| 摘要 |
A slack box having a rotatable web accumulator comprising a hub and radially extending partitions mounted for rotation in a vertical plane. The hub and partitions cooperate with side walls or discs to form quandrantal compartments for receiving a web in succession upon rotation of the hub by a hub drive mechanism. A web feeding mechanism gravity feeds the web in random looped fashion successively into each of the compartments as the hub is rotated, and the web feeding rate and hub speed rotation are selected such that each compartment is substantially filled with coils and loops of the web before it is fed into the next adjacent compartment. The web is successively withdrawn from the filled compartments and preferably fed continuously into a web processing device or the like. A sensing mechanism senses the amount of web or the web-filled condition of each of the compartments as it is moved past the sensing mechanism, and in response to a web-filled condition that is higher or greater than a predetermined web-filled condition, stops or disables the hub drive and web-feeding mechanisms for discontinuing web feed into the web accumulator. When sufficient web has been withdrawn from the web-filled compartment so that its web-filled condition is lower or less than the predetermined web-filled condition, the sensing mechanism enables or actuates the web feeding and hub drive mechanisms for feeding web into the rotating web accumulator.
|
