US 5,095,793 AGranted

Cutter drive vibration dampening system

AssigneeGerber Garment Technology, Inc.

InventorDonald C. Button

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Abstract

A vibrational dampening system in a cutter head having an elongate knife reciprocated to cut a ply or a stack of plies of sheet material comprises a drive pulley having an eccentrically mounted pin on which is journalled a linkage connecting the drive pulley to the knife, and two driven pulleys located on either side of the drive pulley synchronously interconnected with the drive pulley by a belt having spaced apart teeth formed on each side. The drive pulley and each of the two laterally disposed driven pulleys has a counterweight which rotates 180 degrees out of phase with the rotation of the eccentric pin in order to cancel the vertical forces generated by the reciprocating knife and its associated connecting linkage. The two laterally disposed driven pulleys rotate in an opposite direction relative to the rotational direction of the drive pulley in order to cancel any side-to-side forces generated when the counterweights move between vertically oriented positions.

Claims19

Dependent claims

In a cutter head of the type having a reciprocating knife and associated structure drivingly interconnecting the knife with the cutter head, a vibration dampening system for balancing the dynamic forces created by the reciprocation of said knife and said associated connecting structure, said vibration dampening system comprising:

a support;
a drive pulley rotatably mounted on said support for rotation about a first central axis, said drive pulley having means for eccentrically connecting to it for rotation about said first central axis a reciprocating mass in the form of a knife and associated structure drivingly interconnecting said knife to said cutter head;
a first driven pulley freely rotatably mounted on said support on one side of said drive pulley for rotation about a second central axis;
a second driven pulley freely rotatably mounted on said support on the other side of said drive pulley for rotation about a third central axis;
a rotary drive source connected with said drive pulley for rotating it in a first rotational direction;
coupling means for drivingly connecting each of said first and said second driven pulleys with said drive pulley such that each of said first and said second driven pulleys rotates with said drive pulley but in a second opposite direction;
and
dampening means associated with said drive pulley and with each of said first and said second driven pulleys for substantially counterbalancing the full reciprocating mass constituted by said knife and said associated connecting structure without introducing unbalanced lateral forces into the system.

5 more elements

A vibrational dampening system for use in a cutter head in which an elongate knife and associated linkage drivingly interconnecting the knife with the cutter head are reciprocated, said vibrational dampening system comprising:

a support;
a drive pulley rotatable about a first central axis and mounted to said support, said drive pulley having a connecting pin extending laterally outwardly of said drive pulley;
said connecting pin being disposed eccentrically relative to said first central axis and being connected with a reciprocating mass constituted by a knife and associated linkage drivingly interconnecting the knife with the cutter head;
a first counterweight disposed diametrically oppositely of said connecting pin on said drive pulley such that the mass center of said first counterweight is oriented 180 degrees from said connecting pin;
a first driven pulley freely rotatably mounted to said support on one side of said drive pulley for rotation about a second central axis, said first driven pulley having a second counterweight disposed thereon;
a second driven pulley freely rotatably mounted on said support on the other side of said drive pulley for rotation about a third central axis, said second drive pulley having a third counterweight disposed thereon for rotation about said third central axis;
said drive pulley and each of said first and said second driven pulleys each having equal diameters defined by a series of evenly spaced teeth circumferentially disposed around each of said first and said second driven pulleys and said drive pulley;
a drive belt having on two sides a series of teeth sized and configured for coengagement with said teeth disposed on each of said first and said second driven pulleys and said drive pulley;
said drive belt engaging with said drive pulley and each of said first and said second driven pulleys to rotate said first and second driven pulleys in an opposite direction relative to that of said drive pulley;
and
wherein said first, second and third counterweights being arranged on said support and having selected masses which cancel the dynamic vertical forces created by the reciprocating motion of said knife and said associated connecting linkage without introducing unbalanced lateral forces.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.