Apparatus for opening paper bobbins

An apparatus for opening a roll of a material of a selected width, the roll being formed from the material wound along a longitudinal axis in a spiral, the roll having a plurality of layers of material, and the roll having a center, sides, outer layer, diameter and surface, the apparatus comprising:

• a layer separating device having displaceable friction pads which engage the surface of the roll and are drawn together convergingly to form an arch from the outer layer of the roll,
• a substantially flat blade which travels along a path and is mounted in a blade holder which is connected to a first adjustable displacement device, which first displacement device positions the flat blade at a selected location along the diameter of the roll between the center of the roll and the outer layer, said blade holder also being connected to a second displacement device which advances the blade along the path to intersect the roll between the layers of material from the side, which path of travel substantially completely intersects the width of the roll of material between two layers at a position between the center and surface of the roll where the arch is formed, and
• a cutting blade which traverses the width of the roll independently of the substantially flat blade to sever the material between the flat blade and the surface of the roll with a cutting stroke and ends the cutting stroke by contacting the flat blade, wherein the substantially flat blade remains stationary relative to the transverse movement of the cutting device.