Cutting – With product handling means – Means to move – guide – or permit free fall or flight of product
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-19
2002-07-02
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3724)
Cutting
With product handling means
Means to move, guide, or permit free fall or flight of product
C083S277000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06412379
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic punching apparatus for applying a punching step to a thin sheet material such as corrugated board, paperboard and the like to obtain pieces having a prescribed shape, and especially to an automatic punching apparatus which permits to perform the rapid punching step to a number of thin sheet materials and to obtain punched pieces having an excellent finishing condition after completion of removal of disused portions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A punching step is applied to a thin sheet material such as corrugated board, paperboard and the like to obtain punched pieces having a developed shape for products such as boxes with the use of an automatic punching apparatus. In such an apparatus, there is repeated a series of steps of feeding a thin sheet material to the apparatus, punching the thin sheet material into a prescribed developed shape by means of a punching die to prepare products (i.e., a punching step) and then removing disused portions (hereinafter referred to as “waste portions”) other than the products from the thin sheet material, which has been subjected to the punching step (i.e., a waste removing step).
FIGS. 6 and 7
show an example of the conventional automatic punching apparatus.
FIG. 6
is a schematic constructional view of the conventional automatic punching apparatus and
FIG. 7
is a view illustrating conditions of the thin sheet material in the respective steps in the conventional automatic punching apparatus.
The conventional automatic punching apparatus
100
as shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
is provided with a feed mechanism
110
for storing a plurality of thin sheet materials
50
in a stacked condition and feeding the thin sheet material
50
one by one at prescribed intervals to a subsequent zone; a punching mechanism
120
for punching the thin sheet material
50
into a prescribed shape by means of upper and lower dies; a thin sheet material transferring mechanism
130
disposed in the vicinity of the punching mechanism
120
, for supplying the thin sheet material
50
fed from the feed mechanism
110
to the punching mechanism
120
and transferring the thin sheet material
50
having been subjected to the punching step from the punching mechanism
120
; and a waste removing mechanism
140
disposed behind the punching mechanism
120
, for removing the waste portions from the thin sheet material
50
having been subjected to the punching step.
The punching mechanism
120
is provided with an upper surface plate
121
to which the punching die is fixed; a lower surface plate
122
to which a faceplate corresponding to the above-mentioned punching die is fixed; and an elevating device
123
for moving the lower surface plate
122
up and down. Moving the lower surface plate
122
relative to the upper surface plate
121
carries out the punching step.
The thin sheet material transferring mechanism
130
is provided with a pair of endless chains
131
disposed on both sides, respectively, between which the punching mechanism
120
and the waste removing mechanism
140
locate, so as to circulate in a prescribed travelling direction; a driving device (not shown) for driving the endless chains
131
in a circulation motion in synchronization with the punching motion of the punching mechanism; a plurality of gripping bars
132
disposed between positions corresponding to the pair of endless chains, which are capable of passing between the upper and lower surface plates toward a side of the waste removing mechanism
140
in an interval of punching steps; and a nipping mechanism
133
fixed to the rear portion of the gripping bars
132
, for nipping detachably the tip end portion of the thin sheet material
50
so as to permit to pull out the thin sheet material along with the movement of the gripping bars
132
. In the thin sheet material transferring mechanism
130
, an accurate drive and stop of the endless chains
131
can be performed by means of the driving device in synchronization with the upward or downward movement of the lower surface plate
122
. When the punching step is applied to the thin sheet material
50
in the punching mechanism
120
, the endless chains
131
cease to be driven. After completion of the punching step, the endless chains
131
are driven and the gripping bars
132
fixed to the endless chains
131
move so as to transfer the thin sheet material
50
having been subjected to the punching step, from the punching mechanism
120
to the waste removing mechanism
140
. A new thin sheet material is supplied to the punching mechanism
120
.
The waste removing mechanism
140
is provided with a rectangular frame body
141
and a female die
142
. A plurality of pressing members (not shown) for pressing the waste portions are disposed movably and swingably on the frame body
141
so as to correspond to the number of the waste portions. The female die
142
is disposed so as to be opposite to the frame body
141
and provided with openings having the corresponding shape to the waste portions to be removed.
Now, description will be given of the punching operation with the use of the conventional automatic punching apparatus
100
having the above-described structure. First, the thin sheet materials are placed in a stacked condition on the feed mechanism
110
so that the front edges of the thin sheet materials are trued up. The single thin sheet material
50
placing in the prescribed position is fed to the punching mechanism
120
. The nipping mechanism
133
of the thin sheet material transferring mechanism nips the front end of the thus fed thin sheet material
50
. The thin sheet material
50
, which is in such a nipped condition, is pulled in the punching mechanism
120
along with the movement of the endless chains
131
and the gripping bars
132
. The thin sheet material
50
is finally placed between the upper and lower dies of the punching mechanism
120
in an interval of punching steps.
Moving the lower surface plate
122
upward relative to the upper surface plate
121
so as to punch the thin sheet material
50
carries out the punching step. Portions on the cutting line of the thin sheet material
50
are caused to remain uncut to form uncut portions so as to prevent the waste portions from falling down from the punched product after the completion of the punching step to cause the inconvenience in the subsequent punching step. The thin sheet material
50
having been subjected to the punching step is transferred from the punching mechanism
120
to the female die
142
of the waste removing mechanism
140
due to the movement of the endless chains
131
and the gripping bars
132
so as to locate in a proper position on the female die
142
. proper position on the female die
142
.
The frame body
141
disposed right above the female die
142
moves downward to press the waste portions down from the upper side so as to perform a waste removing motion. Such a waste removing motion causes the uncut portions to be sheared so as to drop the waste portions into the opening of the female die
144
, thus removing the waste portions. The complete removal of the thus formed punched product from the thin sheet material whose front end is nipped by the nipping mechanism
133
is carried out and the punched product is fed to the subsequent step. The nip of the remaining portion of the thin sheet material by the nipping mechanism
133
is released during a returning step to the punching mechanism
120
, and the remaining portion is then discharged as wastes.
According to the above-described conventional automatic punching apparatus
100
, the punching step and the waste removing step are carried out, while the thin sheet material
50
is transferred in a condition of nipping the thin sheet material
50
by means of the nipping mechanism
133
of the gripping bars
132
. It is therefore possible to transfer the thin sheet material
50
at a high speed in a stable condition so that a large amount of the thin sheet materials ca
Choi Stephen
Mikawa Iron Works Corporation
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Shoap Allan N.
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