Abstract: In an apparatus for performing work operations on a surface of one or more lenses, a frame and a mounting bracket adapted to releasably support at least one lens blank are provided. At least three pairs of articulated supports are also included with a first end of each of the supports being bendably coupled at a first end to a mounting bracket adjacent to the other articulated support in the pair. The articulated supports are each coupled at a second end to a point on the frame with the supports in each of the pairs diverging away from each other between the mounting block and the frame. A drive is associated with each of the articulated supports and moves each support, and thereby the mounting, individually between a raised and a lowered position in response to commands issued from a controller having data corresponding to a particular lens prescription stored therein.

Abstract: A system for light-tight handling of a supply of media between a supply station, a workstation and a collecting station, comprises a media handling apparatus defined by a frame and a housing enclosing an internal confine. Within this confine are a supply station and a collecting station disposed at opposite ends of the frame. A positioning drive is suspended above the supply and collecting stations to move media between the supply, collecting and work stations. A lifting shoe is provided as part of the positioning drive and includes a flexible material handling sheet which assumes a first and a second given radius when respectively energized and reverse energized to engage the media supported in curved form. Also, supply and collecting cassettes are provided with a tambour coverings for respectively automatically uncovering and covering the supported media while still maintained in the light-tight confines of the housing.

Abstract: A media handling unit is a selfcontained device which is capable of being moved to existing photoplotting structures to transport media sheets from a supply cassette housed within the unit and advanced into the plotter for conducting a plotting operation. The unit also retreives the scanned media from the photoplotter returning it the unit in a light tight environment where the scanned film is deposited onto a collecting tray. The supply of film is provided in a cassette having a semi-cyldrical support surface causing the film to take on a preformed configuration which is generally coincident with the shape of the support surface on the plotter.

Abstract: A media handling unit is a selfcontained device which is capable of being moved to existing photoplotting structures to transport media sheets from a supply cassette housed within the unit and advanced into the plotter for conducting a plotting operation. The unit also retreives the scanned media from the photoplotter returning it the unit in a light tight environment where the scanned film is deposited onto a collecting tray. The supply of film is provided in a cassette having a semi-cyldrical support surface causing the film to take on a preformed configuration which is generally coincident with the shape of the support surface on the plotter.

Abstract: In a conveyor apparatus for supporting and advancing sheet material, such as fabric to be cut by a cutter head, the conveying element is an endless belt made of elongated supporting members having their length dimensions extending transversely of the path of belt movement. The supporting members include coengagable parts, such as tongues and grooves extending along the length of the members, which coengage one another when the supporting members are in the upper run of the conveyor to prevent vertical movement of the supporting members relative to one another and to thereby maintain the supporting surface defined by the upper run in a smooth and flat condition.

Abstract: A machine for cutting cloth or similar sheet material for a take-off table permanently connected to it for supporting sheet material after its having been cut by the cutting machine. The table is movable relative to the machine between a deployed and a stowed position, and in the stowed position of the table the combined apparatus has an overall length much shorter than it has with its table deployed, thereby allowing the apparatus to be more easily moved from one spot to another or the cutting room floor.

Abstract: In an apparatus for spreading and cutting layups of sheet material pin mechanisms are distributed over the supporting surface of the table and include pins moveable between raised and lowered positions to enable selected portions of the supporting surface to be adapted, or not, to a spreading procedure involving the pinning of each layer as it is spread. The supporting surface is divided into sections and the pin mechanisms of each section are operated in unison by a control element located on the side wall of the table with each control element being aligned with its associated section of the table so as to be quickly and easily operable by an operator without the operator having to give great thought or attention to which pin mechanisms are operated by which switch. The pins passing through a layup being cut by the cutter are automatically lowered upon the cutter approaching the pins to avoid collision between the pins and the cutter.

Abstract: In a cutting machine having a reciprocating blade driven by a crank mechanism which includes an angularly balanced crank, the blade, the connecting rod which drives the blade and the connecting member which connects the blade to the connecting rod are dynamically counterblanced by a passive load, pair of connecting rods which drive the passive load in a direction opposite the direction of blade movement, and a pivoted link which cooperates with the pair of connecting rods to maintain the passiive load for movement in a predetermined path.

Abstract: A conveyorized transport apparatus has an overhead rail system for transporting articles on a suspended trolley from one location to another. A moveable rail section in the system has a pivotal connection with an adjacent rail section to pivot the moveable section from a conveying position and a diverted position in which articles are delivered closer to a work station disposed laterally of the rail system.

Abstract: A conveyorized transport apparatus has an overhead rail system for transporting articles on a suspended trolley from one location to another. A moveable rail section in the system has a pivotal connection with an adjacent rail section to pivot the moveable section from a conveying position and a diverted position in which articles are delivered closer to a work station disposed laterally of the rail system.

Abstract: A conveyorized vacuum table comprises a conveyor for feeding and supporting limp sheet material and a vacuum system which applies vacuum to the sheet material while it is being fed and/or worked upon. The conveyor comprises a penetrable support bed and a plurality of vacuum chambers which move with the support bed and communicate with it. Means are also provided to apply vacuum to the vacuum chambers to cause the conveyor to hold the sheet material for cutting or other work operations.

Abstract: A hanger for use with a conveyor in a garment making plant or the like for holding limp sheet material includes a hanger rod for attachment to a conveyor trolley and a hanger body carrying, and forming in part, a plurality of grippers, each capable of holding a workpiece unit to the body. Each gripper is made up of a stationary gripping face on part of the hanger body and a grip elememnt supported for movement along a path giving it a wedging action on a work unit inserted in the gripper when the grip element is urged downwardly by the weight of the work unit and its engagement therewith.

Abstract: A conveyorized vacuum table comprises a conveyor for feeding and supporting limp sheet material and a vacuum system which applies vacuum to the sheet material while it is being fed and/or worked upon. The conveyor comprises a penetrable support bed and a plurality of vacuum chambers which move with the support bed and communicate with it. Means are also provided to apply vacuum to the vacuum chambers to cause the conveyor to hold the sheet material for cutting or other work operations.

Abstract: A hanger for use with a conveyor for transporting pieces of limp sheet-like work material from place to place in a garment making plant or the like includes a hanger rod for attaching the hanger to a conveyor trolley and a rigid body having at least one gripper, and preferably several grippers, each for releasably holding a workpiece unit to the hanger. Each gripper is of a simple construction including a fixed generally vertical gripping surface on one downwardly extending portion of the body and a cooperating spring clip attached to the lower end of a second downwardly extending body portion spaced laterally of the first downwardly extending portion.

Abstract: A hanger for holding limp sheet material from a conveyor trolley in a conveyorized garment making plant or the like is fabricated almost entirely of bent wire parts and may be used to hold only one or a group or stack of workpieces. When the hanger arrives at a work station the workpieces may be removed from it, or they can remain on the hanger while they are worked. For the latter case the hanger includes a folding bar useful in separating the already worked pieces from those yet to be worked.

Abstract: An automatically controlled cutting machine includes a conveyor table having an endless conveyor belt for moving segments of limp sheet material onto the table for cutting. A cutting carriage and blade are mounted for controlled movement over the support surface of the table to cut pattern pieces from the limp sheet material positioned on the surface. A vacuum chamber envelops the endless conveyor belt except for the portion of the belt defining the support surface, and the chamber communicates with the sheet material on the surface to draw a vacuum within the material and hold the material in a compressed state on the surface for cutting.