Panel cutting apparatus

Abstract

A rotary cutting assembly is provided for cutting a panel from an envelope blank or the like. The die holder has an outer surface and a plurality of surface orifices radially communicating with corresponding feed tubes for supplying vacuum or air to the surface and into the vicinity of the envelope blank. A novel air delivery assembly is provided for delivering vacuum and/or air to the die holder comprising a stationary plate disposed at least at one end of the die holder and defining a groove member for selectively supplying vacuum and/or air so that when rotation of die holder aligns the longitudinal feed tubes with the groove member a supply of vacuum or air is selectively supplied at the surface orifices of the die holder. Another embodiment of the die holder may have an outer surface having a extending along the longitudinal axis for detachably receiving the leading end of the cutting die and a plurality of magnetic members disposed in the die holder surface for attracting the cutting die. In order to maximize the number of orifices while minimizing the number of magnetic members, it is preferred that the magnetic members be disposed in a plurality of rows wherein each row contains alternating magnets and orifices and a row of orifices are disposed between each adjacent row of magnets. A novel valve assembly is provided for controlling the flow of air to the surface orifices.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.