged, the effect of cushioning may be deteriorated.
In a paper honeycomb expansion process performed with a known expanding machine, the paper honeycomb has to be expanded or stretched in a horizontal direction. Although consideration has been taken in respect of maintaining the honeycomb structure for the known expanding machine, the operation is such that annular projections are provided on expansion rolls and the annular projections are arranged in multiple rings that are spaced from each other, and the annular projections of an upper one of the expansion rolls are staggered with respect to the annular projections of a lower one of the expansion rolls, in order to prevent compressing the honeycomb structure. However, during the rotations of the expansion rolls, each annular projection exhibits a compressing position, which is fixed on a common line relative to the paper honeycomb, such that even the compressing positions are made staggered, there is clear and continuous compressing marking formed in the compressed parts. This affects the expanded honeycomb paper aesthetically and the continuous compressing marking makes the effect of cushioning protection virtually insignificant.
The primary objective of the present invention is that projecting portions are arranged separate from each other to pull and expand a honeycomb paper, so as to hold the honeycomb paper, while not readily compress down the honeycomb paper or forming apparent compressing marking, thereby maintaining the honeycomb structure to increase the resistance of the honeycomb paper against compression.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides an expanding machine, which is provided for expanding and stretching a honeycomb paper. The honeycomb paper includes a plurality of connecting portions and a plurality of cutoff portions. The expanding machine mainly comprises: a chassis, a feeding roller, a guiding roller, an expansion roller assembly, a plurality of first upper projection assemblies, a plurality of second upper projection assemblies, a plurality of first lower projection assemblies, and a plurality of second lower projection assemblies. The expansion roller assembly comprises an upper expansion roller, a lower expansion roller, and a passage gap. The first upper projection assemblies comprise a plurality of first upper projecting portions and a plurality of first upper supporting portions. The second upper projection assemblies comprise a plurality of second upper projecting portions and a plurality of second upper supporting portions. The first lower projection assemblies comprise a plurality of first lower projecting portions and a plurality of first lower supporting portions. The second lower projection assemblies comprise a plurality of second lower projecting portions and a plurality of second lower supporting portions.
In such a machine, the feeding roller is rotatably mounted at an end of the chassis and is provided for bear and support the honeycomb paper. The guiding roller is rotatably mounted to the chassis and is arranged at one side of the feeding roller. The expansion roller assembly is rotatably mounted to the chassis and is arranged at one side of the guiding roller that is opposite to the feeding roller. The lower expansion roller is arranged on one side of the upper expansion roller and rotatable in a direction opposite thereto. The passage gap is formed between the upper expansion roller and the lower expansion roller. The first upper projection assemblies are arranged in a manner of circumferentially surrounding and mounted to the upper expansion roller at intervals in an axial direction. The first upper projecting portions are arranged in a manner of being spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction. The first upper supporting portions are arranged alternate with respect the first upper projecting portions. The second upper projection assemblies are arranged in a manner of circumferentially surrounding and mounted to the upper expansion roller at intervals in an axial direction and are arranged alternate with respect to the first upper projection assemblies. The second upper projecting portions are arranged in a manner of being spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction and are located at one side of the first upper supporting portions. The second upper supporting portions are arranged alternate with respect to the second upper projecting portions and are located at one side of the first upper projecting portions. The first lower projection assemblies are arranged in a manner of circumferentially surrounding and mounted to the lower expansion roller at intervals in an axial direction. The first lower projecting portions are arranged in a manner of being spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction. The first lower supporting portions are arranged alternate with respect to the first lower projecting portions. The second lower projection assemblies are arranged in a manner of circumferentially surrounding and mounted to the lower expansion roller at intervals in an axial direction and are arranged alternate with respect to the first lower projection assemblies. The second lower projecting portions are arranged in a manner of being spaced from each other in a longitudinal direction and are located at one side of the first lower supporting portions. The second lower supporting portions are arranged alternate with respect to the second lower projecting portions and are located at one side of the first lower projecting portions.
When the expansion roller assembly is put into rotation, the honeycomb paper supported on the feeding roller is fed, in a horizontal direction, from the guiding roller to the expansion roller assembly, and under this condition, in the passage gap, the first upper projecting portions and the first lower supporting portions correspond in position to each other; the second upper projecting portions and the second lower supporting portions correspond in position to each other; the first lower projecting portions and the first upper supporting portions correspond in position to each other; and the second lower projecting portions and the second upper supporting portions correspond in position to each other. As such, the honeycomb paper is acted upon by frictional forces inside the expansion roller assembly to be expanded at the cutoff portions. At a time point when the honeycomb paper is passing through the passage gap, in one cross-section, portions of the honeycomb paper that are compressed by the expansion roller assembly are in the form of discrete points that are separate from each other. Such a way of compression provides an effect of holding the honeycomb paper, but does not readily compress down the honeycomb paper or form apparent compressing marking, so as to maintain the honeycomb structure to improve resistance of the honeycomb paper against compression.
Based on the above technology, a technical breakthrough is provided to overcome the problems of the known honeycomb paper expanding machine of which annular projection structures may cause apparent compressing marking and may damage the honeycomb paper, causing deterioration to aesthetics and cushioning performance, and the advantages of this invention provided above may thus be achieved.
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The above description provides an understanding to the structure of the present invention, and based on a combination of such a structure, an effect of being not readily compressed and forming no apparent compressing marking can be achieved, such that the structure of the honeycomb paper 8, after being expanded, may maintain an intact outside appearance. It can be clearly seen from the drawings that the chassis 1, the feeding roller 2, the guiding roller 3 and the expansion roller assembly 4 can be made of corrugated paper, plastics, wood, or metallic materials, and the feeding roller 2 and the expansion roller assembly 4 are respectively arranged at two opposite end portions of the chassis 1, while the guiding roller 3 is arranged between the feeding roller 2 and the expansion roller assembly 4. The first upper projection assemblies 51 and the second upper projection assemblies 52 may include multiple sets, such as being respectively of four sets and three sets jointly arranged on the first fitting joint portion 71, and the first lower projection assemblies 61 and the second lower projection assemblies 62 may also include multiple sets, such as being respectively of four sets and three sets jointly arranged on the second fitting joint portion 72. The first fitting joint portion 71 and the second fitting joint portion 72 are both rubber sleeves. The first upper projecting portions 511, the second upper projecting portions 521, the first lower projecting portions 611, and the second lower projecting portions 621 are arranged, for an example of illustration in the instant embodiment, in the form of a surface projecting portion having a conic configuration, and the first upper supporting portions 512, the second upper supporting portions 522, the first lower supporting portions 612, and the second lower supporting portions 622 are arranged, for an example of illustration in the instant embodiment, in the form of a circular arc surface of the upper expansion roller 41 and the lower expansion roller 42.
To use, the honeycomb paper 8 is wrapped around and thus supported on the feeding roller 2, and the honeycomb paper 8 is extended to curve around one side of the guiding roller 3 to pass between the upper expansion roller 41 and the lower expansion roller 42. A user may pull the honeycomb paper 8, and the upper expansion roller 41 and the lower expansion roller 42 are rotated in opposite directions, such that the honeycomb paper 8 arranged on f the feeding roller 2 is moved through the guiding roller 3 to feed, in a horizontal direction, to the expansion roller assembly 4, with the cutoff portions 82 of the honeycomb paper 8 being slightly expanded. Under such a condition, the first upper projecting portions 511 and the first lower supporting portions 612 that are located at one side of the passage gap 43 correspond, in position, to each other; the second upper projecting portions 521 and the second lower supporting portions 622 that are located at one side of the passage gap 43 correspond, in position, to each other; the first lower projecting portions 611 and the first upper supporting portions 512 that are located at one side of the passage gap 43 correspond, in position, to each other; and the second lower projecting portions 621 and the second upper supporting portions 522 that are located at one side of the passage gap 43 correspond, in position, to each other, and in the instant embodiment, each of the projecting portions 511, 521, 611, 621 has a height that is slightly smaller than a height of the passage gap 43, so as to act on the honeycomb paper 8 through contact therewith.
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Further, to allow the honeycomb paper 8 to be pulled out steadily, there need a certain number of surface projections and supporting portions in order to generate an acting force to pull out the honeycomb paper 8. Consequently, the spacing between the surface projections should not be excessively large; however, if the spacing between the projections is excessively small, then there would be a dense arrangement of the projections on the surface of the upper expansion roller 41 or the lower expansion roller 42, making it difficult for manufacturing the expansion roller assembly 4. Thus, the spacing distance D (as shown in
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