Material feeding, aligning cutting and edge finishing system

An apparatus for cutting a segment of sheet material from a supply of sheet material and finishing the segment to produce a segment of sheet material having an edge-finished border, the supply of sheet material having laterally extending bands spaced along its length, and the apparatus comprising:

• a cutting station for cutting the supply of sheet material into segments, said cutting station including cutting means for cutting across the sheet material,
• advancing means for urging the cut edge of the sheet material beyond said cutting station,
• sheet material draw out means for engaging and pulling the cut end of the sheet material along the processing path past said cutting means,
• sensor means positioned upstream in the processing path from said cutting means for determining the approach angle of laterally extending bands in the sheet material,
• means responsive to said sensor means for repositioning the laterally extending bands of the sheet material parallel to the cutting path,
• an edge finishing apparatus for edge finishing the cut segment of sheet material, and
• a transport plate assembly for moving a previously cut segment of sheet material from said cutting station to said edge finishing apparatus,
• whereby said advancing means advances the sheet material to said cutting station where said cutting means cuts along the laterally extending bands of the sheet material to cut a segment of sheet material from the supply of sheet material and said transport plate assembly moves the segment to said edge finishing apparatus wherein the edges of the segment of sheet material are edge-finished.

A method of cutting elongated sheet material parallel to laterally extending bands of the sheet material, as the sheet material is advanced along its length from a supply in a processing path to a cutting station, and edge finishing the perimeter of a cut segment of the sheet material, the method comprising the steps of:

• moving the sheet material along the processing path past the cutting station,
• determining the approach angle of a laterally extending band in the sheet material,
• in response to the approach of the laterally extending band toward the cutting station in a nonparallel orientation thereto, pulling a leading edge of the sheet material such that a lagging side of the material that is lagging behind a leading side of the material is longitudinally advanced along the processing path at a rate of speed greater than that of the leading side until the laterally extending band is realigned to be parallel to the cutting station,
• cutting along the laterally extending band across the sheet material to form a cut segment, and edge finishing the perimeter of the cut segment of sheet material.

A method of finishing work segments of sheet material as the sheet material is moved along a processing path, comprising the steps of:

• advancing the sheet material along its processing path from a supply roll toward a cutting station;
• engaging a portion of the sheet material with a clamp means;
• moving a leading edge of the sheet material through the cutting station with the clamp means;
• engaging the sheet material with a draw out assembly and drawing out an amount of the sheet material to form a work segment;
• and
• cutting the sheet material along a laterally extending band of the material to form a cut work segment.