Variable index drive apparatus

A variable displacement intermittent drive comprising:

• a rotary input shaft;
• a rotary output shaft;
• a displacement adjusting member having a variable position;
• a mechanical transmission connected between the input shaft and the output shaft for transmitting continuous rotary motion of the input shaft to intermittent unidirectional rotary motion of the output shaft, the intermittent unidirectional rotary motion including a recurring cycle having a frequency directly proportional to the rotary motion of the output shaft, each cycle having a motion that included a dwell portion during which the rotary motion of the output shaft is essentially zero and a displacement portion during which the rotary motion of the output shaft has a angular displacement adjusting member, the transmission including:
• an index drive element having an input shaft couple to the input shaft of the drive an a output shaft,
• a continuously variable transmission unit having variable displacement output shaft responsive to the position of the displacement member, and
• a differential drive having three input/output, one linked to the output shaft of the index drive element, one linked to the variable displacement output shaft of the continuously variable transmission unit and one linked to the output shaft of the drive.

A variable displacement intermittent drive comprising:

• an input shaft;
• an output shaft;
• an adjustment element;
• a mechanical transmission connected between the input shaft of the intermittent drive and the output shaft of the drive for transmitting continuous rotary motion of the input shaft of the intermittent drive to intermittent motion of the output shaft of the drive at a frequency that is directly proportional to the rotary motion of the input shaft of the intermittent drive, the transmission including:
• an index drive having an input shaft driveably coupled to the input shaft of the intermittent drive and having an output shaft producing unidirectional, intermittent rotation of a fixed displacement at said frequency, and
• continuously variable transmission means for transmitting intermittent rotation from the output shaft of the index drive to the output shaft of the intermittent drive at said frequency, said intermittent rotation having an angular displacement that varies in a ratio to the displacement of the output shaft of the index drive in accordance with a setting of the adjustment element.

A machine for performing a process on a web of material, the machine comprising:

• a web supply of the web material for supplying the web material along a path;
• a processing station for operating on a length the material at station;
• a web feeding mechanism for advancing the web along the path from the supply to the processing station;
• a drive motor;
• a displacement adjustment element;
• a variable displacement intermittent motion transmission connected between the drive motor and the feeding mechanism, the transmission including:
• an input shaft linked to the motor;
• an output shaft linked to the feeding mechanism;
• an indexing mechanism linked to the input shaft for producing intermittent unidirectional motion cycles at a frequency that is proportional to the speed of the motor;
• a variable displacement drive linked to the output shaft and operable to vary the length of material that is fed to the processing station during each intermittent cycle of the indexing mechanism in accordance with a setting of the displacement adjustment element.