Patent ID: 6722237
Filing Date: 2004-04-20
Classification: B26D,B26F,B29C,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for aligning and severing articles from a web of thermoformable material, comprising:forming at least one article and a tapering recess within a web of thermoformable material; providing a trim press having a punch plate with a punch, a die plate with a die, a plunger carried by one of the punch plate and the die plate, and a receiver carried by the other of the punch plate and the die plate, wherein the plunger includes a head having a bifurcated taper including a distal, relatively steep angle taper followed by a proximal, relatively shallow angle taper; receiving the web of thermoformable material between the punch plate and the die plate; aligning the article between the punch and the die by moving the punch plate and the die plate so as to engage the plunger with the tapering recess such that the plunger and the receiver cooperate with the tapering recess to align the article with the punch and the die, wherein the aligning imparts an initial coarse alignment of the article via the distal, relatively steep angle taper and a subsequent fine alignment of the article via the proximal, relatively shallow angle taper; and severing the article from the web by coacting the punch and the die while the article is aligned therebetween.