US782977A - Machine for slitting sheets of metal, paper, or other fabrics. - Google Patents

Description

No. 782,977. PATENTED 'FEB. 21, 1905. A. F. MADDEN.

MACHINE POE SLITTING SHEETS 0F METAL, PAPER, OR OTHER FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED 001219, 1904.

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ALBERT F. MADDEN, OF NEWVARK, NET/V JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR SLITTING SHEETS 0F METAL, PAPER, OR OTHER FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,977, dated February 21, 1905. Application filed October 19, 1904. Serial No- 229,106.

To a 1072 0717, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. MADDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Slitting Sheets of Metal, Paper, or other Fabrics, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming part of the same.

My invention relates to machines for cutting slits in sheet metal, paper, rubber, cloth, and other materials, and has for its object to provide such an apparatus by which a sheet of material may be slitted with the utmost accuracy as to the uniformity of the spaces between the slits.

A further object is to provide slit-cutters of a character which can be easily and cheaply constructed in such a way as to perform their functions with the desired degree of accuracy and which also can be easily sharpened without in any way impairing their accuracy of operation. p

A further object of the invention is toprovide a machine of the simplest possible character, though the invention may of course be embodied in more complicated forms than that herein specifically shown and described, if desired.

In practicing my invention I make use of two coacting cutters upon which are formed shear edges, which cooperate as right and left handed screw-threads. In the preferred embodiment I take two rolls or cylinders of suitable size and upon one form a right-hand thread and upon the other a left-hand thread. The cutters so made are mounted with their threads in shearing contact, with the result that if the rollers are revolved and a sheet of material introduced between them it will be cut in slits, the number of which will depend upon the number of threads on the cutters and the distance between the slits upon the pitch of the said threads. As these characteristics may be varied almost indefinitely, it will be seen that there is practically no limit to the variety of the work which my invention can perform in slitting all kinds of material. By stopping out the threads on one or both outters, as by cutting one or more longitudinal grooves in the same, which of course will operateto omit the cutting effect for a space equal to the width of the groove, the slits will be produced in parallel rows. If the threads are stopped out in staggered relation to each other,

the slits will also be staggered. In this way a great variety of effects may be produced, as will appear more fully hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings show a convenient and simple embodiment of my invention, and, referring thereto for a more complete explanation of the same, Figure 1 shows the apparatus in front elevation. Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the shearing engagement of the threads on the two rollers. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing rollers having longitudinal grooves interrupting the cutting-threads. Fig. 4, is a detail view showing rollers for producing staggered slits. Figs. 5 and 6 show portions of sheets cut by the rollers of Figs. 3 and 4, respectively.

The slitting-rollers, preferably of equal size, are indicated by the numerals 1 and 2, respectively, one having a right-hand thread and the other a left-hand thread. The two are mounted in suitable bearings with the threads in shearing contact with each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and are provided with any convenient mechanism for rotating them upon each other. In such rotation the shearing engagement of the threads with each other will always be preserved by reason of the opposite inclination of the threads, so that a sheet of material introduced between the same will be cut from end to end and as many slits formed as there are threads on the rollers. The spaces between the slits depend, as before stated, upon the pitch of the threadsthat is, the distance of the threads apart. If the rollers are separated so that the threads are not actually in contact, the cut will of course not extend entirely through the sheet of material, but will produce parallel grooves of greater or less depth, depending on the thickness of the sheet, the distance between the rollers, and the depth of the threads, as will be readily understood. \Vhen the cut is to extend clear through the sheet, the depth of the threads must be to a certain extent regulated by the thickness of the material, a very thick sheet requiring deeper threads than a very thin one. Within easily determined limits sheets of various thicknesses may be cut with the same rollers. rollers may be mounted in bearings which will permit longitudinal adjustment thereof, so that the shearing engagement of the two threads may be varied. Any convenient means may be employed for this purposcas, for example, the screw 3 bearing against the shaft of the lower roller, so that it maybe shifted to bring its threads into as close contact with the threads on the other as desired.

It will be noted that the slits produced by the device are not at right angles to the axes of the rollers, but are inclined thereto. This inclination is due to the fact that the cutting edges are screw-threads, as will be readily understood. The degree of inclination of course varies with the pitch of the threads.

The form' of the thread which I prefer to use has one side substantially perpendicular and the other side inclined, as shown in Fig. 2, making what is known as a ratchetthread. A great variety of other threads, however, may be used where desirable.

The method of forming the threads in the rollers is immaterial, and the same may be made in a number of ways, as by cutting, grinding, or rolling, either before or after hardening. The material of which the rollers are made is also immaterial so long as they are hard enough to do the work required of them. With threads extending around the rollers without interruption the slits will be continnous-that is, each slit will extend diagonally across the sheet to the side edge of the same. Of course if the sheet is introduced at an angle to the axes of the rollers equal to the inclination of the slitting-threads the cuts will be parallel to the edges of the sheet, assuming the latter to be rectangular in form. If one of the rollers, preferably both, be grooved longitudinally, as in Fig. 3, so as to interrupt the threads, the slits in the sheet of material will be in rows, as those shown in Fig. 5. The particular rollers illustrated in Fig. 3 each have eight equidistant grooves, thus making.

eight rows of slits in a space equal to the circumference of the roller,as will be readily seen. The length of the slit is therefore equal to onetenth of the circumference less the spaces at the ends of the slits, which spaces are each equal to the width of the grooves. It is obvious that the number of rows in a given space depends upon the number of independent cutters, as a Z), into which the threads are divided by the grooves.

By interrupting the cutting-threads alternately and in staggered relation, as shown, for example, in Fig. 4, the slits will be correspondingly staggered. This effect is shown in Fig. 6. The length of the slits will of course depend upon the length of the independent out- One or both of the ting edges made by interrupting the threads. Bystopping out the threads in different ways a great variety of effects may beproduced.

The chief advantage of -my invention resides in its great accuracy. As is well known, it is extremely difiicult, if not impossible, to cut or form on a cylinder a number of shearing edges of the kind heretofore proposed (which are, in effect,merely a number of sheardisks placed side by side) with such accuracy that the spaces between the same shall be exactly equal and the shearing edges themselves lie in exactly parallel planes. If the rollers are not so constructed, the register of the edges on one with those of the other is not exact, with the result that the operation of the rollers is unsatisfactory, being imperfect and irregular. Screw-threads, on the other hand, may readily be cut with the greatest accuracy, so that the shear edges of the two rollers will be always in perfect register, giving a perfectly clean and regular out. The threads may also be sharpened with the same facility, whereas it is almost impossible to sharpen circular cutters without distorting the edges thereof from the exact planes in which they should work.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of rollers, one having a right-hand thread coacting with a left-hand thread on the other, as set forth.

2. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of slitting-rollers, one having a right-hand thread coacting in shearing engagement with a left-hand thread on the other, as set forth.

3. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of slitting-rollers, one having a right-hand thread coacting in shearin g engagement with a left-hand thread on the other, said threads being interrupted to form one or more series of cutters, as set forth.

4. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of slitting-rollers, one having a thread coacting in shearing engagement with a thread of the opposite kind on the other, and having one or more longitudinal grooves interrupting the thread to form one or more series of circumferential cutters, as set forth.

5. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of slitting-rollers, one

having a thread coacting in shearing engage-- ITO ment with a thread of the opposite kind on the other, each having one or more longitudinal grooves interrupting the threads to form independent circumferential cutters, as set forth.

6. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a pair of rollers having opposite screw-threads in shearing engagement with each other, and means for adjusting the degree of such shearing engagement, as set forth.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a slitthreads thereon forming cutting edges, and a ting-roller consisting of a cylinder having member cooperating with the said roller, as screw-threads thereon, said threads being inset forth. terrupted to form independent circumfere'n- ALBERT F. MADDEN. 5 tial cutters, as set forth. W'itnesses:

In a machine of the character described, M. LAWSON DYER, the combination of a roller having screw- S. S. DUNHAM.

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