Abstract: The cutter is a tool used to manually score a flat sheet of glass which lies on a thin resilient cover on a table. With this tool, the force applied by the cutting (scoring) wheel cannot exceed a preset limit even though a greater force is applied on the handle. Thus a deleterious excessive scoring force cannot be applied. The cutting wheel is mounted in a pillar post (wheel holder). The pillar post slides in a slot cut in the lower portion of the handle. The post is mounted to the free end of the prestressed spring wire. When not scoring, the spring urges the post (and wheel) downward. This movement is limited by a spring stop so that the cutting wheel projects 1/8 inch or less below the slot legs. When the cutter is applied to score the glass a manual force is applied to the handle. The wheel and pillar are forcibly retracted into the slot in the handle, until the bottoms of the wheel and slot legs all bear on the glass. The applied force is AF and the scoring force is CF. CF is less than AF.

Abstract: A glass scoring head has pressure rollers which engage the glass on either side of the scoring wheel to compensate for variations of flatness in the glass, and the scoring wheel is pendulously supported so that it can score in one and an opposite direction without moving the head on the associated bridge structure. The means for so supporting the scoring wheel also includes novel means for rotating the pendulum support itself to permit scoring in mutually perpendicular directions, both of which directions are also reversible as a result of the pendulous mount.

Abstract: A glass scoring head which compensates for variation in the flatness of the glass to provide a score of uniform depth as it traverses the glass has an outer body adapted to be mounted in four possible positions to a bridge or the like to score glass in four different directions. This support body defines an air cylinder with an elongated annular piston means movably mounted therein. A pair of pressure rollers are journalled on the lower end of the piston means to bear on the glass with a force proportional to the air pressure in this cylinder. An elongated support tube is slidably mounted inside the annular piston means, and a second air cylinder urges the tube downwardly to supplement a spring acting between the second air cylinder piston and the tube.

Abstract: An attachment for a glass cutter has a curved palm contacting portion and an integrally formed sleeve which is tapered to receive the flared finger receiving lower portion of the handle. A self spring is defined in the sleeve side wall to secure the attachment to the handle.

Abstract: A glass cutter of the type having a pillar post capable of limited angular movement about a vertical axis is disclosed. The pillar post is provided in a conventional head which is adapted to traverse a glass sheet in one and an opposite direction, and the glass cutter can score in both directions because the tool is designed to trail this vertical axis, and thereby provide a castering action in both directions. The tool is mounted in a small pendulum which is gravity biased to assume a ready position such that traversing movement of the head and pillar post in one direction, in conjunction with engagement between the tool and the edge of the glass sheet itself, moves or swings the pendulum to a first limit position such that the tool trails the said vertical axis achieving the above castering action.

Abstract: Glass tubes to be cut are placed side-by-side on an inclined bed which has an anvil at one end, and a movable measuring bar or stop spaced downstream of the anvil to define the tube length desired. The tubes are adapted to slide downwardly on the inclined bed to engage the stop, and can be clamped to the bed so that a glass scoring tool and break off shoe, provided in a movable carriage, can score and break the tubes over the anvil after the stop has been retracted. Superstructure above the bed includes a continuously driven shaft together with parallel guide rods for the carriage. Selectively casterable wheels in the carriage engage the continuously driven shaft to move it in one, and an opposite direction, and the carriage includes means for retracting the scoring tool and break off shoe for the return movement of the carriage. A magazine is provided below the group of cut tube segments, and has a floor which is indexed downwardly in response to completion of each cutting pass by the carriage.

Abstract: Two holders are disclosed, one with a downwardly removable retainer, the other with a forwardly removable retainer. The retainer in each case is U-shaped and has aligned openings to receive the long axle. The retainer is so mounted in the holder that an axle slot, oriented perpendicularly to the slot for the retainer, assists in supporting the retainer and cutter wheel axle. Pins extend across the axle slot to further support the axle, cutter and retainer in the holder.

Abstract: The head compensates for variations in flatness of a table upon which a glass sheet is placed for scoring, and also compensates for bending of the rails or support structure which carry the head as it traverses the table. A jump wheel is provided on a first arm pivotally mounted in the head, which head may comprise a trolley structure, and a scoring tool is mounted in a pivoted second arm having its pivot on the first arm. A spring acts between the first and second arms to bias the scoring tool to a limit position, defined by a suitable stop, such that the force of the scoring tool on the surface of the glass is independent of vertical displacement of the scoring tool as it traverses the sheet. The first arm is also spring biased to maintain contact between the jump wheel and the glass surface.

Abstract: Two plier elements are pivotally connected so that squeezing the handles together clamps the jaws against a glass sheet adjacent a score line. The actual clamping force is limited because the handles are made from a yieldable plastic such that the handles actually touch one another, preventing a predetermined clamping force from being exceeded. The jaws and handles are molded integrally in each plier element, and metal inserts are provided for the jaws.

Abstract: Two versions are disclosed, and each includes a pillar post mounted for castering action in a head which moves relative to the glass sheet. In both versions the pillar post has a bifurcated lower portion, with a rectangular insert provided between the furcations and a glass cutting wheel mounted in the insert. In one version the insert has an upstanding stem releasably retained in a central bore defined in the pillar post, and in the second version the insert has a laterally projecting pin which is releasably retained in a side slot provided in one of the pillar post furcations. In both versions the insert projects beyond the bifurcated pillar post to facilitate removal thereof, and both versions are designed to permit assembly of the insert in its associated pillar post in only one orientation.

Abstract: The guide has a four sided cam, and a face of the cam engages the marginal side edge of a sheet placed on a work table. A square rod is slidably received in an axial opening in the cam, to be clamped in a predetermined position for scoring parallel the sheet edge. The rod is adapted to be inserted in four different orientations, with the result that the scoring tool is located at four different heights above the work table. This geometry sheets of four different thickness to be conveniently scored to a predetermined depth. A second rod holds a second tool suitable for scoring a second material.

Abstract: The internal compressive stresses sub-adjacent the surfaces of relatively thick (over 1/2 inch) glass sheet material are mechanically reduced on the surface to be scored by bending the glass during the scoring process to allow a glass cutting wheel of conventional geometry to overcome these stresses, and thereby produce a fissure in response to conventional levels of applied force. Spaced pressure applying rollers are provided alongside the cutter wheel, and an anvil wheel located below the cutter wheel reacts the bending moment forces so applied. In one version, these pressure rollers are also used to break out the glass in a second pass, with the cutter wheel retracted. In a second version an additional pair of break out rollers is provided downstream of the cutter wheel, and a pair of stress neutralizing pressure rollers act on the underside of the sheet to prevent running of the break back toward the cutter wheel.

Abstract: A small anvil is provided below the score line and is resiliently connected to a manually manipulated head above the score line such that the user can push downwardly on the head in order to deflect the sheet material through a desired bend angle along the score line. The head is resiliently supported from a block slidably mounted on an underlying table. The same table also supports the anvil, and the support preferably comprises support rods which extend obliquely inwardly from outside the edge of the sheet so that the head is particularly useful in trimming segments of plastic sheet of less than a foot in longitudinal dimension.

Abstract: Plastic sheet material is scored and broken by a three-step process, either in an automated version or by means of a manual approach. The automated version includes a carriage with a first station having a heated scoring tool, and a backup, or anvil roller, against which the tool can act as a carriage traverses the sheet. A second station in the carriage includes two laterally spaced bending rollers, and another anvil roller which cooperates with these bending rollers to deflect the sheet through a critical bend angle (approximately 4.degree., but less than 6.degree.) to develop a fissure at the score line. A third station in the carriage includes an anvil roller and two more bending rollers for actually breaking the sheet. The manual version utilizes a longitudinally extending bead beneath the score line and a cross slide mounted on guide rails and adapted for movement above the bead, the cross slide carries a scoring tool which includes a handle portion also useable as a sheet cracking device.