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US 7,669,540 B2Granted
Soft goods slitter and feed system for quilting
AssigneeL&P Property Management Company
InventorsAlex Dobrescu, Terrance L. Myers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus is provided for feeding and slitting mattress covers, quilts and other soft goods supported on a table. The apparatus has a first slitting wheel rotatable by a motor. A second slitting wheel is rotatable by the motor and contacts the first slitting wheel to provide a cutting action. The apparatus further includes a conveyor operable by the motor for conveying the soft goods past the slitting wheels, and a compression assembly having an actuator, a gear housing, and powered wheels for compressing the soft goods and holding the soft goods against the conveyor to preventing slippage or twisting.
Claims21
An apparatus for feeding and slitting a stack of compressible soft goods being supported on an upper surface of a table comprising:
- a frame adapted to be mounted adjacent a table;
- a motor;
- a first powered slitting wheel rotatably driven by an input shaft rotatable by the motor;
- a second powered slitting wheel rotatably driven by the motor and contacting the first slitting wheel to provide a cutting action;
- a powered conveyor driven by the motor and adapted to be positioned adjacent the table and comprising a conveyor belt adapted to contact and support a lower surface along an edge of soft goods;
- and
- a compression assembly disposed above the conveyor and adapted to contact an upper surface along an edge of the soft goods, the compression assembly comprising an actuator operatively coupled to the frame, a gear housing operatively coupled to the actuator, gears inside the gear housing, an input gear of said gears being rotatable by the input shaft and rollers for contacting an upper surface of the soft goods and moving the soft goods, said rollers being operatively coupled to an output gear inside the gear housing.
4 more elements
An apparatus for feeding and slitting a stack of compressible soft goods being supported on an upper surface of a table comprising:
- a frame adapted to be mounted adjacent one side of a table;
- a motor supported by the frame for driving an input shaft;
- a first powered slitting wheel rotatably driven by the input shaft;
- a second powered slitting wheel rotatably driven via an output shaft, said output shaft being driven by a gear train powered by said motor, said second powered slitting wheel contacting the first slitting wheel to provide a cutting action;
- a powered conveyor adapted to be positioned adjacent the table and comprising a conveyor belt adapted to contact and support a lower surface along an edge of soft goods;
- and
- a compression assembly disposed above the conveyor and adapted to contact an upper surface along the edge of the soft goods, the compression assembly comprising an actuator operatively coupled to the frame, a gear housing operatively coupled to the actuator, gears inside the gear housing, an input gear of said gears being rotatable by the input shaft and rollers for contacting an upper surface of the soft goods and moving the soft goods, said rollers being operatively coupled to an output gear inside the gear housing.
4 more elements
An apparatus for feeding and slitting soft goods being supported on a table comprising:
- a frame adapted to be mounted adjacent one side of a table;
- a motor;
- a first slitting wheel powered by the motor and rotatably supported by the frame;
- a second slitting wheel powered by the motor and rotatably supported by the frame and contacting the first slitting wheel to provide a cutting action;
- a conveyor powered by the motor and supported by the frame, the conveyor adapted to be positioned adjacent the table and comprising a conveyor belt adapted to contact and support a lower surface along an edge of the soft goods;
- and
- a compression assembly movable between a raised and lowered position, said compression assembly being disposed above the conveyor and adapted to contact an upper surface along the edge of the soft goods, the compression assembly comprising an actuator, a gear housing operatively coupled to the actuator, gears inside the gear housing, one of said gears being rotatable by the input shaft and operatively coupled to another gear for rotating rollers adapted to contact an upper surface of the soft goods and move the soft goods downstream.
4 more elements
An apparatus for feeding and slitting compressible soft goods comprising:
- a stationary table having an upper surface adapted to support the soft goods;
- a rail mounted above the stationary table and extending across a width of the stationary table;
- a first slitter and feed mechanism mounted for sliding motion adjacent one end of the rail;
- a first actuator supported by the rail having a reciprocal drive shaft pivotally connected to the first slitter and feed mechanism;
- a second slitter and feed mechanism mounted for sliding motion adjacent an opposite end of the rail;
- a second actuator supported by the rail and having a reciprocal drive shaft pivotally connected to the second slitter and feed mechanism, the first and second actuators being operable to move respective first and second slitter and feed mechanisms to different positions along the rail and the first and second slitter and feed mechanisms each further comprising
- a frame adapted to be mounted adjacent one side of the stationary table,
- a powered conveyor adapted to be positioned adjacent the stationary table,
- a compression assembly disposed above the conveyor and adapted to contact an upper surface along the edge of the compressible soft goods, the compression assembly comprising an actuator pivotally connected to the frame a gear housing connected to the actuator and at least one roller driven by a shaft rotatable by one of the gears inside the gear housing.
6 more elements
A method of making quilted panels comprising:
- quilting multi-layered soft goods at a quilting station;
- feeding the quilted soft goods to a cutting apparatus;
- at the cutting apparatus, supporting the quilted soft goods on a table having a frame, a motor mounted on the frame, a first slitting wheel powered by the motor and rotatably supported by the frame, a second slitting wheel powered by the motor and rotatably supported by the frame and contacting the first slitting wheel to provide a cutting action, a conveyor powered by the motor and supported by the frame, the conveyor adapted to be positioned adjacent the table and comprising a conveyor belt adapted to contact and support a lower surface along an edge of the soft goods;
- and a compression assembly disposed above the conveyor and adapted to contact an upper surface along the edge of the soft goods, the compression assembly comprising an actuator operatively coupled to the frame, a gear housing operatively coupled to the actuator, gears inside the gear housing, an input gear of said gears being rotatable by the input shaft and rollers for contacting an upper surface of the soft goods and moving the soft goods, said rollers being operatively coupled to an output gear inside the gear housing, and
- energizing the motor to operate the cutting apparatus to feed the quilted soft goods over the table and to slit the opposite edges from the quilted soft goods.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.