Dispensing holder for rolled sheet material

Dec. 31, 1957 w. g. thieman 2,818,221

DISPENSING HOLDER FOR ROLLED SHEET MATERIAL

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ATTORNEY

2,818,221

Patented Dec. 31, 1957

United States Patent Office

2,818,221

DISPENSING HOLDER FOR ROLLED SHEET MATERIAL

William G. Thieman, Jackson Center, Ohio

Application April 21,1955, Serial No. 502,881

Claim. (Cl. 242—55.5)

This invention relates to appliances for supporting and controlling the dispensing of spirally wrapped webs of thin sheet materials, such as wrapping paper, films, foils and the like.

Such appliances are formed to provide upright frames for the replaceable and rotatable reception of rolls of wrapping paper and other thin and flexible sheet materials. The frames of such appliances carry fixed or movable, longitudinally extending, cutter bars so disposed as to admit of transverse shearing of the webs of sheet materials withdrawn from the frame-supported rolls thereof in obtaining free sheets of desired lengths of such materials. As customarily formed, such roll-holding and dispensing appliances are provided with roll-braking means separate from the cutter bars for preventing undesired or casual rotation of the rolls and resultant paper wastage.

In other constructions in which the cutter bars themselves are formed and mounted to serve in the dual capacity of both roll-cutting and braking means, the forces applied thereto in transversely severing material webs tend to elevate or remove the cutter bars from braking or clamping engagement with associated roll bodies, so that the same are ineffective in preventing undesired roll rotation during web-severing operations. Another objection often encountered in the customarily employed constructions for mounting cutter bars is the inability of such bars to maintain the most effecive operating position in relation to associated paper rolls. Such rolls diminish in diameter as paper sheets are severed therefrom and this variation in diameter, and in the resultant working positions of cutter bars engaged with the outer circumferences thereof, forms a primary cause in reducing the efficiency of such bars both in their web-shearing capacities and as roll-braking and rotation-arresting means.

In accordance with the present invention, an assembly is provided comprising a thin, narrow and elongated cutter bar rigidly carried by the outer ends of a pair of swinging supporting arms having their upper ends pivotally mounted on adjoining sides of a roll-supporting frame. The cutter bar is formed with an upper and outer longitudinally extending cutting edge and an inner and lower parallel roll-engaging and braking edge, there being guide means carried by the assembly to direct a web of paper or the like from an associated roll through a guide slot and thence in a generally upward direction, the free portion of the web being passed over the cutter bar for engagement with the web-shearing edge thereof, whereby when such shearing is performed, forces developed thereby operate in conjunction with gravity to maintain, the lower and inner edge of the cutter bar in firm and positive contact with the body of the paper roll in a line above a horizontal plane passing through the axis of roll rotation, whereby to exert a braking effect and precluding casual roll rotation during web severance.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a roll-holding and dispensing appliance wherein a novel roll-cutting and braking assembly is provided.

Another object is to provide an improved swinging support for adjustably mounting such a cutter bar on the 5 frame of the roll holder, and wherein said support is formed to include upwardly disposed pivotal elements mounted for transverse adjustment in frame-carried bearing means, whereby to enable the cutter bar to occupy an effective tangential operative position with an asso10 ciated paper roll, particularly as the latter diminishes in diameter following withdrawal and shearing of lengths thereof.

A further object is to provide a simple, practical and efficient combined cutter bar and brake attachment for 15 paper roll-supporting and dispensing holders, and one which comprises an improvement generally in appliances of this kind.

For a further understanding of the invention, including additional objects and advantages thereof, reference may 20 now be had to the following description and the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a paper roll-supporting and dispensing appliance, and disclosing the same equipped with the cutter bar mechanism of the present 25 invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken through the appliance on the plane indicated by the line 2—2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on 30 the line 3—3 of Fig. 2.

: In accordance with my invention, there is provided a paper-roll-receiving and dispensing holder H, which, as here shown, includes a rectangular frame formed to provide a horizontally and longitudinally extending, base35 engaging, member 5, a parallel top member 6 and a pair of vertically disposed, longitudinally spaced side standards 7 to which the ends of the members 5 and 6 are secured, as at Ία. The inner faces of the standards are formed with inwardly projecting, socket-forming, ex40 tensions 8 for the removable reception of the opposite ends of a mandrel 9, the latter carrying a cylindrical roll 10 of paper, or other thin flexible sheet material. The present invention provides improved means for governing the withdrawal of web-forming lengths of the sheet 45 material and the transverse severance of such lengths.

To this end, the inner faces of the standards 7 contiguous to the thickened upper ends thereof are formed with opposing, longitudinally aligned, transversely extending slots 11. Each of these slots, as.shown in Fig. 2, 50 i_s formed with transversely spaced, vertically depending, extensions 12 which have their lower ends terminated in seating enlargements 13. Formed to occupy selectively these enlargements are outwardly and horizontally directed pivot pins 14. The latter are carried by the upper 55 ends of a pair of cutter bar supporting arms 15, which are adapted for swinging movement in unison and vertical planes. The lower or outer ends of the arms.15 are formed with laterally directed flanges 15α forming bottom seating faces against which are placed and secured 60 at 15b the ends of a thin, flat, relatively narrow, and longitudinally extending cutter bar 16.

This bar, in all its positions of operative relationship with the roll 19, is disposed in upwardly and outwardly directed, angular relation to the outer circumference, of 65 the roll. The upper and outer longitudinally extending edge 17 of the bar is sharpened to provide a web-shearing or cutting edge, while the inner and lower roll-engaging edge 18 of the bar, which extends parallel to the cutting edge 17, is relatively blunt and flat, this being done in 70 order that the edge 18 will serve as a brake in precluding casual or undesired rotation on the part of the roll. Adjacent to the edge 18, the body of the cutting bar may be

2,818,221 provided with an integral longitudinally and downwardly extending reinforcing and strengthening rib 19.

Also, this cutter bar assembly is formed to include a longitudinally extending guide rod 20. The ends of this lod are received in aligned mounting sockets provided 5 therefor in the inner pair of arm-carried flanges 15«. The rod 20 is thus mounted in a spaced manner from the upper or inner surface of the cutter bar, this being done in order that a length of sheet material, withdrawn from the roll 10, may pass between the guide rod and the 10 upper or inner surface of the cutter bar. The sheet material is then trained so that it passes over the upper or outer cutting edge of the bar, where its free end may be grasped to permit of the withdrawal of a desired length of the material from the roll. When this length has been 15 reached, the material is sheared or cut from the body of the material contained on the roll by drawing the same downwardly upon and across the cutting edge 17 to produce complete transverse severance thereof.

It will be noted that the reaction forces developed in 20 the. cutter bar assembly during sheet cutting will serve to maintain the braking edge 18 in firm positive engagement with the cylindrical body of the roll, so that the latter is retained against rotation during the web-shearing operation. However, the mounting of the cutter bar is, also, 25 such that the force of gravity maintains the edge 18 in engagement with the roll body independently of the force developed during sheet cutting, thus preventing casual, rotation of the roll in response to environmental conditions, such as vibration or the like, when the ap- 30 paratus is idle.

The slots 11 and their depending journalling extensions 12 enable the pivotal axes of the arms 15 to be shifted transversely of the holder frame in an inward direction as the diameter of the roll diminishes. By this means, the 35 cutter bar may be maintained at all times in its most effective and efficient angular position of operation in relation to the roll and throughout all changes in diameter of the latter. To shift the pivot pins 14 of the arms 15 from one set of seating bearings 13 to another, it is 40 merely necessary to lift the arms sufficiently to raise the pins to the horizontal level of the slots 11. Thereafter, the assembly is shifted bodily to move the pins 14 lengthwise of the slots 11 until the pins are aligned with the upper open ends of a selected set of vertical extensions 12. 45 The assembly is then lowered to cause the pins 14 to descend in the selected extensions until reaching bearing positions in the seating enlargements 13 formed in the closed bottoms of the extensions. The arms 15 may then be released, allowing the braking edge 18 of the cutting 50 bar to engage gravitationally the paper roll. The free outer edge of the roll may then be trained between the guide rod 20 and the upper or inner face of the cutting bar and outwardly advanced for convenient and accessible grasping by an operator of the appliance when a length of 55 paper is to be withdrawn from the roll. It will be noted that the guide rod is spaced downwardly or inwardly from the cutting edge of the bar 16. This is done so that following sheet severance a free length of paper will be present between the cutting edge and the rod to admit of 60 grasping thereof between the fingers of the operator in subsequently executed withdrawal operations.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred form of my invention, I would have it understood that changes may be made in the form, proportions and construction of the several parts of my improved roll holding and cutting mechanism without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claim.