Abstract: A die cutting press for processing web material has a registration system which is operable to provide precise alignment of a shiftable die cutting unit along two axes during the time that the web material is advanced along a third axis toward the die unit, so that as soon as a defined area of the web reaches the die unit, the press can be immediately actuated to subject the web to the die cutting operation. In preferred forms of the invention, an indicator strip is printed on the length of the web and is detected by two spaced photo optical sensors movable with the die unit. A first control means, coupled to the sensors, selectively actuates in stepwise fashion either of two servomotors as may be necessary to bring the die unit into registration with defined web areas in a direction laterally of the web length (which may be defined as a Y axis) as well as a rotative orientation with respect to the defined web areas about an upright axis (which may be termed the .theta. axis).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cutting predetermined lengths of panels from a continuous strip of flexible material and for forming the lengths of panel members to have a preselected panel profile. The strip is reel fed to a first strip driving station which drives the strip through a shearing station, over a hump table, to a second strip driving station and through a strip forming station. In sequence, the second strip driving station brakes the leading portion of the strip to effect a strip hump over the hump table, which is detected by a protoelectric sensor for hump height and signals the first strip driving station to vary its feed rate to maintain the hump; the second driving station is then signaled to commence driving the lead portion of the strip to the strip forming station.

Abstract: A double blade rotary paper cutter is disclosed which may be used as an auxiliary unit with a controlled printer unit. The paper cutter features a series of cutting blades which effect the removal of fanfold or perforated portions and carrier strips from fanfold paper and a positional control mechanism to sequentially and precisely position individual strips of fanfold paper within the cutting area of blades of the rotary paper cutter.

Abstract: For severing a continuous slide fastener chain into individual slide fastener lengths, the chain having succesive coupling element portions and element-free gap sections on a stringer tape, a cutting station is preceded by a detecting unit. The detecting utilizes at least two sensors for sensing the leading end of each successive coupling element portion of the chain which is being conducted to the cutting station. The sensors are longitudinally spaced along the chain's path to the cutting station and produce respective command signals one after the other to a chain drive to reduce the moving rate of the chain in step fashion to a low speed as the gap section approaches the cutting station. This enables uniform and adequate quality fastener length cutting to be reliably achieved.

Abstract: A slitter for steel belt including rotary blades for slitting a belt material including steel cords and topping rubber. The rotary blades include an upper blade and a lower blade having their circumferential portions slightly overlapped and in contact with each other. Sandwiching delivery members for delivering the belt material to the blades is installed either at both sides or one side of the rotary blades in the delivery direction of the belt material so that the belt material is slit in a sandwiched condition. The sandwiching members as well as the rotary blades may be automatically adjusted in position in the transverse direction of the belt material. A freely suspended curved portion of the belt material formed between a delivering device and the slitter may be so controlled as to keep the suspended amount constant.

Abstract: A lazy-susan type roll table supports, in a vertical position, a roll of place mats interconnected into a continuous web (i.e. each mat is attached to its adjacent mat by perforations and all are rolled up on a core to form the roll of material). A web feed roller, also disposed for rotation about a vertical axis, is spaced from the roll table and cooperates with a pinch roller to grip therebetween the web of place mats and to feed the place mats along a path. An end panel positioning plate receives the end place mat, as the web is being fed, and carries an infra-red sensor which responds to the presence of the perforations between the mats to terminate drive of the web feed roller. A web tension drive extends up through the core of the roll of place mats and mounts a soft rubber drive wheel which when driven urges the web roll in a direction opposite to that imparted to the web by the web feed roller.

Abstract: A die cutting press for processing web material is disclosed which is operable to provide very precise alignment of a reciprocable die cutting unit with each succesive area of the web to be die cut. In operation, the web is incrementally advanced toward the work station of the press until the area next to be die cut is substantially but not exactly in the die cut position thereof. The web feed is then placed in a creep mode to advance the web until an optical sensor determines the presence of transverse alignment indicium on one side of the web. Mechanism is thereupon actuated to rotate the die unit as required to bring the die assembly into alignment with related indicium on the opposite side of the web while effecting shifting of the web longitudinally thereof in a direction of travel as necessary to maintain die registration with the first sensed web indicium.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a machine for accurately cutting documents from a web of transparent material carrying one or more opaque documents, which machine comprises a punch-type cutter which is mounted for pivotal and lateral movement and capable of automatic positioning for accurately cutting a well-defined portion of the web so as to provide series of individual documents of predetermined size. The machine is provided with a first detector for detecting the arrival of an opaque document on the web at the cutting zone, a control responsive to the detector for arresting the movement of the web, other detectors for determining the relative lateral and angular position of the document on the web with respect to the cutter and a control responsive to the other detectors for displacing the cuttering laterally and angularly to bring the same into a predetermined position with respect to the document.

Abstract: A device is provided for aligning elongated tubes to be cut into tube sections with a saw blade for cutting the tubes, wherein elongated tubes are provided with cutouts spaced from each other at equal intervals and defining raster marks at which tubes are to be cut into tube sections, the aligning device including a plurality of scanning fingers mounted in contact with the elongated tube to be cut into tube sections and spaced from each other along the elongation of the tube a distance substantially smaller than the interval between adjacent cutouts on the tube. A drive device for rotation and axial displacement of each tube is provided. At least one of the scanning fingers is engageable in one of the cutouts upon the rotation and axial displacement of the tube so that the distance between the saw and the cutout can be determined and the tube can be accurately aligned with the saw.

Abstract: A stepping motor is used to feed sheet stock to a blank making assembly in a container making process. A translator provides necessary pulses to the stepping motor and is controlled by a counter which is provided with a pulse train indicative of the number of pulses provided the stepping motor. The contents of the counter compensate for the number of pulses necessary to stop the motor which will be produced by the translator. Alternatively, a print registration indicia may be sensed to initiate deceleration of the stepping motor. The indicia is offset a predetermined distance from a point of proper registration in order to compensate for the distance necessary to decelerate the stepping motor.

Abstract: Sheet material 14, such as a continuous supply of terry cloth towel 16, is moved along its length through a path and toward a cutting station 15 where it is cut into lengths 139. The sheet material is formed with bands 166 extending across its length, such as bands of reduced thickness, and the sheet material is cut in these bands. The bands are detected by rollers 144, 145 at opposite edges of the sheet material as the bands approach the cutting station 15, and each edge portion of the sheet material is fed by feed rollers 51, 52 independently of the other edge portion into the cutting station so as to cause one side of the sheet material which may lag the other side to be properly located at the cutting station prior to cutting the sheet material.

Abstract: For use with a thermoforming press adapted to form individual articles in the body of a thermoplastic web which has a degree of inherent stiffness, a trimming station for trimming the formed articles from the web subsequent to their formation characterized by a web transport that comprises at least a pair of rotary advancing devices directly engaged with the web at spaced apart locations across the width of the web, a drive for periodically rotating the advancing devices to produce indexing movement to the trimming press and means to periodically release the drive engagement of the rotary advancing devices with the web to enable relaxation of stress developed in the thermoplastic web and to allow the interaction of the web with the guides to realign the web in the absence of constraint by the rotary advancing devices, and the method of operation thereof.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatically severing individual towels from a length of material comprising a plurality of terry towels. The method includes the steps of measuring slightly less than the supposed length of a towel, then activating a sensor that detects the edge of a cutting space by the change in thickness of the material. The sensor causes feeding of the material to stop with a cut-line at a cutting blade. The first edge of the material is held while a second sensor located the same edge at the opposite side of the material, and the cutting blade is moved with the sensor. The material is stretched to straighten the cut-line, and the cutting blade is caused to cut the material. The apparatus includes feed rolls to move the material, and an encoder measures the length. A roller at one edge of the material detects the change in thickness at one edge, and similar rollers detect the change in thickness at the opposite edge.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the accurate volumetric subdivision of conveyed bar-shaped material such as bar steel or billets, using measurements of the bar's cross-sectional area.

Abstract: A cutting apparatus for cutting blocks of e.g. cheese into portions for delivery to an automatic packaging machine comprises a platen 15 mounted on a hydraulic ram 16 which can be advanced in steps to force a block of cheese 14 located on the platen upward through fixed cutting wires mounted in a frame 17. After each advance of the platen a cutter 19 severs a layer of portions which are transferred to the packaging machine. Signals from a digital encoder 39 are supplied to a micro-processor which controls the steps in which the platen is advanced so that the block 14 is completely cut into portions none of which in thinner than a predetermined thickness whereby remnant waste is eliminated.

Abstract: There is provided a combination of a web-treating apparatus adapted to feed web at a steady rate into a web-handling apparatus, the latter performing an operation on the web, such as stamping. In the latter apparatus, the web is entrained over a series of rollers which include parallelogram -linked rollers set in such a way that web can be continuously and steadily fed into the web-handling apparatus and out of it, while at the same time the web can be halted intermittently at a portion of the apparatus at which the operation is to be carried out. As the web stops and starts at the location where the operation is carried out, the parallelogram-linked rollers move back and forth in an arc.

Abstract: An automated in-line mailing (AIM) system of the type comprising sequentially a continuous sheet-web (20), a sheet cutter (10), an accumulator (12), a folder (14), a collector (16) and an envelope inserter raceway (24) is controlled by hyphens, or indicia, (60) on the sheet web (20). A control system includes a scanner (56) for sequentially sensing the web indicia (60) upstream of a cutting blade (30). The scanner is linked to a one-way clutch drive (114) to activate a plurality of opposed mutilated rollers (88, 90) positioned in the accumulator (12). The control system also includes a trailing edge sensor (122) for sensing a trailing edge of an accumulation of sheets as they are discharged from the accumulator (12).

Abstract: A panel cutting machine having a table with an endless belt conveyor and a pair of rollers mounted thereon for advancing a fabric to be cut to a desired length across and beyond a line of cut of a cross-cutter and along the table toward a sensor located a preselected distance from the line of cut. The sensor, which may be the usual microswitch or a photo-electric sensor switch, responds to the arrival of the leading edge of the fabric to activate a roller revolution counter to count a predetermined number of further revolutions and fractions thereof of one of the rollers, corresponding to a further distance of advance of the leading edge of the fabric beyond the sensor. Upon completion of the count, the counter activates a control circuit to stop the rollers and conveyor and start a cross-cutter to cut the fabric along the cutting line to form a panel of the desired length.

Abstract: The device for cutting a web into sections according to cutting marks provided on the web comprises an advancing roller for advancing the web along a predetermined track, an electrooptical scanning device for reading respective cutting marks on the web and for generating corresponding output signals, a cutting mechanism arranged on the track behind the advancing roller and monitored by the scanning, a tension equalizing and loop forming device arranged on the track before the advancing roller and the scanning device to loop resiliently a portion of the web, an elliptical gear driving system for driving the advancing roller; and a magnetic coupling arranged between the driving system and the advancing roller to stop the feeding of the web in response to the output signals from the scanning device and to resume the feeding after the cutting mechanism has severed the marked web portion.

Abstract: A web of towel material having pile sections separated by narrow transverse strips of unpiled or plain cloth is fed onto an input table 4 of a cutting and hemming machine beneath a row of individually controlled drive rollers 5. When a plain transverse strip arrives in the area of a hinged table section 6 beneath a transverse bridge 2, its reduced thickness is detected by sensors 21 which individually disengage and brake an associated drive roller 5, to thereby stop the web with the strip accurately transversely aligned in the machine. The sensors and hinged table section are then swung out of the way, and a carriage 3 travel mounted on the bridge 2 is moved across the table.

Abstract: A ticket dispensing head for delivering individual tickets from a string of tickets connected by laterally extending lines of ticket material weakness in which tickets are advanced along a generally linear path past a breaker blade toward a limit switch adjustably positioned in the path of movement of the tickets beyond the breaker blade by a distance slightly greater than the length of a ticket with actuation of the switch interrupting the ticket drive to position the line of weakness connecting the leading ticket to the next ticket just beyond the blade breaker edge to permit a folder to fold the ticket along the so positioned line over the blade breaker edge for severing of the first ticket precisely along said positioned line upon subsequent actuation of the breaker blade to move along a path generally parallel to the ticket path. The position of the switch is adjusted to accommodate tickets of different size.

Abstract: First feeding means serve to deliver a first strip at a controlled velocity. Second feeding means serve to receive said first strip from said feeding means and to intermittently pull said first and second strips in contact with each other. Looping means serve to engage said first strip between said first and second feeding means and to urge said strip to form a loop. Sensing means serve to indicate the length of said loop. Control means serve to control the velocity at which said first strip is delivered by said first feeding means in response to said sensing means in inverse relation to the length of said loop.

Abstract: A numerically controlled nibbling machine including means for controlling the feed rate of the work piece with respect to the work tool of the machine and in which the feed distance or travel of the work piece is limited by a release time in which the work tool is disengaged from the work piece according to a predetermined number of strokes of the work tool per unit of time. The improvement of the invention comprises the provision of means for determining the release time of the work tool in a single stroke of the work tool for any number of strokes of the tool, and means for automatically determining the minimum accelerations and decelerations of the work piece required for travelling the feed distance and for forming a desired feed rate value for the work piece from the determined release time of the work tool and the feeding distance of the work piece per stroke.

Abstract: A method for automatically controlling the operation of a rod-working apparatus of the type including a rod-feeding unit which feeds towards a cyclically operating work tool a certain length of rod per work cycle of the tool. There are selected a minimum and a maximum distance through which a rod to be fed towards the work tool is to be permitted to advance per work cycle of the tool. A rod is fed towards and into the range of operation of the tool. The actual distance advanced by the rod during a work cycle of the tool is determined. It is also determined whether the actual distance of advancement falls within the range defined between the preselected minimum and maximum distances. When the actual distance falls outside such range, operation of the rod-feeding unit is terminated.

Abstract: Selected lengths of a strip of material are cut either continuously in an automatic mode or each selected length is cut in a manual mode by manual activation of a switch. When the thickness of the strip of the material being cut exceeds a predetermined thickness or is less than a predetermined thickness, this difference is sensed so that this portion of the strip of the material is cut as soon as it ceases to exceed the predetermined thickness or be less than the predetermined thickness. In the automatic mode, automatic cutting may be stopped after this portion of different thickness has been cut either every time or every other time, and manual activation is required to start another automatic cutting.

Abstract: A device for shifting a workpiece on a nibbling machine which includes a rotary eccentric shaft which is rotatable to move a nibbling punch into and out of association with a workpiece, comprises a workpiece holder which is driven by a first motor in one direction, and a second motor in a direction transverse to this direction. A switch control is connected to each motor and includes means for imparting a programmed control of the operation of the motors which is varied in accordance with a sensing of the thickness of the workpiece being operated upon so that the movement may be accomplished when the nibbling punch is not in contact with the workpiece. The apparatus includes a control switch in the form of a switch lug which is mounted for rotation with the eccentric shaft of the nibbling punch and which cooperates with a contactless switch member to cause a turning on and off thereof.

Abstract: A slitting machine is disclosed which feeds corrugated pipe through the machine intermittently and between the periods of pipe feeding when the pipe is stationary a plurality of angularly spaced saw sets are moved radially inward toward the machine axis and the pipe to cut slots through the wall thereof, and then withdrawn whereupon the cycle repeats. The pipe is fed through the machine by endless transporters equal in number to the saw sets and uniformly disposed angularly with respect to each other, the saw sets and the axis. The transporters have projections which fit into the corrugations of the pipe for a driving connection therewith. A saw set is located angularly between each pair of transporters so that a pair of the latter are roughly opposite to a saw set for an even number of sets or directly opposite a transporter for an odd number of sets.

Abstract: A device for providing coil springs carried by a rope wound about a rotatable drum to a prescribed position, one by one, comprises a separation mechanism having a guide hole in which a prescribed number of coil springs are received, a pair of movable plates to pull the rope, a pair of moving plates holding the coil spring fallen from the guide hole and a pair of blades for cutting the rope after the rope is pulled.

Abstract: A machine tool which is operable on a workpiece, particularly a stamping or nibbling machine, comprises a movable electrically conductive work tool which is connected in a circuit along with a workpiece. The circuit includes a relay having a switch which is closable to energize a control device such as a drive motor for the feed of the workpiece. The relay is controlled by a contact which is effected when the tool contacts the workpiece to energize the relay and, for example, to open the contact in the control circuit, to stop the control operation. The relay advantageously includes a spring to return this contact switch to a closed position.

Abstract: In an apparatus for feeding a web, the web is continuously pulled from a reel by driven pairs of pinch rolls to create a loose storage loop from which the web is fed along a guide channel to a further pair of feed rolls, which when signalled passes material to a work station, under the influence of tensioning rolls acting on the web beyond the work station. Means are also provided for detecting and fullfilling the need for delivery of the web.

Abstract: A labeling machine including means for feeding a continuous web having thereon a series of labels of a given length but with certain of the adjacent labels thereon spaced differently than other adjacent labels, and having thereon control elements related to such differences in the label spacing, the machine further including label severing means operable to cut off the terminal labels in the web at their given lengths regardless of the different spacings therebetween, and means controlled by the control elements on the web and operating the severing means to cut from the web the labels in uniform length and without having attached thereto any web portions providing spacings between adjacent labels. .Iadd.