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AssigneeUSM Corporation
InventorsGordon Judson Graham, John Frederick Martin, Douglas Hodgen Crowell
Estimating the term…
Sheet cutting means, preferably of the fluid jet nozzle type, is programmed for predetermined X-Y operation on a workpiece supported on a series of taut, unidirectional, spaced wires arranged substantially as a planar bed. As the nozzle is shifted in an X-Y plane parallel to and above the work, a drain cup is correspondingly moved beneath the wire bed to receive the spent pressure fluid for recirculation or other disposition. A transfer means comprised of uniformly spaced belts is movable heightwise between the wires to convey all cut parts and scrap, collectively in unchanged relation, to an unload station when the nozzle and cup are out of the way. Preferably a television screen displays for an attendant at the unloading zone of the machine a replica of the cut work as pre-programmed to facilitate his identification and disposition of the different cut-outs, for instance, shoe soles.
In a machine for cutting sheet material by means of a fluid jet cutter movable in a plane, a main frame, a cutting bed mounted on the frame to support the sheet material substantially parallel and adjacent to said plane and normal to the jet from the cutter, the bed being comprised of a plurality of spaced, parallel, taut wires respectively having a tensile strength adequate to fully counter any tendency of the jet to displace successive cutting localities of the material.
In a machine for cutting sheet material and having a main frame with a loading zone at one end thereof and an unloading zone disposed at an opposite end, a movable fluid jet cutter mounted on the frame and operable in a horizontal plane intermediate said zones, an effluent receiver mounted on the frame for movement a substantially fixed distance beneath said plane, means for correspondingly controlling X-Y motion of the cutter and the receiver in their respective planes, and a cutting bed disposed between said zones, and between the cutter and the receiver, said bed comprising a plurality of uniformly spaced, substantially unidirectional wires tautly extending between the zones.
A machine for predeterminedly cutting sheet material to provide a plurality of similar and/or dissimilar cut workpieces therefrom comprising a main frame, a planar cutting bed mounted horizontally on the frame intermediate a loading and an unloading zone of the machine, the bed comprising parallel, taut wires extending substantially between said zones and being spaced on the order of about one inch apart, a fluid jet cutter movably mounted on the frame above said bed for motion in an X-Y plane substantially parallel to said bed wires and adjacent thereto, an effluent receiver mounted on the frame beneath said bed wires and adjacent thereto, programmed means for correspondingly moving the cutter and the receiver in their respective planes during jet cutting of sheet material disposed on said bed, sheet material feeding means including at least one pair of closeable clamps movable between a work-gripping position at the loading zone and a work-releasing position over said bed, a transfer mechanism movable heightwise from a position beneath the bed and including a multi-belt endless conveyor, said mechanism comprising a four-bar linkage for raising the belts of said conveyor substantially to the level of said wires, and a bell crank pivotally connected to the linkage for tilting the raised conveyor respectively, between and at least partly above the adjacent bed wires, power means for operating said linkage, and then actuating the bell crank to cause the raised conveyor belts to separate the cut workpieces and scrap intact from the bed wires, and other power means for thereupon driving the conveyor when thus tilted to deliver the cut pieces and scrap intact to the unloading zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.