Fiberglass cutting apparatus and method

An apparatus for cutting a fiberglass filament hull to form fiberglass staple fibers comprising:

• a) a cutting roller having a rotatable shaft with a plurality of spaced, circular, cutting blades mounted thereon;
• b) a pressure roller positioned parallel to said cutting roller and forming a nip therewith, said pressure roller including spaced circumferential blade receiving grooves, with the periphery of said blades extending in non-engaging relation into said grooves;
• c) means for compressing and feeding said hull into the nip of said cutting and pressure rollers with the filaments in said hull being oriented substantially transverse to said blades;
• and
• d) drive means for rotating said cutting and pressure rollers toward each other, said cutting roller being rotated at a greater speed than said pressure roller, whereby said filaments are held against said cutting roller by said pressure roller, and cut into staple fiber lengths by engagement with said blades.

A method of cutting a plurality of fiberglass filaments to form fiberglass staple fibers comprising:

• a) providing a cutting roller having a rotatable shaft with a plurality of parallel, spaced circular cutting blades mounted thereon;
• b) providing a pressure roller positioned parallel to said cutting roller and forming a nip therewith;
• c) conveying said filaments transversely into engagement with the outer periphery of said blades and into said nip while rotating said cutting and pressure rollers toward each other;
• and
• d) holding said filaments against the periphery of said blades during cutting.

A method for cutting a fiberglass filament hull to form fiberglass staple fibers comprising:

• a) providing a cutting roller having a rotatable shaft with a plurality of equally spaced, circular, cutting blades mounted thereon;
• b) providing a pressure roller positioned parallel to said cutting roller and forming a nip therewith, said pressure roller including equally spaced circumferential grooves, with the periphery of said blades extending in non-engaging relation into said grooves;
• c) flattening said hull while conveying said hull into the nip of said cutting and pressure rollers;
• and
• d) rotating said cutting and pressure rollers away from said hull, said cutting roller being rotated at a greater speed than said pressure roller, whereby the filaments of said hull are held against said cutting roller by said pressure roller, and are cut into staple fiber lengths by engagement with the outer periphery of said blades.