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US 5,046,272 AGranted
Fluid-operated stabilizing apparatus and method
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Corporation
InventorsRobert E. Vogt, Robert D. McQuiggin, Kenneth R. Schmidt, Jark C. Lau
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fluid-operated stabilizing apparatus receives an article having loose, wrinkled overlapping surfaces and by use of fluid flow control devices directs flows of fluid to the overlapping surfaces to fluidly shake the surfaces to smooth out wrinkles and any folded portions thereof, and then to align and hold the surfaces for subsequent treatment, such as bonding together. A method is also provided for smoothing and aligning the overlapping surfaces for subsequent treatment.
Claims38
A fluid-operated stabilizing system comprising:
- a fluid handling assembly comprising an entrance region and an exit region,
- a conveyor means extending at least between said entrance region and said exit region and defining therebetween a generally horizontally disposed travel path, whereby said conveyor means conveys along said travel path an article having wrinkled overlapping surfaces,
- said fluid handling assembly further comprising a generally vertically disposed fluid channel along one edge portion of and spaced apart from said generally horizontally disposed travel path, whereby a fluid flow is directed through said fluid channel onto the wrinkled overlapping surfaces of the conveyed article to substantially smooth-out the wrinkles.
- said fluid handling assembly further comprising a generally horizontally disposed fluid conduit in fluid communication with said fluid channel, whereby at least a portion of the overlapping surfaces is received therein and the fluid flow is directed through said fluid conduit and along the overlapping surfaces to further substantially smooth-out the wrinkles and to maintain the overlapping surfaces in a smoothed-out condition while the article is conveyed to said exit region, and
- a vortex-generating means in said fluid conduit for varying turbulence in a fluid zone therein, whereby the overlapping surfaces are fluttered or rapidly shaken to assist in the smoothing out thereof.
2 more elements
An article handling apparatus comprising:
- a work station including a generally horizontally disposed travel path, whereby said work station receives at least partially overlapping surfaces continuously moving along said generally horizontally disposed travel path and having respective loose, wrinkled edge portions that are unaligned relative to each other,
- fluid-straightening means along at least a portion of said generally horizontally disposed travel path for directing a flow of fluid therealong, whereby said fluid straightening means straightens the wrinkled edge portions,
- a fluid-aligning means comprising a pair of generally horizontally disposed fluid intake ducts, one of said fluid intake ducts being along one edge portion of the generally horizontally disposed travel path and the other of said fluid intake ducts being along an opposite edge portion of the generally horizontally disposed travel path, whereby generally horizontally directed flows of fluid through said fluid intake ducts are directed along respective ones of the loose, wrinkled edge portions to substantially align them together, and
- holding means along at least a portion of said generally horizontally disposed travel path for directing a flow of fluid therealong, whereby said holding means holds the substantially aligned edge portions together.
1 more element
A fluid operated assembly, comprising
- conveying means for conveying an article having a loose, wrinkled edge portion,
- fluid-extending means for fluidly extending the loose, wrinkled edge portion to substantially smooth-out the wrinkles therein, said fluid-extending means comprising a fluid exhaust member disposed substantially intermediate opposed ends of the article for impinging the fluid flow against a surface of the edge portion to flutter the edge portion, thereby substantially smoothing-out the wrinkles, and
- fluid-holding means for fluidly holding the edge portion in a substantially smoothed-out state, said fluid-holding means comprising a fluid intake member disposed near an end edge of the edge portion for drawing the fluid flow generally along the surface of the edge portion, thereby holding the edge portion in said substantially smoothed-out state.
A method for handling an article having wrinkled overlapping surfaces, comprising the steps of:
- receiving wrinkled overlapping surfaces,
- smoothing-out the overlapping surfaces by directing a fluid flow to the wrinkled overlapping surfaces,
- maintaining the surfaces in a smoothed-out condition, and discharging the smoothed-out overlapping surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.