US 5,235,882 AGranted

Device for trimming and cutting computer printer paper

OwnerWilliam B. Rabourninventor

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Abstract

A device which trims off the perforated margin strips of printer paper and cuts the paper transversely to separate it into individual pages. The paper which discharges from the printer is drawn around a tension bar and is applied to a toothed belt driven by feed wheels. Cutter wheels act against a grooved roller to cut along the tear lines of the margin strips. A photocell based counting system counts the perforations which pass the photocell to indicate each time the paper is advanced to position one of the transverse fold lines at a cutting station. Then, the paper is stopped and a cutter wire is pulled through the fold line to separate the leading page from the rest of the paper sheet. Each time a new sheet of paper is loaded, a special control circuit assures that the initial advance of the sheet stops with the leading edge of the paper at the cutting station.

Claims14

Dependent claims

Apparatus for use with a printer which discharges printer paper in a continuous sheet having longitudinal tear lines adjacent the side edges thereof to define perforated margin strips and transverse weakened fold lines about which individual pages of the sheet may be folded, said apparatus comprising:

a frame defining a cutting station;
feed wheel means on the frame for receiving the paper discharged from the printer, said feed wheel means having teeth for entry into the perforations of the margin strips to advance the sheet when said feed wheel means is activated;
take up roller means on the frame downstream from said feed wheel means for receiving and advancing a leading end portion of the sheet to maintain the sheet under tension in extension between the feed wheel means and the take up roller means, said cutting station being located between said feed wheel means and said take up roller means;
power means for driving said feed wheel means and said take up roller means;
a cutter wire having opposite ends;
a rigid cutter bar carrying said cutter wire in a taut condition in which said wire extends generally across a sheet stretched between said feed wheel means and said take up roller means, with said wire having an inclined orientation wherein one end of the wire is closer to the sheet than the other end of the wire;
means for mounting said cutter bar on the frame at said cutting station for movement along a linear path carrying the wire through a cutting stroke in which the wire progressively passes through the plane of a sheet stretched between said feed wheel means and said take up roller means;
means for determining each time the sheet is located with one of the fold lines at said cutting station;
and
means for deactivating said feed wheel means and said take up roller means and for effecting said cutting stroke each time the sheet is located with one of the fold lines at said cutting station, thereby cutting the sheet along each of the fold lines with each cut being made progressively across the sheet by said wire.

7 more elements

Apparatus for use with a printer which discharges printer paper in a continuous sheet having side margin strips presenting equally spaced perforations and equally spaced transverse fold lines about which individual pages of the sheet may be folded, said apparatus comprising:

a frame;
means on said frame for advancing the sheet along a prescribed path;
cutting means located at a cutting station on the frame for cutting transversely through the sheet when activated;
means for counting the number of perforations passing a preselected location along the path to measure the length of the sheet beyond said preselected location, said counting means having a count state that is incremented each time one of the perforations passes said preselected location;
means for resetting said counting means each time the count state of the counting means is at a preset value indicating that a fold line is at the cutting station;
and
control means, operable each time the count state of said counting means reaches said preset value, for deactivating said advancing means for a selected time period and activating said cutting means to cut the sheet along a fold line prior to activating said advancing means again, whereby individual pages are successively separated from the sheet of printer paper.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/892,538Filed 26 May 1992
Granted: 17 Aug 1993
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification29 codes

B26D 1/225
Coacting with a movable member, e.g. a roller: for thin material, e.g. for sheets, strips or the like
B26D 1/5475
Having a wire-like cutting member: for thin material, e.g. for sheets, strips or the like
B26D 5/32
Having the cutting member controlled by scanning a record carrier: with the record carrier formed by the work itself
B26D 5/34
Having the cutting member controlled by scanning a record carrier: scanning being effected by a photosensitive device