GB1007661A - Improvements in or relating to the finishing and cutting of chamois leather - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:1007661/C6-C7/1> <PICT:1007661/C6-C7/2> <PICT:1007661/C6-C7/3> In finishing and cutting chamois leather into pieces having predetermined shapes and sizes, a sheet 4 of the seasoned, staked and ground leather or skin, Figs. 1 and 5, is laid on a relatively hard, flat cutting table 1, e.g. covered with synthetic plastic material 3, and a rigid frame or templet 5, having a rim 6, is placed on the leather and clamped, as by a pneumatic ram 18 having a thrust pad 19, which engages a member 20 projecting centrally from the frame. The ram and the table are relatively movable horizontally, e.g. the ram may be moved in two horizontal directions, at right angles to each other, over the table. Alternatively, the frame may be clamped by cam-operated mechanism. In another alternative construction, Fig. 2, the frame is made of magnetic metal and may include soft-iron armatures. It is clamped by energizing electromagnets 7, located under the table; the provision of the member 20 then being unnecessary. An operator then cuts the leather with a knife, around the rim 6. Two frames may be placed, at the same time, on the leather sheet, and a bridging member may extend from one frame to the other to receive the thrust pad 19 of the ram. Alternatively, the two frames may each be clamped by a ram. A constant is computed, on given costs of raw materials and labour, to represent the useful value which the operator should obtain from the leather sheet. Each frame is given an index value. The operator then selects a frame, e.g. the largest possible, and subtracts its index value from the constant, to ascertain the index value of another frame for use on the remaining portion of the sheet.