WO1988004676A1 - Lit de support pour machine a decouper des materiaux en feuilles et procede de production - Google Patents

Lit de support pour machine a decouper des materiaux en feuilles et procede de production Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO1988004676A1
WO1988004676A1 PCT/US1987/003089 US8703089W WO8804676A1 WO 1988004676 A1 WO1988004676 A1 WO 1988004676A1 US 8703089 W US8703089 W US 8703089W WO 8804676 A1 WO8804676 A1 WO 8804676A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
inch
supporting bed
sheet
starting material
approximately
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1987/003089
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Leo Fisher
Original Assignee
Crest-Foam Corporation
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US06/942,481 external-priority patent/US4850579A/en
Application filed by Crest-Foam Corporation filed Critical Crest-Foam Corporation
Publication of WO1988004676A1 publication Critical patent/WO1988004676A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
    • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
    • B26D7/00—Details of apparatus for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting
    • B26D7/20—Cutting beds
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
    • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
    • B26D7/00—Details of apparatus for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting
    • B26D7/01—Means for holding or positioning work
    • B26D7/018—Holding the work by suction
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
    • B26F—PERFORATING; PUNCHING; CUTTING-OUT; STAMPING-OUT; SEVERING BY MEANS OTHER THAN CUTTING
    • B26F1/00—Perforating; Punching; Cutting-out; Stamping-out; Apparatus therefor
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
    • B26F—PERFORATING; PUNCHING; CUTTING-OUT; STAMPING-OUT; SEVERING BY MEANS OTHER THAN CUTTING
    • B26F2210/00—Perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out, severing by means other than cutting of specific products
    • B26F2210/12—Perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out, severing by means other than cutting of specific products of fabrics

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to patt cutting machines for sheet materials, and more particular concerns a bed for supporting and retaining the sheet mater during the cutting operation and a method for manufacturing same.
  • Sheet material such as fabric
  • Such tables are typically provided with a perforated top, be which a vacuum is applied for the purpose of drawing a multi ply stack of the sheet material against the tabletop, ther retaining it in position while it is being cut. Should multiple layers of sheet material be retained effectively, consistent relationship can be maintained between the cutt tool and the stack, enabling sheets with accurately cut p terns to be obtained reliably. On the other hand, should flawed pattern is cut into the sheets, resulting in excessive waste of material.
  • the efficacy of the vacuum-operated sheet retention system therefore has a direct bearing on the econo ⁇ mics of the entire cutting process.
  • the cutting blade must be permitted to pass below the lowest layer.
  • This supporting ' bed must have certain physical properties, in order to serve its purpose effectively. First of all, it must pro ⁇ vide a firm, relatively unyielding support beneath the stack of material being cut, to avoid undesirable stack movement beneath the blade and resultant pattern errors in or damage to the cut sheet material.
  • the supporting bed must not impede the vacuum which is applied beneath the tabletop.
  • the supporting bed must have an upper surface which resists r the gouging action of the cutting blade, in order to maintain the uniformity of its surface and to minimize the frequency of re- placement of the supporting bed.
  • the support ⁇ ing bed Most commonly, it is made of a sheet of polyethylene foam which is approximately one inch thick. Polyethylene foam provides a rather firm support for the stack of sheet material. However, being a closed cell foam it is impervious to air. Accordingly, it is the common practice to punch or drill inter ⁇ spersed vertical holes through the polyethylene foam sheet, and a substantial number of such holes is required (per unit of sheet surface area) , in order to provide the vacuum at the surface of the polyethylene sheet. Typically, for a one inch thick sheet, the holes would be about 5/16 of an inch in dia ⁇ meter and would be at a center-to-center spacing of about 1.5 inches. However, such a density of holes substantially reduces the firmness and surface area of the supporting bed, and the expense involved in forming the holes substantially increases the cost of the supporting bed.
  • such a perforated supporting bed holds the fabric effectively only at the holes. Between the holes, there may be wrinkling or bunching of the fabric, and the fa ⁇ bric above the holes may be stretched or frayed when the blade passes into the hole. Both of these effects result in cutting errors or damage to the fabric.
  • the use of a perforated poly- ethylene foam supporting bed therefore represents, at best, a compromise,, which results in a serious limitation upon the height to which the sheet material may be stacked and, even then, a certain amount of undesirable movement of the stack and damage to the sheet material will occur during cutting. As a result, some portion of the sheets cut by the machine will be unacceptable and must be discarded.
  • the supporting bed be made of upright bristles. Although such a construction pro ⁇ vides a substantial airflow, it hardly provides an adequately firm supporting surface, particularly when a relatively heavy sheet material is being cut. Furthermore, this relatively Weak support deteriorates rapidly, as the bristles are damaged by the cutting blade, after repeated use, and the supporting sur ⁇ face they provide becomes uneven.
  • Polyurethane foam has been suggested as a covering material for the surface of a supporting bed, because it ex ⁇ hibits the property of "healing" or recovering instantaneously from surface nicks inflicted by a sharp implement. Polyur ⁇ ethane foams may be either of the open or "tight" cell variety.
  • the individual cells are formed from a 3-dimensional skeletal structure comprising interconnected strands.
  • Membranes or windows are attached to the strands and serve to divide or partition individual cells.
  • the skeletal structure is substantially thicker than the windows or membranes.
  • so called "open cell" foams a substantial num ⁇ ber of the windows or membranes are broken or ruptured (even though they are still attached at their peripheral edges to the skeletal strands) .
  • Some small percentage of the windows may not be attached to the strands at the edges, or may be missing altogether, and this permits a limited air flow through the foam mass.
  • Tight cell urethane foams have essentially all of the cellular windows or membranes intact (unbroken) and at- tached to skeletal structure of the foam.
  • the use of polyure ⁇ thane has been substantially limited, however, for essentially the same reasons as polyethylene.
  • ⁇ Reticulated materials are also known to the art. Such materials have the cell membranes or windows partially or totally destroyed. These reticulated materials are prepared from the cellular materials of the prior art. Reticulated foam materials generally permit the passage of substantially greater volumes of air, in comparison to open or tight foam materials. Such reticulated foams generally have higher porosity than com- parable "open” or "tight" cell foams. Thus, in these reticu ⁇ lated materials, the primary support is supplied by the skele ⁇ tal structure , since the cell membranes- have been partially or totally eliminated. Examples of such reticulated materials extensively used by the prior art are the membrane destroyed or reticulated polyurethane foams which are employed in various filtering and detraining applications and as garment liners.
  • Such reticulated foam materials and their process of manufac ⁇ ture are disclosed, for example, in U.S. patents No. 3,175,025 and No. 3,175,030 granted to Henry C. Geen on March 23,1965.
  • Reticulated materials of the flexible polyurethane type have been in use for some time, owing to their porosity and softness as compared to non-reticulated flexible polyure ⁇ thane cellular materials.
  • attempts to use such mater ⁇ ials in the supporting bed of a cutting machine have proven unsuccessful, because such materials offer virtually no support to the stack of sheet material while it is being cut and be ⁇ cause the reticulated foam tends to collapse when the vacuum is applied.
  • a supporting bed which is manufactured from a sheet of reticulated foam material that has been compressed under heat and pressure so as to be permanently reduced to approximately 10-35% of its initial thickness.
  • the degree of compression, the temperature and compression time, and the porosity of the reticulated foam starting material are selected to provide particular airflow and firmness characteristics for the finished supporting bed.
  • Reticulated foam sheets of the type used in this copending patent application are manufactured from blocks or "buns" of foam material, from which each individual sheet is cut as a layer. Often, after all the sheets have been cut from the bun, the last remaining sheet will be too thin to use in the manufacture of a supporting bed.
  • the start ⁇ ing material for the supporting bed comprises a composite structure including a plurality of relatively thin reticulated foam layers which are stacked in superposed relationship, with at least one layer of a hot melt adhesive web being interposed between the reticulated foam layers.
  • the thickness of the individual foam layers is selected to give a cumulative thick- ness which is the same as when a single sheet is used to manu ⁇ facture a supporting bed, and similar pressure and heat are utilized to to compress the starting material.
  • the adhesive webs melt and bond together the individual layers of the composite structure.
  • the resulting supporting bed is comparable in strength, surface firmness and permeability to a supporting bed made from a single sheet of reticulated foam starting material.
  • Fig. 1 is an elevational view taken from the front end of the cutting machine, with portions being shown in sec- 5 tion, to illustrate certain details of the table top;
  • Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along contour 2-2 in Fig.l and ' looking in the direction of the arrows;
  • F_ig. 3 is a schematic representation of the manufac ⁇ ture of a supporting bed in accordance with the present inven- 10 tion.
  • FIGs. 1 and 2 illustrate a cutting machine 10 for sheet material, which
  • the cutting machine includes a support table 30, which is provided with an air permeable top surface member 32 (shown diagrammatically as a grating) .
  • the supporting bed 20 rests upon the top 32 and is retained in position by means of
  • a stack 36 of sheet material to be cut is supported directly upon supporting bed 20.
  • a vacuum pump 40 which is appropriately coupled to a vacuum chamber 38 underneath the table top 32.
  • a cutting tool 50 is borne by a sub-carriage 52 which
  • a carriage assembly 54 which is mounted for precisely controlled movement along the length (i.e. per ⁇ pendicular to the plane of Fig. 1) of the table 30.
  • the sub- carriage 52 is mounted for precisely controlled movement along the carriage 54 and therefore moves across the table 30 (i.e.
  • the cutting blade 51 must extend below the bottom sheet of stack 36, in order to assure that the sheet is completely cut. Consequently, blade 51 will also cut into the top surface of supporting bed 20.
  • supporting bed 20 exhibits the property that the blade cuts "heal" or close up directly behind the blade. This avoids the need for frequent changes of the supporting bed and guarantees the continued durability and flatness of the bed.
  • Foamed or cellular polyurethane products are made, in a manner well-known in the art, by reacting an organic isocyan- ate, such as an aromatic di-isocyanate (e.g. toluene di-isocya ⁇ nate) , with a polyether polyol or a polyester resin, along with various other ingredients (e.g. catalysts, blowing agents, stabilizers and the like) .
  • a gas or vapor is usually generated (along with heat) in situ while the reaction mixture remains in the plastic or fluid state. The generation of this gas results in the formation of bubbles, approximately spherical in form, in the plastic material.
  • supporting bed 20 is manufactured from a sheet of reticulated foam material which has been compressed under heat and pressure in a conventional heated press so as to be permanently reduced to approximately 10-35% of its initial thickness.
  • the degree of compression, the temperature and compression time, and the porosity of the reticulated foam starting material are selected to provide particular airflow and firmness characteristics for the finished supporting bed.
  • a 1-inch thick sheet of the support bed should permit an airflow of at least 1.5 cfm through an area 4 inches square, with a pressure drop between the surfaces of the sheet material corresponding to 1/2 inch of water, and it should be sufficiently firm so that compressing a 1-inch thick sheet by one quarter of its thickness requires a pressure in excess of 1.5 psi.
  • reticulated polyurethane foams this is typically achieved by compressing the foam at 300-450"F for a time period between 8 minutes and 2 hours.
  • five specific examples were given, and the reticulated polyurethane foams which were used as the starting material in the examples were all commercially available under the trademark Filtercrest from Crest-Foam Corp. of Moonachie, New Jersey.
  • a supporting bed 20 in accordance with the present invention is manufactured from a structure comprising a plurality of sheets or layers 60, 60 of reticulated foam material which are stacked in superimposed relationship. Between each pair of foam layers 60, 60, there is provided a hot melt adhesive web 62. A stack of such layers of foam material and adhesive webs is calculated to have the same total thickness as would be used if there were a single sheet of reticulated foam starting material.
  • This composite structure is then compressed under heat and pressure in a conventional heated press so as to be permanently reduced to less than about 35%, and preferably to approximately 10-35 percent of its initial thickness.
  • the dwell time within the press is selected to be long enough so that the adhesive web 62 is totally melted, bonding the individual foam layers 60, 60 together.
  • the degree of compression, the tempera- ture and compression time, and the porosity of the reticulated foam starting material are selected to provide particular air flow and firmness characteristics for the finished supporting bed.
  • a one-inch thick sheet of the supporting bed should permit an air flow of at least 1.5 cfm through an area 4 inches square, with a pressure drop between the surfaces of the sheet material corresponding to one-half inch of water, and it should be sufficiently firm so that compressing a one- inch thick sheet by one-quarter of its thickness requires a pressure in excess of 1.5 psi.
  • the reticulated polyester foam utilized as the starting material is commer ⁇ cially available under the trademark Filtercrest S-15M foam from Crestfoam Corp. of -Moonachie, New Jersey.
  • This material has a density of about 1.4 pounds per cubic foot and a porosity of about 15 pores per inch, and an airflow of about 20 cfm through a four square inch area, with a pressure difference corresponding to half an inch of water between its surfaces.
  • This foam was reticulated by the process described in U.S. Patent No. 3,175,025, referred to above.
  • materials reticulated by any other process, as well as other types of foams will work equally well in the invention.
  • the starting material was selected as a 7-inch thick- ness of reticulated S-15M foam.
  • the sheet was compressed to a thickness of one inch and maintained at a temperature of about
  • the resulting sheet material retained a thickness of one inch when pressure was removed, but exhibited substantially improved firmness, while permitting a substantial air flow: compressing the new sheet material by one-quarter of an inch required 6.3psi and an air flow of 2.9cfm through a 4 square inch area, the pressure difference corresponding to an half-inch of water between its surfaces.
  • This supporting bed was then used as a control sample for comparing the characteristics of supporting beds made from stacks of superposed sheets of reticulated foam material.
  • any combination of thicknesses totalling 7 inches could have been used equally well.
  • the composite structures were provided, respectively, with 1, 2, and 3 layers of a hot melt adhesive web between pairs of foam sheets. The particular web utilized is commeri- cally available from Sharnet Corporation of Ward Hill, Mas ⁇ sachusetts under the designation SHAR-NET SH151.
  • the composite structure was compressed to a thickness of one- inch and maintained at a temperature of about 400"F for about 25 minutes.
  • the resulting sheet material retained a thickness of one inch when the pressure was removed.
  • Table I indicates the characteristics of the controlled sample and the three examples. In all cases, the firmness was that pressure (in psi) required to compress the one-inch thick supporting bed by one-quarter of an inch.

Abstract

Lit de support (20) pour une pile de matériaux en feuilles (36) dans une machine à découper (10) du type qui retient le matériau à l'aide d'un vide appliqué depuis le dessous du lit de support (20). Ce lit se compose d'une structure composite en un matériau de base comprenant des couches individuelles (60) en mousse réticulée séparées par au moins une couche d'une bande adhésive à point de fusion élevé (62). La structure composite (20) est comprimée et soumise à la chaleur de façon à être réduite de manière permanente à approximativement 10-35 % de son épaisseur initiale. Le degré et la durée de compression, ainsi que la température et la porosité du matériau de base en mousse de polyuréthane réticulée sont sélectionnés de manière à obtenir des caractéristiques particulières d'écoulement d'air et de dureté du lit de support achevé (20).
PCT/US1987/003089 1986-12-16 1987-11-18 Lit de support pour machine a decouper des materiaux en feuilles et procede de production WO1988004676A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/942,481 US4850579A (en) 1986-02-04 1986-12-16 Supporting bed for sheet material cutting machine and method of manufacture
US942,481 1986-12-16

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1988004676A1 true WO1988004676A1 (fr) 1988-06-30

Family

ID=25478133

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1987/003089 WO1988004676A1 (fr) 1986-12-16 1987-11-18 Lit de support pour machine a decouper des materiaux en feuilles et procede de production

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU1050288A (fr)
WO (1) WO1988004676A1 (fr)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6742779B2 (en) * 2000-04-11 2004-06-01 Drs Digitale Repro Systeme Gmbh Automatic document transport method and device using suction to retain unfed documents during feeding
WO2016198810A1 (fr) * 2015-06-12 2016-12-15 Centre Technique Des Industries Mecaniques Installation de découpe de couche mince de matériau synthétique

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3025200A (en) * 1957-08-09 1962-03-13 Scott Paper Co Celliform structure and method of making same
US3325338A (en) * 1963-10-17 1967-06-13 Chemotronics International Inc Compressed interbonded heat-treated reticulated celliform material and method of making same
US3405217A (en) * 1964-03-30 1968-10-08 Dow Chemical Co Method for making open cell polyurethane foams
US3848327A (en) * 1970-12-09 1974-11-19 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Apparatus for working on sheet material
US4521266A (en) * 1982-07-15 1985-06-04 Sugherificio P. Careddu S.P.A. Method of manufacturing corks for bottles

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3025200A (en) * 1957-08-09 1962-03-13 Scott Paper Co Celliform structure and method of making same
US3325338A (en) * 1963-10-17 1967-06-13 Chemotronics International Inc Compressed interbonded heat-treated reticulated celliform material and method of making same
US3405217A (en) * 1964-03-30 1968-10-08 Dow Chemical Co Method for making open cell polyurethane foams
US3848327A (en) * 1970-12-09 1974-11-19 Gerber Garment Technology Inc Apparatus for working on sheet material
US4521266A (en) * 1982-07-15 1985-06-04 Sugherificio P. Careddu S.P.A. Method of manufacturing corks for bottles

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6742779B2 (en) * 2000-04-11 2004-06-01 Drs Digitale Repro Systeme Gmbh Automatic document transport method and device using suction to retain unfed documents during feeding
WO2016198810A1 (fr) * 2015-06-12 2016-12-15 Centre Technique Des Industries Mecaniques Installation de découpe de couche mince de matériau synthétique
FR3037271A1 (fr) * 2015-06-12 2016-12-16 Centre Technique Des Ind Mec Installation de decoupe de couche mince de materiau synthetique
US10328579B2 (en) 2015-06-12 2019-06-25 Centre Technique Des Industries Mecaniques Unit for cutting thin films of synthetic material

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU1050288A (en) 1988-07-15

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