Gerber Garment Technology, Inc.

Gerber Scientific, Inc.

The Gerber Scientific Instrument Company

Gerber Technology, Inc.

Gerber Systems Corporation

Gerber Optical, Inc.

Heinz J Gerber

David J Logan

David R Pearl

Kenneth O Wood

Leonard G Rich

Lawrence S Wolfson

Ronald J Straayer

Jeffrey J Murray

Bruce L Davidson

Charles M Hevenor, Jr

Andrew G Bakoledis

Earle Merritt Chase

Joseph H Cohen

Vincent J Carulli

Yuval Mishli

Claude LeBlond

A reciprocating knife cutter for performing a cutting operation on sheet material is provided wherein the knife is not limited to reciprocation along a vertical axis. The cutter includes a guide which engages the knife, whereby the knife and guide are constrained to slide relative to one another along the longitudinal axis of the knife. The knife is reciprocated by an eccentric drive mechanism in a plane perpendicular to the drive axis of the mechanism, and the guide is pivotally mounted on the cutter so that the knife and guide remain in engagement as the knife is reciprocated. A sheet material cutting apparatus including such a reciprocating cutter is also provided. The invention also provides a knife sharpener for a cutting apparatus.

Reciprocating knife sheet material cutting apparatus with knife sharpener

An apparatus and method for cutting pattern pieces from a continuous marker are disclosed. According to the invention, pattern pieces comprising made to order garments are cut from successive bites of limp sheet material. Means are provided for creating the continuous marker, labeling the pattern pieces and cutting the pattern pieces for subsequent processing.

Apparatus for bite cutting made to order garments

Reciprocating knife cutter, a cutting apparatus including such a cutter,

In a line tracing laser cutter for sheet material the fundamental axis of beam projection onto the work material is moved by relatively high inertia drive apparatus along a relatively smooth axis trace line, and during such movement the beam is at times shifted by low inertia apparatus from the fundamental axis to cause the beam to follow a line of cut having sharper or more complex features than the axis trace line.

Laser cutter and method for cutting sheet material

An automatically controlled cutting machine for working on limp sheet material utilizes positive air pressure and vacuum to hold the material in place during a work operation. The level of the pressure is set or regulated with a pressure sensor to develop an appropriate holddown force and to minimize the disturbance to the material surrounding the work operation. The distribution of the airflow onto the sheet material for generating the pressure is also concentrated around the point of the work operation by an aperture plate.

Method and apparatus for working on sheet material

A lens or lap blank surfacing machine, for use in making eyeglass lenses, and related surfacing method and rotary cutting tool, is one wherein the rotary cutting tool is moved point by point over the entire extent of a face of the blank to form a new face surface on the blank with the movements of the tool and blank relative to one another being controlled in three coordinate directions by a computer controller to give the formed surface a shape related to a given eyeglass prescription or similar specification. The rotary cutting tool has a number of peripheral zones surrounding its rotation axis with at least one of the zones having a fine cutting characteristic and with at least one other of the zones having a coarse cutting characteristic. In the movement of the tool and blank relative to one another, the tool is held so that its fine peripheral zone engages and cuts away blank material immediately adjacent the desired surface and so that the coarse peripheral zone engages and cuts away blank material to a depth not quite reaching the desired surface thereby leaving a thin layer of residual unwanted blank material which is cut away by the fine peripheral zone of the tool at a later time, this permitting the creation of a face surface of desired shape and fine surface finish.

Optical lens or lap blank surfacing machine, related method and cutting

A method for making a plurality of printing press page printing plates using a drum type raster scanning plate making machine involves making a number of separate printing plates from each sheet of plate making material handled by the machine, thereby increasing the number of printing plates capable of being made during a given period of time in comparison to prior methods using similar machines and making only one printing plate from each sheet of plate making material.

Method for making a plurality of printing plates

A tape provides a supply of doubly adhesively faced pads for individual application to a receiving surface. The tape comprises a generally elongate flexible base layer of material having one side with a first release surface, and a plurality of pads of material carried on the first release surface of the base layer arranged in succession along the length of the base layer. Each of the pads has first and second tacky faces facing in opposite directions and has the first of its tacky faces releasably adhered to the first release surface of the base layer. The base layer of material has a second side facing oppositely to the first side and has a second release surface, so that the base layer may be rolled up to bring the second release surface thereof into engagement with the second tacky faces of the pads.

Roll of tape with doubly adhesively faced pads

A cleaner for cleaning debris from the bristles of a bristle bed which provides the work material support surface for a sheet material cutting machine performs its cleaning operation while the bristle bed or the bristle units making up the bristle bed remain in place on the cutting machine. A plurality of blades which may be either rotary or non-rotary are fixed to and spaced relative to one another along a given line. During a cleaning operation the blades enter the bristle bed and are moved in a direction perpendicular to the given line and parallel to the support surface to dislodge debris from the bristles. A vacuum device may be included in the cleaner to collect the dislodged debris and the cleaner may also include a vibrator for vibrating either the blades or the bed in the vicinity of the blades to assist in freeing the debris from the bristles.

Bristle bed cleaner for sheet material cutting machine

An apparatus for use in improving the accuracy of optical systems such as internal drum photoplotters includes a raster scanner responsive to control signals for advancing relative to a substrate an optical beam across a substrate surface in a first direction forming a scan line and for cooperatively advancing relative to the substrate the optical beam in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. A signal generator provides a clock signal configured to control the advancement of the optical beam in a first direction. There is a memory for storing error signals indicative of deviations of the curved surface from a preferred value of curvature. The apparatus is characterized by a controller for generating control signals in dependence on the error signals such that the phase of the clock signal is adjusted, thereby removing the curvature error for a segment of the scan line.

Method and apparatus for enhancing the accuracy of scanner systems

In a conveyor apparatus for supporting and advancing sheet material, such as fabric to be cut by a cutter head, the conveying element is an endless belt made of elongated supporting members having their length dimensions extending transversely of the path of belt movement. The supporting members include coengagable parts, such as tongues and grooves extending along the length of the members, which coengage one another when the supporting members are in the upper run of the conveyor to prevent vertical movement of the supporting members relative to one another and to thereby maintain the supporting surface defined by the upper run in a smooth and flat condition.

Conveyor for supporting and advancing sheet material and cutting machine

In a cutting system and method for cutting pattern pieces from flexible sheet material, after the cutting the cut pattern pieces are separated from the waste material by moving the material forwardly to a separating station at which the waste material is pulled from one point to another so as to be tensioned and constrained to move along one path to one delivery station, while cut pattern pieces are not similarly pulled or tensioned but instead are allowed to move by gravity to a different path leading to another delivery station. An associated means, such as a roll with a resilient outer surface or a plurality of plungers, applies forces to the material to aid gravity in the separation of the pattern pieces by tending to push such pieces from the waste material. The material may also be vibrated to assist in the dislodgment of the pattern pieces from the waste material.

Apparatus and method for separating pattern pieces from waste material

In a plotter or other device for drawing inked lines on a receiving surface, an ink reservoir holding a large quantity of ink is provided to attain a long operational life for the associated pen. The reservoir includes a piston or other moveable working member to which air pressure is applied for pressurizing the ink, and the ink reservoir and associated pen are permanently connected with one another and with a few ancillary parts to provide a unit assembly readily connected to and disconnected from a pen head to permit quick exchange of units without danger of ink spillage. The ink reservoir is transparent or translucent to give the operator a visual indication of when the unit assembly is in need of replacement because of imminent ink exhaustion, and sensor may also be provided for automatically producing an electrical 'out of ink' signal which appears upon the complete exhaustion of ink from the unit.

Long life pen and ink supply unit for X,Y plotter and the like and

A method and apparatus by which stacks of pattern pieces cut from a layup of sheet material by a cutting tool are bundled and removed from the remaining waste material. A bundler inserts fasteners to bundle at least some of the stacks together and an automatic take-off device removes the bundled stacks from the layup. The cutting tool and bundler are both mounted to a two-axis carriage system and share a common controller with the take-off means. The controller guides the cutting tool around the pattern piece peripheries in response to control data and the bundler inserts fasteners into locations in the layup determined from the same control data. The controller then provides the exact locations of the inserted fasteners to the automatic take-off device which thereafter removes the cut stacks of pieces from the layup. In one embodiment of the invention, identifying information is printed upon the fastener by a printer associated with the bundler to aid in identifying the stacks of pattern pieces.

Method and apparatus for bundling and removing stacks of pieces cut from

In a method and apparatus for cutting parts from hides from different shapes and sizes a digitizer and a cutter are provided which make it possible to digitize a hide at one time on the digitizer and to then cut it at a later time on the cutter with the hide when spread on the supporting surface of the cutter being given a shape and location exactly corresponding to its shape and location on the supporting surface of the digitizer. Therefore, the digitized representation of each hide may be used to create an efficient cuting marker for the hide which marker can then be used to cut the hide on the cutter without producing rejects or other cutting errors due to the location and shape of the hide on the supporting surface of the cutter not agreeing with those of the hide on the supporting surface of the digitizer. This arrangement allows keeping a large number of digitized hides in inventory and selecting from this inventory those hides which can be used most efficiently to produce the parts required to fill a given parts request.

Growing community of inventors

West Hartford, CT, United States of America

Heinz J Gerber