Claims
- 1. A cutting and creasing press for sheet material including a frame, flat platen-type die means, eccentric shaft means rotatably mounted to said frame and said die means, closed loop conveyor means, sheet gripping means carried by said conveyor means and including sections equally spaced along the path of movement for the conveyor means, said conveyor means having a generally horizontal flight for carrying said gripping means in a feed direction along a generally horizontal feed path extending through a sheet loading station, a sheet unloading station, and a cutting station having said die means positioned thereat said die means having means for full cutting sheet material, said cutting station being positioned between said sheet loading and unloading stations, sheet feeding means for delivering sheets one at a time to said gripping means while the latter moves through said loading station, drive means operatively connected to said eccentric shaft means for rotating the latter at uniform cyclic speed to translate said die means along a circular path positioned for said die means to operatively engage and thereby full cut a sheet moving along said feed path through said cutting station, said drive means also being operatively connected to said conveyor means for moving the latter continuously at a uniform speed that coincides generally with a horizontal component of motion for said die means while the latter is engaged with a sheet moving along said feed path, and sheet support means disposed at said cutting station and means for moving said sheet support means between operative and retracted positions during operation of said drive means, said sheet support means when in said operative position supporting a sheet from below while the latter is not being cut.
- 2. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for moving said support means retracting the latter from said operative position while a sheet is operatively engaged by said die means.
- 3. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 2 also including a rotary lead edge trim separator disposed at said sheet unloading station in operative position to engage cut sheets and separate lead edge trim strips held by said sheet gripping means from remaining portions of said cut sheets.
- 4. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 also including weight means driven by said eccentric shaft means to generate dynamic forces that counterbalance variable cyclic loading of said die means.
- 5. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which there is a biasing means that urges the sheet gripping means toward a closed sheet gripping position; stationary cam means extending upstream from said sheet loading station; follower means operatively connected to said sheet gripping means and engageable with said cam means to maintain said sheet gripping means open while said sheet feeding means is delivering sheets to said gripping means.
- 6. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 also including lead edge trim separator disposed at said sheet unloading station in operative position to engage cut sheets and separate lead edge trim strips held by said sheet gripping means from remaining portions of said cut sheets.
- 7. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 6 in which the lead edge trim separator is a rotary device.
- 8. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which there is a separator disposed at said sheet unloading station in operative position to engage cut sheets and positively separate them from said sheet gripping means.
- 9. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which said feed path also extends through a stripping station located between said cutting station and said unloading station; stripping means disposed at said stripping station and operatively connected with said die means for coordinated operation therewith so that while a relatively upstream sheet is being cut by said die means a relatively downstream sheet is being stripped of waste sections by said stripping means.
- 10. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which said die means includes opposed upper and lower platens disposed above and below the feed path, said eccentric shaft means extending transverse to said feed direction and including parallel first, second, third and fourth shafts rotated at identical speeds by said drive means; said first and second shafts being connected to said upper platen with said first shaft being upstream of said second shaft; said third and fourth shafts being connected to said lower platen with said third shaft being upstream of said fourth shaft; said eccentric shaft means also including first, second, third and fourth eccentric sections driven by the respective first, second, third and fourth shafts; said upper platen having upward extensions substantially inboard of the side edges of said upper platen, and said lower platen having downward extensions substantially inboard of the side edges of said lower platen; said first and second eccentric sections being rotatably mounted to said upward extensions and being operable to move said upper platen, and said third and fourth eccentric sections being rotatably mounted to said downward extensions and being operable to move said lower platens.
- 11. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 10 also including an individual counterbalancing weight means keyed to each of said shafts.
- 12. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 11 constructed with said counterbalancing weight means on said first and second shafts being disposed between transversely spaced sections of said upward extensions, and said counterbalancing weight means on said third and fourth shafts being disposed between transversely spaced sections of said downward extensions.
- 13. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 12 wherein said support means being retracted from said operative position while a sheet is operatively engaged by said die means.
- 14. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 12 in which there is a biasing means that urges the sheet gripping means toward a closed sheet gripping position; stationary cam means extending upstream from said sheet loading station; follower means operatively connected to said sheet gripping means and engageable with said cam means to maintain said sheet gripping means open while said sheet feeding means is delivering sheets to said gripping means.
- 15. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 12 also including a rotary lead edge trim separator disposed at said sheet unloading station in operative position to engage cut sheets and separate lead edge trim strips held by said sheet gripping means from remaining portions of said cut sheets.
- 16. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 10 also including means driven by said eccentric shaft means to generate dynamic forces that counterbalance variable cyclic loading of said die means.
- 17. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 also including means driven by said eccentric shaft means to generate dynamic forces that counterbalance variable cyclic loading of said die means.
- 18. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which there is a biasing means that urges the sheet gripping means toward a closed sheet gripping position; stationary cam means extending upstream from said sheet loading station; follower means operatively connected to said sheet gripping means and engageable with said cam means to maintain said sheet gripping means open while said sheet feeding means is delivering sheets to said gripping means.
- 19. A cutting and creasing press as set forth in claim 1 in which there is a separator disposed at said sheet unloading station in operative position to engage cut sheets and positively separate them from said sheet gripping means.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 516,289, filed July 22, 1983 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Foreign Referenced Citations (7)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1038890 |
Aug 1966 |
GBX |
1304126 |
Jan 1973 |
GBX |
2049530 |
Dec 1980 |
GBX |
2078591 |
Jan 1982 |
GBX |
2078593 |
Jan 1982 |
GBX |
2085791 |
May 1982 |
GBX |
2099745 |
Dec 1982 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
516289 |
Jul 1983 |
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