Scrap reduction system for rotary die cutter

In a die cutter system for cutting succesive blanks from advancing web material, said system including a pair of die and anvil rolls mounted in a frame in nip-defining relation which cooperate to grip and pull a leading end portion of the web forward while cutting a blank therefrom and which release the cut leading end of the web during a portion of each complete revolution, and said system also including means for feeding the web to said rolls, and means for maintaining a slack loop of web between said feeding means and said rolls whereby said rolls grip and pull the web from said slack loop, apparatus for minimizing the scrap web material between successive blanks, comprising:

• (a) one-way means at a position spaced upstream from the nip defined by said rolls and downstream from said loop maintaining means for holding the web against backward movement into said slack loop,
• (b) means positioned between said holding means and said nip for retracting the cut leading end of the web through a predetermined distance with respect to said nip in response to release of the web by said rolls, and
• (c) means for controlling said retracting means to limit said retracting action thereof such that the cut leading end of the web will lie just beyond the angular position on said anvil roll where said die roll will engage said anvil roll at the start of the next cutting cycle and will thereby engage and draw the web through said nip.