# US 12,759,181 B2 · Automatic cutting device for printed supports > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,759,181 B2 - Document ID: US12759181B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/001,327 - Filed: 2021-06-18 - Published: 2023-07-27 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2020-06-30 - Assignees: Fotoba International S.R.L. - Applicants: Fotoba International S.R.L. - Inventors: Valter Maddalon - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12759181B2 ## CPC - B26D 7/2635: {for circular cutters} - B26D 1/245: {for thin material, e.g. for sheets, strips or the like} - B26D 7/20: Cutting beds {(B26D7/018 takes precedence; supporting beds for severing by means of a fluid jet B26F3/008)} - B26D: CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING (for growing crops or plants A01D, A01G; for fodder or straw A01F; for bulk butter A01J; for dough A21C; slaughtering A22B; for tobacco, cigars or cigarettes A24; marking-out, perforating or making buttonholes A41H25/00; manufacturing footwear A43D; brushmaking A46D; surgery A61B; disintegrating, mincing or shredding in general B02C; cutting wire, making pins or nails B21F, B21G; of the kind used formetal B23; cutting by abrasive fluid jets B24C5/02; hand-held cutting tools B26B; perforating, cutting-out, stamping-out or punching, or severing by means other than cutting B26F; for wood B27; for stone B28D; working of plastics or substances in a plastic state B29; making boxes, cartons, envelopes or bags, of paper or similarly worked materials, e.g. metal foil, B31B; article or web delivery apparatus incorporating cutting or line-perforating devices B65H35/00; for leather or upholstery B68, C14B; for glass C03B; making matches C06F; for peat C10F; for sugar C13B45/00; for textile materials D06H; civil engineering, building, mining, see Section E; for light guides G02B6/25; cutting processed photographic material G03D15/04) ## Abstract The present disclosure provides an automatic cutting device for printed supports which allows to compensate for the space created between the sliding planes, so as to always sustain the support to be cut and allow it to pass from one sliding plane to another and reach the relative unloading rollers avoiding jam at the device outlet. This result is achieved by means of an array of fins supported at the second sliding plane, configured to move from a closed configuration, in which all the fins protrude from the second sliding plane towards the first sliding plane and occupy the transverse cutting zone, to an open configuration in which they leave the transverse cutting area free so as to allow undisturbed movement of the cutting unit. This array of fins in closed configuration sustains the printed support cut in the passage from the first sliding plane to the second sliding plane. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An automatic cutting device for printed supports comprising: a feeding direction of a printed support; a first sliding plane surface in the feeding direction of the printed support to be cut; a second sliding plane surface in said feeding direction of said printed support after said printed support has been cut, wherein said second sliding plane surface is placed at a distance from said first sliding plane surface along said feeding direction and defines together with the first sliding plane surface a transversal cutting area having a largest dimension along a transverse axis, perpendicular to the feeding direction; at least two cutting units configured to be able to move along the transverse axis within the transversal cutting area so as to intercept and cut the printed support; and an electronic control unit configured to control the movement of the at least two cutting units; wherein the automatic cutting device further comprises an array of fins arranged in a comb, cantilever supported at said second sliding plane surface, wherein the fins of said array of fins are cantilever supported along a direction parallel to said feeding direction and are elastically constrained in said array of fins so that the fins can be elastically flexed along the transverse axis, wherein said array of fins: is configured to move, controlled by the electronic control unit, from a closed configuration, in which all the fins protrude from said second sliding plane surface towards the first sliding plane surface and occupy the transversal cutting area, to an open configuration in which the fins are retracted and leave free said transversal cutting area so as to allow undisturbed movement along the transverse axis of the at least two cutting units, wherein when the fins of said array of fins pass from the open configuration to the closed configuration and intercept said at least two cutting units placed in the cutting position, the fins come into contact with the at least two cutting units and modify the direction of the fins by flexing along the transverse axis, and the automatic cutting device further is configured, when in closed configuration, to sustain the printed support and/or cut portions of the printed support when a free edge of the printed support passes from the first sliding plane surface to the second sliding plane surface. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The automatic cutting device for printed supports according to claim 1, wherein the fins each have a largest dimension according to a direction parallel to said feeding direction and are configured to resist deformation according to a vertical axis perpendicular to the second sliding plane surface. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The automatic cutting device for printed supports according to claim 1, wherein said at least two cutting units each comprise a wedge-shaped guide facing the second sliding plane surface configured to facilitate an elastic deformation of the fins directing them towards the outside of the transversal cutting area. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The automatic cutting device for printed supports according to claim 3, wherein the each of said at least two cutting units is configured to cut the printed support according to two directions parallel to said feeding direction, and the wedge-shaped guide is configured to direct a scrap below the second sliding plane surface. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The automatic cutting device for printed supports of claim 1, comprising an optical code reader, at the first sliding plane surface, configured to read an optical code on a printed support entering the first sliding plane surface, wherein each cutting unit of said at least two cutting units comprises a position sensor which detects the position of said each cutting unit with respect to the transverse axis, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to communicate data with said optical code reader and with the position sensors of each of the said at least two cutting units and is programmed to interpret data corresponding to the optical code to command: an actuator for moving the array of fins from the open configuration to the closed configuration and/or vice versa; and one or more actuators for moving said at least two cutting units along said transversal cutting area.