Vacuum roller
AssigneeBachofen + Meier AG Maschinenfabrik
InventorWalter Schmid
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vacuum roller assembly for feeding sheet material such as finishing paper, carton, foil and the like, wherein a resilient roller shell is provided with a plurality of suction ports for drawing the sheet material into non-slip contact with the roller assembly. A plurality of deformable slit-like openings extend into the resilient shell, with the slits being in vacuum communication with the suction ports to provide a suction network over the roller and adaptable for providing suction to only that portion of the vacuum roller in contact with the sheet material.
Claims9
A rotatable vacuum roller assembly adaptable for non-slip feeding of sheet material such as paper, carton, foil and the like, said roller assembly comprising:
- a rotatable, cylindrically shaped hollow roller body for supporting and feeding said sheet material;
- a cylindrically-shaped shell of resiliently deformable material for enclosing said roller body, said resilient shell having an inner surface engaging an outer surface of said roller body for joint rotation of said shell and roller body about an axis extending longitudinally through said roller body;
- vacuum transfer means for transmitting suction force from a vacuum source to an outer surface of said roller assembly;
- a deformable slit means extending through an outer surface of said resilient shell into fluid communication with said vacuum transfer means;
- said slit means including opposite slit wall portions in abutting contact with one another, with said wall portions being separable a variable distance responsive to tension generated by contact with a specific sheet material to provide a suction force across the shell surface to draw said sheet material into non-slip contact with said rotatable roller assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.