An Enveloper

Abstract

An enveloper ( 10 ) for creating a material envelope around a battery plate, including an anvil ( 29 ) and a rotatable cut-and-crease roller ( 28 ) having a knife ( 35 ) and a generally diametrically opposed crease blade ( 36 ) for acting against the anvil ( 29 ) to cut-and-crease material fed through the enveloper ( 10 ) wherein the enveloper ( 10 ) further includes a control ( 57 ) for varying the rotational velocity of the roller ( 28 ) during a rotational cycle to position the crease to form a symmetrical envelope around a plate passing through the enveloper ( 10 ).

1 . An enveloper for creating a material envelope around a battery plate, including an anvil and a rotatable cut-and-crease roller having a knife and a generally diametrically opposed crease blade for acting against the anvil to cut-and-crease material fed through the enveloper characterised in that the enveloper further includes a control for varying the rotational velocity of the roller during a rotational cycle to position the crease to form a symmetrical envelope around a plate passing through the enveloper.  
     
     
         2 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the cut-and-crease roller is driven by a servomotor.  
     
     
         3 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the control includes an input for adjusting the rotational velocity to compensate for a “long on top” condition.  
     
     
         4 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the control has an input for adjusting the rotational velocity to compensate for “a short on top” condition.  
     
     
         5 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 1  including a recognition unit for determining the presence of a “long on top” or “short on top” condition and for feeding a respective control signal to the control.  
     
     
         6 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the control includes a memory for retaining a velocity profile for a particular plate/material combination.  
     
     
         7 . An enveloper for creating a material envelop around a battery plate, including a pair of feed rollers for feeding the material into an enveloping station of the enveloper, one of the feed rollers being driven by a motor characterised in that the motor is a servomotor and in that the enveloper further includes a control for controlling the rate of rotation of the feed roller to adjust the length of material formed into an envelope by the enveloping station.  
     
     
         8 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 7  where in the control has a memory for retaining the rotational speed appropriate for any material/plate combination.  
     
     
         9 . An enveloper for creating a material envelope around a battery plate, including an anvil and a cut-and-crease roller for acting against the anvil characterised in that the anvil is displacably mounted to allow adjustment of a gap between the anvil and the cut-and-crease roller to vary the depth of crease formed in material fed through the gap.  
     
     
         10 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 9  wherein the anvil is pivotally mounted about an axis at a position offset from the gap.  
     
     
         11 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 10  further including a rotatable eccentric located on the opposite side of the gap from the axis to displace the anvil by rotation about the axis.  
     
     
         12 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 11  further including spring means for urging the anvil against the eccentric.  
     
     
         13 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 11  wherein the eccentric is rotated by a servomotor.  
     
     
         14 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 9  further including a control for adjusting the anvil position, and hence the gap width, to achieve a desired crease depth.  
     
     
         15 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 14  wherein the control includes a memory for retaining the anvil positions appropriate for particular materials or material/plate combinations.  
     
     
         16 . An enveloper for forming a material envelope around a battery plate, including a pair of feed rollers, a cut-and-crease station and an envelope forming station characterised in that the enveloper further includes a tension roller for tensioning the material prior to cutting and located downstream of the cut-and-crease station but upstream of the envelope forming station.  
     
     
         17 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 16  wherein the tension roller is driven by a servomotor or via a feed roller.  
     
     
         18 . An enveloper as claimed in  claim 16  wherein the servomotor is controlled by a control having a memory for retaining the appropriate tension setting for a particular material.  
     
     
         19 . (canceled)  
     
     
         20 . Apparatus for forming groups of battery plates including a first plate supply for supplying successive spaced plates, an enveloper for enveloping in material the plates from the first supply, a second plate supply for supplying unenveloped plates, to form stacks of an enveloped plate and an unenveloped plate, a conveyor for conveying the stacks to an outlet and a pocket conveyor for receiving multiple stacks from the outlet for forming groups characterised in that at least a plurality of the above elements has at least one adjustable feature controlled by a respective servomotor to allow for different plate envelope material combinations and a control for adjusting the servomotors.  
     
     
         21 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 20  wherein the control includes a memory for retaining the control settings for each plate/envelope combination used in the apparatus to allow automatic re-setting of the apparatus.  
     
     
         22 . (Canceled).