In order for a manufacturer to construct articles, such as corrugated board, from paper and to package items in paper, the paper is delivered from large webs of paper wound upon a central core. Some of these webs can be many thousands of metres long and consequently are very heavy and unwieldy. If the paper is wound upon a core which is up to three metres long then the reels become very cumbersome and difficult to manipulate.

In several industries, paper is taken from such a reel, which is mounted on a delivery station, and processed further. This may include chopping the paper, wrapping an item with it or, for example, using it to make corrugated sheets of cardboard for boxes and the like. In all cases, for production to be maximised, and down-time minimised, a continuous supply of the paper pre- cursor must be supplied.

It is known in the art that in order to ensure continuous delivery from the delivery station to a further processing station a splicing operation may be carried out. In such an operation, two or more, reels can be used. One reel, the active reel, becomes exhausted as the paper is unwound from its reel and as this happens the paper from a further reel is spliced with the paper from the exhausting active reel to ensure continuous delivery.

However, this system allows for the potential of a significant bottle- neck to develop. Namely, the loading and the unloading of reels from the

delivery station. Due to the physical characteristics of the reels, manually changing them is time consuming and labour intensive. If the operating personnel cannot remove and reload a reel in time with the operating cycle of the production, then this will obviously lead to unnecessary down-time and hence reduced productivity.

The invention described herein seeks to mitigate these problems by providing an apparatus and method which will aid in the loading and unloading of unwieldy, cumbersome reels to and from a point-of-use, such as a delivery station.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a loading and unloading apparatus for transporting reels to and from a point-of-use, comprising a turntable rotatable in the horizontal plane and spaced from the point-of-use, and first means extending between the turntable and point-of-use and arranged to support and transfer reels to and from the point-of-use from and to the turntable, and further comprising at least a pair of second support and transfer means located on the turntable, wherein each of said second support and transfer means is arranged to transport a reel along at least a portion of the length thereof.

Preferably, the first and second reel support and transfer means comprise support rails and/or wheels or rollers, with each reel being movable therealong in the direction of its rotational axis. In one embodiment, to be described in more detail hereinbelow, the second support and transfer means comprises two parallel pairs of support rails extending along respective parallel chords of a circular turntable on opposed sides of the rotational axis thereof.

Preferably said second support and transfer means register, in one angular position of the turntable, with saidlrst support and transfer means

An activation means may be provided for operating said first support and transfer means when a reel on the turntable is immediately adjacent or in contact with the support rail (s) and/or at least one of the wheels or rollers of said first means. Said support and transfer means may further comprise a motor which drives the wheels or rollers or a trolley upon which a reel to be transferred to, or from, the point-of-use from or to the turntable.

The apparatus may further be provided with a control program which controls the activation of said first and second support and transfer means and the rotation of the turntable in synchronism with an operating cycle at the point-of-use.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is also provided a method of loading and unloading reels to and from a point-of-use, comprising mounting a full reel on a turntable, transferring an exhausted reel from the point-of-use to the turntable, rotating the turntable, preferably through 180°, and transferring the full reel from the turntable to the point-of-use, to replace the exhausted reel with the full reel at the point-of-use.

Full and exhausted reels are preferably transferred to and from the point-of-use upon support rails and/or wheels or rollers extending between the turntable and the point-of-use. Such transfer may be controlled preferably in synchronism with rotation of the turntable, whose rotation may also be automatically controlled, although manual operation may be used additionally or alternatively.

In association with the inventive apparatus, there may be provided, as a point-of-use, a delivery station including mounting means for, say, two reels associated with the transfer means of the apparatus. Full reels can be loaded upon said mounting means from said first support and transfer means or at

least partially exhausted reels can be unloaded from the mounting means on to said first support and transfer means in a conventional manner. At the delivery station, the reels are preferably mounted on said mounting means with their rotational axes parallel and horizontal.

In a further embodiment, said first and second support and transfer means, the turntable of the apparatus and the delivery station, such as the mounting means thereof, at the point-of-use, may be controlled via a control program such that an at least partially exhausted reel, in use, is automatically unloaded from the delivery station and transferred to the turntable which is then rotated and a full reel is transferred to the station and mounted on the mounting means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figures 1-12 show the various stages in the loading and unloading of reels from a delivery station using a reel unloading and loading system.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION Figure 1 shows a paper delivery system, generally indicated at 1, comprising two sets of supports 2,3 which respectively support reels of paper 20,21 in the horizontal plane. The reels of paper comprise a web of paper wound around a core in the conventional manner. The supports 2,3 are mounted on cross members 4-7, which lie orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the core. Each of the cross members 4-7 is connected to a central member 8 which is, in turn, mounted on vertical pillars 9,10. The floor mounted vertical pillars 9,10 support the structure 2-8 and hence the reels 20,21 are mounted for dispensing paper.

The supports 2,3 allow for rotation of the reels in order that the paper may be unwound from the core and thereby delivered from the reel to a further processing stage or station (not shown). The further processing station may include corrugating, packaging, or chopping stages for example. Reels of paper 20,21 are supported on the supports 2,3 with one of the reels as the active reel 20, from which the paper is dispensed, and the other as a back-up, or passive reel 21.

Situated vertically beneath the supports 2,3 are elongate support rails 40,41, each of which is provided with a longitudinal transfer means for movement of the reels 20,21 respectively along the entire length of the rails. The transfer means consists of a motor and, for example, a set of synchronously driven wheels or rollers. When the wheels or rollers are driven by the motor, a reel, which is not supported by either of the supports 2,3, is moved longitudinally. The motor is able to drive the wheels or rollers in either direction to thereby allow for reciprocating motion of a reel along the length of the rails.

The paper delivery system 1 further comprises a reel loading system 30 including a pair of elongate rails 42,43 and a turntable 31. The turntable 31 is rotatable in the horizontal plane and is provided with a motor and brake system 32 which rotates the turntable through 180°. The elongate rails 42,43 are mounted on the turntable 31 and are also each provided with longitudinal transfer means. One of the elongate rails 42 supports a spare reel 22.

Paper is dispensed from an active reel 20 to a processing station until it begins to run out of paper as represented in Figure 2 by 20'. At this time the other reel of paper 21 becomes the active reel 21'. The paper from the two reels are spliced together in the conventional manner known in the art in order that a continuous supply of paper is provided to the processing station.

The supports 2 are removed from the reel 20'leaving the reel 20'to be entirely supported by the rail 40. The associated transfer means is then activated and the part-used, or empty, reel 20'is moved longitudinally along the rail 40. The transfer means of the rail 43 is activated automatically when the reel 20'contacts the rail 43. As the reel 20'passes from rail 40 to rail 43 the associated transfer means engages the reel 20'and moves it longitudinally along the length of the rail 43 until it reaches a pre-determined stop position 63, as shown in Figure 3. At this position the transfer means is automatically disengaged and the reel 20'comes to rest. The motor of the transfer means associated with rail 40 may be automatically disengaged once the reel 20'has entirely passed to rail 43.

Once the reel 20'has reached the stop position 63 and the motor of the transfer means associated with rail 43 is disengaged the turntable 31 is automatically rotated through 180° by the motor and brake system. The spare reel 22 and rail 42 are thereby aligned with the rail 40 as shown in Figure 4.

The motor of said transfer means associated with'rail 42 is then engaged and the reel 22 is moved longitudinally along the rail 42. The reel 22 engages the rail 40 and this prompts the motor of said associated transfer means to operate which thereby moves the reel longitudinally along the rail 40 until it reaches a stop position 60. As soon as the reel 22 has reached the stop position 60 the motor of said transfer means associated with rail 40 is disengaged (Figure 5). The supports 2 then engage the reel 22 and the paper thereon is configured for operation. At this point the reel 22 has become a passive reel 22'.

The reel 20'is removed by an operative 70 from the rail 43 and a further spare reel 23 is placed on rail 42 by the same, or a further, operative 71. Depending on the size of the reels this operation may be carried out by the operative 70 in a clamp, fork-lift, or pallet, truck 75, or alternatively by a fixed

track car. The reel 20'may be removed for disposal or, more likely, for recycling by re-using the core.

Eventually the active reel 21'will become exhausted and require changing (Figure 8). At this time a further splicing stage is completed. Passive reel 22'then becomes active reel 22", thereby enabling the system 1 to continuously deliver the paper to a further processing stage. The supports 3 are removed from reel 21'and it is then moved longitudinally along the rail 41 by its associated transfer means. The reel 21'comes into contact with the rail 43 and this contact triggers said transfer means of the rail 43 which moves the reel 21'until it reaches a stop position at which point the motor of said transfer means is disengaged. The reel 21'then comes to a halt at a stop position 62 as shown in Figure 9. As soon as the reel 21'has been completely passed from the rail 41 the motor of the associated transfer means is disengaged.

The turntable 31 is automatically rotated, once the reel 21'has reached its stop position 62, through 180°. At this position rail 42 is-aligned with rail 41 and spare reel 23 is in a position whereby it can be moved into the passive reel position (Figure 10). The motor of the transfer means associated with rail 42 is then engaged and the reel 23 is moved longitudinally and passes onto rail 41. As soon as the reel contacts rail 41 its associated transfer means is operated and the reel 23 moved until it reaches a stop position 61 as seen in Figure 11. As soon as there is no longer any contact between the reel 23 and the rail 42 the motor of transfer means associated with reel 42 is disengaged.

Also, the motor of transfer means associated with rail 41 is disengaged when the reel 23 reaches its stop position.

The supports 3 engage reel 23 and this is then configured so that its paper can be dispensed when necessary. At this point the reel 23 has become passive reel 23' (Figure 11). The operator 70 then places a spare reel 24 on rail

42 and removes the empty reel 21'from rail 43 as shown in Figure 12. This completes a single cycle and leaves the system in the same state as it was in Figure 1.

This whole operation is carried out by a control program that is programmed to a particular operating cycle of the processing station or that can respond to the amount of paper left on a reel. The control program removes the supports from a reel, actuates respective transfer means, in order to move the exhausted reel from the delivery system to the loading system, and said transfer means of the loading system. The program will then actuate the turntable so that it rotates, thereby aligning the other rail of the loading system with that of the delivery system. The only role then for an operative is to ensure that the exhausted reels are removed and the new reels are put in place.

In the above embodiment the automatic control mechanism of the transfer means only allows activation when the reels are in contact with the rails, and the supports are removed. This may be replaced with a system whereby the transfer means are synchronised and the motors of the pair of rails, over which a reel is moving, are operated simultaneously. Thus in Figures 2 and 3 when the reel 20'is moved from rail 40 to 43 both of the motors of their respective transfer means operate simultaneously. This removes the necessity for a switch that is responsive to contact of a reel on each rail 40,43 for each of their respective transfer means.

In a further embodiment the automatic control of the transfer means and the turntable 31 is carried out by an operative 70. When changing the reel the operative removes the supports 2 from the reel 20 and activates the motors of transfer means associated with the rails 40, and 43 simultaneously. When the used reel 20'has been moved to its stop position the operative stops the motors. The turntable motor is then engaged and the turntable 31 is rotated

through 180°. The spare reel 23 is then in a position where it can be moved onto rail 40 as rails 40 and 42 are now aligned. The operative then engages the motors of respective transfer means and the reel 23 is moved onto, and along, rail 40 until it reaches a stop position 60. The reel 23 is then mounted on supports 2 and the reel 23 becomes passive reel 23'and is configured so that it is in a state that it may begin to dispense paper.

Furthermore said transfer means may comprise a set of wheels or rollers only and the reels moved manually from the delivery system to the loading system alternatively said transfer means may comprise dolleys or other suitable means known in the art.

The number of operatives required depends on the length of the operating cycle of the system. If each active reel is exhausted very quickly and the storage facility of the reels is distant from the system then two operatives may be needed. If however each active reel is not exhausted very quickly then a single operative may be able to replace the spare reels and remove the exhausted reels so as to maintain continuous production.

The delivery system incorporating the reel loading system is not restricted to being used with a paper delivery system. It may be used, for example, with a cable delivery system in the production of electrical cabling.

Indeed the reel loading system could be used in any situation where a reel has to be loaded onto a delivery or processing station.

Furthermore, with carefully selected production cycles the reel loading system can be used to load reels onto two independent delivery systems. This requires the delivery rates of the product, for example paper as in the described embodiment, from the delivery systems to be carefully matched. The cycles are out of phase and this requires that the operatives load spare reels and remove exhausted reels at a greater rate.

There may also be more than two rails mounted on the turntable. A set of four rails defining a square mounted on the turntable would be able to provide reels for multiple delivery stations, with matched out-of-phase operating cycles.