Patent GB-190605133-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Cork Cutting Machines.
Inventor: STUESSI-WIDMER ALFRED
Filed: 1906-03-02
Granted: 1907-01-10
Abstract: 5133. Widmer, A. St³ssi-. March 2, 1905, [date applied for under Patents Act, 1901]. Cork, cutting.-To avoid waste of material in a cork-cutting machine of the kind in which the blank is rotated in contact with a knife moving in a direction parallel to the axis of the blank, reciprocating members are provided so that the dimensions of the corks produced can be varied according to the sizes of blanks, the periphery of the cork touching three sides of the blank. A band knife 6 is driven, between a guide plate 28 and rollers 29 secured to a bracket 24, by pulleys rotated by bevel-gear from a shaft 3, which by means of sprocket gear rotates a shaft 9. The shaft 3 is provided with a cam having two concentric grooves 11<a>, 11<b> of different radius, with which engages the roller of a bell-crank lever 13 connected by means of a cylinder 14 and spring-pressed piston 15, Fig. 3, with the arm 17 of a three-armed lever fulcrumed in the frame 8, so that different widths of blank may be used. The second arm 18 is connected to a loose reciprocating rod 20 with an adjustable finger and the arm 19 to a rod 21, connected to a lever carrying a lifting-piece 23, held to a reciprocating rod 25 by a spring so as to admit different thicknesses of blank. The rod 25 is provided with a plate for carrying the blanks 65, which are fed along a band 63 rotated by gearing from the shaft 9, Fig. 2. The arm 17 is also linked to an oscillating arm 31, to which is secured a flat spring 32 passing over the upper end, so as to press the arm against a stop 33 of the arm 34 of a lever, which is loosely mounted on the shaft 9 and has a toothed segment 35 engaging a similar segment on a shaft 37. On this shaft is another segment, meshing with a segmental arm twice its radius on a swinging frame 40 mounted loosely on the shaft 9. When the arm 25 is raised and the arm 20 consequently lowered by the groove 11<b> in the cam, the arm 31 is pressed against the blank and the pivoted frame 40 swung inwards and held in position by a brake shoe 43, Fig. 6, operated by a rod 42, loosely mounted on a sleeve 45, which is eccentrically mounted on the shaft 9 and is connected to a lever arm 44, actuated by a cam 46. Cams 52, Fig. 2, of which one is formed in two halves, so that different lengths of blank may be used, one being fixed to the shaft, and the other being spring-controlled and sliding on the hub of the first half, by means of levers 51 advance the slides 47 on the frame 40 so that the heads grip the blank. The heads may be roughened or provided with studs. The roller of the bell-crank lever then enters the path 11<a> in the cam, the parts 20, 26, 31 being returned to the positions shown in Fig. 3. The levers 56, leaving their cam tracks, allow the spring- pressed part of a clutch to engage the stationary part so that the heads may be rotated by sprocket gearing over the blade 6, the line of cut of the knife touching three sides of the blank. The heads then separate and the cork is dropped, clutches disengaged, frame 40 released, &c. The crosssection of the cork is determined by means of a pattern 60, Fig. 6, which is pressed by a spring 61 against the side of a slot in the brake shoe and is rotated by sprocket gearing 58, so that the movable frame 40 and brake shoe have a slight oscillation. To produce corks with parallel sides, a straight guide 28 is used. For conical &c. corks, the guide is at an angle, and for curved corks, a guide as in Fig. 8 may be used.