Patent ID: 7526984

Claim:
Apparatus for cutting an industrial-size roll of sheet material, said industrial-size roll having a core, a roll radius, and a roll length, said apparatus comprising: a roll-support means for rotatably supporting said industrial-size roll in a horizontal plane, said roll-support means including two parallel support rollers, wherein a centerline of said roll-support means extends parallel to said parallel support rollers and defines a longitudinal axis of said apparatus; a saw unit having a circular saw blade with a saw-blade radius sufficiently large to cut through said industrial-size roll in a single-pass cutting operation while said industrial-size roll is supported in said support means, wherein said single-pass cutting operation leaves a cut roll; and a carriage system; wherein said saw unit includes a saw frame that is movably mounted on said carriage system and said circular saw blade is mounted in said saw frame; wherein said saw frame is drivable along said carriage system so as to position said circular saw blade at a desired location of cut of said roll; and wherein said saw blade is re-positionable along said industrial size roll to effect one or more cutting operations at a corresponding one or more locations on said roll, so as to cut two or more sections from said roll, without repositioning said roll and without removing cut material from said roll support means.