Apparatus and a method for aligning a web

US6554223B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• The Procter & Gamble Company · US

Inventors

• Jerome L. Kistner · Cleves, US
• Gerard C. Fournier · Oakdale, US
• Brian J. Reilly · Atlanta, US
• Todd Joseph Statt · Fairview Park, US
• Paul Gerald Tiettmeyer · Cadiz, US
• Curtis Hunter Van Valkenburgh · Mason, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 4, 2000
• Grant date: Apr 29, 2003
• Expiry date: Apr 4, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B65H2701/176
• WIPO field: Handling
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method for aligning a continuous web of material with an entry point of a machine that utilizes the web as a source material. The web may include pre-processed materials that may be thicker than conventional webs and/or have uneven thickness, and/or are susceptible to excessive compression forces and/or tensions which may be found in ordinary straight-wound rolls. Such pre-processed materials may be wound in traverse-wound rolls or festooned into a container forming a web source structure which is wider than the web width. The web is pulled from such web source structure by the machine through a series of guides which include surfaces having various properties and shapes to create tensions in the web and to align the web with the entry point of the machine.