Patent Publication Number: US-2017355091-A1

Title: Hollow board cutting apparatus

Description:
FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a cutting apparatus, and more particularly to a hollow board cutting apparatus. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a conventional cutting apparatus includes a rail  1 , a driving unit  2  configured as a chain-sprocket mechanism (only a portion of the chain is illustrated in  FIG. 1 ), a positioning seat  3  coupled co-movably to the driving unit  2 , and a cutting blade  4  secured on the positioning seat  3 . The driving unit  2  drives the positioning seat  3  to slide along the rail  1 , so that the cutting blade  4  can perform cutting action on a workpiece (not shown). 
     However, when the conventional cutting apparatus is operated at a relatively high speed, the cutting blade  4  may not be steady and may bend easily due to a resistance force generated by the cutting action. As a result, the workpiece cut by the conventional cutting apparatus may have an unlevel cut edge. To solve such problem, thickness of the cutting blade  4  may be increased, but doing so increases the resistance force, which may result in tearing of the workpiece or distortion of the cut edge of the workpiece, thereby adversely affect the quality of the workpiece. 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a hollow board cutting apparatus that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. 
     According to the disclosure, the hollow board cutting apparatus includes a machine bed unit, a driving unit, and a cutting unit. The driving unit includes a pair of upper sprockets that are rotatably disposed on the machine bed unit, a pair of lower sprockets that are disposed rotatably on the machine bed unit, a motor that is coupled to one of the lower sprockets for directly driving rotation of the one of the lower sprockets, a first drive chain that is trained on the upper sprockets and the lower sprockets, and a second drive chain that is trained on the lower sprockets. The cutting unit includes an upper positioning seat that is coupled co-movably to the first drive chain, a lower positioning seat that is coupled co-movably to the second drive chain, and at least one cutting blade that is secured between the upper and lower positioning seats. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic perspective view of a conventional cutting apparatus; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a hollow board cutting apparatus according to the disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic perspective view illustrating an upper rail, a lower rail, a driving unit, and a cutting unit of the embodiment; and 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the cutting unit of the embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , an embodiment of a hollow board cutting apparatus according to the disclosure is for cutting a workpiece (not shown), such as a hollow board. The hollow board cutting apparatus includes a machine bed unit  6 , a driving unit  7 , and a cutting unit  8 . 
     The machine bed unit  6  includes an upper rail  61  and a lower rail  62 . 
     The driving unit  7  includes a pair of upper sprockets  72 , a pair of lower sprockets  73 , a motor  71 , a first drive chain  74 , and a second drive chain  75  (only a portion of the first drive chain  74  and a portion of the second drive chain  75  are illustrated in  FIG. 3 ). 
     The upper sprockets  72  are rotatably disposed on the machine bed unit  6 . The lower sprockets  73  are rotatably disposed on the machine bed unit  6 . Each of the lower sprockets  73  has a first sprocket portion  731 , and a second sprocket portion  732  co-axially and co-rotatably connected to the first sprocket portion  731 . The motor  71  is coupled to one of the lower sprockets  73  for directly driving rotation of the one of the lower sprockets  73 . The first drive chain  74  is trained on the upper sprockets  72  and the first sprocket portion  731  of each of the lower sprockets  73 . The second drive chain  75  is trained on the second sprocket portion  732  of each of the lower sprockets  73 . 
     The cutting unit  8  includes an upper positioning seat  81 , a lower positioning seat  82 , two cutting blades  83 , and a plurality of fastening members  84 . 
     The upper positioning seat  81  is coupled co-movably to the first drive chain  74 , and has a main body  810  formed with an upper slide groove  811  that opens upwardly and that is slidably engaged with the upper rail  61 . 
     The lower positioning seat  82  is coupled co-movably to the second drive chain  75 , and has a main body  820  formed with a lower slide groove  821  that opens laterally and that is slidably engaged with the lower rail  62 . 
     The cutting blades  83  are secured between the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82 . In certain embodiments, the cutting unit  8  may only include one cutting blade  83 . 
     The upper positioning seat  81  further has an upper press board  812 , and the lower positioning seat  82  further has a lower press board  822 . The fastening members  84  detachably fasten the upper press board  812  to the main body  810  of the upper positioning seat  81  so as to clamp upper portions of the cutting blades  83  therebetween, and detachably fasten the lower press board  822  to the main body  820  of the lower positioning seat  82  so as to clamp lower portions of the cutting blades  83  therebetween, so that the cutting blades  83  are confined between the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82 . 
     During operation, the motor  71  directly drives rotation of the one of the lower sprockets  73  which is coupled to the motor  71 . The first sprocket portion  731  of the one of the lower sprockets  73  drives movement of the first drive chain  74  so as to drive the upper positioning seat  81  to slide along the upper rail  61 . The second sprocket portion  732  of the one of the lower sprockets  73  drives movement of the second drive chain  75  so as to drive the lower positioning seat  82  to slide along the lower rail  62 . Since the first sprocket portion  731  and the second sprocket portion  732  of the one of the lower sprockets  73  are co-axially connected and rotate at the same speed, the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82  respectively slide along the upper and lower rails  61 ,  62  in a synchronous manner so as to permit the cutting blades  83  to perform cutting action. 
     In summary, since the cutting blades  83  are firmly secured between the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82 , and since the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82  are driven to slide in a synchronous manner, a relatively steady cutting operation is achieved compared with the above-mentioned conventional cutting apparatus having only one positioning seat  3 . In this way, the workpiece that is cut using the hollow board cutting apparatus of the disclosure has a relatively level cut edge. Furthermore, by virtue of the upper and lower positioning seats  81 ,  82 , the cutting blades  83  can be designed to have a relatively small thickness, thereby preventing the occurrences of tearing of the workpiece and distortion of the cut edge of the workpiece. 
     In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects. 
     While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.