The present invention relates to a trimming apparatus, and more particularly to a multi-functional trimming apparatus to optionally impart a complete or intermittent cut line or a folding line to a paper or a sheet material so that the resulting paper or sheet material can be divided or tore apart or folded easily along the cut line.
As is well known, a paper cutter is a trimming apparatus for efficiently cutting paper into small sheets. Please refer to
The paper cutter mentioned above is specifically used to divide the paper completely. For the case that paper intermittently cut to be easily torn off with hand later or paper marked with a folding line to be easily folded with hand is required, another kind of trimmer will be needed for that specific requirement. Thus, it is cost- and space-inefficient.
Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to develop a multi-functional trimming apparatus to deal with the above situations encountered in the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-functional trimming apparatus for optionally trimming paper or any other cutable sheet material in different trimming ways.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blade carriage for use with a trimming apparatus. The blade carriage accommodates therein a variety of trimming tools optionally provided for the trimming apparatus to perform various trimming functions.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a trimming apparatus for variously trimming a sheet material. The trimming apparatus includes a base for placing the sheet material thereon, a rail mounted on the base, a first trimming element for trimming the sheet material in a first manner, a second trimming element for trimming the sheet material in a second manner, a carriage movably engaging with the rail, having a first and a second portions coupled to the first and second trimming elements, respectively, and having a third portion for being exerted thereon a driving force to move along the rail, thereby carrying a selected one of the first and second trimming elements to cross over the sheet material.
For example, the sheet material can be paper or cloth or any other suitable sheet material such as a metal foil.
In an embodiment, the first trimming element is a sharp blade and the first manner is complete cutting. The second trimming element is a gear-shaped blade and the second manner is intermittent cutting.
In another embodiment, the first trimming element is a sharp blade and the first manner is complete cutting, and the second trimming element is a blunt blade and the second manner is folding-line making.
Preferably, the trimming apparatus further includes a third trimming element coupled to a fourth portion of the carriage for trimming the sheet material in a third manner in response to the movement of the carriage. For example, the three trimming elements can be a sharp blade, a gear-shaped blade and a blunt blade.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a trimming apparatus for variously trimming a sheet material. The trimming apparatus includes a base for placing the sheet material thereon, a rail mounted on the base, a carriage having a receptacle and movably engaging with the rail to have the sheet material cut in a desired manner, and a plurality of trimming elements with different trimming functions, disposed in the receptacle of the carriage, and selected to be in contact with the sheet material by manipulating the carriage.
Preferably, the carriage includes a top cover having therein a plurality of sustaining elements corresponding to the plurality of trimming elements, respectively, and a housing cooperating with the top cover to define the receptacle and having a plurality of grooves for accommodating the trimming elements, respectively. Each of the grooves has an opening for allowing a selected one of the trimming elements to protrude therefrom in response to a sustaining force of a corresponding one of the sustaining elements.
In an embodiment, the carriage is manipulated by rotating the top cover relative to the housing to align the corresponding one of the sustaining elements with the selected one of the trimming elements to provide the sustaining force for the selected trimming element.
Preferably, the carriage further includes a plurality of holding elements for holding the trimming elements, disposed in the grooves of the housing, respectively, and optionally moving down to expose the selected trimming element from a corresponding one of the openings by being exerted thereon the sustaining force, and a plurality of elastic elements disposed in the grooves and arranged between the holding elements and the openings, respectively, for providing an elastic force to retract the holding elements with the trimming elements which are not exerted thereon the sustaining force back to the receptacle.
Preferably, the sustaining elements include a first sustaining element located at a first side of the carriage, and having a rising incline ending at a first peak in a specific direction, a second sustaining element disposed at a second side opposite to the first side, and having a falling incline beginning with a second peak in the specific direction, and a third sustaining element consisting of a pair of sustaining blocks symmetrically disposed between the first and second sides, each of the sustaining blocks having an intermediate peak portion and two lateral incline portions. The positions of the first peak of the first sustaining element, the second peak of the second sustaining element, and the peak portions of the third sustaining element are arranged to sustain respective holding elements at different time points while rotating the top cover, thereby pushing essentially one of the trimming elements out of the corresponding one of the openings at one time.
Preferably, the trimming elements include a first blade having a sharp portion for trimming the sheet material to have a complete cut line while moving cross the sheet material, a second blade having a gear-shaped blade including sharp teeth at an equidistant interval for trimming the sheet material to have an intermittent cut line while rolling cross the sheet material, and a third blade having a blunt portion for trimming the sheet material to have a folding line while moving cross the sheet material.
Preferably, the top cover and the housing are both of a circular shape, and the grooves are aligned along a diameter of the housing.
For example, the specific direction can be clockwise or counterclockwise.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carriage for use with a trimming apparatus for carrying a selected trimming element to cross over a sheet material to have a trimming line. The carriage includes a top cover having a sustaining device therein, and a housing accommodating therein at least two holding elements for holding a first and a second trimming elements, wherein one of the first and second trimming elements is pushed out of the housing by the sustaining device to serve as the selected trimming element according to a desired trimming way.
Preferably, the first trimming element is a sharp blade for trimming the sheet material to have a complete cut line. The second trimming element is preferably one of a gear-shaped blade and a blunt blade for trimming the sheet material to have one of an intermittent cut line and a folding line, respectively.
In an embodiment, the carriage further includes a first and a second holding elements for holding the first and second trimming elements, respectively, and optionally moving down to expose the selected trimming element in response to a sustaining force of the sustaining device. Preferably, the sustaining device include a first sustaining element located at a first side of the carriage, and having a rising incline ending at a first peak in a specific direction, and a second sustaining element disposed at a second side opposite to the first side, and having a falling incline beginning with a second peak in the specific direction. The first and second holding elements are optionally pushed outwards by the first and second peaks at different time points by rotating the top cover relative to the housing.
The present invention may best be understood through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
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The functions of the above elements are described with reference to
When the top cover 231 is rotated one cycle relative to the housing 232, the first and second sustaining elements 2311 and 2312 and the pair of sustaining blocks 2313 of the top cover 231 sustain the holding elements 2331, 2333 and 2332 at different time points, thereby pushing only a selected one of the blade portions 2410, 2420 and 2430 out of the corresponding opening 2324, 2325 or 2326 at one time. For example, when the user likes to cut the paper completely, the top cover 231 is rotated counterclockwise to have the holding element 2331 climb the incline 23110 of the first sustaining element 2311 up to the peak 23111. Due to the presence of the elastic element 2341, the sustaining element 2311 will sustain against the holding element 2331 all the time. When the holding element 2331 reaches the peak 23111 of the sustaining element 2311, the sharp blade 241 held by the holding element 2331 will be pushed out of the opening 2324. At the moment, the holding element 2333 with the blunt blade 243 is rotated to go down the incline 23120 from the peak 23121, and thus the blade 243 is retracted back to receptacle 25 by the elastic force provided by the elastic element 2343, and will not expose from the opening 2326. Meanwhile, the peaks 23130 of the sustaining blocks 2313 will temporarily sustain against and then slip away from the corresponding holding element 2332 via the lateral inclines 23131, so the gear-shaped blade 242 will not protrude from the opening 2325 finally due to the retracting force of the elastic element 2342. In other words, there is only one trimming element, i.e. the sharp blade 241, protruding downwards from the lower part 232 of the carriage 23 to be in contact with the paper on the base 21. Then, by sliding the carriage 23 along the guiding slit 211, the sharp blade 241 is carried to cross over the paper, and cut it into two pieces. Similarly, when a folding line is desired, the blunt blade 243 is selected to be used by rotating the top cover 231 clockwise relative to the housing 232. When the holding element 2333 reaches the peak 23121 along the incline 23120, the blunt blade 243 will be pushed out of the opening 2326 to serve as the working blade. Therefore, the desired folding line can be given to the trimmed paper by moving the carriage 23 along the guide slit 211. Further, when the user likes the paper to have an intermittent cut line, the gear-shaped blade 242 is selected by rotating the top cover 231 relative to the housing 232 clockwise from the first situation or counterclockwise from the second situation mentioned above until the peaks 23130 of the sustaining blocks 2313 are aligned with the holding element 2332. The peak portions 23130 pushes the teeth portion 2420 of the gear-shaped blade 242 partially out of the opening 2325 to be in contact with the paper. When the carriage 23 is moved along the guiding slit 211, the gear-shaped blade 242 rotates about the post 23322 to roll over the paper, thereby trimming the paper in the desired intermittently cut way. Accordingly, the trimming apparatus can optionally provides a complete or intermittent cut line or a folding line to paper so that the resulting paper can be divided or tore apart or folded easily along the cut line.
While the invention has been described in terms of what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention need not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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9110621 A | Mar 2002 | TW | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20030182807 A1 | Oct 2003 | US |