Metal slitting and stamping
OwnerJohn Workmaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention makes use of the controlled, differential application of heat to effect dimensional control in the slitting or stamping of metal workpieces. In a principal embodiment (FIG. 1), a metal strip (40) supplied from a reel (2) is slit into narrower strips by a slitting mechanism (12, 13) and the slit strips (41) are reeled up separately (at 23). A controllable heating apparatus (8, 9) is provided before the slitting mechanism (12, 13) and is arranged to effect heating of the strip (40) in a controlled manner which varies across the width of the strip (40) to compensate for variable tension in the strip across its width. Other applications of controlled, variable heating are also described.
Claims13
Apparatus for processing a continuous metal strip to perform repetitive cutting operations upon said continuous metal strip, comprising:
- means for directing said continuous metal strip past a work station, means disposed at said work station for repetitively performing said cutting operations on said continuous metal strip as it is moved past said work station, measuring means disposed in advance of said work station for monitoring at least one parameter affecting the positional and dimensional accuracy with which said repetitive cutting operations are effected upon said continuous metal strip strip, and heating means disposed intermediate said measuring means and said work station and responsive to said measuring means for applying heat selectively to areas across the width of said continuous metal strip to control thereby with a high degree of precision the positions and dimensions of said cutting operations effected on said continuous metal strip by compensating for positional and dimensional variations arising from variations in said at least one parameter.
In apparatus for processing a metal strip to produce repetitive operations by slitting said metal strip, the improvement comprising measuring means for monitoring at least one parameter effecting the accuracy with which said repetitive operations are produced at a plurality of locations of said metal strip, heating means responsive to said measuring means for applying heat selectively to chosen areas of said metal strip to compensate for variations in said at least one parameter, at least one pair of cutting means for slitting said metal strip, and a device interposed between said pair of cutting means for effecting mutual displacement of said pair of cutting means in accordance with the degree of heating applied to said metal strip by said heating means in advance of said slitting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.