Cutter for a measured length of sheet material

Apparatus for cutting a length of sheet material from a supply of the sheet material comprising:

• a carriage;
• an unrolling device on the carriage for unrolling a supply roll of the sheet material, the unrolling device being driven such that a front edge of the sheet material is supplied from the roll;
• a table surface on the carriage for receiving the sheet from the unrolling cradle such that the sheet passes longitudinally across the table when fed from the unrolling device;
• a sheet driving roller on the carriage for driving the sheet from the unrolling device across the table;
• a metering wheel on the carriage arranged to roll on the sheet as it passes from the unrolling cradle and across the table surface for measuring a length of the sheet supplied from the unrolling device;
• a de-activation detector responsive to de-activation of the metering wheel;
• a cutting knife mounted at the table surface and movable transversely across the table surface to slit the sheet at a position along the sheet to form a cut portion of the sheet having a required length;
• a re-rolling cradle on the carriage for receiving the front edge and the cut portion and driven to roll the cut portion from the front edge into a roll for supply of the cut portion;
• a material detector mounted in a path of movement of the sheet material from the unrolling device to the re-rolling cradle for detecting passage of a front edge of the sheet material and the presence of the sheet material;
• a printer for printing a label recording a length of the sheet material as measured by the metering wheel;
• and a control unit responsive to the detection of the front edge by the material detector to commence measuring of the length by the metering wheel to provide a measured length of the material;
• the control unit being responsive to the de-activation sensor and arranged to prevent printing of a label recording the length, in the event that the de-activation sensor detects a de-activation during measuring of the length.