The present invention relates to punches and apparatus for perforating film material such as polyethylene film or other films made of plastic resin. The invention is more particularly directed to an improved punch or slitter-punch and adapter combination. The invention is specifically directed to a hold-down clamp for holding the plastic film steady as the punch acts to form a hole, and which raises to release the film when the punch head is raised.
Blades, punches, and cutters for forming holes and slits in plastic film material are described in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,748,920 and 4,723,466 of Earl T. Pottorff. There, a self-sharpening hole punch formed of a low-friction, semi-rigid material, such as a polymer or a similar plastic resin. The hole punch has a thread at its upper end for screw mounting onto reciprocating apparatus, which may be actuated by a pneumatic cylinder. Slit cutters are separately mounted on the reciprocating mechanism and spaced a small distance from the hole punch to create a gap in the film between the resulting hole and slit.
A so-called quick-slip punch adapter for a plastic bag making machine is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,035,165 and 5,114,394. In that arrangement, a slitter blade is held in a clamp that also fastens to the shaft or rod that holds a hole cutter. However, the slitter blade is a separate element and has to be changed out separately from the hole punch. Also, this requires the operator to employ tools to remove the worn blades and punches, and to replace them with fresh ones. This operation can take several minutes for each hole punch and slitter blade. As there are several of these on each bag machine, considerable down time may be required to replace the worn blades and cutters.
Also, when the space between the slitter blade and the hole punch is to be changed, this must be done by hand and the gap between the slitter and the hole punch must be carefully measured. Moreover, the slitter blade itself has always been made of steel, and suffers the problems of dulling and wear that characterize steel cutting heads, which problem is discussed in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,748,920 and 4,723,466. Consequently, the industry has long sought a solution to the problem of how to effect rapid change out of both hole punch and slitter blade, how to effect proper alignment of the parts in the desired spacing, and how to increase the wear life of the parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,710 discloses a slitter and hole punch and quick change adapter combination which fits a bag machine or similar equipment for punching holes and slits in a web of plastic film material. In that arrangement, a hole punch and a slitter blade are unitarily formed on a base member. Left and right resilient arms extend from distal to proximal, and have free ends that project proximally of the base member. The quick adapter can be an extruded block with a T-channel formed on a lower side with a passage or gap to accommodate the hole punch and the slitter blade. The T-channel has inwardly directed flanges that create side recesses to accommodate the resilient arms of the slitter-and-hole-punch. The side recesses have cooperating hollows to receive detents of the associated resilient arm. The slitter-and-hole-punch can be slid in and out of the T-slot, and when slid in, the detents on the resilient arms keep it in position. The slitter-and-hole-punch can be changed out in a few seconds by hand. The punches can be color coded for barrel diameter, gap size, etc.
A combination of a slitter punch with a hold-down plate arrangement is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/713,392, now abandoned. This arrangement includes means for clamping the film in place momentarily while the punch mechanism is fired, and then releasing the film immediately thereafter. In the arrangement described in that patent application, there is one air cylinder used for driving the punch, and two additional cylinders needed for driving the clamping plate. The actuation of the various cylinders is synchronized in that case by selecting the clamp plate cylinders to be of smaller size than the cylinder that drives the punch cutting head.
In other designs, a spring is used to bias between the cutting head and the frame on which the hold-down plate is mounted. This arrangement drives the hold down plate against the base plate or backing plate with the downward motion of the cutting head. The result is that the spring is compressed on each downward stroke, and this can lead to spring failure due to fatigue. In addition, the spring bias is directed against the cutting motion of the cutting head, which slows down the motion of the cutting head during a punching operation. As a result the air cylinder has to be oversized by an amount to counter this spring force.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cutter or cutter and slitter arrangement that includes suitable clamping means to assist in the punching operation thus creating a cleaner punched hole or slit, and which avoids the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide film punch and hold-down clamp which avoids the major cause of spring failure, and which has the spring oriented so that the spring force assists in accelerating the punch head.
It is a further object to provide a combination punch and hold-down film clamp that is of simple design and can enjoy a long life and low maintenance costs.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a slitter-and-hole-punch is provided with a film hold-down clamp that actuates to hold the plastic film in place a short interval before the cutting head or punch reaches the film, and which ascends to release the film when the head rises. Several possible embodiments can be used in connection with a bag machine or similar apparatus where holes and slits must be created in a web of film material. The apparatus employs an apertured backing plate on which the film is supported and a reciprocating mechanism for holding the slitter punch cutting head in registered alignment with the film and with one or more corresponding apertures in the backing plate. The reciprocating mechanism uses a double acting air cylinder or the equivalent for moving the slitter punch cutting head in the up/down or vertical direction (i.e., substantially normal to the backing plate). In a favorable arrangement, the slitter-and-hole-punch is a unitarily formed member, e.g., molded of a durable semi-rigid plastic resin, and includes a base member, a hole punch, a slitter blade, and left and right resilient arms unitarily formed at left and right sides of the base member. The hole punch and the slitter blade are each unitarily formed with the base member and extend downward (in the direction towards the apertured plate) with the slitter blade being positioned distally of the hole punch. The left and right resilient arms extend from distal to proximal, and have free ends that project proximally of the base member. Each resilient arm has a detent member formed on it. The base and resilient arms define a generally bar-shaped profile across the proximal-distal direction thereof. The slitter-punch can be configured as disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 6,148,710, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The quick adapter for holding the punch or slitter-punch head can be in the form of a block having threads for attaching to the rod of the air cylinder. An assortment of hole-punch units and slitter-and-hole-punch units can be provided with different diameter hole punches and with different size gaps between the slitter blade and the hole punch. Because these units are molded of plastic, they can be color-coded by gap size, or by the size of the barrel of the hole punch, or both. The color coding also permits the operator to visually check the gap size or punch size without having to stop the machine to measure.
A clamp arrangement or hold-down clamp is included as a part of the punch mechanism. The reciprocating mechanism, namely, the double acting cylinder on which the adapter is mounted is pneumatically actuated via a first air inlet to produce an upward motion to raise the cutting head, and is pneumatically actuated via a second air inlet to produce a downward punching motion. A coil compression spring is mounted below the cylinder and rests against the upper part of the frame of the hold-down clamp. This spring is pre-biased to urge the hold-down clamp towards the backing plate. When the air cylinder is actuated to lift the cutting head, the quick adapter block, on which the cutting head is mounted, coacts with the frame of the hold-down clamp to compress the spring. Then when air pressure is applied to the second air inlet to drive the cutting head downward, the spring urges the clamp against the film, and thereafter the cutting head continues the punching motion without interference from the hold-down clamp. The initial action of the spring drives both the clamp and the cutting head downward, which initially accelerates the punch and aids in the punching operation. A small rubber cushion can be employed between the upper part of the quick adapter block and the occluding surface of the hold down clamp frame, which quiets the punching operation. Also a vertical guide mechanism can be employed to maintain the position of the hold-down clamp, including a tab or flange extending outward from the back of the clamp frame, and a vertical channel member in which the tab or flange can ride.
The punches can be slitter punches, which form a hole and a slit simultaneously, or they may be configured as slitters, perforators, multiple hole punches, or single hole punches, oval punches, or punches to create other geometrical shapes. Also, while terms of orientation, such as vertical, downward, left and right are used in respect to the embodiment described below, it should be appreciated that such terms are used for simplifying the description, and that the principles of this invention would be the same regardless of the positional orientation of the apparatus.
The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of an exemplary embodiment, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying Drawing.
With reference to the Drawing,
As further shown in
A rapid action punch assembly 41 according to one embodiment of this invention is shown if
The punch head assembly 50 has a mounting block or plate 51 that is threaded onto the lower end of the cylinder rod 47, and a replaceable plastic cutting head 52, which can be of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,710, for example. A hold-down clamp arrangement includes a frame or housing 53 that surrounds the punch head assembly 50, and has an upper portion that contacts against the lower end of the coil compression spring 49. A clamp plate 54 is supported in the frame 53 at the lower end thereof beneath the punch head assembly 50, and this plate 54 has an aperture 55 that aligns with the cutting head 52 and also with the aperture 44 in the backing plate 43. The spring 49 biases the frame 53 and clamp plate 54 downwards towards the backing plate 43, while upward motion of the punch assembly 50 lifts the hold down clamp plate 54 and compresses the spring 49. A waste tube 56 is shown beneath the backing plate to receive disks or cutouts of film that are punched from the film 11 by the cutting head 52.
There is an opening in the front side of the frame 53, visible in
As shown schematically in
As also shown in
There are many equivalents to the foregoing preferred embodiment, which may be employed depending on the manufacturing requirement. For example, the double action actuator could be a hydraulic cylinder, or an electromagnetic or electromechanical actuator. Also, the compression spring could be a leaf spring or other known spring, depending on the design of the bag machine.
While this invention has been described in detail with reference to a selected preferred embodiments, it should be recognized that the invention is not limited to those embodiments. Rather, many modifications and variations will present themselves to persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040050230 A1 | Mar 2004 | US |