Roller-pressed film cutter apparatus

A film cutter includes a slide holder having four rollers rotatably mounted in the holder and rotatably moving on a track, a central cutting blade formed in a central portion under the holder, and a slide base secured with the cutting blade and positioned under the slide holder slidably engageable in a longitudinal groove formed in the track, whereby upon a pulling of a film across the track and upon a pushing of the slide holder, the rollers will press to tension the film against the track for stably, smoothly and quickly cutting the film as cut by the cutting blade secured between the upper slide holder and the lower slide base.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Singh et. al disclosed a traveling cutter assembly in their U.S. Pat. No. 
4,197,774 for severing a sheet into desired length, which however may have 
the following drawbacks: 
1. Even the sheet to be severed is locally immobilized against the edges 36 
of the groove ridges 34 for minimizing the tendency of the sheet to be 
buckled or plowed when cut by the cutting blades 56, the serrations 32, 34 
may slow down the sliding movement of the cutter slide 20 on the track 10. 
2. For making the V-shaped grooves 32 and the upper ridges 34 of the track 
10, the production cost thereof will be increased. 
3. If using the cutter having such V-shaped grooves 32 and upper ridges 34 
for cutting a very thin film such as a wrap film, the film when pressed 
between the slide 20 and the upper surface 30 of the track 10 may still be 
wrinkled or plowed to influence a packing appearance of a sophisticated or 
precious present or article wrapped with the wrinkled film. 
The present inventor has found the drawbacks of such a conventional cutter 
and invented the present roller-pressed film cutter apparatus. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the present invention is to provide a film cutter apparatus 
including a cutter means slidably moving on a track means having a 
plurality of rollers rotatably mounted in the cutter means and rotatably 
pressing on a film against the track means to stabilize and facilitate the 
film cutting operation by the cutter means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
As shown in FIG. 1-4, the present invention comprises: a track means 1 and 
a cutter means 2 slidably mounted on the track means 1. The track means 1 
may be fixed on an upper surface of a casing 4 stored with a wrap film 
roll 31 in the casing 4 so that a wrap film 3 can be directly pulled 
outwardly from the casing 4 to be cut by the cutter means 2 slidably held 
on the track means 1 as shown in FIG. 5. However, the casing 4 as shown 
herewith is not claimed and limited in this invention. The wrap film 3 to 
be cut in this invention may be selected from a very thin film such as 
PVC, PE or other plastic films either transparent or opaque. The present 
invention may also be used for cutting sheet, cloth, paper or other 
film-like materials. 
The track means 1 includes a longitudinal flat surface 11 formed on the 
upper surface of the track means 1, a dovetail-shaped longitudinal groove 
12 longitudinally recessed in the longitudinal flat surface 11, and two 
stoppers 14 fixed in two end holes 13 respectively formed on two opposite 
end portions of the track means 1. The stopper 14 may be substituted with 
an ending plate 14a as shown in FIG. 5 for limiting the reciprocative 
sliding movement of the cutter means 2. 
The cutter means 2 includes: a slide holder 21 having a plurality of 
sockets 211 recessed in its bottom portion, a plurality of rollers 22 
rotatably mounted in the sockets 211 each roller 22 pivotally secured to 
the holder 21 around a pin 23 fixed into a pin hole 210 laterally formed 
through the holder 21, and a central cutting blade 24 fixed in a slide 
base 25 secured to and positioned under the holder 21. 
The cutting blade 24 of the cutter means 2 has its lower portion fixed into 
the slide base 25 and has its upper portion inserted into a slot 212 
longitudinally formed in a central portion in the holder 21. The blade 24 
is formed with two pin holes 241 to be fixed with the pins 23 passing 
through the holes 210 formed in the holder 21 and formed with two sloping 
cutting edges 240 on both front and rear ends of the blade 24 for cutting 
the film 3. The rollers 22 are symmetrically disposed on two opposite 
sides of the central cutting blade 24. 
The slide base 25 of the cutter means 2 is slidably engageable with the 
dovetail shaped longitudinal groove 12 of the track means 1 and has a 
cross section generally shaped as a triangular or dovetail shape, snugly 
engageable with the groove 12. For facilitating the sliding movement of 
the cutter means 2 in the track means 1, a lubricating oil or grease may 
be filled in the groove 12 for lubricating purpose. 
When using the present invention for cutting a wrap film 3, the film 3 is 
pulled across the flat surface 11 of the track means 1 and the holder 21 
of the cutter means 2 is pushed and depressed by the user to rotate the 
rollers 22 for moving the cutter means 2 on the track means 1 and to press 
the rollers 22 against the film 3 and the flat surface 11 of the track 
means 1, thereby tensioning the film 3 in situ and cutting the film 
smoothly and quickly. 
The present invention has the following advantages superior to a 
conventional cutter assembly: 
1. The cutter means 2 as provided with the rollers 22 may tension the film 
3 to be cut in situ during the cutting operation and may facilitate the 
rolling sliding movement of the cutter means 2 on the track means 1 for a 
quicker cutting operation. 
2. Since the track surface 11 is so flat and the rollers 22 of the cutter 
means 2 are rolling on the film 3 and the track means 1, the film even 
made so thin will not be wrinkled or plowed during the cutting processing. 
3. The elements in construction of the present invention are not complex in 
their structure so that the production cost can be greatly reduced and 
their maintenance problems can also be minimized. 
The number of the rollers 22 of the cutter means 2 are not limited in this 
invention, but are preferably four rollers 22 rotatably mounted in the 
holder 21 for a stable, smooth running on the track means 1. 
The blade 24, the base 25 and the holder 21 may also be integrally formed 
by molding process wellknown in plastic molding processes. As shown in 
FIG. 2, a cover 26 may be provided to encompass the holder 21 and the pins 
23 within the cover 26 for shielding or decorative purpose or for marking 
purpose.