Glass trimming cutter with roller conveyor

Apparatus for automatically cutting the edges of generally planar glass panes, comprising:

• a generally circular table including a conveyor track for transporting the glass planes in a conveying direction and for providing a substantially horizontal support for the glass panes, said conveyor track extending over substantially the entire diameter of said table between a loading end at which the glass panes are fed onto said track and an unloading end at which the glass panes are discharged from said track, said table being arranged for rotation about a vertical axis which is normal to the surfaces of the glass panes;
• means for rotating said table about said vertical axis at a desired rate;
• gripping means responsive to rotation of said table for releasably gripping the glass panes on said table to fix the glass panes against movement relative to said table when said table is rotated and the glass panes are cut;
• means for cutting the edges of the glass panes to a desired contour as said table is rotated from an initial position to an end position;
• a feed conveyor fixed with respect to the rotation axis of said table and arranged to be aligned in said conveying direction with the loading end of said conveyor track when said table is in either of said initial and said end positions for horizontally supporting and delivering the glass panes to the loading end of said conveyor track;
• means associated with said feed conveyor for loading the glass panes onto said conveyor track, said loading means including a first feed carriage including at least one suction cup for releasably holding the glass panes;
• a first track fixed with respect to the rotation axis of said table and arranged parallel to and above said feed conveyor for guiding said first feed carriage between a first end position whereat said first feed carriage grasps a glass pane to be cut and a second end position whereat said first feed carriage release the glass pane when the glass pane is loaded onto said conveyor track and said gripping means is operated, said first track extending above and parallel to said conveyor track of said table for a distance of about one-third the length of said conveyor track;
• a discharge conveyor fixed with respect to the rotation axis of said table and arranged to be aligned in said conveying direction with the unloading end of said conveyor track when said table is in either of said initial and said end positions for horizontally supporting and discharging the glass panes from the unloading end of said conveyor track;
• means associated with said discharge conveyor for unloading the glass panes from said conveyor track, said unloading means including a second feed carriage including at least one suction cup for releasably holding the glass panes;
• a second track fixed with respect to the rotation axis of said table and arranged parallel to and above said discharge conveyor for guiding said second feed carriage between a first end position whereat said second feed carriage grasps a glass pane which has been cut on said conveyor track when said gripping means releases the cut glass pane, and a second end position whereat said second feed carriage releases the cut glass pane for further processing, said second track extending above and parallel to said conveyor track of said table for a distance of about one-third the length of said conveyor track;
• means including a rope drive arrangement for moving said first and said second feed carriages along said first and said second tracks, respectively, in corresponding relationship with rotation of said table so that said feed carriage delivers a first glass pane to be cut to said table while said second feed carriage simultaneously discharges a second, cut glass pane from said table, and said first feed carriage thereafter returns to deliver a third glass pane to be cut to said table while said second feed carriage simultaneously returns to discharge the first, then cut glass pane from said table;
• and
• a cantilever support arm extending over said table, wherein said gripping means is mounted to said support arm and includes a number of uniformly distributed, downwardly projecting suction cups.