Programmable Border Slitter

An apparatus for feeding and slitting soft goods comprising:

• a plurality of rollers adapted to carry the soft goods;
• a cross rail;
• a plurality of slitting blade assemblies mounted for sliding motion on the cross rail, each of the slitting blade assemblies comprising a rotatable slitting blade rotatable with respect to the remainder of the slitting blade assembly and a plurality of cams;
• a rotatable drive shaft mounted generally parallel to, but spaced from the cross rail, the drive shaft operably connected to the slitting blade assemblies;
• a drive shaft motor operable to rotate the drive shaft;
• a slitting blade positioning system mounted on and movable in a direction parallel with the cross rail, the slitting blade positioning system being operable to move the slitting blade assemblies along the cross rail and thus, across a substantial width of the soft goods;
• a material feed motor connected to the feed roller and operable to move the soft goods past at least some of the slitting blade assemblies;
• a control for operating the motor, the slitting blade positioning system and the material feed motor, the control operable to cause the slitting blade positioning system to move the slitting blade assemblies to desired respective positions on the cross rail, and the control being further operable to turn on the drive shaft motor and the material feed motor, thereby moving the soft goods past the slitting blades.

An apparatus for feeding and slitting soft goods comprising:

• a plurality of rollers adapted to carry the soft goods, the plurality of rollers comprising an engagement roller movable by a pair of pneumatic members;
• a cross rail;
• movable slitting blade assemblies movable, each of the slitting blade assemblies comprising a plurality of metal cams and having a rotatable slitting blade mounted on a drive shaft mounted on a drive shaft motor;
• a slitting blade positioning system mounted on, and movable in a direction parallel with the cross rail, the slitting blade positioning system being operable to move the slitting blade assemblies over a substantial length of the cross rail and thus, a substantial width of the soft goods;
• a material feed motor connected to one of the rollers and operable to move the soft goods past at least one of the slitting blade assemblies;
• a control for operating the drive shaft motor, the slitting blade positioning system and the material feed motor, the control operable to cause the slitting blade positioning system to move the slitting blade assemblies to desired respective positions on the cross rail, and the control being further operable to turn on the drive shaft motor and the material feed motor, thereby moving the soft goods past the rotating slitting blades.