CA1241408A - Method and apparatus for automatically cutting a web of foam material into sheets and for dispensing the cut sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

TITLE: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY
CUTTING A WEB OF FOAM MATERIAL INTO
SHEETS AND FOR DISPENSING THE CUT SHEETS

INVENTORS: JOSEPH J. D'ANGELO
JOSEPH J. D'ANGELO, JR.

ABSTRACT

A web of foam material which is to be cut into sheets and then dispensed is fed to a cutting station by upper and lower draw rollers in contact with the web for drawing the web from a roll and for pulling it along a low-friction surface on a table. A cutter station has a downwardly movable knife bar carrying a knife blade and a clamp bar coupled for movement with the knife bar. The lower draw roller has its axle mounted in a pair of pivoted arms which are adapted to be depressed by a pair of presser feet mounted in a presser foot bar which is carried by the knife bar. Accordingly, when the proper length of the web has been drawn past the cutter station, actuation of the knife bar lowers the cutting blade into a grooved anvil, while at the same time moving the presser feet down into contact with the respective pivoted arms for swinging these arms down, there-by to depress the lower roller down away from contact with the web to stop drawing the web. Immediately after the drawing ac-tion is thus interrupted, the web is clamped by the clamp bar which moves with the knife bar, and then immediately thereafter cutting occurs. The table is provided with bridge-like fingers which extend downstream from the table through grooves in the movable lower feed roller. These fingers support the foam web when the lower roller is swung down away from contact with the web for interrupting the drawing action prior to its being cut.
The cut sheets are conveyed through a static eliminator and then pass between staggered corrugation rolls for temporarily impart-ing effective longitudinal stiffness to the momentarily cor-rugated sheet of foam material for enabling the temporarily cor-rugated sheet to be longitudinally projected through the air for dispersing into a desired position of utility, for example such as landing in the open top of a box packed with delicate items for providing resilient padding to such items.

Description

'LX~ 6~ ~
BACK~ROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for cutting a web of oam materia~ into sheets of predetermined length and then dispensing such sheets in a manner permitting them to be used immediately in a packaging arrangement in which they are desiredO
Foam material is widely used in packaging because of its large volume, light weight and the ability to absorb shocks experienced when packages are in transit. For many packaging applications it is desirable to employ the foam material in sheet form for lining containers or for separating layers of items in the containers and for resilient padding in the top of containers .
The foam sheet material because of its bulk, light weight and lack of structural strength is difficult to form into cut sheets and d~fficult to handle the cut sheets, particularly in an automatic environment. Because of the dificll1ties in c~utting and handl:ing sheet foam material, various packacJin~ and ~hipping environments have in the past involved considerable amounts of hancl labor. The foam material often has been deliv-ered to the packager or shipper as pre sut sheet stock delivered in packages. Premium payments must be made for the cnnvenience of pre-cut and packaged sheet foam stock. Then, hand labor must be employed to take such pre-cut sheet from its package and to place the sheet into the container~ In many applica-tions where sheets of foam are applied to the top layer of a container, an operator must remove the pre-cut sheets from a box holding a plurality of such sheets which have been cut to a predetermined size and then to place the pre-cut foam sheets into the tops of the containers as padding for completely filling the containers before the containers are closed ready for shipment.

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iO8 SUMMARY 0~ THE INVENTION

Acc~rdingly, it is an ~bject of this inv~ntion to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for automatically cutting a web of foam material into sheets of predetermined lengt~;
and then for automatically dispensing the cut sheets directly into a desired position of u~ility, for example direstly into shipping containers in a manner which is inexpensive, efficient and reliable.
A further object of this invention is to provide a.neh and improved method and apparatus for automatically cutting and dispensing sheets of foam material from a web which enables ar.
operator to directly utilize the cut sheets as they are produced and dispensed.
. Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus for ~utomatically cutting and dispens-ing sheets of foam material which capably and rel.iably handles the ~oam mater1al not only accurately to cut such mat~rial but al~o gently to handle the material while the transporting and cutting processes are taking place.
In carryinc3 out this invention in one illustrative em-bodiment thereof, a method and appratus are provicled for auto-matically cutting a web of foam material into sheets of prede-termined length and for dispensing those sheets by feeding a web of foam material from a supply roll to a cutting station via a low-friction surface on a table by sliding the web along that ~urface using upper and lower draw rollers which normally contac the web as it is being fed to a cutting station. After the proper length of ~heet which is desired to be cut has passed by 1 % ~ 3 the cutting ~tation, the lower draw roller i6 moved down away rom the web thereby removing any drive action and immediately after the drive action is thus removed the web is clamped to the table while the web is being cut. Then, the lower draw roller is returned to its initial web-contacting position for feeding the next portion of the web, while the cut sheet is conveyed to and conveniently dispensed from the output of the apparatus. The cut sheet is passed through a static eliminator and then is passed between staggered corrugating xolls at the output of the apparatus for momentarily giving longitudinal stiffness to the temporarily corrugated sheet for enabling this sheet to be pro-jected longitudinally through the air for dispensing to a de-sired position of utility, for example such as landing in the open top of a container packed with resilient items for padding them duxiny subse~uent shipment.

BRI~F DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention, together with further objects, features, aspects and advantages thereof will be better understoo~ from th~
following descrip-tion considered in connection with the accompany ing drawings, in which the corresponding reference numerals are utilized to identify the same elements and components throughout the various views.

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FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a machine for automati-cally cut-ting a web of foam material into sheets and for auto matically dispensing the cut sheets, in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 iB ~n elevatiorlal, longitudinal 6ectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l, extending generally al~ng the length of thi~ machine.
FIGURE 3 is a cross-sec~ional view taken alon~ line 3-3 of FIG. 2.
FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional ~iew taken along line 4-4 of ~IG~ 3.
FIGURE 5 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.
. ~IGURE 6 is a perspective view of the lower draw roller feeding a web of foam material along the low-friction table surface to a cutting station, with the upper feed roller and remaining structure removed.
FIGURE 7 is an enlarged side elevational view of selected portions of the cutting station partially in cross-section, illustrating the web of foam material being fed by the draw rvllers to the cutting station.
FIGURFJ 8 is a view simil~r to FIG. 7 illustrating the cutting of the web into a sheet, with the draw rollers momen-taxily displaced away from the web and the web momentarily being clamp~d to the table surface during the rutting action.
FIGURE 9 is an enlarged perspective view of the struc ture utilized to move the lower draw roller down away from con-~act with the web as it is being cut .in FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

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Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a machine for auto-matically cutting a web of foam material into sheets of prede-termined length and for dispensing those sheets is referred to generally by the reference numeral 10. A~ will best be Been in ~IG. 2, a supply roll of foam material 12 is mounted on a st~nd 14 attached to the machine frame 17, and this ~upply r~ is adapted to be unrolled in the form of a long web lS. ~ weight 16 is suspended ~rom a canvas strap 18 which i6 draped over the periphery of the roll 12. This weight and strap 16, lB serve as a friction drag acting on the periphery of the supply roll 12 for keeping slack out Gf the web 15 as the web i5 drawn from the roll and also for immediately stopping the roll 12, whenever the drawing action is s~opped. The web 15 is passed over idler roller 19 leading onto a tabl~ or plate 20, preferrably of alum-inum or steel, having a low-friction coating 22 as is best il-lustrated in FIG. 5 on which the web 15 is adapted to slide.
The web 15 is pulled from the roll 12 over the idler roller 19 and is drawn across the low-friction coating 22 of the table 20 by an upper draw roller 24 and by an opposed lower yrooved draw roller 26. A motor drive 25 mounted on ~ motor drive ~upport 28 turns a drive sprocket 30 wh.ich carries a chain or timing belt 32 coupled to a driven sprocket 34 which is con-nected to the shaft of the upper draw roll 24, thereby continu-ously rotating this upper roll.
A measuring wheel 36 is rotatably mounted on an arm 38 having a pivot mount 40 50 that the rim of this wheel rests on the foam web 15 over the table 20. The measuring wheel has an associated counter 42 which counts the number of revolutions of the measu~ing wheel. For example, this counter 42 responds to the passage of one or more small permanent magnets affixed to the wheel 36 so that these magnets pass by the counter 42 as the ~Z~,fi~

wheel is turned by travel 37 o~ the web 15. This counter is connected t~ a control circuit ~not shownl which can be set up so that the length of the material 15 to be cut can be prede-termined in accordance with the setting. When the proper web ength has been drawn a switch in the control circuit (not shown) actuates a cutter station 50, to be described later.
A~ will best be seen in FIG. 6, the low-friction coatec table 20 has a plurality of bridge-like fingers or strips 44 which extend downstream from this low-friction coated table or plate 200 For example, the low-friction coating 22 is Teflon ptfe slip~y plastic. These bridge fingers 44 extend through clearance grooves 46 in the movable grooved lower draw roll 26, and the downstream ends of these bridge fingers are received and ~eated in notches 48 in the top surface of a fixed anvil 52 located in the cutter station 50. This stationary anvil 52 con-tains a knife clearance groove 54 for receiving a cut-off knife blade 60 when the blade is moved down in the manner to be de-~cribed later.

Por clarity of illustration, the perspecti.ve view in FIG. 6 only illustrates four of the bridge fingers 44 and four of the grooves 46. On the other hand, the sectional view in FIG. 3 illustrates seven of these bridge fingers 44 and seven of the grooves 46. The point of these various illustrations is tha the number of such bridge fingers or strips (and corresponding number of grooves 46) is not critical 50 long as there are a sufficient number of the fingers 44 for adequate support of the foam web 15 to prevent undue sagging of the foam web during ~ho~e moments when the lower draw roll 26 is moved down away from contact with the lower surface of the web 15 during cutting, as is shown in FIG. 8, and as will be explain~d in detail later.

' _~_ As shown in EIG. 6, the lower eed roller 26 has an axle 5Ç which is mounted in a pair of pivst arms ~8 and 59. Each of these pivvt arms 58 and 59 has a forward projection 62 haYing a resilient rubber pad 64 on the top surface thereof on the down-stream encl of the pivot arm projection 6~. The pivot arms 58 and 59 axe each mounted on a fixed pivot 61 secured to the machine frame 17. ~y virtue of this pivot arm mounting 58, ~9, the lower draw roll 26 can be swung down away from its normal contact with the lower surface of the web 15 as will be explained more fully later in connection with FIG. 8. This down-swing of the lower draw roll 26 momentarily interrupts the web drawing action 37 even though the two draw rolls 24, 26 are continuously rotatin~, as will be explained further later.
The cutter station 50, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, includes an actuating pneumatic cylinder 66 having a piston rod 68. This ~ylinder 66 is actuated by an electrically operated solenoid valv~ (not ~hown) connectecl .in the control circuit of the counter 42 in a conventional manner for cutting the web 15 in response to signals from the measuring wheel counter 42 when the proper length of the web 15 has been measured.
The pneumatic cylinder 66 i5 mounted on transverse frame members 67 which span above the foam web 15. The piston rod ~8 carries a movable knife bar 70 which has the serrated knif~ blade 60 mounted therein and projecting down below the knife bar 70. As best shown in FIGS. 6 and 9, a pair ~f presser foot bars 72 are mounted on opposite ends of the knife bar 70.
Each presser foot bar 72 carries a socket block 74, with a mov~
able presser foot vertical rod 76 extending therethrough an~
terminating in a presser foot 80. A presser foot spring 78 is _g_ positioned encircling the presser foot vertical rod 76 between the socket block 74 and the presser foot 80. The vertical rod 76 is movable with respect to the bar and socket block 72, 74, and the spring 78 urges this rod downwardly. The upper end of this spring 78 is seated in a socket 79 in the block 74.
In order to clamp the web 15 during cutting, there is a clamp bar 84 (FIGS. ], 2, 7 and 8). For operating this clamp bar 84 the knife bar 70 also has mounted thereon a pair of clamp carriers 82 having the clamp bar 84 movably mounted thereto by a pair of clamp rods 86 each of which carries an encircling clamp spring 88 positioned between the clamp carrier 82 and the clamp bar 84. (See FIGS. 2, 7 and 8). By comparing FIG. 8 with FIG. 7, it will be understood that each clamp b~r rod 86 is vertically slidable relative to the clamp carrier 82. Thus, when the carrier 82 is moved dow~ as is indicated by the arrow 83, into the clamping position, the carrier 82 can move down relative to the clamp bar 84 for compressing the spring 88 to exert the desired clamping force ayainst the foam web 15 restincJ on the table 20, 22.
Returning to FIG. 6 there is a stop 90, having a socket 92 therein ~or holding an arm-lift spring 94, positioned under each pivot arm projection 62 in alignment with the respective presser feet 80.
The operation of the machine 10 which has been partially 2S described along with the structure to this point will now be ~urther explained. It is to be noted in FIG. 6 that the very top of the grooved roll 16 normally extends slightly above the level of the bridge fingers 44. Accordinglyl as the web 15 is passed over this roll 26 the web is lifted slightly (as shown in FIG. 7) away from the top surface of the bridge fingers 44, thus ,, ~.

being lifted into contact with the continuously rotating upper draw roll 24, which is continuously rotated by the drive supplied from the motor 25. It is also noted that the lower grooved draw roll 26 is continuously being rotated by being geared to the shaft of the upper draw roll 24, as is shown by the dashed line 27 in FIGS. 7 and 8. The gears which provide the continuous drive 27 have sufficiently long teeth for remaining in engagement when the lower roll 26 is moved down (as shown in FIG. 8). Consequently, the continuously rotating draw rolls 24, 26 can produce drawing motion 37 for the web 15 only when the web is lifted up against the upper roll 24 by this continuously rotating lower grooved roll 26, as shown in FIG. 7.
During the feeding 37, the web is lifted into gripping contact between the continuously rotating draw rolls 24, 26, and accordingly the web 15 is pulled from the supply roll 12 over the idler roller 19 and is slid along the low-friction surface 22 of the table 20 until a predetermined length has been measured by the measuring wheel 36, at which time the pneumatic cylinder 66 is actuated in the cutter station 50. Actuation of this a.ir cylinc~er 66 causes the knife bar 70 to descend, as shown by the arrow 71 in ~ FIG, 8, carrying with it the presser foot bars 72 as well as the two clamp carriers 82. The clamp bar 84 extends (as shown in FIG.
1) across the width of the foam web 15, and it initially is spaced above this weh 15, as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 7.
FIG. 7 illustrates the raised position of the clamp bar 84 and the raised position of one of the presser feet 80 as the web is being pulled (arrow 37) through the cutting station 50. This pulling feeding of the web 15 occurs during the time periods when the cylinder 66 at that cutting station is in its inactivated state. Once the cylinder 66 has been actuated as a result of the g~

action of the measuring counter, each of the pxesser feet 80 (which are positioned beyond the opposite edges of the web 15) comes down upon the respective rubber pad 64 mounted on the pivot arm extension 62. The presser ~oot springs 78 are more forceful than the arm-lift spring 94 mounted in the stops 90. These arm lift springs normally lift the pivot arms 58, 59 upwardly. Th~s, the two presser feet 80 cause the two pivoted arms 58, 59 to swing down (arrow 63 in FIGS. 8 and 9) until their pro~ections 62 rest upon the respective two fixed stops 90, (as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9.) As the pivoted arms 58, 59 swing down 63, the lower grooved feed roller 26 is caused to move down away from the foam material web 15. The bridge like fingers 44 remain stationary for supporting the web 15 when the lower feed roller 26 is depressed (FIG. 8). Thus, the lower grooved feed roller 26 is moved down away from the web 15, and the web now becomes momentarily sup-ported by the bridge-like fingers. The web 15 is now momentarily down slightly away Erom being gripped between the rotating rolls 24, 26, and so the draw feed action is momentarily stopped.
The opposed feed rolls 24, 26 continue to be rotated by the drive 25, 27, but the draw action of the two rolls 24, 26 momen-tarily becomes ineffective, while the lower feed roll 26 is depressed down away from the lower surface of the web of foam material. There is no longer any gripping action between these two rotating feed rolls. As will be seen in FIG. 8, a clearance exists between the upper feed roll 24 and the web 15 when this lower feed roll swing-down action 63 takes place, with the foam material now being momentarily supported by the bridge fingers 44.
After each pivoted arm 58 or 59 hits its respective stop 90, the presser foot 80 is stopped by the now immovable pivot arm 58 or 59.
Then, the strong presser foot spring 78 becomes compressed as the knife bar 70 and the presser foot bars 72 continue to move down.

f~

As shown in FIG. 9, the presser foot vertical rod 76 can slide relative to the presser foot bar 72, thereby allowing the knife bar 70 to continue moving down for now causing the clamp bar 84 (as shown in FIG. 8) to arrest the motion of the web. The two clamp bar springs 78 and the two vertical clamp slide rods allow the clamp bar 84 to stop moving when it clamps the web 15 while the knife bar 70 continues to move down. As is seen in ~IG. 8, the knife blade 70 thereafter moves farther down to cut the foam web 15 as the blade 60 enters partially into the anvil clearance groove 54.
In summary, three advantageous functions are achieved in sequence durina and by the single downward motion 71 of the knife bar 70:
1. The draw roll feed action 37 is briefly interrupted by swing-down travel 63 (FIGS. 8 and 9) of the lower draw roll, 26.
a) The stronger presser foot springs 78 overcome the weaker liEt-arm springs 94 to cause the swiny-down travel 63.
b) The presser foot springs 78 and slide rods 76 now allow the knife bar 70 to continue moving down 71, even though the swing-down travel has been stopped by bottoTning of the arm projections 62 against the stops 90.
c) The lower draw roll rotating drive 77 remains in effect for keeping the lower draw roll 26 continu-ously rotating during swing-down 63.

2. This continuing downward motion 71 of the knife bar 70 now causes the downwardly carried 83 clamp bar 8~ to clamp the foam web 15 firmly against the table 20, 22 (E'IG, 8) Eor holding the web stationary during cut off and sheet take-aw~y, such take-away to be explained further below.

a) The clamp bar 6pring6 8B and slide rods ~6 now allow the knife bar 70 to continue moving down 71 ~and allow the clamp bar carriers 82 to continue moving down 83) even though the clamp bar 84 has been st~pped by clamping en-gagement against the foam web 15 upon the table 20, 22.

3. This continuing downward motion 71 of the knife bar 70 now causes the serrated or saw-tooth configured ~oam cut-ting blade 60 to enter the groove 54 i~ the anvil 52 for cutting a ~heet 100 of predetermined length from the end of the foam web 15 as the web is held stationary by the clamp bar 84.

4. The cut sheet 100 is taken away 101 by a down ~tr~am conveyor to be described and explained.
a) The down6tre~m take-away conveyor 96 is con-tinuously travelling at a much faster rate of ~peed than the feed rate 37 of the drawrollers 24, 26 so that the cut sheet 100 is conveyed away 101 at a fast rate for reasons to be explained below.
Downstream of the cutting station is a "floating-action" conveyor 96 driven by a chain or timing belt drive 98 coupled by a drive sprocket 97 (FIGS. 1 and 3) to the continuous ly rotating shaft of the upper draw roll 24. This drive chain or timing belt 98 passes around a driven sprocket 99 tFIGS. 1 an 2) oDnnected bo the shaft of an upstream upper oonvey~r roller 102 (FIG.2).

Upstxeam oonveyor rolls 102, 10~ ~FIG. 2) and dbwnstream upper and lower rDlleX5 106, 107 intercoupl0~ b~belts 108 form the conveyor system 96D Stat-ic el~nators 110, 111 are provided for removiny static electric~

charges from the cut sheet 100 as the cut sheet 100 moves to a ~_~7 ~

longitudinal corrugating ~tation 112 best illustrated in ~IG. ~
in which the cut sheet 100 is passed through staggere~ corrugat-ing upper and lower rollers 114 and 116, respective1y/ for reasons to be explained further bclow~
Inviting attention again to the "floating-aetion" con-veyor 96, FIG. 1 shows that the multiple conveyor belts 108 are narrow, for example each of these belts 108 has a circular cross section. These belts lQB run in yrooves 109 (PIG. 2) in the respective pairs of upstream and downstream rollers 102-106 and 104-107. Moreover, these belts 108 are relatively widely spaeed, and they are staggered in upper and lower positions. For ex-ample, there may be four or five lower conveyor belts lOB and three or four upper conveyor belts 108, with the upper belts in-tervening (alternating) in lateral position with respect to the lower belts. Thus, the cut sheet 100 rests lightly in generally "floa~ing" relationship between these l.ower and upper conveyor belts lOB, and the cut sheet 100 is not being positively gripped between the~.
It is to be noted that the drive spxocket 97 (FIGS. 1 and 3~ for the conveyor drive chain 98 is considerably larger in diameter than the driven sprocket 99, for example, the ratio of their diameters is three-to-one. The lower upstream conveyor roller 104 is geared directly to the upper upstream conveyor roller 10~ as indicated by the dashed line 103 indicating a direct mechanical drive so that all o the conveyor belts 108 are travelling at the same rate of speed.
By virtue of this 3-to-1 diameter ratio of the conveyor drive ~prockets 97/99, the conveyor belts lOB are continuously travelling at a much faster speed than the surfaces of the draw feed rolls 24, 26, in this example travelling three times as ¦¦ ~2~ rl ~
fast. Ilowever, 60 lon~ as the~ draw feed r~ 24, 2~ are in gripping relationship with the foam web 15 (PIG. 7~ the gripping action of these rolls 24, 26 is the dominant factor, because the downstream end of the foam web lS is merely "floating" gently supported between the multiple lower and upper fast-travelling conveyor belts 108. In other words, these fast-travelling con veyor belts 108 are sliding past the slower movlng downstream end of the foam web 15 without exerting hardly any force on the foam web.
. When the clamp bar 84 clamps the foam web 15 as shown in FIG. 8, the fast-travelliny conveyor belts 108 continue to slide past the downstream end of the foam web.
Then, as soon as the knife blade 60 has cut off the sheet 100, this sheet becomes free to be propelled downstream 101 at fast speed as conveyed by the fast-travelling belts 108.
~ s seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 the shafts 115, 117 of the upper and lower corrugating rolls llq, 116 are journaled in frame member 118 projecting downstream ~rom the end of the main frame 17 ~o th~t a cut sheet 100 which is propelled rapidly down-~tream by the conveyor 96 will pass between the rounded rims of the multiple wheels 120 mounted on these respective shafts 115, 117 in staggered (alternating) positions. Consequently, the fast-travelling 101 foam sheet 100 now becomes temporarily lon-gitudinally corrugated (bent up and down in a transverse direc-tion as seen in FIG. 4). This longitudinal corrugation imparts a modest amount of longitudinal rigidity and longitudinal sta-bility to the fast-travelling 101 foam sheet as this sheet is propelled from between the rounded perimeters of the corrugating wheels 120. Thus, the ejected sheet 100 is capable of flying as a projectile through the air for a few feet to land in a predetermined place of utility, for example to l~nd in ~he vpen top Df a box packed wlth fragile article5 ~uch as fruit, being conve~ed past the downstream end of the discharye conveyor 96.
In order to rotate the shafts 115, 117 of the corru-gating rolls 114, 116, there are upper and lower drive belts 122, 124~ respectively, running in grooves in the upper and lower downstream conveyor rolls 106, 107 and running around pulleys 126 mounted on the respective shafts 115, 117. In order to launch (eject) the corrugated sheet 100 at relatively high velocity 101, the corrugating wheels 120 have somewhat larger diameter than the respective downstream conveyor rolls 105, 107, and the driven pulleys 126 are somewhat smaller in diameter than their drive rolls 106, la7. Thus, the rounded rims of the wheels 120 are travelling faster than the conveyor belts 108, for example the rim speed of the wheels 120 is in the range from 6~ to 40~ faster tha~ the conveyor b~lts 108.
The static el.iminators 110, 111 include numerou~ shaxp polnted pins 12B a;imed at the passiny sheet 100 and aligned in a xow on a h.iyh voltage rod 129 extending across the width of the machine. To protect from inadvertent contact, there is a shroud tube 130 encircling each xod 129 with ports 132 aligned with the respective pins 128.
Immediately after the sheet 100 has been cut off from the web 15 at the cutting station 50, and while this sheet is being taken away 101, the piston rod 68 (FIG. 1) is retracted for quickly raising the knife bar 70. As this knife bar 70 is being raised, the previously described rapid sequence of actions is reversed, namely, the clamp bar 84 is raised for unclamping the web 15, and ~hen the lower dxaw roll 26 is rais~d back into its initial elevated position (FIG. 7) for again gripping the web be-twee~ the continuously rotating drive rolls 24, 26 for feeding the next metered length ~f web thrvugh the cutting station for repeating the cycle.
It will be understood that the corruyating station 112 is useful in certain types of packaging operations such as the packaging of fruit and other fragile and/or perishable items which are desired to be separated and spaced in the packaging ar-rangement. As the cut corrugated sheets are dispensed being launched downstream from the corrugating station 112 the ejected cut sheets 100 may be directed so as to land into the boxes be-ing packed.
The method and appara~us herein described provide a quick, efficient method of metering and then cutting the cut sheets into their desired length in a rapid, efficient manner for a foam material which is ofterl considered difficult to handle.
There is provided a non-complex and relatively inexpensive method and apparatus for quickly sequentially conveniently (1) inter-rupting the pulling feeding force on the web, (2) cl~npiny the wçb, ~3) cutting the sh~et from the web, (4) rapidly taking away the cut sheet, and (5) launching (ejecting) the cut sheet end-wise through the air into a placement position of utility. This method and apparatus eliminates the problem and the cost of un-packing pre-cut sheets for use in a packaging operation.
Since other changes and modi~ications varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be ap-parent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not consid-ered limited to the examples chosen for purposes of illustration, and includes all changes and modifications which do not consti-tute a departure from the true spirit and scope of this invention as claimed in the following claims and reasonable equivalents of the claimed elements.
What is claimed is:

Claims (16)

1. the method of automatically cutting a web of foam material into sheets of predetermined length and of automatical-ly dispensing the cut sheets comprising the steps of:
feeding the web of foam material along a path through a cutting station by gripping the web between a pair of opposed feed rolls, continuously rotating at least one of said feed rolls, metering the length of web passing through the cutting station, when a predetermined desired length of web has been fed downstream past the cutting station performing the following actions in rapid sequence:
1) increasing the spacing between the pair of feed rolls for briefly interrupting their feed action on the web in spite of the con tinuing rotation of at least one of the feed rolls, 2) clamping the web, 3) cutting the web, 4) taking the resulting cut sheet downstream away from the cutting station, 5) dispensing the cut sheet, 6) unclamping the web, 7) reducing the spacing between the feed rolls for again gripping the web for feeding an-other length of the web along the path through the cutting station for repeating the sequence of operations.

2. The method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein:
the resulting cut sheet is taken away downstream from the cutting station by continuously moving upper and lower conveyor belts which support in non-gripping relationship the portion of the web which has been fed downstream through the cutting station, and these conveyor belts are continuously travelling at a faster rate of surface speed than the surface speed of the continuously rotating feed roll.

3. The method as claimed in Claim 2, wherein,:
the cut sheet is dispensed from between the downstream ends of the continuously moving upper and lower conveyor belts by the steps of:
longitudinally corrugating the sheet while it is exiting from between the conveyor belts, and ejecting the longitudinally corrugated sheet for flying through the air to a desired position of utility.

4. The method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein:
said rapid sequence of actions is produced by the steps of:
spring biasing one of the feed rolls toward the other feed roll for normally gripping the web between them for feeding the web, moving a cutter in the cutting station by a predetermined cutter stroke for cutting the web, connecting a movable element to the cutter for causing the element to move during the cutter stroke, using the movable element for overcoming the feed roll spring bias for moving the spring-biased roll away from its

Claim 4 - cont'd web-gripping feeding position during the cutter stroke, also connecting a web clamp to the cutter through a spring for causing the clamp to move into a web-clamping position during the cutter stroke, and arranging the spring to apply web-clamping force to the clamp for allowing the cutter to continue to move to completion of its predetermined stroke after the clamp has been moved to its web-clamping position.

5. The method as claimed in Claim 4, including the steps of:
connecting said movable element to the cutter through another spring which is stronger than the spring bias of the one feed roll, and arranging said other spring for overcoming the spring bias and for allowing the cutter to continue to move to completion of its predetermined cutter stroke after the movable element has moved the spring-biased roll away from its web-gripping feeding position.

6. The method of automatically cutting a web of foam material into sheets of predetermined length and of automatic-ally dispensing the sheets comprising the steps of:
feeding a web of foam material along a surface leading through a cutting station by gripping the web between upper and lower feed rollers which are normally in contact with said web being fed to the cutting station and at least one of which is continuously being rotated,

Claim 6 - cont'd.

metering the length of the web being fed through the cutting station, after a predetermined length of web has passed the cutting station removing at least one of said feed rollers from contact with the moving web for momentarily interrupting their gripping action on the web for momentarily stopping the feeding movement of said web along said low-friction surface, immediately clamping said web on said surface, immediately cutting said web at said cutting station while the web is clamped, releasing the clamping and again bringing said upper and lower rollers into gripping contact with said web for again feeding a metered length of web through the cutting station for repeating the cycle of operation, and transporting the cut sheet on a continuously moving conveyor away from the cutting station.

7. The method as claimed in Claim 6 including the steps of measuring a predetermined length of said web of foam material as it is being fed along said low-friction surface to said cutting station, and initiating a rapid sequence of (1) removing feed roller grip from the web, (2) clamping the web, and (3) cutting the clamped web, when said predetermined length has been fed thereto for cutting a sheet of foam material of said predetermined length.

8. The method set forth in Claim 7 including the step of longitudinally corrugating the cut sheet by feeding said cut sheet from said continuously moving conveyor between staggered corrugation rolls at an output end of the conveyor for providing longitudinal stiffness to the cut sheet.

9. Apparatus for automatically cutting a foam material web into sheets of predetermined length and for automatically dispensing the cut sheets comprising:
a table for receiving a foam material web which is to be cut in sheets, a cutter station having a movable bar carrying a cutter, upper and lower feed rollers positioned downstream from said table for contacting waid web positioned therebetween for feeding said web to said cutter station after the web has been slid along said table by said feed rollers, means on said cutter bar for actuating a displacement movement of one of said rollers away from said web for briefly interrupting the feed action while the clamping and cutting of said web takes place, clamp means coupled to said cutter bar for movement therewith, means for actuating said cutter bar for moving said cutter through said web, for cutting sheets from said web, while said clamp means having moved with said cutter bar clamps said web relative to said table, means for returning the displaced roller into gripping contact with said web for again feeding the web after a sheet has been cut, and take-away means for removing cut sheets from said cutter station after they have been cut from said web.

10. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 9 wherein:
said means on said cutter bar for actuating movement of one of said rollers comprises pressor foot means mounted for movement with said cutter bar, said one roller is mounted on pivot arm means in a position to be swung by said pressor foot means for displacing the roll away from web-gripping relationship, whereby during the stroke of the cutter bar, said pressor foot means swings said pivot arm means for displacing said one roller away from web-gripping contact with said web, while immediately said web is clamped by said clamp means, and immediately the clamped web is cut by the cutter.

11. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 wherein:
said pivot arm means has stop means in alignment with said pressor foot means for limiting the swinging movement of said pivot arm means and therefore limiting the displacement movement of said one roller.

12. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 11, wherein:
said stop means includes arm-lift spring means for urging said pivot arm means toward web-gripping position in which the one roller has not been displaced, said pressor foot means when actuated overcoming the force of said arm-lift spring means to thereby swing said pivot arm means into displaced position.

13. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 9, having:
a motor drive coupled to said upper feed roller for continuously rotating at least one of said feed rollers for drawing said web into said cutter station,

Claim 13 - cont'd.

said conveyor means having a drive roller coupled to said motor drive for providing continuous movement of said con-veyor means in non-gripping relationship with the foam web.

14. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 9, having:
a corrugating station positioned at the downstream end of said conveyor, said corrugating station having staggered cor-rugating rollers for receiving the cut sheets therebetween and thereby corrugating such sheets for imparting longitudinal stiff ness to the cut sheets.

15. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 9, wherein:
said means for actuating said cutter bar comprises a pneumatic cylinder having a piston rod, said cutter bar being coupled to said piston rod for movement therewith.

16. The apparatus as claimed in Claim 15, having:
a measuring wheel resting on said web on said table, and means on said measuring wheel for actuating said pneumatic cylinder after a prescribed amount of revolution of said meas-uring wheel as revolved by said moving web sliding along said table.