1. A mandrel suitable for supporting and unwinding a convolutely wound web material, a portion of said convolutely wound web material forming a hollow core therein, said mandrel comprising:
a. a mandrel shaft having a longitudinal axis, said mandrel shaft being capable of rotating about said longitudinal axis;
b. a plurality of mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft, each of said mandrel arms being disposed and rotatable about said longitudinal axis;
c. at least one expansion element disposed upon a respective each of said mandrel arms, said at least one expansion element being expandable radially away from said respective mandrel arm relative to said longitudinal axis; and,
d. said core of said convolutely wound web material being disposable about each of said mandrel arms, said at least one expansion element being expandable into contacting and releasable engagement with said portion of said convolutely wound web material forming said hollow core, said convolutely wound web material being fixably and releasably disposed about each of said mandrel arms.
2. The mandrel of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of mandrel arms is positioned orbitally and equidistant about said longitudinal axis.
3. The mandrel of claim 2 wherein said plurality of mandrel arms are coextensively and cooperatively interengageable with a plurality of mandrel arms extending from a second mandrel.
4. The mandrel of claim 3 wherein said convolutely wound web material is repositionable from said plurality of arms extending from said mandrel shaft of said mandrel to said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel.
5. The mandrel of claim 3 wherein said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel each have at least one expansion element disposed thereupon, said at least one expansion element disposed upon each of said plurality of mandrel arms extending from second mandrel being expandable into contacting and releasable engagement with said portion of said convolutely wound web material forming said hollow core when said hollow core is disposed thereabout.
6. The mandrel of claim 5 wherein said convolutley wound web material is transferrable from said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft of said mandrel to said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel when said mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft of said mandrel and said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel are cooperatively engaged.
7. The mandrel of claim 6 wherein said convolutley wound web material is transferred from said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft of said mandrel to said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel when said at least one expansion element disposed upon each of said respective mandrel arms of said mandrel contract radially away toward said respective mandrel arm relative to said longitudinal axis and said at least one expansion element disposed upon each of said plurality of mandrel arms extending from second mandrel expand into contacting and releasable engagement with said portion of said convolutely wound web material forming said hollow core when said mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft of said mandrel and said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel are cooperatively engaged.
8. The mandrel of claim 1 wherein said mandrel is provided as an end effector for a robot.
9. The mandrel of claim 1 wherein said mandrel is attached to a frame forming an unwind stand for unwinding a convolutely wound web material.
10. An end effector for a robot, said end effector comprising:
a. a mandrel shaft having a longitudinal axis, said mandrel shaft being capable of rotating about a longitudinal axis;
b. a plurality of mandrel arms extending from said mandrel shaft, each of said mandrel arms being disposed and rotatable about said longitudinal axis; and,
c. at least one expansion element disposed upon a respective each of said mandrel arms, said at least one expansion element being expandable radially away from said respective mandrel arm relative to said longitudinal axis.
11. The end effector of claim 10 wherein each of said plurality of mandrel arms is positioned orbitally and equidistant about said longitudinal axis.
12. The mandrel of claim 10 wherein said plurality of mandrel arms are coextensively and cooperatively interengageable with a second end effector, said second end effector comprising:
a. a second mandrel shaft having a second longitudinal axis, said mandrel shaft being capable of rotating about said second longitudinal axis;
b. a second plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second mandrel shaft, each of said second plurality of mandrel arms being disposed and rotatable about said second longitudinal axis; and,
c. at least one second expansion element disposed upon a respective each of said second plurality of mandrel arms, said at least one second expansion element being expandable radially away from said respective mandrel arm of said second plurality of mandrel arms relative to said second longitudinal axis; and
d. wherein said end effector and said second end effector are cooperatively interengageable when said longitudinal axis and said second longitudinal axis are collinear.
13. The end effector of claim 12 wherein said second end effector is a mandrel.
14. The end effector of claim 13 wherein said mandrel extends from a frame.
15. The end effector of claim 14 wherein a convolutley wound web material disposable about said plurality of mandrel arms.
16. The end effector of claim 15 wherein said convolutley wound web is repositionable from said end effector to said mandrel.
17. The end effector of claim 15 wherein said convolutley wound web material is transferred from said end effector to said mandrel when said at least one expansion element disposed upon each of said respective mandrel arms of said end effector contract radially away toward said respective mandrel arm relative to said longitudinal axis and said second at least one expansion element disposed upon each of said second plurality of mandrel arms extending from second end effector expand into contacting and releasable engagement with a portion of said convolutely wound web material forming a hollow core when said mandrel arms of said end effector and said plurality of mandrel arms extending from said second end effector are cooperatively engaged.
18. A mandrel arm for a mandrel, said mandrel arm comprising at least one expansion element disposed upon a surface of said mandrel arm, said at least one expansion element being expandable radially away from said surface.
19. The mandrel arm of claim 18 wherein a plurality of mandrel arms are operatively connected to a mandrel shaft having a longitudinal axis, each of said plurality of mandrel arms being disposed about and orbit about said longitudinal axis.
20. The mandrel arm of claim 18 wherein said mandrel arm is an end effector operatively connected to device selected from the group consisting of robots, unwind stands, and combinations thereof.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A candle decorating kit, said kit comprising, in combination,
a container for a plurality of candles having a predetermined size and shape such that said candles can be assembled together to form a geometric solid of a geometric shape different from that of said candles.
2. A kit as in claim 1 in which said shape of said solid is selected from the group consisting a rectangular prism; hexagonal prism; an octagonal prism; a cylinder; a pyramid; a solid with at least one hemispherical element; a solid with at least one frustro-conical element; an ellipsoid; and a heart-shaped solid.
3. A kit as in claim 1 in which said container has at least one vertical side wall and a central vertical divider wall which extends upwardly between and above the tops of the candles in said container and is adapted to be used as a carrying handle.
4. A kit as in claim 1 in which said container has a compartment for holding said candles in which said compartment is shaped to conform with the shape of said geometric solid.
5. A kit as in claim 1 in which said candles have a right triangular cross-section and said shape is a rectangular parallelpiped.
6. A kit as in claim 1 in which each of said candles has a flat top wall and a flat bottom surface, at least one wick, a recess in said top wall, and said wick being located within said recess, whereby said candles can be stacked on top of one another with said bottom wall of one of said candles resting on said top wall of the other of said candles.
7. A kit as in claim 1 in which each of said candles has a projecting part which is shaped and sized to fit into a receiving cavity of another one of said candles, whereby said candles can be nested together to form said geometric solid.
8. A kit as in claim 1 in which said candles have diamond and triangular cross-sections and fit together to form a solid with a hexagonal cross-section.
9. A kit as in claim 1 in which said candles comprise a pair of generally L-shaped candles, each having a notch, and being of a given height, and a rectangular candle of twice said height and with a cross-section dimensioned to fill said notch, whereby said candles can be assembled to form a rectangular parallelpiped with one of said L-shaped candles being positioned atop the other and said notches being aligned vertically, and said rectangular candle filling said notches.
10. A method of making a candle decorating kit, said method comprising the steps of
(a) providing a plurality of candles of size and shape predetermined to allow said candles to be assembled together into a geometric solid of a larger size than, and a shape different from, at least some of said candles,
(b) providing a container having a shape conforming to the shape of said solid,
(c) assembling said candles to form said solid in said container.
11. A method as in claim 10 in which said shape is selected from the group consisting of; an octagon; a hexagon; a cylinder; a pyramid; a cube; a solid with at least one hemispherical or dome-shaped or frustro-conical or frustro-pyramidal element.
12. A method as in claim 10 in which said container has a central upstanding separator wall and said assembling step comprises positioning said candles symmetrically below the top of and on opposite sides of said separator wall.
13. A method as in claim 10 in which each of said candles is a prism which has a right triangular cross-section, with two equal-length legs defining short side surfaces of the candle, and a hypotenuse defining a wide side surface of said candle, said container having a receiving chamber of square cross-section, said assembling step comprising a procedure selected from the group consisting of; placing two of said candles in a container with their wide surfaces abutting one another, said chamber of said container having sides whose widths are approximately equal to the length of the legs of said triangular cross-section; and placing four of said candles in a container whose sides have approximately the length of the hypotenuse of said triangle, with the short side surfaces of each candle abutting the short side surface of two adjacent candles.
14. A method as in claim 10 in which each of said candles is a prism which has a right triangular cross-section, with two equal-length legs defining short side surfaces of the candle, and a hypotenuse defining a wide side surface of said candle, said container having a receiving chamber of square cross-section, said assembling step comprising assembling said candles to form a rectangular prism in said receiving chamber.
15. A method as in claim 14 in which the number of candles in said kit is an even number and the widths of the sides of said chamber are a multiple of the width of one of the sides of said candles.
16. A method as in claim 14 in which the candles comprise two L-shaped parallelpipeds with a notch and one rectangular parallelpiped sized to fill said notches, said L-shaped candles having flat tops with recessed wicks, said assembling step comprising stacking said L-shaped candles atop one another and fitting said rectangular candle into said notches whereby the geometric solid formed is a cube.
17. A method as in claim 10 in which said candles have side walls with a re-entrant curved shaped to nest with others of said candles to form said solid, and said assembling step comprises nesting said candles together.
18. A method as in claim 10 including the step of removing said candles from said container and arranging them in a display for decoration of an enclosed space.
19. A method as in claim 10 in which said shape is selected from the group consisting of; a pyramid; a truncated pyramid; a stacked array of a pyramid atop a truncated pyramid with a flat top area the same side as the bottom of said pyramid; a heart shape; an ellipsoid; and a star.
20. A method as in claim 10 in which at least one candle in said plurality has a flat top surface and multiple recesses and wicks in said top surface.