Patent ID: 6857350

Claim:
In a slitting machine including a frame, first and second mandrels mounted on the frame for rotation about parallel axes, and first and second knives mounted on the first and second mandrels, respectively, with each knife having a disk which rotates with its mandrel, the disks of the first and second knives, when rotating, approaching each other at a nip and being located such that metal sheet upon entering the nip is fractured by the disks, thus imparting a slit to the metal sheet and dividing the sheet into strips which are separated by the slit, the improvement comprising: a first roller assembly mounted on the frame and having a first roller located beyond the first knife and aligned with the nip such that one face on each of the strips will pass along it with the slit being between the ends of the first roller, and a second roller assembly mounted on the frame and having a second roller located beyond the second knife and aligned with the nip such that the other face of each of the strips will pass along it with the slit being between the ends of the second roller, each roller assembly including a mount, a spring pad on the mount, a pair of pivot arms attached to the mount such that they pivot about an axis that is parallel to the axes of the mandrels, a spacer located between and attached to the pivot arms of the assembly, the roller for each roller assembly being carried by the pivot arms of the assembly and rotating about an axis that is offset in the direction of the strips from the axis of the arms, yet parallel to the axis of the arms, and a spring carried by the mount where it is located between and acts against the spring pad and the spacer, so that the spring acts upon the arms to urge the roller that is carried by the arms toward the path taken by the strips of metal sheet as they emerge from the knives.