Work frame cutting support

A safety attachment for use with cutting apparatus having a cutting member adapted to reciprocate particularly with respect to a fixed frame structure including a support bar mounted for movement with the cutting apparatus and the cutting apparatus having successive cutting positions so that the support bar has successive work positions, at least one bell crank having one end pivotally coupled to the support bar, having its fulcrum provided with a connecting link for fixedly positioning the fulcrum in spaced relation from a reference point on the cutting apparatus, and having the other end of the bell crank free and containing an aperture therein, a working rod threaded at one end and threadedly engaging a coupling link and an intermediate portion proximate the other end of the working rod adjustably engaging in slidable relation with a support rod having a pivot coupled to said aperture, and rabbet holder means being supported in a transverse slot in a working area and having a linking coupling between the rabbet holder means and the threadedly engaging coupling.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to safety attachments for use with a molding 
or frame cutting apparatus in which the cutting apparatus has blades which 
move in toward the molding in repetitive stages until the blades are 
completely forward over the molding ready for the final cut, and in which 
the safety attachments are connected to rabbet supports or holders which 
are moved longitudinally of the molding and yet support the molding rabbet 
so that the rabbet holders are continuously in proper position under the 
rabbet during each cut of the blades, without the necessity of an operator 
placing his hands near the blades each time the rabbet holders are moved. 
More particular, the invention relates to safety attachment for use with 
cutting apparatus in which each movement of the blades forward toward the 
molding provide for longitudinally outward movement of the rabbet holders 
by the attachment being flexed toward the back of the blades which in turn 
pulls the rabbet holders outwardly and bringing the rabbet holders out to 
a correct distance for the molding or workpiece to be processed by each 
cutting step. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Various prior art and U.S. patents relate to various protective devices, 
guards and related arrangements, and of interest to the present invention 
are the following U.S. patents: 
U.S. Pat. No. 443,666, F. L. Bryant 
U.S. Pat. No. 450,147, L. U. Gill 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,772, J. Anetsberger 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,495, N. W. Sjoberg 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,745, B. A. Cavalan et al. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,846, A. J. Calhoun. 
The patent to Cavalan et al discloses a support tool for cutting a 
workpiece, a die carried by a frame, another die carried by a movable 
slider and clamping apparatus so that the machine shears the workpiece 
when between the two dies. The patent to Calhoun discloses a safety guard 
for insuring that an operator will not insert a hand between die parts of 
a press as a ram member is descending, and the patent to Sjorberg 
discloses various linkage arrangements. The Anetsberger patent discloses a 
workpiece holder or shaper which supports the workpiece when being 
sheared. The Gill patent discloses a workpiece engaging member which 
protects the hands of an operator against injury. None of these patents 
discloses all of the specific details of the present invention in such a 
way as to bear upon the patentability of any claims of the present 
invention. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object and advantage of the present invention is to provide a safety, 
protective or guard arrangement for cutting apparatus in which the cutting 
apparatus has an actuator lever for progressively repositioning a cutter 
element in progressively forward positions while the safety device 
longitudinally displaces outwardly a rabbet holder each time a cut of work 
stock is to be made. The safety device moves the rabbet holders 
correspondingly longitudinally along the workpiece automatically as the 
cutter element moves across the workpiece. Thus, the attachment moves the 
rabbet holders out automatically each time the cutter element of the 
machine is moved for making the cut. 
Another object and advantage of the present invention is to provide an 
attachment and safety mechanism for a cutting apparatus with blades such 
that with each movement of the blades forward across a workpiece for 
repetitive stages of cutting, the safety mechanism or attachment is flexed 
such that the blades move the attachment which in turn pulls rabbet 
holders out of the path of the cutter blades so that the rabbet holders 
are displaced or moved a correct distance for each movement of the blades. 
Another and further object of the present invention is to provide a wood 
frame cutting support attachment so that the operator's hands do not come 
into contact with the rabbet holders, the blades of the machine or the 
work area while the cutter blades are in progress of sequential stages of 
cutting a picture, rabbeted molding or workpiece during the operation of 
the cutting apparatus. 
These together with other objects and advantages which will become 
subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation 
as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to 
the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals 
refer to like parts throughout.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a wood frame cutting 
apparatus 10 such as, for example, a mitre machine for precision cutting 
of molding, picture frames and the like, and having a base 12 including 
support legs for supporting a work surface or area 14, a cutter support 
frame 16 supporting a cutter element 18 disposed to move in vertical 
relation to the cutter support frame 16, and a foot pedal 20 operable to 
displace mechanism 22 that correspondingly actuates the cutter element 18 
downwardly toward surface 24. Adjacent the work area 14 is a work guide 28 
which may be pivotally rotated about pivot member 30 when guide dogs 32 
are loosened, and a workpiece 34 is placed against the guide 28 in the 
work area 14. The workpiece 34 has a rabbet 36 shown in FIG. 4 and a 
rabbet holder 38 has a rabbet holder support 40 that fits within the 
rabbet 36 supporting it as the workpiece is subjected to processing and 
cutting by the cutter element 18 as is described below, and the rabbet 
holder 38 has threaded adjustment means and locking means 42 therefor to 
adjust the rabbet holder support 40 to engage with the rabbet 36 during 
all successive cutting operations of the cutter element 18 upon the 
workpiece 34, the rabbet holder support 40 maintaining contact with the 
rabbet 36 at all times during the cutting processes. 
The wood frame cutting apparatus as described above is of known 
construction and method providing precision cut molding for picture frames 
and the like and exemplary of such mitre machines is a Jyden mitre machine 
and is supplied with an extension arm support, blades, springs for the 
foot pedal 20 and the details of the rabbet holders 38 and the rabbet 
holder support 40. The mitre machine also includes an actuator lever 44 
mounted on the front of the mitre machine connected, constructed and 
arranged to progressively move forward the cutter element 18, for example, 
from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 3 where 
the apex of the cutter element 18 is in contact with the guide 28 as the 
actuator lever is correspondingly and incrementally moved in step-by-step 
fashion from its position to a rightward position of that shown in FIG. 2. 
Assembled with the wood frame cutting apparatus 10 is a work frame cutting 
support assembly 50 including a support angle iron or bar 52 having on a 
vertical side thereof a set of spaced rod couplings 54 supported from an 
intermediate support plate 56 which in turn is supported by a set of 
intermediate rod couplings 58 that are securably attached to a rear side 
of the cutter support frame 16. At distal ends of the support bar 52 along 
its horizontal surface are apertures for mounting bell crank 60 of metal 
having a corresponding aperture, each aperture receiving a hexagonal head 
cap screw 62, a flat washer 64, and secured on an underside by a hexagonal 
nut (not shown). The bell crank 60 has an aperture 66 in its apex 68 and 
there is an anchor or universal coupling 70 having a threaded recess 
portion 72 for receiving a threaded end 74 of rod 76, the universal 
coupling 70 having a ball joint recess receiving a ball member 78 on a 
threaded member 80 received in the aperture 66 and secured therein by a 
metal acorn nut 82 as shown. A universal coupling 90 with a threaded 
recess 92 engages the other threaded end 94 of the rod 76, and the 
universal coupling 90 is supported from the frame 12 by a member 100 
similar in character to the universal coupling 70 described above. By the 
rod 76 being of fixed but adjustable length, the fulcrum of the bell crank 
60 is a fixed distance from the frame 12 but is capable of universal 
movement. The free end of the bell crank 60 has an aperture 106 for 
mounting the ball member 108 for a universal coupling 110 similar in 
construction to the universal coupling 70, the universal coupling 110 
threadedly engaged with a rod support block 112 having a rod receiving 
recess therein for receiving a metal rod 114 securely held in place by 
engagement with a thumb screw 116 engaging the rod 114 when threaded down 
in the block 112. This provides adjustment as needed, and the other end of 
the rod 14 engages a universal coupling 120 by having a threaded portion 
118 of the rod 114 engaging a threaded recess in the universal coupling 
120. A ball member 122 having its ball portion engaging a ball socket in 
the universal coupling 120, as shown, is provided so that its distal 
portion engages a metal coupling 126, such as a link, having apertures, at 
opposite ends and a solid portion between the apertures, so that the ball 
member 122 can be secured in one aperture thereof while the other aperture 
is secured by a hexagonal head cap screw 130 onto an adjacent flat portion 
of the rabbet holder 38. The left and right sides of the wood frame cutter 
support assembly 50 are symmetrically constructed and have similar 
engaging parts and functions. 
The rabbet holder 38 is provided with two limited degrees of cross motion 
or movement, one degree of motion of the rabbet holder 38 being restricted 
by the recess 140 since the rabbet holder may have a projection 
interfitting with the recess 140, and the other degree of limited movement 
or motion of the rabbet holder 38 is that the rabbet holder moves along in 
continuous engagement with the rabbet 36 by the rabbet holder support 40 
continuously sliding along the recess formed and defined by the rabbet. 
The adjustment to the support assembly 50 is provided so that when the 
cutter apparatus is in that position shown in FIG. 2, the support assembly 
50 is also adjusted so that it is in the position shown in FIG. 2, that is 
the rabbet holder 38 engages the rabbet 36 and the inclined surface of the 
rabbet is proximate the adjacent cutter edges of cutter element 18. As the 
actuator lever 44 is moved to a right position about 3/16 of an inch, this 
movement brings the blades of the cutter element 18 forward and toward the 
molding for making repetitive cuts in the molding 34 with each small 
displacement of the actuator lever 44 to the right. 
The function of the rabbet holders 38 is to support the molding rabbet 
during each cut of the cutter element 18 to prevent splitting of the 
molding 34, the rabbet holders 38 must be, according to the prior art, 
moved manually to properly position the rabbet holder under the rabbet 
after each cut of the blades. This, in the prior art, necessitates the 
operator placing his hands near the blades each time the rabbet holders 38 
are moved and constituting a safety hazard, but by means of the support 
assembly 50, each forward movement of the cutter elements 18 causes the 
support bar 52 to be displaced correspondingly forward, (downwardly in 
FIGS. 1 and 2) and this action by the bell crank acting through the 
fulcrum and upon the rods connected to the rabbet holders 38, causes the 
rabbet holder to be correspondingly displaced left and right outwardly so 
that the inclined edge of the rabbet holders 38 is continuously displaced 
from the blades of the cutter elements 18 and the rabbet holder support 40 
is urged against and rides within the rabbet 36. This maintains the rabbet 
holders 38 continuously in proper position under the rabbet 36 after each 
cut or each pass of the blades of the cutter elements 18 without the 
operator placing his hands near the blades each time the rabbet holders 
must be moved. 
By the function of the support assembly 50 appropriately displacing the 
rabbet holders 38 each time the cutter elements 18 are moved, there is no 
need for the operator's hands to come into contact with the cutter 
elements 18 and to move the rabbet holders, since the support assembly 50 
accomplishes the necessary adjustment and relocation of rabbet holders 38. 
Consequently, with each movement of the blades forward as shown by arrow 
136 caused by movement of the actuator lever 44 being incrementally 
displaced to the right as shown by arrow 138, the bell cranks 60 of the 
support assembly 50 are flexed toward the back of the blades and the 
cutter support frame 16 which in turn pulls outwardly as shown by arrows 
142 due to the rods 114 acting on the rabbet holders 38 and bringing the 
rabbet holders out into correct distance with respect to the next pass of 
the cutter element 18 when the foot pedal 20 is depressed, so that the 
rabbet holders 38 maintain constant contact with the rabbet 36 and 
essentially the cutter element 18 has its apex point reached proximate the 
guide 28 and the work piece 34 has been properly and appropriately cut to 
form the molding required by the repeated procedures and final cut 
completes the process. Another work piece 34 may be set in place and the 
process repeated after moving the actuator lever back to its original 
position shown in FIG. 2 which in turn resets the support assembly 50 in 
its initial location and position. 
By means of the present invention, it is not necessary nor required for an 
operator to place his hands in contact with the rabbet supports and the 
cutter elements, so that the task of cutting one frame or several frames 
more efficiently is easily accomplished without the operator placing the 
rabbet supports beneath the molding on each successive cut. The support 
attachment or assembly 50 is a mechanism which eliminates the need for an 
operator of a mitre machine placing his hands near the blades to move 
rabbet holders each time a successive cut of a molding is to be made, and 
the support assembly 50 mechanically moves the rabbet holders out as shown 
by arrows 140 automatically each time the lever 44 moves the cutter 
elements 18 to an incremental position as shown by arrow 136. 
While the support assembly 50 is shown to include the plate 56 and sets of 
rod couplings 54, 58, it is of course within the purview of the present 
invention that the present support bar 52 may be mounted on the rear of 
the cutter support frame 16 by only a single set of rod couplings and 
omitting the plates 56. Also within the purview of the invention, the 
rabbet holders 38 need not have projections riding or engaging with the 
recess 140, and the entire support assembly 50 can be adjusted with the 
several adjust means 116 and the like providing necessary adjustment for 
the rabbet holders to be correspondingly displaced outwardly as shown by 
arrows 142 to compensate for inward movement of the blades of the cutter 
elements 18 as shown by arrows 136. 
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the 
invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily 
occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the 
invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and 
accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted 
to, falling within the scope of the invention.