Patent ID: 6988880

Claim:
An apparatus for cutting/shaping a rubber strip into rubber band members, comprising: an anvil having a flat shaping surface with an anvil groove that extends in the width direction of a rubber strip to be placed thereon; a press cutter/shaper arranged opposite to the anvil, said press cutter/shaper comprising a pair of inclined shaping surfaces on front and rear sides, each being inclined with a relatively small angle relative to the shaping surface of the anvil so that the front and rear shaping surfaces of the press cutter/shaper intersect each other with a predetermined intersection angle, and a cutting blade arranged between the front and rear shaping surfaces of the press cutter/shaper and protruding therefrom toward the anvil groove, said cutting blade having a blade angle defined by front and rear surfaces of the cutting blade, said blade angle being smaller than said intersection angle of the shaping surfaces of the press cutter/shaper; a heating means for heating the press cutter/shaper to a predetermined temperature; and means for moving the press cutter/shaper toward the anvil close to each other to press at least one of the front surface and the rear surface of the cutting blade against a corresponding edge of the anvil groove to thereby cut the rubber strip between the at least one of the front surface and the rear surface and the corresponding edge at a predetermined cut position; wherein the press cutter/shaper heated by said heating means is adapted to be moved by said moving means toward the anvil so that the cutting blade is forced into the anvil groove while cutting the rubber strip at a predetermined cut position in its longitudinal direction to form a rubber band member, with a trailing end of the rubber band member and a leading end of the remaining rubber strip being clamped between the front and rear shaping surfaces of the press cutter/shaper and the flat shaping surface of the anvil, respectively, and thereby deformed and shaped to have a cross-section with a thickness which decreases gradually toward said cut position.