Apparatus for securing flexible sheet material to a rotatable drum surface

摘要

A sheet material handling apparatus having a rotatable drum and clamps for holding the sheet material on the drum during high speed rotation. The clamps are arranged to rely on centrifugal force as the primary operational clamping force during the high speed rotation. One clamp is eccentrically mounted on a pivot axis with a greater mass on a segment of the clamp adapted to pivot away from the drum surface during high speed rotation. A second clamp is contacted by a slidable counterweight mounted on the drum opposite the central rotation axis of the drum from the second clamp such centrifugal force of the counterweight enhances clamping of the sheet material to the drum surface.