GB2249516A

GB2249516A - Mount cutter

Info

Publication number: GB2249516A
Application number: GB9122866A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Charles Young
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-11-10
Filing date: 1991-10-29
Publication date: 1992-05-13
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-29
Also published as: GB2249516B; GB9122866D0

Abstract

Apparatus to be used in the preparation of mounting material for the mounting of, for example, paintings and photographs therein, comprises a cutting device for the angled cutting of mount material to produce a display portion therein through which the painting or photograph can be displayed. The cutting device comprises a mount cutter head (10) for use with a mount cutter slide (16) and base (38) wherein the mount material (40) fits between the slide and base. The cutter head (10) comprises two plates (10a, 10b) separated by a spacer (24) & secured together by an adjusting screw (22) whereby the position of the blade (32) mounted on the head can be adjusted relative to the mount material. <IMAGE>

Description

Improvements Relating to a Mount Cutter The invention relates to improvements for a cutting device of a type referred to hereinafter as the type set forth for producing angled edges in sheet material.

The angled edge produced is especially desirable for the mounting of paintings or other framed articles which have openings therein. Conventionally, the edges defining said paintings are cut at an angle of 45q One such cutting device and that to which these improvements relate is the mount cutter which is the subject of Patent Application Serial Number GB8824903.2. Such device comprises a slide formed of an angled face with a base mounting and a lipped section, said slide being mounted on a base, and including a groove cut the length of the said base. The sheet material to be cut is placed between the said base and slide and is held in place by means of a rubber strip on the underside of the slide.Upon the slide there is provided a cutter head fitted with a blade and adapted to move along the angled face of the said slide with the said blade tip moving along the groove in the base. The said cutter head consists of two plates, one of which is bevelled to form a seat between the cutter head and the mount material to be cut, with a slide spacer between the two plates. These plates are joined together by two securing screws. The slide spacer forms a slide seat in that it rests on the slide as the head moves therealong. The blade is held in position by means of an adjustable screw and is capable of adopting any position between two location pegs which prescribe the limit of blade movement. The cutter head is factory set to fit the slide so that in use the cutter head rests on the slide accurately at the slide seat and is set to be an accurate fit at the mount material seat.It is important for the correct functioning of the mount cutter that these two seats so described are respectively in contact with the slide and sheet material during cutting of the mount material. The cutting of the mount material is facilitated by the placement of the material in the position so described above and the subsequent movement of the cutter head along the angled face of the slide with the blade in the correct position.

The mount cutter so described is set to operate accurately when the original slide and a set thickness of mount material is to be cut but even this is not guaranteed, because the slide may have slight imperfections. A main disadvantage of the mount cutter lies in the inability of the cutter head to be adjusted to take into account variations in thickness of mount material to be cut and also the inability for the said cutter head to be used with any other slide due to inaccuracies which may exist in the slide. This need for adjustment is due to the aforementioned requirement for both the slide seat and the mount material seat to be in contact as described above during cutting.If either the sheet material thickness is altered or the slide is changed then the device so described will be unable to be adapted to these changed parameters and it is likely that one of the seats will not contact where it should and the quality of edge produced will be impaired.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is a cutter head for use with a mount cutter slide and base with mount material fitted between said slide and base wherein said cutter head has a cutter, a slide seat and adjustment means enabling adjustment of the cutter towards and away from the mount material relative to the slide seat, and the cutter head includes a locking means for locking the cutter in adjusted position relative to the slide seat, to ensure the desired penetration of the cutter into the mount material.

This aspect of the invention allows the slide seat to be brought into contact once the mount material seat is in contact by means of the said adjustable movement. This will allow different thicknesses of mount material to be cut accurately. The cutter head will now be adaptable to be used on any slide of the design so described hence eliminating the need for the cutter head to be factory set.

According to another aspect of the present invention the cutter head includes a thickness compensating means for compensating for the difference in thickness between a section of the slide which engages in a slot in the head and the said slot.

The said thickness compensating means may be used independantly or in conjunction with the adjustment means of the cutter head.

There will be provided a method of using a mount cutter wherein the cutter head is firstly located in contact with the mount material to form the mount material seat; secondly the adjustable means on the cutter head are released to allow the slide seat to be formed and hence provide contact at the mount material seat and the slide seat, the adjustable means are tightened and the cutting of the mount material is performed by pulling the cutter head along said slide.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:- Figure 1 is an elevation of the slide, mount material, base and cutter head; Figure 2 is a sectional end elevation of the cutter head on AA of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation of the cutter head on BB of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a sectional end elevation of the cutter head on CC of Figure 1; Figure 5 is an elevation of the cutter head with the cutting blade in raised position; Figure 6 is an elevation of the cutter head, slide, mount material and base in cutting position; and Figure 7 is a sectional end elevation on DD of Figure 6.

The invention relates to means of improving the use of the mount cutting device and, in particular the ability of the cutter head 10 to be adapted for use with differing slides 16 and mount materials 40. The figure 1 shows the said cutter head adjusting device 12 and the pivot screw 14 which are used to alter the position of the cutter head 10 on the slide 16 and hence produce contact at seat 34 and also contact at the mount material seat 36 which is formed of bevelled edge 17 of the cutter head 10 and the mount material 40. The adjusting device 12 is shown in section in Figure 2 in which the adjusting screw 22 travels through the head cutter 10 which is formed of two plates 10a and 10b and also through the slide spacer 24.The said spacer and plate 10b can be adjusted towards or away from the mount material seat 36 in small amounts, the extent of which is determined by the size of slotted hole 26, by releasing the adjusting screw 22 and then adjusting the said spacer and part 10b in the direction 15 shown in order that both seats 34 and 36 are in contact with the slide and mount material respectively and hence enable the correct position of the cutter head 10 to be obtained. The pivot screw 14 upon which plates 10a, 10b and slide spacer 24 are mounted is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 4 shows the thickness compensating means and in this case in the form of a friction screw 30 which can be adjusted to take account of the difference in thickness between the slide 16 and slide spacer 24. To prevent the said screw slackening due to movement of the cutter head during the cutting action the thread of the screw 31 is of different pitch from that of the hole 33 in the cutter head 10 this said difference in threads producing the effect of locking the screw in position.

The positioning of the cutter head 10 with the blade 32 fitted is shown in Figures 5 and 6. The blade 32 is shown in the safety position 32a and the cutting position 32b. The said blade is adjustable by means of device 18 and can adopt any position between that dictated by the two locating pegs 20. The typical embodiment of the cutter head 10, the slide 16, base 38, mount material 40 and the blade 32b is shown in Figure 6 with slide seat 34 and mount material seat 36 in contact. At this stage the cutting device is set to cut the material 40 and produce a clean and angled cut. The movement of the cutter head 10, relative to the mount material 40, is indicated by the arrow 39.

The two critical seats in relation to which the knife holder should be adjusted are shown in Figure 7. The two critical seats 34 and 36 occur where slide spacer 24 comes into contact with the slide 16 (34) and the bevelled edge 17 of the cutter head 10 comes into contact with the mount material 40 (36). The slide 16 can be seen to be formed of an angled face 42, a base mounting 44 and a lipped edge 46, the said slide mounted on the base 38 by means of the mounting pegs 48 and the mount material 40 is held in place by the rubber strip 50. To bring about contact at both seats 34 and 36 the following method is followed. With the mount material 40 in place between the slide 16 and the base 38 the adjusting device 12 is released to allow the bevelled face 17 of the cutter head 10 to come into contact with the said mount material which forms seat 36, and once the second seat 34 between the slide spacer 24 and the slide 16 is also in contact, the adjusting device 12 is secured in place. The cutter head 10 is now set and the mount cutter is now ready to be used to cut the said material with the blade tip 52 travelling through the material 40 and along the groove 54 in the base 38.

Claims

1. A mount cutter head for use with a mount cutter slide and base with mount material fitted between said slide and base wherein the said cutter head has a cutter, a slide seat and adjustment means enabling adjustment of the cutter towards and away from the mount material relative to the slide seat, and the cutter head further including a locking means for locking the cutter in adjusted position relative to the slide seat to ensure the desired penetration of the cutter in to the mount material.

2. A cutter head as in Claim 1, wherein the said cutter head locking means is provided by a locking screw.

3. A cutter head as in Claim 1 wherein there is provided a pivot screw about which the cutter is pivotable to provide said position adjustment.

4. A cutter head as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 wherein the cutter head includes a thickness compensating means to provide compensation for differences in thickness between a section of the slide which engages in a slot in the cutter head, and the width of said slot.

5. A cutter head as claimed in claim 4, wherein the thickness compensating means is provided by an adjustable friction screw.

6. A mount cutter head for use with a slide wherein the cutter head includes a thickness compensating means to provide compensation for differences in thickness between a section of the slide which engages in a slot in the cutter head, and the width of said slot.

7. A cutter head as in Claim 6 wherein the thickness compensating means is provided by an adjustable friction screw.

8. A mount cutter including a cutter head as claimed in any of the preceding claims, and a slide for the cutter head and a base for supporting mount material between the base and the slide.

9. A method of using a mount cutter according to claim 8 wherein the cutter head is firstly located in contact with the mount material to form the mount material seat; secondly the adjustable means on the cutter head are released to allow the slide seat to be formed and hence provide contact at the mount material seat and the slide seat, the adjustable means are tightened and the cutting of the mount material is performed by pulling the cutter head along said slide.

10. A mount cutter head as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A mount cutter as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of using a mount cutter substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.