Patent ID: 7415914
Filing Date: 2008-08-26
Classification: B26D,B26F,B29C,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A trim press article handling apparatus, comprising: a frame; a punch carried by the frame; a die carried by the frame and cooperating in relative movement with the punch to sever articles from a web; a treadle carried for movement relative to the die, the treadle including a web guide member, a primary guide strip spaced from the guide member slightly greater than a thickness of the web, a secondary guide strip spaced from the guide member at least four thicknesses of the web and spaced apart from the primary guide strip, and an article detector carried by at least one of the primary guide strip and the secondary guide strip and operative to detect position of an article in the web by detecting the position of a protuberance in the web as the protuberance is conveyed between the primary guide strip and the secondary guide strip; control circuitry communicating with the article detector and a drive motor operative to move the treadle, the control circuitry configured to receive an input signal from the article detector indicative of the position of a web-supported article relative to the punch and the die, and operative to control operation of the drive motor to synchronize movement of the web-supported article via controlled motion of the treadle; and a drive wheel assembly for moving a web and articles, the drive wheel assembly comprising a pair of roller feed assemblies provided on opposed edges of a web, wherein each of the roller feed assemblies comprises a drive release mechanism configured to release the roller feed assemblies from respective edges of the web, the release mechanism carried by the treadle and operative to cooperate with the die as the treadle is moved towards a stationary platen carrying the die.