Machine for cutting stone materials

#The present invention relates to a machine for cutting blocks of stone materials into slabs.

#Machines of the said type are known, comprising a bandsaw and a carriage acting to support a block and to cause it to move progressively towards the saw blade, which therefore sinks progressively into the block along a plane of cut.

#The carriage normally includes an oscillating table acting to impart to the block an oscillatory movement with respect to the blade; the composition of the motions of approach and oscillation cause contact between the block and the blade along a substantially rectilinear cutting face the extent of which increases as the axis of oscillation of the block approaches closer to the blade and, in any case, is equal to a considerable fraction of the thickness of the block. This involves high cutting forces and rapid wear of the blade, with consequent high operating and maintenance costs.

#For a better understanding of the present invention several preferred embodiments will now be described, purely by way of non-limitative example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a partial side view of a machine for cutting blocks of stone material formed according to the principles of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a partial front view of the machine of FIG. 1;

#With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a machine for cutting a block 2 of granite is generally indicated with the reference numeral 1.

#The machine 1 comprises a bandsaw 3 and a carriage 4 for supporting the block 2 and displaceable on a pair of rails 5 disposed alongside the saw 3.

#The saw 3 includes a fixed base 6 provided with two vertical sides 7 parallel to one another and to the said rails 5, between which a vertically elongated body 8 is mounted in an oscillating manner; at a lower end of the body 8 there is fixed, by conventional support means 9, a driving fly-wheel 10 angularly coupled to an hydraulic motor 12. For the purpose of limiting the height of the saw 3 above ground the fly-wheel 10 is at least partly housed in a pit 13 excavated in the ground. On an upper end of the body 8 there is longitudinally slidable, under the thrust of an hydraulic actuator 14, a slide 15 on which is freely rotatably mounted a second fly-wheel 16 the axis of which is parallel to the axis of the driving fly-wheel 10. Over the said fly-wheels 10, 16 there passes, in the manner of a transmission belt, a blade 17 of known type constituted substantially by a metal band provided with a plurality of cutting diamonds 18 carried, and maintained under tension, by the actuator 14. A protective hood 19 is disposed around the freely rotatable fly-wheel 16.