The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Ernest A Milan

William Frank Dunn

A strip of plastic material is cut by clamping the strip and then moving a cutting blade from a retracted position to a first position in cutting engagement with the strip. Simultaneously a supporting blade in overlapping relation with the cutting blade is moved to the first position for lifting the strip. The movement of the supporting blade stops at the first position and the cutting blade movement is continued through the strip. The cutting surface of the cutting blade is recessed adjacent the cutting edge so that upon movement of the cutting blade the contact with the strip is minimized to prevent the formation of burrs on the severed ends of the strip. After the strip is severed the cutting blade is retracted to the first position. From the first position, the cutting blade and supporting blade are moved to a fully retracted position and the strip unclamped so that the severed portion of the strip can be removed and the remaining portion of the strip moved into position for the next cut.

Method and apparatus for cutting plastic materials

Strip material coming from a letoff position is wound on a supply reel by rotating the reel while at the same time providing axial movement of the reel relative to the letoff. The axial movement is stopped for a predetermined period of time when the strip reaches an end portion of the reel and before the relative axial movement is reversed to form another layer on the reel to provide a supporting edge surface for other layers and reduce the induced curl in the strip material. Each successive layer of strip material may be of a shorter length to provide a pyramid configuration to maintain the position of the windings. This method may be controlled by a microprocessor programmed with a basic sequence which can be altered by the operator to set the number of base layers, the number of pyramid layers and the duration of the interval during which there is no relative axial movement of the shell and the letoff at the end of each pass on the supply reel.

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Stow, OH, United States of America

Ernest A Milan