US1932875A - Combined cutting and slitting device - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 31, 1933- H. A. ADDISON EF AL COMBINED CUTTING AND SLI'I'TING DEVICE Filed June 20. 1932 whj M 0 W? y T0 E mfl m Var 0 mg TM 55 5 VW V. B

Patented Oct. 31, 1933 TES UNITED STA 7 1,932,375 7 r COMBINED CUTTING AND SLI'ITING DEVICE Herbert A. Addison and Ernest T. Tyren, Durham, N. 0., assignors to The American Tobacco Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 20, 1932. Serial no. 618,370

3 Claims.

Our invention relates to a combined cutting and slitting device for use in severing strips or sheets of material and simultaneously making a slit in the material at one of the edges formed by the severing of the strip or sheet.

Devices embodying the invention are especially useful in cutting wrapping materials such as cellophane, glassine, or other papers commonly used in wrapping various kinds of merchandise. As an illustration, cigarettes are generally sold in packages or cartons enclosed in a cellophane wrapper folded upon itself at the ends of the package and with the folds secured upon each other by an adhesive so as to tightly seal the package and preserve the moisture content. of the tobacco. It is the general custom among cigarette smokers to open the package by tearing off only a part of the outer wrapper folds at one side of the top; but with the top fold tightly sealed to the others it is diflicult to catch'hold of the rather slippery wrapping material such as cellophane and tear it along the desired lines. To facilitate opening cigarette packages in the manner speci- -fied the top fold is generally provided with a slit extending from its edge whereby the user may more readily tear the wrapper in desired manner and evenly with the slit aiTording-a guide and start to the tearing of the folds.

The wrappers for the individual packages are cut from a strip of the wrapping material and the edge of the wrapper which is provided with the slit is fed to the wrapping machine in such a manner that when the package is wrapped; the top fold of the wrapper will be positioned with the slit exposed at the top of the package so that a portion of the top fold, which is generally similar to a flap, may be grasped while the other portion is held down to facilitate opening of the package at one corner or end of the top.

With the foregoing explanation in mind the objects of the present invention are to provide a de-,

vice for severing the strip with means to form the slits in the proper edges of individual wrappers.

More specifically the objects of the invention include the provision of a combined severing and slitting device either of the scissors or guillotine type wherein cooperating severing members are arranged for relative movement to sever the strip at predetermined intervals and to provide in association with one of the members a slitting implement, such as a knife blade having a cutting edge so positioned as to form a slit in each wrapper cut from the strip at a predetermined point on an edge of the wrapper formed by the severing members, the slit being made simultaneously (Cl,v 164-41) Fig. l is a side elevation of a scissors type of severing device with the slitting implement applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1 with a portion of the slitting implement mounting broken away;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; a r

Fig. 4. is a'perspective view of the sheet of wrapping material showing the slit formed in'one edge thereof; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a package wrapped in the sheet shown in Fig. l with the slit disposed at the top of the package to facilitate opening.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 6 designates a cutting blade pivotally connected to an- 8 other cutting blade "1, the pivotal connection being made through the shaft 8 which projects from the casing 9 and the outer end of which is screw threadedto receive the nut 10, whereby the blades may be forced together for proper cutting relation, In the embodiment of the invention shown, the blade 6 has a portion projecting beyond pivot 8 as indicated at 11 for connection of the nut and bolt 13 whereby the blade 5 will be oscillated by reciprocatingmovement of the link or crank 12 which in turn is actuated by any suitable mechanism not shown. The strip 14 is fed between the blades preferably across the top or cutting edge of the blade '1 so that as the blade 6 is oscillated to efiect movement of its cutting edge 15 across the cutting edge of the blade '7, the strip 14 will be severed at regular intervals to form individual wrappers of predetermined size such as illustrated in Fig. 4 and designated by the numeral 16.

The wrapper 16 is shown as being provided with a slit 17 extending inwardly from one of its edges, which edge is formed by the severing of the strip between the blades 6 and 7, and the witha link or other actuating part 12 as by means slit is preferably located centrally on said edge between the sides of the wrapper so that when the wrapper is applied to the package as shown in Fig. 5, the slit 17 will be disposed at the center of the top fold 18 which may project slightly beyond the front or back of the package to form a flap, whereby the wrapper may be more readily grasped to tear the same in the direction of the slit as hereinbefore described.

The wrapper shown in Fig. 4, and which has been described above, has the slit 1'? formed therein simultaneously with the severing of the strip by the cutting edge 19 of the implement or blade 20 which is shown in detail in Fig. 3 as including a shank 21 to extend through a slot 22 in the block 23 rigidly secured to the blade 6 adjacent its cutting edge 15. As is usual in the scissors type of cutter, the cutting edge 15 is inclined and the lower end 24 of the implement 20 is formed to abut against the tapered edge of the blade 6 so that when the blade is inserted into the housing 23 by placing the shank 21 in the slot 22 and moving the blade upwardly, the blade will be properly positioned when the end 24 contacts the tapered edge of the blade 6, at which time the set screw 25 which is mounted through a screw threaded opening in one end of the block 23 is tightened to clamp the implement 20 in place. The block 23 and implement 20 are positioned on the blade relative to the strip 14 to bring the cutting edge 19 of the blade at the approximate transverse center of the strip when the blade 6 oscillates to bring the cutting edge 15 past the cutting edge of the blade '7 to sever the strip. It will be noted that the cutting edge 19 of the blade is inclined and terminates in a point 26 at its lower end and below the cutting edge of the blade 6.

The operation of the device is as follows: With the strip of material 14 being fed between the blades 6 and '7, the same will be severed at regular intervals when the blade 6 is oscillated to bring the cutting edge 15 into cutting relation with or across the cutting edge of the blade '7. In Fig. 1, the dot and dash representations of the blade 6 indicates its position at the time that the point 26 of the cutting edge 19 of implement 20 is substantially even with the cutting edge of the blade '7. At this time only a slight part of the strip 14 has been severed by the blades and as the blade 6 continues to move down that portion of the strip 14 between the point indicated by A in Fig. l and the implement 20 will be progressively severed at the same time that the cutting blade is forming a slit in the material, the formation of the slit being'completed at substantially the same time that approximately one-half of the severing of the strip has been completed, the remainder of the strip being severed after the slit 1'? has been formed by the slitting edge 19 of the implement 20. It will thus be seen that the slits are formed in the individual wrappers simultaneously with the formation of the wrappers by the cutting edges of the blades 6 and 7 and in such a manner that the material, which is usually very thin, is not ripped er tom but rather is provided with a very clearly defined and neat slit 17.

It should be obvious from the foregoing, that the blade 20 may be readily removed for sharpening or replacement and will always occupy the same position when replaced, and will be maintained in such position simply by tightening of the screw 25, the removal being effected by loosening the screw 25 and withdrawing the shank 21 from the slot 22.

It should be obvious also that the invention may be applied to cutting devices of the guillotine type by positioning the block or knife mounting at the proper place to form the slits in the sheets formed by the guillotine device when the knife is inserted. We therefore wish to be understood as not limiting the invention to application to cutters of the scissors type such as shown for the purposes of illustration.

We claim:

1. In combination with a blade having a cutting edge, an implement having a knife edge, and a mounting on the blade intermediate its ends for said implement to position said implement with its knife edge in a plane intersecting the plane of the cutting edge of the blade, and means detachably securing said implement to said mounting.

2. In combination with a blade having a cutting edge, an implement having a knife edge inclined relative to the blade, a mounting on the blade for saidimplement to position the implement with its knife edge in a plane intersecting the plane of the cutting edge of the blade and with one end of the knife edge located beyond the cutting edge of the blade and substantially in alinement therewith, and means detachably securing said implement to said mounting with its knife edge in said position.

3. A' device of thecharacter described comprising relatively moveable blades having c0- .operating cutting edges, an implement on one of said blades intermediate the ends of its cutting .edge and having a knife edge terminating at one end substantially in alinement with said cutting edges and arranged in a plane intersecting the plane of the cutting edges, and means detachably securing said implement to said blade with its knife edge in said position.

HERBERT A. ADDISON.

ERNEST T. TYREN.

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