Claims
- 1. A method for forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material and the like from a web thereof comprising the steps of:
- A. supplying a web of material to a cutting station and transporting an edge of the web for a predetermined distance (L) beyond the cutting station above a sheet receiving surface;
- B. stopping longitudinal movement of the web and captivating the web downstream from and adjacent to the cutting station;
- C. cutting the web in a direction generally transverse to the direction of longitudinal movement of the web to provide a captivated sheet of predetermined length (L);
- D. repeating the conveying, restraining and captivating, and cutting steps until a predetermined number (N) of captivated sheets have been accumulated in a stack; and
- E. releasing the captivation of the stack of accumulated sheets.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the web is longitudinally stopped by clamping the web at a station before the cutting station and captivating the web at a location past the cutting station.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the web is captivated by penetrating the web with a penetrating means at a location adjacent to and downstream from the cutting station.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the captivation is provided by forcing the web into penetrating contact with a plurality of pins.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein said web is captivated by advancing a body into contact with the web for causing the web to be forced into contact with and to be impaled on a plurality of captivating pins.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said pins are upstanding and said body includes a web contact surface having clearance adapted for receiving a length of each of said plurality of pins thereby forcing said web into engagement with said pins upon penetration of said pins through said web with said pins being received by said clearance in said body.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web has a width of predetermined dimension and including the step of cutting the web longitudinally into a plurality of widths of relatively smaller dimension at a location before the cutting station whereby a plurality of cut sheets are simultaneously produced by said transverse cutting at the cutting station.
- 8. The method of claim 1 wherein said web material is provided in a roll of microfoam plastic material and is supplied to the cutting station by drawing the web between pinchroll means and unwinding the web of material.
- 9. The method of claim 1 including the step of automatically trimming the web to a uniform width during unwinding of the web.
- 10. Apparatus for cutting and stacking a plurality of sheets of microfoam and similar material comprising:
- A. a web cutting means positioned at a cutting station for cutting the web transversely to its length;
- B. means for supplying the web of the material to be cut to the cutting station and for conveying an end portion of the web a predetermined distance (L) past the cutting station;
- C. means for restraining longitudinal movement of the web at a location before the cutting station and for captivating the web at a location past and adjacent to the cutting station;
- D. means for supporting a cut sheet of the captivated material;
- E. control means for causing the release of the longitudinal restraint and for repeatedly supplying, cutting and captivating sheets in order to accumulate a predetermined number (N) of sheets in an aligned, captivated stack; and
- F. means for releasing said captivated stack.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for captivating the web comprises a web penetrating means for forcing the web into engagement with said penetrating means for causing captivating penetration of said web before the web is transversely cut by said web cutting means.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said penetrating means is maintained stationary during penetration and said forcing means causes movement of the web into captivating engagement with the stationary penetrating means.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said captivating means comprises an array of aligned pins extending in a direction generally normal to the direction of longitudinal movement of the web and said means for forcing the web into engagement with said penetrating means comprises an elongated body having a surface adapted to a contact, said web having means formed therein for providing clearance for the portions of said pins which have penetrated through said web.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for spplying said web to said cutting station comprising a pair of first and second pinch rollers, a drive shaft, said first pinch roller being mounted on said drive shaft, a first gear mounted on said drive shaft for rotation therewith, said second pinch roller being mounted on a second rotatable shaft, a gear mounted on said second shaft for rotation therewith, third and fourth gear means for intercoupling said first and second gears whereby the rotation of said drive shaft causes rotation of said second gear and said second pinch roller, and an adjustable bearing block means for varying the position of said second shaft relative to the position of said drive shaft for adjusting the spacing between said pinch rollers.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 10, including a knife means positioned upstream from the web cutting means for cutting a web into a plurality of widths of relatively smaller dimension for simultaneously producing a plurality of cut sheets by said web cutting means at said cutting station.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 10 including means for conveying the released stack from the cutting station comprising a conveyor belt for receiving said stack of sheets and conveyor belt means for engaging an upper part of said stack.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 10 including elevating means for elevating the web as it is transported through the cutting station.
- 18. The method of forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material as claimed in claim 1, wherein said web is a multiple-layered web and including the steps of providing each layer of said multiple-layered web from a different roll of microfoam plastic material, unwinding the plastic material from the respective rolls and bringing the plastic material into juxtaposed relationship for forming said multiple-layered web which is supplied to the cutting station.
- 19. The method of forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material as claimed in claim 1, in which the web is captivated downstream from the cutting station by impaling the web on a plurality of pins which are located at respective positions spaced transversely with respect to the web.
- 20. The method for forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material as claimed in claim 19, in which the web is impaled upon said pins by positioning said pins in parallel relationship with their points extending upwardly, and forcing the web downwardly into penetrating contact with the pins.
- 21. The method for forming a stack of sheets of foam plastic material as claimed in claim 20, including the steps of positioning cutting means at the cutting station extending transversely with respect to the web, and continuing to force the web downwardly to come into cutting relationship with said cutting means subsequent to said penetrating contact with the pins, whereby the web is captivated downstream from the cutting station by penetrating contact with the pins before being cut into sheets.
- 22. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of stacks of cut sheets of foam plastic material are formed including the steps of initially supplying a relatively wide web of foam plastic material, cutting said web longitudinally into a plurality of webs of relatively smaller widths upstream from the cutting station, captivating each of said plurality of webs of relatively smaller width at a location downstream from and near to the cutting station by impaling each of said webs on a plurality of pins, and subsequent to said impaling cutting said captivated webs transversely at the cutting station, thereby to hold each of the resultant cut sheets neatly aligned in captivated relationship by being impaled by said pins, whereby a plurality of neat stacks of captivated cut sheets are accumulated by repeating said steps.
- 23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein a plurality of stacks of cut sheets of foam plastic material are formed, in which the neat stacks of cut sheets are all simultaneously released from captivation, and conveying said neat stacks away from the cutting station by simultaneously conveying both the top and bottom of each stack for maintaining alignment of the sheets in each stack during motion away from the cutting station.
- 24. Improved apparatus for cutting and stacking a plurality of sheets of microfoam material as claimed in claim 10, in which said web cutting means for cutting web transversely is a cutting element extending transversely with respect to the microfoam material, and said means for cativating the microfoam material includes a plurality of pins positioned at points spaced transversely with respect to the width of the material and located downstream from said cutting element, and means for moving said pins relative to the microfoam material for impaling the material on said pins before the material is cut by said cutting element.
- 25. Improved apparatus for cutting and stacking a plurality of sheets of microfoam material as claimed in claim 24, in which said pins project vertically upwardly and have their points at a higher elevation than said cutting element when the microfoam material is impaled thereon, said means for moving said pins relative to the microfoam material are movable in an upward and a downward stroke, and during the downward stroke pushes material downwardly into impaling relationship with the points of the pins for captivating the material downstream from said cutting element and thereafter pushes the material downwardly against said cutting element.
- 26. Improved apparatus for cutting and stacking a plurality of sheets of microfoam material as claimed in claim 25, in which said cutting element is a horizontal knife blade mounted for transverse reciprocation, and reciprocating drive means coupled to said knife for moving it back and forth for cutting the microfoam material.
- 27. Apparatus for automatically cutting a web of flexible material transversely to its length for cutting off the end portion of the web and for stacking the plurality of sheets formed by repeating such cutting comprising:
- A. web cutting means positioned at a cutting station for cutting the web transversely to its length;
- B. means for feeding a web of the material to be cut through the cutting station with an end portion of the web moving a predetermined distance (L) downstream from the cutting station;
- C. means for stopping the feeding of the web when said end portion is at said predetermined distance downstream from the cutting station;
- D. captivating means positioned downstream from the cutting station and located closer to the cutting station than said predetermined distance for captivating the end portion of the web;
- E. control means for causing said captivating means to captivate the end portion of the web and for causing said cutting means to cut off the end portion of the web after captivation thereof and for causing a repeated sequence of the feeding, stopping, captivating and cutting; and
- F. means for releasing the resulting cut stack of sheets from captivation.
- 28. Apparatus as claimed in claim 27, in which:
- said captivating means includes a plurality of upright pins having sharpened points and being arranged in a row extending transversely to the direction of feeding of the web and positioned closely adjacent to the cutting station.
- 29. Apparatus as claimed in claim 28, in which:
- said means for feeding the web through the cutting station includes means for conveying the end portion of the web over the sharpened points of said pins.
- 30. Apparatus as claimed in claim 29, in which:
- said captivating means includes means for impaling the web onto said pins prior to the cutting of the web.
- 31. Apparatus as claimed in claim 30, in which:
- said means which impales the web upon said pins thereafter pushes the web against the cutting means.
- 32. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 27, 28, 29, 30 or 31, in which:
- longitudinal cutting means are positioned upstream from the cutting station for cutting the web longitudinally prior to its being cut transversely for forming multiple stacks of cut captivated sheets.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of prior copending application Ser. No. 832,192, filed on Sept. 12, 1977, now abandoned, from which priority is being claimed.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
1765270 |
Hensley et al. |
Jun 1930 |
|
3101638 |
Rhicard et al. |
Aug 1963 |
|
3555977 |
Saumsiegle |
Jan 1971 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
11138 OF |
Jan 1912 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
832192 |
Sep 1977 |
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