Appeal No. 2002-1053 Page 7
Application No. 09/702,981
connection between the motor 112 and the shaft 120 is by any suitable means such as
the belt drive shown, or a gear drive, chain drive or other connection means may be
used. The power rollers 118 and 120 preferably are smooth steel cylinders, and they
are driven by rotation of shaft 116 with a surface speed that is slightly greater than the
speed with which the gears 80 and 82 advance the web through the forming assembly
14.
The infeed unit 12 is constructed to bring the sheet material 20 into contact with
the power rollers 118 and 120 in order to maintain a steady supply of sheet material to
the forming assembly 14. To this end, the infeed unit 12 includes a pair of idler rollers
122 and 124 located below and above the power rollers 118 and 120. The idler rollers
span the width of the machine 10 and are rotatably mounted to the side panels 106 and
108. The sheet material is fed from the roll 18 around the left side of roller 122 and
over the top of roller 124. From there the web of sheet material moves downward past
the powered rollers 118 and 120, forming a loop 126 before extending to a constant
entry roller 128. From constant entry roller 128, the web is separated into its three
layers by the separator rollers 32, 34 and 36.
A pair of pressure rollers 134 and 136 are mounted to bring the sheet material
18 into contact with the power rollers 118 and 120 in response to demand for sheet
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Last modified: November 3, 2007