AU2004203534B2 - An apparatus and method for the manufacture of roof cladding elements - Google Patents

Description

12488AU

ORIGINAL

Complete Specification Applicant: Fielders Australia Pty Ltd Title: An apparatus and method for the manufacture of roof cladding elements Address for Service: LESICAR PERRIN, 49 Wright Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to melus: An apparatus and method for the manufacture of roof cladding elements The present invention relates to the production of roof cladding elements of sheet metal. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus including a variable-angle cutting assembly which is adapted to cut roof cladding elements profiled in their longitudinal direction at a predetermined angle, and a method for using such an apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is primarily directed toward the manufacture of corrugated elements for use in roofing, however, it is to be understood that this is by way of example only and the corrugated elements may equally well be used in other applications, such as wall cladding for example.

Corrugated galvanised iron and steel elements, in the following also called panels and sheets, have been widely used in Australia for roofing since about 1850. The conventional methods and apparatus used for manufacturing and installing such elements are generally known and do not significantly differ throughout the building industry.

Profiled roofing, such as corrugated roof panels, is typically formed by the rolling of sheet metal into the form of a required roof profile. The metal is fed through a roll-forming assembly which typically includes a series of rollers spaced apart in a longitudinal production line. The rollers each comprise two forming wheels positioned one above the other such that each of the rollers is progressively shaped to the required profile of roofing.

Typically located further along the production line is an automated cutting assembly which serves to cut corrugated roofing panels of different lengths to suit different roofing sections. The production line typically ends in a conveyer or stacking assembly used to stack the panels so that they may be easily stored or transported away. In the case of a pitched roof requiring only rectangular roofing panels, the panels need only be cut perpendicularly to the direction of the production line, which for the purposes of this invention will be defined as a zero degree angle cut. Such machinery is adequate in achieving straight cuts such as these.

The blades in the machines are also generally contoured to the corrugations formed in the metal sheet so as not to dent or damage the panel during the cutting process.

In pitched roofs that require angled cuts such as gabled roofs, these known machines are not suitable. Roofing panels that require angled edges are generally cut to shape by roof installers on-site.

24/10 '07 WED 17:37 FAX 61 8 82119433 LscrFri 4 Lesicar Perrin 0043 .3 Current techniques of cutting angled corrugated roofing panels are cumbersome in that the installer must cut the panels whilst on the roof' during installation. Cutting is usually Cl achieved using known tools including shears, hand-saws, circular saws or nibblers. Those 'S skilled in the art would realise the difficulty in achieving an accurate angled cut through a panel of corrugated roofing given the awkwardness of the corrugations. This difficulty is Cl exacerbated in undesirable weather conditions such as strong wind and rain. In most instances, the quality of the angled cut is often dependent on the skill and experience of the installer. Furthermore, an inaccurately cut roofing panel may potentially lead to other Mn problems such as roof leakage, and general mounting problemso 10 There is therefore an obvious need in the industry for all roof panels to be frnmed, cut and bundled off-sit;, including angled panels so that an installer need only be concerned with mounting the panels on the roof as quickly and efficiently as possible. This would also decrease expense to the consumer in that installation time is significantly reduced.

Tt is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned problems or to provide the public with a usefiul alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore in one form of the invention there is proposed a cutting assembly for cutting a longitudinal strip of material profiled in the longitudinal direction, said cutting assembly including: a cutting means being rotatable about a vertical axis to enable transverse angled cuffing of said strip of material; and said cutting means including at least one blade that is contoured correspondingly with the profile of the strip of material along a predetermined angle, to thereby facilitate cuffing of the material along said predetermined angle.

Preferably said at least one blade is contoured correspondingly with the profile of the strip of material along a range of predeternined angles, to thereby facilitate cuffing of the material at arty angle between said range of predetermined angles.

In preference said cuffing assembly includes at least two cutting means, each cutting means being moveable to an operable position to cut said strip of material.

In preference a first of said at least two cutting means is configured to cut the snrip of material at an angle between a first range of predetermined angles, and a second of said at COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:37 FAX 61 8 82119433LeicrPrn 104 Lesicar Perrin Z044 4 least two cutting mneans is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a second o range of predetermined angles.

'S Preferably said cutting means is in the form of a blade assembly having contoured o upper and lower blades adapted to receive the strip of material therebetween, and engage to thereby cut the strip of material.

Preferably said cutting assembly further includes means of feeding said strip of material to the cutting means.

en In preference operation of te feeding means and cutting means are automatically 0 controlled using a control means to ensure that said strip of material is cut into individual panels of desired size and shape.

In preference data relating to the size and shape of each panel is entered into a computing means capable of transmitting said data to the control means.

Preferably said cutting assembly further includes a roll-forming means adapted to form said longitudinal profile.

Tn preference said cutting assembly further includes a stackcing means for stacking cut panels from the strip of material.

In) a further form of the invention there is proposed a cuffing assembly for forming longitudinally profiled panels, said cutting assembly including: a suppiy means for feeding a longitudinal strip of material; a roll-forming assembly for profiling the strip in the longitudinal direction; a cutter adapted to cut the profiled strip, said cutter being rotatable about a vertical axis to enable transverse angled cutting;, said cutter including a cutting edge that is contoured correspondingly wit the longitudinal profile of the skrip of material along a prodetermined angle, to thereby facilitate cutting of the material along said predetermined angle.

Preferably said longitudinal profile is in the form of longitudinal corrugations.

in preference said cutting edge is corrugated such that the peak to peak distance between its corrugations correspond substantially with the peak to peak distance between corrugations of the material when taken along said predetermined angle.

COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:37 FAX 61 8 82119433 LscrPri 4 Lesicar Perrin [a 045 o Alternatively said cutting edge is contoured correspondingly wit the longitudinal 0 profile of the strip of material along a range of predetermined angles, to thereby facilitate o cuttinig of the material at any angle between said range of predetermined angles- Preferably said longitudinal profile is in the form of longitudinal corrugations.

In preferee said cutting edge is corrugated such that the peak to peak distance between its corrugations correspond substantially with the average peak to peak distance en between corrugations of the material when taken along said range of predetermined angles.

o Preferably said cutting assembly includes at least two cutters whereby a first cutter is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a first range of predetermined angles, and a seconid cutter is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a second range of predetermined angles.

Advantageously said first range of predetermined angles is between =63841 degrees from a straight transverse cut, and said second range of predeternined angles is between !E41- 44 degrees from a straight transverse cut.

In preference each cutter is selectively moveable to an operable cutting position.

In preference said cutting assembly fur-ther includes a control means for controlling at least the supply means and cutters.

Preferably said cutting assembly fuirther includes a computing means capable of receiving and processing data relating to the size and shape of panels to be cut using the cutting assembly, and transmitting said data to the control means which controls at least the supply moans and cutters accordingly.

In prefbrence said data includes information relat to the trailing edge angle, leading edge angle, and length of each panel.

Preferably said longitudinally profiled panels are roofing panels.

Advantageously said cutting assembly further includes. a printing xneans for labelling each panel in accordance wit its position on the roof.

Preferably said cutting assembly further includes a stacking means for stacking said panels in an order corresponding with their placement on the roof.

COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time (I-Pm) 17:19 Date Cv'-M-d) 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:38 FAX 61 8 82119433 LscrPri l4 Lesicar Perrin Z046 o in preference said supply means is in the formn of a motorised coil supply of sheet Cl metal.

in a still further form of the invention there is proposed a method of automatically producing a plurality of roll-formed cladding sheets for building a structure such as a roof, Cl 5 die plurality of cladding sheets including cladding sheets having angled cuts at the ends of the sheets, which method involves the steps of: translating data relating to a design of the structure into a series of automatic cutting tfl operations of a cuffing assembly for a cutting strip into a plurality of separate cladding sbeets o that have the correct size and shape to be placed directly onto a support flame and assembled Cl 10 together to forn the structure; o roll-fonininig the strip to form a longitudinal profile on the strip and moving it through the cutting assembly a distance defining the length of tbe first cladding sheet along its central axis; rotating the cutting assembly in relation to the roll-formned strip and cutting the strip along a predetermined angle to form the correct shape of the first cladding sheet in accordance with said data, the cutting assembly including at least one blade that is contoured correspondingly with the longitudinal profile ot the strip along said predetermined angle to thereby facilitate cutting of the material along said angle; and repeating steps and to produce a second and so on of said plurality of cladding sheets until all of the plurality of cladding sheets have been produced.

Preferably said cutting assembly includes at least two selectable blades., whereby one blade is contoured to cut the strip along a first set of predetermined angles, and a further blade is contoured to cut the strip along a second set of predetermined angles.

In preference the method further includes cutting additional sheets not required for the building structure so that all of the cladding sheets required have the correct size and shape, Preferably step includes inputting data relating to the structure design into a computer program that translates the data into a series of cutting operations.

Preferably the method further includes cutting the roll-formed strip into separate cladding sheets using a cutting assembly that is supported in relation to the roll-forming line to move in response to the programmed cutting operations.

Preferably the method further includes controlling thet operation of the cutting assembly in response to the operation of the roll-form-ing line.

COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:38 FAX 61 8 82119433 Lesicar Perrin 047 o- Preferably the method further includes marking each cut cladding sheet to identify the 0 sheet so that it can be differentiated by the marked identification from the other cladding t sheets that are required to build the structure.

SIn preference the method further includes packing cut smaller separate cladding ,l 5 sheets in a predetermined order to facilitate subsequent assembling of the sheets to build the structure.

n Advantageously the method includes packing cut smaJler separate cladding sheets in Sa stack in reverse order so that the top cladding sheet in the stack is the first sheet in the stack 0 that is required for building the structure and each underlying sheet is the next sheet in the stack that is required for building the structure.

0BRF DESCJPTION OF TE DRAWINGS Cl| BRIEF DESCREPTIQN OF THE DRAWINGS COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several implementations of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a top view of a pitched gable roof including an indication as to the number and configuration of roofing panels that are required on different roof planes; Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of an apparatus for the manufacture of roof cladding elements in accordance with the present invention, including a rollforming assembly, a conveyer assembly, a variable-angle cutting assembly, and a fixed-angle cutting assembly; Figure 3 illustrates a front view of the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 2 positioned at an angle of approximately 45 degrees; Figure 4 illustrates a top view of a roll-formed metal strip about to be fed into the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 3; Figure 5 illustrates a top view of a roll-formed metal strip cut at an angle of approximately 45 degrees by the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 3; Figure 6 illustrates front and end views of the top and bottom blades of a first blade assembly adapted to cut roofing panels in the range of angles between 38 and 41 degrees; Figure 7 illustrates front and end views of the top and bottom blades of a second blade assembly adapted to cut roofing panels in the range of angles between 42 and degrees; Figure 8a illustrates a partial cross-sectional side view of the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 3 whereby a first blade assembly is aligned with the axis of rotation of the cutting assembly; Figure 8b illustrates a partial cross-sectional side view of the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 3 whereby the housing of the assembly has been shifted such that a second blade assembly is aligned with the axis of rotation of the cutting assembly; and Figure 9 illustrates the variable-angle cutting assembly of Figure 8a immediately following the cutting of a metal strip using the first cutting assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. Although the description includes exemplary embodiments, other embodiments are possible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts.

The present invention is related to an apparatus 10 for the manufacture of corrugated roofing panels 12 for a home 14 as shown in Figure 1, including panels having angled edges 16 and straight edges 18. It is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is not to be limited to roofing panels having corrugated profiles, nor to profiles that are only formed in a longitudinal direction. The apparatus 10 may easily be modified to manufacture alternately profiled panels.

In Figure 2, there is shown a production line for the manufacture of corrugated roofing panels 12 in accordance with the present invention. A strip 20 of sheet metal is fed from a coil supply 22 to a roll-forming assembly 24, further to a variable-angle cutting assembly 26, and further still to a fixed-angle cutting assembly 28. Although not shown, at the end of the production line there may be a conveyer or other transportation means for transporting piles of roof panels 12, or stacked roof panels, away from the production line.

In the roll-forming assembly 24, the metal strip 20 is profiled in the longitudinal direction such that the strip 20 is given a wave-shaped or corrugated cross-section. The rollforming assembly 24 is made up of an arrangement of rollers 30 each comprising a lower wheel 32 and an upper wheel 34 in between which the strip 20 is made to travel. It is the contour of the wheels 32 and 34 which give the metal strip 20 the abovementioned longitudinal profile. As can be seen, this is a progressive process in that the first rollers significantly profile only the inner part of the strip 20 while the rollers further in the production line extend the total width of the strip 20 so that at the end of the roll-forming process, a uniformly corrugated strip emerges. Those skilled in the art would realise that if the entire profile were applied across the entire width of the strip 20 at once, then the corrugations would not be formed correctly.

Following the final roller is a conveyer assembly 38 including three roll bars adapted to feed the profiled sheet 20 to the variable-angle cutting assembly 26. Positioned above and onto one side of the conveyer assembly is a printer 42 which serves to imprint labels on each metal panel that is cut. The benefit of labelling each panel can be appreciated in Figure 1 illustrating a home 14 having twelve different roof planes. It can be seen that the panels for each roof plane are labelled accordingly. For example, the panels of a first roof plane are labelled 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4 and so on, whereas the panels of a sixth roof plane are labelled 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 and 6-6. Those skilled in the art would realise the difficulty in having to mount unlabelled panels onto a roof having multiple planes.

If rectangular panels are required to be constructed, as is often the case, the strip simply bypasses the variable-angle cutting assembly 26 (by travelling through it) and may be cut to size using the fixed-angle cutting assembly 28. As can be seen, the fixed-angle cutting assembly 28 is aligned perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the strip 20, or at a zero degree angle. The fixed-angle assembly 28 includes a top 44 and bottom 46 blade having corrugations 48 which generally correspond with the corrugations of the profiled strip The standard peak-to-peak distance between corrugations of a profiled strip 20 for use on a standard roof is approximately 76.2 mm. The corrugation peaks of the blades 44 and 46 are contoured to the corrugation peaks of the profiled sheet 20 ensuring that the metal strip 44 is free of dents or damaged edges when cut. Given that such an assembly 28 is known, and that the way in which the cut is achieved is similar to that for the variable-angle assembly 26 described below, this assembly 28 will not be described here in any further detail.

As roofs such as those illustrated in Figure 1 require panels 12 having angled edges 16, there is a need for such panels to be pre-fabricated off-site for the reasons mentioned in the preamble. The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 allows for this to be achieved and will now be described.

The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 can be seen clearly in Figures 3-5. In these Figures, the assembly 26 is positioned at an angle of approximately 45 degrees and as is shown in Figure 5, is adapted to cut the sheet 20 at that angle. The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 is positioned directly following the conveyer assembly 38 and is mounted above a support frame 50. The assembly 26 includes a substantially rectangular housing 52 mounted above a slide 54 (whose function will be later described) which in turn is mounted above a mechanical turntable 56 rotatable about a fixed centre of rotation 58. A drive motor causes a first cog 62 to rotate which in turn causes the turntable 56 to rotate, the cog 62 and turntable 56 being in communication with one another through a chain 64. Two further spaced apart cogs 65 are used as guides for the chain 64 to ensure that it is maintained on its required path.

It is to be understood that when the turntable 56 is made to rotate, the entire housing 52 rotates with it, and thus the cutting angle depends on the extent of rotation of the turntable 56. Further, the drive motor 60 is configured such that turntable 56 may rotate both clockwise and anti-clockwise depending on the position of the resultant panel on the roof, as will become obvious. When the turntable 56 is set to zero degrees, the variable-angle cutting assembly 26 is aligned generally perpendicularly to the direction of the production line, that is, parallel with the fixed-angle cutting assembly 28.

The housing or frame 52 generally encloses the metal strip 20 as it moves through the production line. It is made up of a lower beam 66 adapted to extend horizontally beneath the strip 20, vertical side beams 68 located on opposed sides of the strip 20, and an upper beam which extends horizontally above the strip 20. Obviously, the spaced apart distance of the side beams 68 is enough to ensure that the housing 52 is capable of rotating about the centre of rotation 58 to an angle over approximately 45 degrees without contacting the sides of the metal strip 20. The extent of rotation of the turntable 56 is controlled such that the side beams 68 do not contact the sides of the metal strip The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 also includes a roll bar 72 at its entry point which is supported in a parallel relationship relative to the housing 52. The roll bar 72 aids in feeding the metal strip 20 through the assembly 26. A further supporting means in the form of a semi-circular plate (not shown) extends from the exit point of the assembly 26.

The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 embodied herein includes two spaced apart blade assemblies 74 and 76 which may each be selectively used. Figure 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the top 78 and bottom 80 blades which form part of blade assembly 74, whilst Figure 7 illustrates an enlarged view of the top 82 and bottom 84 blades which form part of blade assembly 76. As one may realise, the distance between peaks on the corrugations of each blade has been widened in order to accommodate for the widened corrugations of the metal strip at particular angles. As can be seen, the blade edges are further scalloped across their entire width to form a slight peak toward their centres. This further promotes an effective cut in that when the blades engage, they cut the metal strip from the centre of the strip outwards.

The bevelled edges of the angular cutting blades are finer than that of blades 44 and 46 used to cut straight panels in order to prevent the angled edges of the sheet from catching on the blades in their upward or downward motion following the cutting motion.

The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 is able to make angled cuts because the peakto-peak distances between the corrugations of each blade is widened to match the peak-topeak distances between corrugations of the profiled strip 20 at particular angles. As those skilled in the art would realise, this peak-to-peak distance would increase as the cutting angle is required to increase from 0 to 90 degrees. For example, those skilled in the art would realise that a blade assembly required to cut a 25 degree angle for example would require a corrugation peak-to-peak distance that is less than a blade assembly required to cut an angle of say 40 degrees.

Thus, when cutting at an angle of zero degrees, the peak-to-peak distance of the blade corrugations need to match that of the roof corrugations, that is, approximately 76 mm.

However, if a panel having an edge of say 45 degrees is to be manufactured, the corrugation peaks need to be stretched to approximately 108 mm. Likewise, when cutting at an angle of approximately 67 degrees, the corrugations need to be stretched to a wavelength of approximately 195.02 mm.

Ideally, the variable-angle cutting assembly would include a blade assembly to match each and every possible cutting angle so that for a particular angle, a particular blade assembly is selected. However, this would result in a somewhat bulky assembly and would not be practical. For this reason, the variable-angle cutting assembly disclosed herein includes two blade assemblies 74 and 76 whereby the distance between peaks 86 of blades 78 and of blade assembly 74 has been selected to a range of cutting angles of approximately 38-41 degrees, whilst the distance between peaks 88 of blades 82 and 84 of blade assembly 76 has been selected to a range of cutting angles of approximately 41-44 degrees. For the purposes of general roofing requirements, these two blade types have been found to be sufficient in manufacturing angled roofing panels for roofs of a standard pitch.

The blade assemblies 74 and 76 can be seen most clearly in Figures 8a-8b. Figure 8a illustrates assembly 76 in vertical alignment with the centre of rotation 58 of the turntable 54, whilst Figure 8b illustrates blade assembly 74 in vertical alignment with the centre of rotation 58 upon having been shifted over from its position shown in Figure 8a by means of a piston As mentioned, the slide 54 is located above the turntable 56 and houses a housing base plate 92 slidable within the slide 54 by action of the piston 90. When the piston 90 is activated, the frame 52 together with the cutting assemblies 74 and 76 is made to shift between the two positions. The blade assembly which is aligned with the centre of rotation 58 is the assembly adapted to cut the strip 20 at angled edge 16. The direction of shift between blade assemblies is substantially perpendicular to the angle of rotation of the variable-angle cutting assembly 26. So when the variable-angle cutting assembly 26 is positioned at zero degrees for example, the direction of shift between blade assembly 74 and blade assembly 76, and vice-versa, will be in the longitudinal direction of the production line.

One may further consider incorporating the zero degree cutting blades 44 and 46 into the variable-angle assembly 26 which would in fact eliminate the need for the fixed-angle assembly 24 because it may simply be rotated to zero degrees and this particular blade selected. However, in a production line of this sort where efficiency is crucial, both assemblies are incorporated into the production line so that both straight and angled panels may be produced in a minimum amount of time without having to wait for various different blades to be selected.

The components and mechanism for cutting the panels will now be described.

The blades 78, 80, 82 and 84 are each mounted to respective blade mounting plates 94, 96, 98 and 100. Mounting plates 94 and 98 are housed in the upper portion of the housing 52 and mounting plates 96 and 100 are housed in the lower portion of the housing 52. Each of the plates 94, 96, 98 and 100 is movable in a vertical direction, this movement governed by the movement of respective pairs of hydraulic pistons 102, 104, 106 and 108.

Illustrated in Figure 9 is the assembly housing 52 with the blade assembly 74 in a position immediately after it has cut a panel from sheet 20. When a predetermined length of metal strip 20 has been fed through the variable-angle cutting assembly 26, the roll-forming assembly 24 is halted and the blade assembly 74 is activated. Activation of the cutting assembly 74 involves two steps. Firstly, the lower pistons 108 are activated to thereby shift blade mounting plate 100 and hence blade 84 upwards. This is continued until the blade 84 contacts the lower surface of the metal strip 20 and lifts it slightly above the horizontal surface provided for by roll bar 72. Once this has been achieved, the upper pistons 106 are activated so as to shift the blade mounting plate 98 and hence blade 82 downwards, this movement continuing until after the metal strip 20 has been cut. The cut is achieved through the shearing action between the tips of blades 82 and 84. This same principle applies to blade assembly 76 also.

In their rest positions, the pistons 102, 104, 106 and 108 are in a position such that each of the corresponding blades are not engaged, that is, the upper mounting plates 94 and 98 are maintained in their upper positions and the lower mounting plates 96 and 100 are maintained in their lower positions.

One should thus now realise the benefits in using the apparatus 10 of the present invention. Not only can the apparatus 10 be made to cut rectangular panels using the fixedangle cutting assembly 28, but angled panels can also be produced as a result of incorporating a variable-angle cutting assembly 26 in the apparatus 10. The variable-angle cutting assembly 26 includes at least two alternate, selectable blade assemblies 74 and 76 for use on different ranges of cutting angle. This is achievable because the distance between corrugation peaks on each of the cutting blades is increased in accordance with the angle, or range of angles being cut, as described earlier.

An entire process of forming and cutting all roofing panels necessary for a home 14, including angled panels as displayed in Figure 1, may be achieved using the apparatus 10 of the present invention. Also illustrated in Figure 2 is a processor and control panel 110 into which relevant information relating to the leading edge angle, longitudinal length, and trailing edge angle of each panel may be entered and stored. The processor 110 includes software that communicates with the apparatus control means (not shown) for controlling each and every step of the process including movement of the rollers 30, rotation of the turntable 56, activation of the various pistons for cutting the metal 20, activating the slide 54, and various other actions required of the apparatus 10. Those skilled in the art would realise that the processor and control panel 110 and associated equipment may be used to make the forming and cutting procedure completely automated.

Thus for example, one may input a roof pitch angle into the processor 110, and preferably, the processor 110 will automatically determine the number and configuration of panels that are required and further instruct the various assemblies in the production line to produce such panels. The computer further selects the blade assembly depending upon the angle that is required to be cut into the corrugated metal sheet. Those skilled in the art would realise the immense advantage this provides in that the panels may then be bundled according to their position, transported to a work site and simply mounted directly onto the roof without requiring any further cutting.

Scrap metal pieces may well result from a procedure where say a first panel is to be produced having a trailing edge that is different to the leading edge of the next panel produced. Optimally, the apparatus 10 is configured so that this does not occur often, and even when it does, the scrap metal is minimal and in some instances may be reused.

The present invention thus provides for a more effective way of manufacturing and installing roof cladding elements. Previous methods of producing angled corrugated roofing panels involved the installer cutting the angled panels to size whilst on the roof, this being time consuming, dangerous and often resulting in inaccurate cuts. The present invention overcomes these problems in that all of the roofing panels, including the angled panels, are manufactured off-site using the apparatus It is to be understood that each component in the apparatus 10 comprises numerous bolts, grub screws and other like means of connection, these not being explicitly referred to or described herein.

Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

In any claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Dated this 3 August 2004 Fielders Australia Pty Ltd By their Patent Attorneys LESICAR PERRIN

Claims (7)

1. 2- A cutting assembly according to claim 1 wherein said at least one blade is contoured o correspondingly with the profile of the snrip of material along a range of 0 predetermined angles, to thereby facilitate cutting of the material at any angle between said range of predetermined angles.
2. 3. A cutting assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said cutting assembly includes at least two cutting means, each cutting means being moveable to an operable position to cut said strip of material.
3. 4. A cutting assembly according to claim 3 wherein a first of said at least two cutting means is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a first range of predetermined angles, and a second of said at least two culting means is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a second range of predetermined angles. A cutting assembly according to any one of the above claims wherein said cutting means i's in the form of a blade assembly having contoured upper and lower blades adapted to receive the strip of material therebetween, and engage to thereby cut the strip of material.
4. 6. A cutting assembly according to any one of the above claims further including means of feeding said snrip of material to the cutting means.
5. 7. A cutting assembly according to claim 6 wherein operation of the feeding means and cuffing means are automatically controlled using a control mneans to ensure that said strip of material is cut into individual panels of desired size and shape.
6. 8. A cutt assembly according to claim 7 wherein data relating to the size and shape of each panel is entered into a computing means capable of transmitting said data to the control means- COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:38 FAX 61 8 82119433 LscrPri 4 Lesicar Perrin (a 049 o 9. A culling assembly according to any one of the above claims further including a roll- 0 forming mcans adapted to form said longitudinal profile. U 10. A cutting assembly according to any one of the above claim further including a stackting means for stacking cut panels from the strip of material.
7. 511. A cutting assembly for forming longitudinally profiled panels, said cutting assembly including: Cfla supply means for feeding a longitudintal strip of material; Cfl a roll-forming assembly for profiling the strip in the longitudinal direction; ci a cutter adapted to, cut the profiled strip, said cutter being rotatable about a vertical axis to enable transverse angled cutting; o said cutter including a cutting edge that is contoured correspondingly wit the longitudinal profile of the strip of material along a prcdeterrnined angle, to thereby facilitate cutting of the material along said predetermined angle. 12. A cutting assembly according to claim 11I wherein said longitudinal profile is in the form of longitudinal corrugations. 13. A cutting assembly as in claim 12 wherein said cutting edge is corrugated such that the peak to peak distance between its corrugations correspond substantially with the peak to peak distance between corrugations of the material when taken along said predetermined angle. 14. A cutting assembly according to claim 11 wherein said cutting edge is contoured correspondingly with the longitudinal profile of the strip of material along a range of predetermined angles, to thereby flacilitate cutting of the material at any angle between said range of predetermined angles. A cutting assembly according to claim 14 wherein said longitudinal profile is in the form of longitudinal corrugations. 16. A cutting assembly as in claim 15 wherein said cutting edge is corrugated such that the peak to peak distance between its corrugations correspond substantially with the average peak to pa distance between corrugations of the material when taken along said range of predetermined angles. 17. A cutting assembly according to any one; of claims 14-16 wherein said cutting assembly includes at least two cutters whereby a first cutter is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a first range of predetermined angles, and a COMS ID No: ARCS-i 66046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:39 FAX 61 8 82119433Lsca Pern103 Lesicar Perrin [a 16 o second cutter is configured to cut the strip of material at an angle between a second Cl range of predetermined angles. 0~ 18. A cutting assembly according to claim 17 wherein said first range of predetermned angles is between +3 841 degrees from a straightftransverse cut and said second Cl 5 range of predetermined angles is between; 4l-44 degrees fronm a straight transverse cut. 19. A cutting assembly according to claim 17 or claim 18 wherein each cutter is' en selectively moveable to an operable cutting position. A cutting assembly according to any one of claims 11-19 wherein said cutting assembly further includes a control means for controlling at least the supply mneans Cl and cutters- 2 1. A cuffing assembly according to claim 20 wherein said cutting assembly further includes a computing means capable of' receiving and processing data relating tothe size and shape of panels to be cu using the cutting assemably, and transmitting said data to the control means wihcontrols at least the supply means and cutters, accordingly. 22. A cutting assembly according to claim 21 wherein said data includes information relating to the trailing edge angle, leading edge angle, and length of each panel. 23. A cuffing assembly according to any one of claimns 11-22 wherein said longitudinally profiled panels are roofing panels. 24. A cutting assembly according to claim 23 wherein said cuffing assembly further includes a printing means for labelling each panel in accordance with its position on the roof. A cutting assembly according to claim 23 or claim 24 wherein said cutting assembly further includes a stackcing means for stacking said panels in an order conresponding with their placemnent on the roof. 26. A cutting assembly according to any one of claims 11 -25 wherein said supply means is in the form of a motorised coil supply of sheet metal. 27. A method of automatically producing a plurality of roll-fbnined cladding sheets for building a structure, such as a roof, the plurality of cladding sheets including cladding COMS ID No: ARCS-i 66046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:39 FAX 61 8 82119433Leca Prinioi Lesicar Perrin [a 051 1 6a O sheets having angled cuts at the ends of the sheets, which method involves the steps 0 of: 'S tr-ansiating data relating to a design of the structure into a series of automatic o cutting operations of a cuffing assembly for a cutting strip into a plurality of separate S cladding sheets that have the correct size and shape to be placed directly onto a support frame and assembled together to form the structure; roll-forming the strip to form a longitudinal profile on the strip and moving it Mn through the cutting assembly a distance defining the length of the first cladding sheet along its central axis; rotating the cutting assembly in relation to the roll-formed strip and cutting the strip along a predetermined angle to fain the correct shape of the first cladding sheet o in accordance with said data, the cutting assembly including at least one blade that is contoured correspondingly with the longitudinal profile of the strip along said predetermined angle to thereby facilitate cuffing of the material along said angle; and repeating steps and to produce a second and so on of said plurality of cladding sheets until all of the plurality of cladding sheets have been produced- 28. The method defined in claim 27 wherein said cutting assembly includes at least two selectable blades, whereby one blade is contoured to cut the strip along a first set of predetermined angles, and a further blade is contoured to cut the strip along a second set of predetermined angles. 29-. The method defined in claim 27 or claim 28 including cutting additional sheets not required for the building structure so that all of the cladding sheets required have the correct size and shape. The method defined in any one of claims 27-29 wherein step includes inputting data relating to the structure design into a computer program that translates the data into a series of cutting operations- 3 1. The method defined iin any one of claims 27-3 0 including cuffing the roil-formed strip. into separate cladding sheets using a cutting assembly that is supported in relation to the roll-formning line to move in response to the programmed cutting operations. 32. The method defined in any one of claims 27-31 including controlling the operation of the cuffing assembly in response to the operation of the roll-forming line. COMS ID No: ARCS-168046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24 24/10 '07 WED 17:40 FAX 61 8 82119433 Lesicar Perrln 052 16b o 33. The method defined in any one of claims 27-32 including marking each cut cladding C0 sheet to identify the sheet so that it can be differentiated by the marked identification o from the other cladding sheets that are required to build the structure. O S34. The method defined in any one of claims 27-33 including packing cut smaller C 5 separate cladding sheets in a predetermined order to facilitate subsequent assembling of the sheets to build the structure. n 35. The method defined in any one of claims 27-34 including packing cut smaller separate cladding sheets in a stack in reverse order so that the top cladding sheet in C' the stack is the first sheet in the stack that is required for building the structure and each underlying sheet is the next sheet in the stack that is required for building the Sstructure. C<l COMS ID No: ARCS-166046 Received by IP Australia: Time 17:19 Date 2007-10-24