Patent for Roller
Taylor & Edelstein obtains patent for client Voith for a new Roller design
This roller has a round base that spins on its long axis and features a smooth outer surface. On this surface, there are at least two flexible, ring-shaped or spiral strips that stick out radially and wrap around the base. These strips are positioned at an angle to the middle of the roller, which is a plane cutting vertically through the roller’s long axis.
It provides flexible strips, angled as they are, can bend both outward from the center and along the length of the roller when force is applied against them from the outside. How much they bend depends on their angle, the strength of the force, and the material they’re made from.
The invention works by applying force from another roller onto these strips so that some parts of the strips bend while others don’t. When a fibrous material, like paper, passes over the parts of the roller where the strips aren’t bent, it gets squeezed or stretched along the roller’s length where the strips do bend. This squeezing and stretching happens because of friction between the material and the bending strips. By adjusting the angle of the strips, their length, and the force applied, the fibrous material’s shift along or across its width can be controlled, effectively managing changes in its width.
