Automatic roll wrapper removing apparatus and method

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble;
• said blade moving step including applying a cutting force with the blade from underneath the crown of the bubble and radially outwardly of the crown of the bubble along said predetermined cutting path starting at one end of the roll and along the length of the roll along said predetermined cutting path;
• and
• removing the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble;
• said step of pushing against the two spaced portions including pushing simultaneously along the entire length of the roll;
• and
• removing the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble;
• said wrapper having at least one outermost overlapping wrap and forming the bubble in said overlapping wrap, said blade having a narrow tip sloping radially outwardly of the roll along a cutting edge, said step of moving the blade beneath the crown of the bubble including inserting the tip under the bubble and cutting the wrapper by moving the cutting edge through the crown of the bubble spaced outwardly from the next innermost wrap and from one end of the roll to the opposite end of the roll to tear the wrapper from end-to-end of the roll;
• and
• removing the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble and removing the cut wrapper;
• said step of removing the cut wrapper including directing a stream of air past the cut end of the wrapper in a direction from the wrapper connection to the roll past the cut end of the wrapper to guide the wrapper to a removing location and simultaneously rotating the wrapped roll to free the wrapper from the roll while gathering the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble;
• said roll being a roll of paper, including the step of sensing the presence of paper in the roll attached to the cut wrapper and cutting the roll paper from the cut wrapper at a location spaced from the wrapper predetermined cutting path;
• and
• removing the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble and removing the cut wrapper;
• said step of removing the cut wrapper including directing air past the cut end of the wrapper including directing air past the cut end of the wrapper to guide the wrapper to a removing location and simultaneously rotating the roll to free the wrapper from the roll while gathering the cut wrapper, and said step of gathering the cut wrapper including entwining the wrapper on prongs and pulling the entwined wrapper off the prongs when the entire wrapper has been gathered by pinching the entwined wrapper between opposed counter rotating rollers.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position two spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble;
• including sensing the location of the outer end of the wrapper and inserting the blade under the bubble at a fixed circumferentially spaced distance from the sensed outer end of the wrapper;
• and
• removing the cut wrapper.

A method of cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a protective wrapper around substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• positioning a cylindrical roll with a wrapper having an outer surface at a wrapper removing station;
• rotating the roll about its longitudinal axis at the removing station until the outer end of the wrapper is located with respect to a predetermined cutting path to position tyro spaced portions of the outer surface of the wrapper on opposite sides of the cutting path;
• pushing against said two spaced portions in radial and tangential directions toward each other along a curved plane to pinch the wrapper and form an outwardly raised bubble having an exposed crown extending above said curved plane;
• moving a blade through the bubble to cut the wrapper by cutting through the bubble and removing the cut wrapper;
• said step of removing the cut wrapper including:
• rotating the roll to move the cut end of the wrapper along with the roll, and engaging the cut end with a brush rotating in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the roll to lift the cut end further off the roll;
• and
• including directing a second stream of air at the cut edge in a direction opposite the rotational direction of the roll to also lift the cut end off the roll.

Apparatus for cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having opposite ends having a wrapper covering substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll with at least one outer overlapping wrap having an outer surface comprising:

• means for rotating a wrapped roll about its longitudinal axis;
• blade means for cutting through the wrapper, the blade means being located along a cutting path;
• means having one side facing the roll and a second side facing away from the roll for pressing the wrapper against the roll on opposite sides of the cutting path both inwardly of the roll and tangentially of the roll, and toward each other to pinch the wrap radially outwardly to form an exposed bubble radially outwardly of the second side of the pressing means and having an exposed crown;
• means for moving the blade means along the length of the bubble that extends outwardly from the second side of the pressing means to cut the wrapper by engaging the crown with the blade means;
• and
• means for removing the cut wrapper.

Apparatus for cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having opposite ends having a wrapper covering substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll with at least one outer overlapping wrap having an outer surface comprising:

• means for rotating a wrapped roll about its longitudinal axis;
• blade means for cutting through the wrapper, the blade means being located along a cutting path;
• means for pressing the wrapper against the roll on opposite sides of the cutting path both radially inwardly of the roll and tangentially of the roll, and toward each other to pinch the wrap radially outwardly to form an exposed bubble radially outwardly of the pressing means and having an exposed crown;
• means for moving the blade means along the length of the bubble to cut the wrapper by engaging the bubble with the blade means;
• said blade means having a single stationary blade with a sloped cutting edge facing radially outwardly and toward an end of the roll, said means for moving the blade including moving the edge of the blade under the crown of the bubble to apply a radially outwardly directed cutting force to the bubble;
• and
• means for removing the cut wrapper.

Apparatus for cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having opposite ends having a wrapper covering substantially the entire surface of the circumference of the roll with at least one outer overlapping wrap having an outer surface comprising:

• means for rotating a wrapped roll about its longitudinal axis;
• blade means for cutting through the wrapper, the blade means being located along a cutting path;
• means for pressing the wrapper against the roll on opposite sides of the cutting path both radially inwardly of the roll and tangentially of the roll, and toward each other to pinch the wrap radially outwardly to form an exposed bubble radially outwardly of the pressing means and having an exposed crown;
• means for moving the blade means along the length of the bubble to cut the wrapper by engaging the bubble with the blade means;
• said roll being a roll of paper, including means for sensing the presence of the paper from the roll attached to the cut wrapper as the wrapper is being removed, means for separating the paper from the cut wrapper;
• and
• means for removing the cut wrapper.

Apparatus for cutting and removing a wrapper from a cylindrical roll having a wrapper with at least one overlapping wrap around the circumference of the roll, comprising:

• roll support rollers for rotating a wrapped roll about its longitudinal axis;
• a single stationary blade with a narrow point and an outwardly sloping cutting edge;
• a blade driver bar moving the blade with the point forward along the length of the roll along a cutting path;
• a pair of urethane pads spaced along either side of the cutting path along the full length of the roll;
• pivot arms pivotally mounting the pads;
• pressing means for pushing the pads against the overlapping wrap and pivoting the arms toward one another to form a bubble having a crown spaced radially outwardly of the pads;
• said pads having wrap engaging surfaces curved to the radius of pivoting of the pivot arms for engaging the wrap regardless of the diameter of the roll for firm frictional contact with the wrap;
• and
• the blade driver moving the blade through the crown of the bubble and spaced from the remainder of the roll.

Apparatus for cutting and removing a wrapper from a roll of printing paper with the wrapper having an inner end attached to the printing paper, comprising:

• means for moving a cutter along and beneath the wrapper to form a cut wrapper;
• means for removing the cut wrapper from the roll;
• means for detecting the presence of printing paper attached to the inner end of the cut wrapper;
• and
• means for separating the printing paper from the cut wrapper.