Rapid converting of sheet material methods and apparatus
AssigneeRapid Converting LLC
InventorsGLENN EDWARDS, Lorne Bechtel, Marie Bechtel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus provide an input for a user located remote from a cutting machine to cut a part. The user can instruct the cutting machine to cut the part to the user's specification in many ways, for example such that the user can instruct the cutting machine without having knowledge of the machine's cutting processes or construction. The methods and apparatus of the embodiments described herein can convert a machine processes into an image of the part to be cut such that the user can easily view and understand the image of the part to be cut remote from the cutting machine.
Claims27
An apparatus to cut material, the apparatus comprising:
- an elongate cutting blade extending a distance to cut a sheet of material with an elongate cut;
- and
- a linkage comprising a shaft component and a second component, the shaft component coupled to the cutting blade to move the cutting blade in a first direction to cut the sheet of material, the shaft component coupled to the blade to rotate the elongate blade about an axis of rotation to an angle to cut the sheet of material, the axis of rotation extending along the first direction, the second component movable along a second direction to couple to the shaft component to maintain the angle of elongate cutting blade when the sheet is cut with the elongate cutting blade rotated to the angle;
- and
- a joint to adjust a second angle of the blade, the joint disposed between the blade and the shaft to couple the shaft to the blade, the joint comprising a convexly curved bearing surface and a concavely curved bearing surface, wherein the convexly curved bearing surface comprises a radius of curvature, the radius of curvature sized to extend from the convexly curved surface to the blade, such that the blade pivots when the convex surface slides along the concave surface.
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-18. (canceled)
An apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor system comprising at least one processor having at least one tangible medium with instructions of a computer program embodied thereon, the at least one tangible medium comprising instructions to receive input data of a part having a part profile from a user and instructions to determine a cut profile, the cut profile corresponding to a plurality of straight cuts positioned and oriented to correspond to the part profile, the at least one tangible medium comprising instructions to generate an image comprising the part profile positioned with the cut profile for the user to compare the part profile with the cut profile.
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-44. (canceled)
A method, the method comprising:
- displaying an image of a cut part to a user located remote from a machine to cut the part, wherein the image comprises first profile of the part overlaid on second cut profile of the part.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.