Patent ID: 6030481
Filing Date: 2000-02-29
Classification: B26D,B29C,B44D,B65H,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing swatch bearing sheets each bearing rows of rectangular-shaped swatches adhered to the sheets at predetermined locations thereon, said method comprising the steps of:providing at least one base sheet having a long axis dimension greater than eighteen inches in length;continuously feeding a succession of base sheets forwardly to an adhesive-applying station;applying adhesive to each base sheet via an adhesive applicator roller to predetermined adhesive locations;transferring the base sheets to a first swatch forming and applying station while holding down the center portions of the sheets to avoid sheet bowing or buckling;feeding a row of colored ribbons extending at least eighteen inches across to the swatch forming station;severing the row of ribbons simultaneously at the swatch forming and applying station with the cutting blade on a rotatable cylinder having a straight cutting edge parallel to an axis of rotation of the cylinder to form a row of swatches with each swatch of equal length and with each swatch in the shape of rectangles;applying a first row of rectangular swatches across at least an eighteen inch length to each continuously moving sheet by a rotating swatch transfer means and applying a swatch row that is greater in number than the number of swatch forming and applying stations;continuously feeding each of said sheets through a predetermined number of additional linked swatch forming and applying stations;cutting a plurality of ribbons simultaneously with a cutting blade having a straight cutting edge parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinder and resiliently mounted on the cylinder to cut rectangular swatches and to form the row of swatches;applying a second row and additional rows of rectangular swatches to each continuously moving sheet by rotating swatch transfer means in each of the predetermined number of linked swatch forming and applying stations of a lesser number than of said rectangular swatches in a row as the sheet travels through said additional stations to form a plurality of rows of rectangular swatches on said sheets with the number of rows formed corresponding to the predetermined number of swatch forming and applying stations.