Abstract: A cutting system for slab goods is disclosed. The system has three stations operating under computer interface control. In a first station, slab goods, such as synthetic shoe bottom materials and the like, are sequentially loaded for purposes of measurement. At the measuring station, the material is loaded on a slab-by-slab basis, and for each slab of material, a series of measurements are made to determine the largest permissible rectangle for that irregular piece of material. The dimensions are fed to a marker-making system, which, in real time, determines the average of usable material taken from the measurements of all the stacked slabs. A cutting marker is then generated by the marker-making system. The slabs are then moved into the cutting area, utilizing a belt drive upon which the slabs rest in the measurement station. Cutting commences at the cutting station, utilizing a cutting tool mounted on a carriage which traverses that station. A variable hold-down system accommodates different size slabs.

Abstract: As textile fabric is spread from a roll onto a cutting table, in stacked layers, the cutting pattern is selectively projected by the apparatus of the invention onto the unrolled fabric wherever a fabric flaw is known to exist to enable the operator to determine, prior to attaching a corresponding paper pattern to the spread fabric, whether or not the flaw will otherwise be present in an area to be cut out according to the pattern. The pattern projecting apparatus is mechanically and electronically coordinated with the fabric spreading apparatus and as the projecting apparatus scans across the width of the unrolled fabric, the projected image appears to the operator to be stationary on the fabric and is properly located longitudinally and transversely on the fabric with respect to the pattern which is ultimately to be cut out.