AU2013101588A4 - Maries Safety Fringer - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract. Safety Quilling Fringer. The machine is composed of an assembly of parts 1, 2 & 3 that provide a static base to accept a strip of paper or light card (4). Part 3 is made of a low friction polymer to provide low friction surfaces underneath and to one side of the paper strip (4). Paper strip (4) is held in the correct location by an adjustable paper guide (5). Paper guide (5) is on the operator's side of paper strip (4) and is held in place by spring forces which produce sufficient friction to maintain the position of paper guide (5) during normal fringing operations. Paper guide (5) is also spring loaded onto the base surface on which the paper slides, to prevent paper egress under paper guide (5). Once a paper strip is loaded into the machine, the machine is manually operated by repeatedly depressing the operating handle (6). The operating handle is connected to a spring loaded rotatable lever (7) by a shaft (8) passing through a rotatable cutting blade (9). On the lever there is mounted a rotatable, spring loaded paper feed finger (10). The bottom tip of feed finger (10) contacts the paper strip (4) with a high friction rubber surface. The feed finger (10) includes a feature to engage a screw adjustable cam (11) mounted inside the base assembly (pitch adjustment cam). A spring loaded non return finger (12) is mounted on the same axis as the rotatable lever. The non-return finger (12) contacts the paper strip (4) with a high friction rubber surface. The spring load on the rotatable lever (7) causes the rotating assembly of lever (7), shaft (8), blade (9) and handle (6) to rest at a fixed upper position (top stop). The magnitude of the spring force on the rotatable lever (7) is sufficient to return the rotatable assembly to the top stop faster than a typical user could perform the same process manually. Thus, a typical user need only apply force to depress the operating handle (6) to the adjustable lower position (bottom stop) formed by threaded fastener (13). 04/12/2013 6

Description

Section: Description Title of Invention: Safety Fringer Technical Field: paper craft, quilling fringer Background Art: Quilling fringers are manually operated machines designed to make an evenly spaced line of even length cuts across part of the width of a narrow strip of paper or light card. The fringed paper is then rolled into a cylindrical spiral, glued to prevent unwinding and then has the cut ends splayed open to produce a paper flower where the cut fringes form the flower petals. A previous quilling fringer designed by me uses permanently meshed blades, like a pair of scissors without handles. Other designs use blades which contact each other only during paper cutting. Summary of Invention: The machine is composed of an assembly of parts 1, 2 & 3 that provide a static base to accept a strip of paper or light card (4). Part 3 is made of a low friction polymer to provide low friction surfaces underneath and to one side of the paper strip (4). Paper strip (4) is held in the correct location by an adjustable paper guide (5). Paper guide (5) is on the operator's side of paper strip (4) and is held in place by spring forces which produce sufficient friction to maintain the position of paper guide (5) during normal fringing operations. Paper guide (5) is also spring loaded onto the base surface on which the paper slides, to prevent paper egress under paper guide (5). Once a paper strip is loaded into the machine, the machine is manually operated by repeatedly depressing the operating handle (6). The operating handle is connected to a spring loaded rotatable lever (7) by a shaft (8) passing through a rotatable cutting blade (9). On the lever there is mounted a rotatable, spring loaded paper feed finger (10). The bottom tip of feed finger (10) contacts the paper strip (4) with a high friction rubber surface. The feed finger (10) includes a feature to engage a screw-adjustable cam (11) mounted inside the base assembly (pitch adjustment cam). A spring loaded non-return finger (12) is mounted on the same axis as the rotatable lever. The non-return finger (12) contacts the paper strip (4) with a high friction rubber surface. The spring load on the rotatable lever (7) causes the rotating assembly of lever (7), shaft (8), blade (9) and handle (6) to rest at a fixed upper position (top stop). The magnitude of the spring force on the rotatable lever (7) is sufficient to return the rotatable assembly to the top stop faster than a typical user could perform the same process manually. Thus, a typical user need only apply force to depress the operating handle (6) to the adjustable lower position (bottom stop) formed by threaded fastener (13). Cutting of the paper is achieved by a fixed blade (14) and a rotatable blade (9). The rotatable blade (9) is connected to the fixed blade (14) by a spring loaded screw and nut assembly located near the blade ends furthest from the operator. The fixed blade (14) is planar and fastened to the base (1) by threaded fasteners. The rotatable blade (9) is curved to ensure positive interference between blades at the locus of cutting. Shaft (8) locates in a slot in rotatable blade (9) which permits the blade (9) and lever (7) to rotate around their respective axes without fouling or jamming of moving parts. In this product the axes of rotation are horizontal and 90 degrees apart. 04/12/2013 1 The blade assembly (9 & 14) is housed inside the base (1) and enclosed by cover (15) to prevent access to the blades by objects larger than 5mm diameter. The cover (15) cannot be removed with bare hands. Each depression of the operating handle (6) makes one cut in the paper strip by causing the following operations: * The rotatable lever (7) to travel from the top stop to the bottom stop (13), which causes the following sequence: * The feed finger (10) to feed paper (4) until the feed finger (10) is lifted off the paper (4) by the pitch adjustment cam (11). * The rotatable blade (9) to rotate past the fixed blade (14). The blade rotation is divided into 2 phases: o Feed phase - the cutting contact between blades (9 & 14) occurs outside the width of the paper strip (4). Paper feeding is completed before paper cutting commences o Cutting phase - the cutting contact between blades (9 & 14) occurs inside the width of the paper strip (4). Cutting continues across the width of paper strip (4) until rotatable blade (9) contacts adjustable bottom stop (13). Releasing the operating handle (6) causes the motions to be reversed. The spring loaded non-return finger (12) prevents the paper strip (4) from reverse motion. The fringed paper strip (4) is discharged from the machine through a slot in cover (15). The machine has two user adjustments which can be made by a hex key: * Pitch between cuts. Adjustment of the cam (11) which controls when the feed finger (10) lifts off the paper strip (4) * Length of cut. Adjustment of the bottom stop (13) which controls when the rotatable blade (9) stops cutting. The combination of paper guide location and blade hinge axis location result in all strips of paper (regardless of their width) having one edge at a fixed location relative to the blade rotation axis. This permits the design to guarantee that the paper feed phase of each machine cycle is completed before the commencement of the paper cutting phase 04/12/2013 2

Claims (4)

1. The blades are permanently connected by a hinge with the hinge point being at the end of the blades furthest from the operator.

2. One blade is planar and the opposing blade is curved to cause positive interference between blades at the point of cutting.

3. The blades are enclosed in an enclosure which prevents access to the blades by human fingers.

4. The downward motion of the operating lever and rotating blade is limited by an adjustable stop which comes into direct contact with the rotating blade. 04/12/2013 3 04/12/2013 6