Suction-driven cutting conveyor for flexible paving stones for automatic cutting machine

Abstract

Suction-driven cutting conveyor for flexible blocks for automatic cutting machine. The invention relates to a suction-driven cutting conveyor (2) for an automatic blade cutting machine for sheet materials, comprising a plurality of cutting supports (6) integral with a drive mechanism (8, 10) driven along straight and curved paths, the cutting supports comprising rigid fixing slats (14) assembled on the drive mechanism extending longitudinally in a direction perpendicular to a feed direction (F) of the conveyor, and flexible blocks (16) mounted on the fixing slats and provided with bristles on which a sheet material to be cut is intended to rest, each flexible block being mounted on at least two adjacent fixing slats. Figure for the abstract: Fig. 1.

Description

Title of the invention: Suction-driven cutting conveyor for flexible paving stones for automatic cutting machine technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a suction cutting conveyor for an automatic cutting machine for sheet materials, in particular textile materials, using a vibrating blade penetrating the cutting support. Previous technique

[0002] One field of application of the invention is that of the automatic cutting of stacks or mattresses of sheet materials, in particular textile materials, using a vibrating blade penetrating a suction cutting support.

[0003] Typically, a vibrating blade cutting machine includes, in particular, a cutting conveyor which serves to move the stack of sheets during the cutting operation. This cutting conveyor is housed in a casing inside which a strong vacuum is established in order to hold the sheets of material to be cut in place during the cutting operation.

[0004] In this type of machine, the cutting conveyor also serves as a penetrating cutting support for the vibrating blade. It is indeed well known to make the cutting support penetrable by the blade so that during the cutting operation, the blade can not only completely pass through the material to be cut, but also extend downwards beyond the support surface and into the material bed providing such a surface.

[0005] To achieve this, a cutting conveyor generally comprises a plurality of cutting supports that are integral with a drive mechanism driven along straight and curved paths. Each cutting support comprises rigid fixing slats assembled onto the drive mechanism and rigid blocks that are mounted on the fixing slats.

[0006] The cutting pads typically comprise a plurality of bristles mounted on a base in several parallel rows, each bristle having a head that forms the support for the sheet material to be cut. Passages through the base allow suction air to pass through. These cutting supports thus support the material to be cut under suction while still allowing penetration by the cutting blade.

[0007] This type of cutter conveyor has a significant drawback at the ends of the cutting table. Indeed, when each slat of the cutting supports reaches the front shaft of the drive mechanism at the end of the table, it It wraps around the sprocket and moves away from the previous slat. During this movement, the parallelepiped shape of the block causes a change in the height of the cutting belt. This change in height currently prevents the material loading / unloading areas from being positioned at the same level as the cutting belt.

[0008] However, at this change in height, the material can deform by stretching and thus impact the cut parts at that point or during the loading of the mattress (opposite side to unloading). The material is stretched and then compressed during the vacuum phase, creating stresses within the material that can degrade the quality of the cut parts. Furthermore, this difference in height generates jams and material blockages at the points of deformation.

[0009] Furthermore, due to this change in height at the unloading zone, the comb that collects the cut parts must be positioned upstream of the opening to prevent the parts from being drawn into the gap created by this opening. In addition, since the cutting support blocks are parallelepipeds, the upper part tends to lift during winding. The comb must be positioned at a height such that its lower face does not touch the edges of the blocks. In practice, the step between the conveyor surface and the upper face of the comb can be greater than 10 mm.

[0010] We know from publication FR 3,111,836 a suction cutting conveyor which partially solves this problem thanks to the fact that the base of each cutting support is able to deform elastically by following the straight and curvilinear trajectories of the drive mechanism. Description of the invention

[0011] The invention aims to provide a flexible conveyor allowing the winding of the blocks from the cutting supports without generating any variation in height and while maintaining their current parallelepiped format.

[0012] This objective is achieved by means of a suction-driven cutting conveyor for an automatic sheet metal cutting machine, comprising a plurality of cutting supports attached to a drive mechanism driven along straight and curved trajectories, the cutting supports comprising: - rigid fixing slats assembled onto the drive mechanism extending longitudinally in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor's forward direction, and - flexible paving stones mounted on fixing slats and equipped with bristles on which a sheet material to be cut is intended to rest, - and in which, according to the invention, each flexible paving stone is mounted on at least two adjacent fixing slats.

[0013] The conveyor according to the invention is remarkable in that the blocks are positioned at 90° to their current configuration, that is, they are positioned perpendicular to the slats on which they are mounted (unlike prior art conveyors in which the blocks are positioned parallel to the slats). Thanks to this arrangement of the blocks, they are held on two slats (instead of just one in the prior art), which allows them to deform. As a result, at the end of the table, the blocks of the cutting supports can roll up without generating any variation in height, and while maintaining their parallelepiped shape.

[0014] Preferably, the flexible blocks of the cutting supports extend longitudinally in a direction parallel to the direction of advance of the conveyor.

[0015] Preferably also, the flexible blocks of the cutting supports each have a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

[0016] Advantageously, the flexible blocks of the cutting supports each comprise a base equipped with mounting fasteners for the fixing slats. The fasteners allow for a seamless connection between the blocks by means of a spring action between the fasteners.

[0017] In this case, each flexible cutting support block preferably comprises external fasteners positioned at each of its longitudinal ends and designed to cooperate with lateral edges of the fixing slats, and at least one central fastener positioned between the external fasteners and designed to cooperate with two adjacent lateral edges of the two fixing slats on which the flexible block is mounted. The external fasteners allow the blocks to be held to the slats while maintaining functional play and a shape that adapts to the winding of the slats. As for the central fasteners, they ensure that the blocks return flat when they are unwound.

[0018] The external fasteners of the flexible blocks may each comprise a skirt extending inwards towards the conveyor and equipped with a tab adapted to fit under the lateral edges of the fastening slats. The skirt of the external fasteners, by means of a spring-like pivot effect, keeps the faces of the blocks parallel to each other, allowing for a perfectly rounded shape and thus preventing separation between the blocks at the bristles during the winding of the blocks.

[0019] Similarly, the central attachment of the flexible paving stones may include two tabs suitable for fitting under two adjacent lateral edges of the two fixing slats on which the flexible paving stone is mounted.

[0020] The flexible pads can each comprise a plurality of flexible bristles arranged in parallel rows.

[0021] The invention also relates to an automatic blade cutting machine for sheet materials comprising a conveyor. Brief description of the drawings

[0022] [Fig.1] Fig.1 represents one end of a suction cutting conveyor according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0023] [Fig.2] Fig.2 schematically illustrates the positioning of the cutting support blocks of the cutting conveyor of Fig.1.

[0024] [Fig.3] Fig.3 schematically illustrates an example of mounting fasteners for the cutting support blocks on the conveyor fixing slats.

[0025] [Fig.4] The [Fig.4] illustrates how the external fasteners of the [Fig.3] act on the cutting support blocks when the latter are wound. Description of the implementation methods

[0026] The present invention relates to a suction cutting conveyor of an automatic sheet material cutting machine, such as conveyor 2 partially shown in [Fig.1].

[0027] As is known, such a cutting conveyor 2 is used to move the stack of sheets during the cutting operation. This cutting conveyor is typically housed in a casing 4 inside which a strong vacuum is established in order to hold the sheets of material to be cut in place during the cutting operation.

[0028] The cutting conveyor 2 also serves as a penetrating cutting support for the vibrating blade. It is indeed well known to make the cutting support penetrable by the blade so that during the cutting operation, the blade can not only completely pass through the material to be cut, but also extend downwards beyond the support surface and into the material bed providing such a surface.

[0029] The cutting conveyor 2 typically comprises a plurality of cutting supports 6 attached to a drive mechanism driven along straight and curved paths. For example, the cutting supports 6 can be mounted on a drive belt 8 driven at each end of the table by sprockets 10 centered on horizontal axes 12. The drive belt 8 is thus driven along straight paths (between the two ends of the cutting table) and curved paths (at each end of the cutting table to turn around).

[0030] Of course, the drive belt could be replaced by a chain, a toothed belt or any other drive mechanism.

[0031] Each cutting support 6 includes rigid fixing slats 14 which are assembled on the drive belt 8 by extending longitudinally (i.e. in the direction of their length) in a direction which is perpendicular to the straight-line advance direction F of the conveyor.

[0032] Each cutting support 6 also includes flexible pads 16 which are mounted on the fixing slats 14 and which are each provided with a plurality of bristles on which a sheet material to be cut is intended to rest.

[0033] More specifically, the flexible pavers 16 each have a rectangular parallelepiped shape and comprise a plurality of flexible bristles, the bristles each having a foot mounted on a sole 16a forming several parallel rows of bristles, and a head opposite the foot and on which the sheet material to be cut is intended to rest.

[0034] Transverse channels 16b (see Figures 4 and 5) are formed through the soles 16a of the flexible blocks to allow suction air to pass through the soles. The flexible blocks can thus support the material to be cut under suction while still allowing penetration by the cutting blade.

[0035] Furthermore, at the longitudinal end of the cutting surface (relative to the direction of feed F of the conveyor), the cutting table includes a plurality of discharge combs 18 which are generally raised above the cutting surface. These discharge combs 18 extend over the entire width of the cutting surface and thus help to discharge the material from the cutting surface.

[0036] Similarly, at the opposite longitudinal end of the cutting surface, the cutting table also includes a plurality of loading combs (not shown in the figures) which are generally raised above the cutting surface and which help to load material onto the cutting surface.

[0037] According to the invention, and as shown in [Fig.2], each flexible block 16 is mounted on at least two adjacent fixing slats 14.

[0038] Since the fixing slats 14 extend longitudinally in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of advance F of the conveyor, the flexible blocks 16 extend longitudinally (i.e. in the direction of their length L) in a direction parallel to the direction of advance F of the conveyor.

[0039] Furthermore, as shown in [Fig.4], the sole 16a of the flexible paving stones 16 is provided with mounting fasteners on the fixing slats 14, namely: two external fasteners 20 which are positioned at each of the longitudinal ends of the paving stone, and a central fastener 22 which is positioned between the external fasteners 20.

[0040] The external fasteners 20 are each intended to cooperate with lateral edges 14a of the fixing slats 14. For this purpose, the external fasteners 20 of the flexible blocks each advantageously comprise a skirt 20a which extends towards the inside of the conveyor and which is provided with a tab 20b which is able to fit under the lateral edges 14a of the fixing slats.

[0041] More specifically, the skirts 20a of the external fasteners 20 have, before mounting the flexible paving stone, a slight angle outwards from the flexible paving stone so that this angle makes spring effect when the paving stone is assembled with the other paving stones. This spring effect allows the gaps between adjacent paving stones to be absorbed and requires a flat support for the adjacent faces of the paving stones in order to guarantee that they do not separate when the paving stones are rolled up (see [Fig.4]).

[0042] Similarly, the central fastener 22 is designed to cooperate with two adjacent lateral edges 14a of the two fixing slats 14 on which the flexible paving stone is mounted. To this end, the central fastener 22 advantageously comprises two tabs 22a which are adapted to fit under two adjacent lateral edges 14a of the two fixing slats on which the flexible paving stone is mounted.

Claims

Demands

1. Suction cutting conveyor (2) for automatic blade cutting machine of sheet materials, comprising a plurality of cutting supports (6) integral with a drive mechanism (8, 10) driven along straight and curvilinear paths, the cutting supports comprising: - rigid fixing slats (14) assembled on the drive mechanism extending longitudinally in a direction perpendicular to a feed direction (F) of the conveyor, and - flexible pads (16) mounted on the fixing slats (14) and provided with bristles on which a sheet material to be cut is intended to rest, - characterized in that each flexible pad (16) is mounted on at least two adjacent fixing slats (14).

2. Conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the flexible blocks (16) of the cutting supports extend longitudinally in a direction (L) parallel to the direction of feed (F) of the conveyor.

3. Conveyor according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the flexible blocks (16) of the cutting supports each have a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

4. Conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the flexible blocks (16) of the cutting supports each comprise a base (16a) provided with mounting fasteners (20, 22) on the fixing slats (14).

5. Conveyor according to claim 4, wherein each flexible cutting support block (16) comprises external fasteners (20) positioned at each of its longitudinal ends and intended to cooperate with lateral edges (14a) of the fixing slats (14) and at least one central fastener (22) positioned between the external fasteners and intended to cooperate with two adjacent lateral edges (14a) of the two fixing slats (14) on which the flexible block is mounted.

6. Conveyor according to claim 5, wherein the external fasteners (20) of the flexible blocks each comprise a skirt (20a) extending inward toward the conveyor and which is provided with a tab (20b) suitable to fit under the lateral edges (14a) of the fixing slats.

7. Conveyor according to any one of claims 5 and 6, wherein the central attachment (22) of the flexible blocks comprises two tabs (22a) adapted to fit under two adjacent lateral edges (14a) of the two fixing slats on which the flexible block is mounted.

8. Conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the flexible blocks (16) each comprise a plurality of flexible bristles arranged in parallel rows.

9. Automatic sheet material cutting machine comprising a conveyor (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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