Stationary and indexable cutter

A cutting device for cutting at least one of opposite first and second walls of an elongate tubular element during intermittent dwells in movement axially along a feed path comprising:

• a support member which is disposed laterally adjacent said feed path and is movable toward and away from said tubular element along a cutting path which extends transverse to the feed path;
• and
• at least one cutter assembly secured to said support member and including at least one circular indexable cutting blade and rotation support means for supporting said cutting blade for rotation about a rotation axis, said cutting blade having first and second axially facing sides and a peripheral cutting edge disposed around a circumference thereof, said cutting blade including a first pattern of a plurality of notches and a second pattern of a plurality of notches, said cutter assembly further including at least one locking member seatingly received into a selected first notch of said first pattern or a selected second notch of said second pattern, said at least one locking member when seated in said selected first notch of said first pattern effecting an orienting of a first selected arcuate segment of said cutting edge in an active cutting position whereat said first arcuate segment is positioned to contact one of said first and second walls of said elongate tubular walls and effect a cutting of said one of said first and second walls of said elongate tubular member in response to a relative movement between said first selected arcuate segment of said cutting edge and said one of said first and second walls of said elongate tubular member;
• cutting blade adjustment means for facilitating a reciprocal movement of said at least one locking member to cause an extraction thereof from said selected first notch of said first pattern to thereby enable said cutting blade to freely rotate about said rotation axis until a selected third notch of said first pattern is aligned with said at least one locking member and to cause an insertion of said locking member into and become seated in said selected third notch of said first pattern to effect an orienting of a second selected arcuate segment of said cutting edge, arcuately spaced a finite distance from said first arcuate segment, in the active cutting position;
• said rotation support means including a selective manual operating means for facilitating a selective orienting of said at least one locking member out of alignment with said selected first notch of said first pattern and into alignment and engagement with said selected second notch of said second pattern;
• and
• said seated locking member in said selected second notch of said second pattern effecting an orienting of a third selected arcuate segment of said cutting edge in the active cutting position, said third selected arcuate segment of said cutting edge being located in said space between said first and second arcuate segments of said cutting edge to thereby optimize circumferential usage of said cutting edge.