Rotatable feed wheel for sheet converting machine

A rotatable feed wheel for a sheet converting machine, comprising:

• (a) a hub including a rigid body having a cylindrical shape relative to an axis of rotation through said rigid body, an external peripheral surface about said rigid body, and a plurality of holes defined in said rigid body and being open at said external peripheral surface thereof, said plurality of holes including first and second holes disposed in a side-by-side closely spaced apart relation to one another and being reversely angularly displaced relative to one another away from respective first and second radial lines extending from said axis of rotation through said first and second holes of said rigid body;
• and
• (b) a tread including a discontinuous annular body having a ring-shaped configuration and made of a resilient pliable stretchable deformable material, said annular body further having opposing leading and trailing ends with mateable surfaces of complementary configurations defined respectively on said leading and trailing ends and forming a discontinuous join through said annular body such that said annular body can be fitted over and about, and also removed from, said rigid body of said hub by yieldably and resiliently deforming and stretching said annular body temporarily out of said ring-shaped configuration to and from a seated relationship of said annular body about and with said external peripheral surface of said rigid body of said hub and such that in said seated relationship said annular body is adapted to make a gripping contact with a surface of a sheet and to cause feeding of the sheet in a preselected direction when said annular body is moved in a given direction of rotation with the rotatable feed wheel about said axis of rotation;
• (c) said tread further including a plurality of locking lugs on said annular body having configurations complementary to configurations of said holes of said hub so as to enable said locking lugs to fit into said holes and retain said annular body of said tread on and about said rigid body of said hub so as to prevent rotational movement of said tread relative to said hub during rotation of said feed wheel and further enable said surfaces respectively on said leading and trailing ends of said annular body to contact one another and thereby retain said leading and trailing ends together, said plurality of locking lugs including first and second locking lugs respectively on said leading and trailing ends of said annular body and being reversely angularly displaced relative to one another away from said respective first and second radial lines extending from said axis of rotation through said first and second locking lugs of said annular body and adapted to insert into said first and second holes in said rigid body of said hub such that said reversely angularly displaced holes and locking lugs provide a fish hook effect at said leading and trailing ends of said tread anchoring said tread on said hub.

A hub for a rotatable feed wheel, comprising:

• (a) a rigid body having a cylindrical shape relative to a central axis of rotation through said rigid body;
• (b) an external peripheral surface on and extending about said rigid body;
• (c) first and second holes defined in said rigid body and being disposed in a side-by-side closely spaced apart relationship to one another and open at said external peripheral surface of said rigid body such that said first and second holes are reversely angularly displaced relative to one another away from respective first and second radial lines extending through said first and second holes from said central axis of rotation;
• and
• (d) a third hole defined in said rigid body opposite from said first and second holes and open at said external peripheral surface of said rigid body.