Idler roll for printing press drying stage

Claim 1

An idler roll for engaging a printed side of a running web trained thereover comprising: a unitary rotatable support member of a rigid material having a hard smooth cylindrical external surface; a sleeve of hollow cylindrical configuration made of stiff material with an internal surface telescopically matingly engaged with the external surface of said support member and having an external surface that is coated with grit for contacting a printed side of a web to be trained thereover; and means at one end of said support member detachably interconnecting said support member and said sleeve at said one end for keying them together against both relative angular and relative axial displacement of said support member and said sleeve during operation of the idler roll, said means being actuable to disconnect said support member and said sleeve to permit said sleeve to be slideably withdrawn axially endwise over said one end of said support member; said rotatable support member being of tubular configuration and said sleeve having an end portion projecting axially beyond an adjacent end of said support member; said keying means comprising a coaxial series of an inner disc receivable within said member, a median disc formed with an annular shoulder seatable on an end of said support member within said projecting end portion of said sleeve, and an outer disc engagable with an end of said sleeve; said keying means further comprising a first radially expandable and radially retractable element intermediate said inner and median discs and a second radially expandable and radially retractable element positioned between said median and outer discs.