Circle cutting system

A mechanical system for cutting circles from glass and the like, comprising:

• a rigid, elongated, rectilinear rule having a scale with distance-indicating indicia thereon;
• a reversible cutting head, including a body with a laterally extending passageway having opposite ends and configured to receive said rule, inserted longitudinally into said passageway, for slidably mounting said head on said rule, and means for disengageably securing said head on said rule at selected positions therealong, said body having registry elements thereon lying in lateral planes at said opposite ends of said passageway and adapted for readably registry with said indicia of said rule scale, said body also having a first and second cutting component-mounting means, each adapted for disengageably mounting a cutting component thereon, said first mounting means being adapted to mount a cutting component to act in a first plane of said body, said first plane lying nonsymmetrically between said lateral planes and being laterally spaced by a certain distance from one of said registry elements, said second mounting means being adapted to mount a cutting component to act in a second plane of said body, said second plane lying nonsymmetrically between said lateral plane and being laterally spaced by said certain distance from the other of said registry elements;
• and
• a pivot base assembly, including a base adapted to provide stationary support for said system, and a coupling fixture rotatably mounted on said base and having means for disengageably securing an end portion of said rule for radial extension therefrom, whereby a cutting element, mounted to act in either said first plane or said second plane of said cutting head body, can be disposed in any selected plane, transverse to the longitudinal axis of said rule, by registry of said one or said other registry element of said cutting head body with a selected indicium of said scale.