Device for cutting paper webs

An apparatus for cutting a paper web that is continuously supplied from upstream, along a path of travel, to downstream, said apparatus comprising:

• a longitudinal cutting device for cutting the paper web as the paper web is continuously supplied to the longitudinal cutting device, to produce at least a first longitudinal web and a second longitudinal web;
• a buffer unit comprising at least one upwardly open receptacle, having side walls and a base, into which each of the first and second longitudinal webs running adjacent to one another is guided;
• a braking unit configured to perform each of halting downstream travel of only the first longitudinal web, halting downstream travel of only the second longitudinal web, and halting downstream travel of both the first and second longitudinal webs, after the longitudinal webs emerge, adjacent to each other, from the buffer unit;
• a merger unit, in which the first longitudinal web is guided on top of the second longitudinal web so that the first and second webs are overlapping;
• a first transport device and a second transport device, which drive the first and second longitudinal webs, respectively, according to a start-stop operation, to draw the longitudinal webs out of the merger unit in an overlapping configuration, said first and second transport devices being operationally coupled to the braking unit in such a way that, when the first and/or second transport device drives one of the overlapping first and second longitudinal webs forward, said braking device releases the respective, adjacent first and/or second longitudinal web to allow forward movement of the respective web;
• and
• a transverse severing device for severing the overlapping first and second longitudinal webs;
• wherein the longitudinal cutting device, buffer unit, braking unit, merger unit, first and second transport devices, and transverse severing device are arranged along the path of travel of the paper web from upstream to downstream in sequential order.