Patent ID: 7048489

Claim:
An unwrapping apparatus for unwrapping a package containing a solid object tightly wrapped with a wrapping sheet, said package including an unsealed space where the solid object is contained and a sealed portion surrounding the unsealed space, comprising paired rollers rotatable so that the package caught between the paired rollers is transferred along a predetermined transferring path, displacing means for displacing the paired rollers so that the wrapping sheet of the package caught between the paired rollers is transferred along another path different from said predetermined transferring path, a cutter located in front of the paired rollers along the predetermined transferring path for making a slit on the unsealed space at a position near the front edge of the package, and controlling means for controlling operations of the paired rollers, the displacing means and the cutter by rotating the paired rollers in respective predetermined directions, suspending rotation of the paired rollers when the front edge of the package is caught between the paired rollers, causing the cutter to make the slit on the package, causing the displacing means to displace the paired rollers, and rotating the paired rollers in said predetermined directions so that only the wrapping sheet separated from the solid object is transferred along said another path different from said predetermined transferring path.