Rotary cutter
AssigneeMueller Martini Holding AG
InventorStefan Liebheit
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotary cutter comprises a first knife located on a knife shaft having a longitudinal axis, a second knife spaced from the first knife by an adjustable cutting gap, a control unit including a drive for turning at least one of the first knife or the second knife, and an adjusting mechanism for moving at least one of the first knife or the second knife in the direction of the longitudinal axis to adjust the cutting gap. The adjusting mechanism comprises a first signal transmitter for detecting a zero position of the first and second knives; a second signal transmitter for detecting the cutting position of the first and second knives; and an adjustment drive coupled to the first and second signal transmitters for movement of at least one of the first or second knives from the zero position to the cutting position.
Claims15
A rotary cutter, comprising:
- a first knife located on a knife shaft having a longitudinal axis;
- a second knife spaced from the first knife by an adjustable cutting gap;
- a control unit including a drive for turning one of the first knife or the second knife, with the other one of the first knife or the second knife separated from the one knife and remaining rotationally stationary;
- and
- an adjusting mechanism for moving at least one of the first knife or the second knife in the direction of the longitudinal axis to adjust the cutting gap, the adjusting mechanism comprising:
- a first signal transmitter for detecting a zero position of the first and second knives by detecting an initial rotation from a stationary position of the other one of the first and second knife imparted by frictional contact of the first knife with the second knife;
- a second signal transmitter for detecting a cutting position of the first and second knives;
- and
- an adjustment drive coupled to the first and second signal transmitters for movement of at least one of the first knife or second knife from the zero position to the cutting position.
A method of operating a rotary cutter, the rotary cutter including a first knife located on a knife shaft having a longitudinal axis;
- a second knife spaced from the first knife by an adjustable cutting gap;
- an adjusting mechanism for moving at least one of the first knife or the second knife in the direction of the longitudinal axis to adjust the cutting gap, the adjusting mechanism including a first signal transmitter for detecting initial rotation of the other one of the first and second knife;
- a second signal transmitter for detecting a cutting position of the first and second knives;
- and an adjustment drive coupled to the first and second signal transmitters for movement of at least one of the first knife or second knife to the cutting position, the method comprising:
- positioning the first knife and the second knife a distance away from each other one;
- rotating one of the first knife or the second knife, with the other one of the first knife or second knife remaining rotationally stationary;
- moving one of the first knife or the second knife, with the aid of the adjustment mechanism, in the direction of the longitudinal axis, so that the first knife and second knife approach one another;
- detecting, with use of the first signal transmitter, a zero position by detecting the initial rotation of the other one of the first knife or the second knife upon frictional contact of the first knife with the second knife;
- moving at least one of the first knife or the second knife, with the aid of the adjustment drive, from the zero position to the cutting position;
- and
- detecting the cutting position of the first knife and the second knife by the second signal transmitter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.