CONSTANT VELOCITY TRANSFER MECHANISM

摘要

An apparatus has a rotary member mounted to it for rotating around a fixed axis of rotation, and also has a support member secured to it to extend tangential to the rotary member, the location of tangency being defined as a workstation. A continuous first medium extends around substantially the whole periphery of the rotary member. The first medium moves relative to the periphery due to a mechanism on the rotary member which continuously withdraws a portion of the first medium from the periphery and replaces that withdrawn portion with a new portion. The first medium is thereby pulled along the periphery of the rotary member in the same direction in which the rotary member is adapted to rotate. A second medium moves along the support member and through the workstation at the same speed as that at which the first medium passes through the workstation. A series of engagement members are positioned equiangularly around the rotary member,each engagement member as it passes through the workstation forcing those portions of the first and second mediums in the workstation into engagement. For a rotary member having N engagement members, an optimum utilization of the first medium occurs when the ratio of the speed at which the first medium passes through the workstation relative to the speed at which the periphery of the rotary member passes through the workstation is (N-1)/(N-2).