Method and apparatus for automatic sheet cutting and stacking
AssigneeFlexible Design Packaging Machine Company
InventorsJoseph J. D'Angelo, Lawrence Maccherone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for forming a stack of neatly aligned sheets of microfoam plastic material from a web of microfoam material. The method and apparatus provide for supplying the web of material to a cutting station and transporting an edge of the material a predetermined distance beyond the cutting station, restraining motion of the web and captivating it at a location adjacent to the cutting station, and cutting the web in a transverse direction. The web advancement, restraint and captivation, and cutting are repeated until a predetermined number of sheets of the material have been accumulated in a stack. The stack is then released from captivation and is conveyed from the cutting station.
Claims32
A method for forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material and the like from a web thereof comprising the steps of:
- A. supplying a web of material to a cutting station and transporting an edge of the web for a predetermined distance (L) beyond the cutting station above a sheet receiving surface;
- B. stopping longitudinal movement of the web and captivating the web downstream from and adjacent to the cutting station;
- C. cutting the web in a direction generally transverse to the direction of longitudinal movement of the web to provide a captivated sheet of predetermined length (L);
- D. repeating the conveying, restraining and captivating, and cutting steps until a predetermined number (N) of captivated sheets have been accumulated in a stack;
- and
- E. releasing the captivation of the stack of accumulated sheets.
Apparatus for cutting and stacking a plurality of sheets of microfoam and similar material comprising:
- A. a web cutting means positioned at a cutting station for cutting the web transversely to its length;
- B. means for supplying the web of the material to be cut to the cutting station and for conveying an end portion of the web a predetermined distance (L) past the cutting station;
- C. means for restraining longitudinal movement of the web at a location before the cutting station and for captivating the web at a location past and adjacent to the cutting station;
- D. means for supporting a cut sheet of the captivated material;
- E. control means for causing the release of the longitudinal restraint and for repeatedly supplying, cutting and captivating sheets in order to accumulate a predetermined number (N) of sheets in an aligned, captivated stack;
- and
- F. means for releasing said captivated stack.
Apparatus for automatically cutting a web of flexible material transversely to its length for cutting off the end portion of the web and for stacking the plurality of sheets formed by repeating such cutting comprising:
- A. web cutting means positioned at a cutting station for cutting the web transversely to its length;
- B. means for feeding a web of the material to be cut through the cutting station with an end portion of the web moving a predetermined distance (L) downstream from the cutting station;
- C. means for stopping the feeding of the web when said end portion is at said predetermined distance downstream from the cutting station;
- D. captivating means positioned downstream from the cutting station and located closer to the cutting station than said predetermined distance for captivating the end portion of the web;
- E. control means for causing said captivating means to captivate the end portion of the web and for causing said cutting means to cut off the end portion of the web after captivation thereof and for causing a repeated sequence of the feeding, stopping, captivating and cutting;
- and
- F. means for releasing the resulting cut stack of sheets from captivation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.