Tubular core assembly with interlocking end members and system for use thereof to wind a continuous web

A tubular core assembly for a roll of sheet material comprising:

• an elongate hollow cylindrical tubular core body comprising a bodywall having an outer and inner surface, said tubular core body having at least one circumferential slot integrally formed in said bodywall, extending through said bodywall;
• annular insert members, said annular insert members each having a cylindrical exterior periphery and configured to be inserted and received into respective ends of said tubular core body in coaxial relation therewith;
• a plurality of spaced, outwardly extending tongue members integrally formed on said cylindrical exterior periphery of each of said annular insert members and configured to be received in said slots of said tubular core body in interlocking relationship therewith, whereupon engagement of said annular insert members with respective ones of said opposing ends of said tubular core body results in said at least one radially extending tongue member being received in interlocking engagement with said at least one circumferential slot and at least one other radially extending tongue member being received in frictional engagement against the inner surface of said bodywall to frictionally retain said inserted annular insert member in place;
• wherein said at least one radially extending tongue member includes a sloping surface for camming engagement with the inner surface of said tubular core body upon insertion of said end insert member into an end of the tubular core body;
• and
• locking surfaces including a vertical back edge for preventing withdrawal of said end insert member from said core body and a vertical side wall for preventing rotation of said end insert member with respect to said core body.

A tubular core assembly system comprising an elongate tubular core body having an outer surface and an inner surface and grip strips arranged in a pattern on the outer surface, a plurality of spaced slots adjacent opposite ends of said core body extending substantially therethrough,

• a pair of annular insert members each configured to be received within respective opposed ends of said tubular core body in coaxial relation therewith;
• said annular insert members each including spaced radially extending deformable members integrally formed on an exterior periphery of the end insert member and configured to be received in said slots of said tubular core body in interlocking relationship therewith, whereupon engagement of said annular insert members with respective ones of said opposing ends of said tubular core body results in at least one first radially extending member achieving interlocking engagement with said at least one circumferential slot and at least one second radially extending member frictionally engaging the inner surface of said core body;
• an installation tool, said tool having first and second ends, an annular shoulder disposed therebetween in coaxial relation therewith, and a handle portion disposed between said annular shoulder and said second end, said first end configured to be operatively inserted in one of said pair of annular insert members, said second end configured operatively to receive driving impacts, whereby in use, said handle portion is held so as to locate said first end inside an annular insert member so that said annular shoulder abuts an annular raised lip of said annular insert member, so that when said second end is impacted, said tool drivingly seats said annular insert member into seated engagement with said tubular core body.