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US 4,730,526 AGranted
Conveyorized vacuum table for feeding sheet material
AssigneeGerber Garment Technology, Inc.
InventorsDavid R. Pearl, Lawrence S. Wolfson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyorized vacuum table comprises a conveyor for feeding and supporting limp sheet material and a vacuum system which applies vacuum to the sheet material while it is being fed and/or worked upon. The conveyor comprises a penetrable support bed and a plurality of vacuum chambers which move with the support bed and communicate with it. Means are also provided to apply vacuum to the vacuum chambers to cause the conveyor to hold the sheet material for cutting or other work operations.
Claims11
An apparatus for working on sheet material comprising:
- a work table;
- conveyor means mounted on the work table and defining a penetrable support surface with a plurality of airflow passages therethrough for supporting sheet material during a work operation, and a plurality of fluid chambers arranged along the conveyor means, each chamber being connected with at least a portion of the support surface for support thereof and movement therewith, each chamber being in fluid communication with the airflow passages in the portion of the support surface connected with the chamber for evacuating air from the airflow passages and having an evacuation aperture with a cross-sectional area that is small compared to the portion of the support surface supported and evacuated by the chamber;
- evacuating means mounted in the work table in fluid communication with the evacuation apertures of the fluid chambers for evacuating the chambers through the small apertures to cause the sheet material to be held down on the support surface, the evacuating means communicating with only a limited exterior area around the small aperture of a fluid chamber to evacuate the chamber whereby the evacuated chamber of the conveyor is only subjected to a limited load attributable to the pressure differential between the ambient pressure and the pressure developed at the small aperture by the evacuation means;
- a tool penetrable through the sheet material and support surface for working on the sheet material;
- and
- means for moving said tool and the sheet material on the support surface of the conveyor means relative to one another in working relationship.
3 more elements
An apparatus for cutting limp sheet material, comprising:
- a cutting tool mounted at a cutting station located between a material-loading and a material-discharging station;
- conveyor means for transporting limp sheet material between the loading, cutting, and discharging stations, and including
- (a) a bed defining a support surface for supporting the sheet material and being moveable with the sheet material thereon between the loading, cutting, and discharging stations, the bed having a portion which is penetrable at and below the support surface by the cutting tool passing through the sheet material at the cutting station, and having airflow passages leading through the penetrable portion of the bed from the support surface;
- and
- (b) chamber means moveable with the bed and sheet material on the support surface and connected in fluid communication with the penetrable portion of the bed for drawing air from the material through the support surface and the bed, the chamber means having an aperture which is small in dimension transverse to the direction of conveyor movement compared to the transverse dimension of the bed;
- duct means mounted in the apparatus in stationary relationship and having an elongated opening extending longitudinally in the direction of conveyor movement with the transverse width of the opening much smaller than the transverse width of the bed, the opening being in sealing engagement with the aperture of the moveable chamber means for fluid communication with the penetrable bed and sheet material thereon;
- and
- airflow moving means connected with the duct means for removing air from the sheet material through the chamber and duct means and compressing the sheet material on the support surface.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.