Dispenser Cutter For Tacky Materials

Abstract

A dispenser cutter for rolled fabric materials, particularly tacky materials such as wax impregnated paper, which includes a cutting blade, guard means to shield the cutting blade in its non-operative position and a combination of roller means to direct movement of the rolled fabric material into severing engagement with the cutting blade, to free a leader of the rolled fabric material from the cutting blade and to restrain the freed leader against retraction.

Description

The present invention relates to apparatus for dispensing and cutting desired lengths of fabric material from a roll of such material and more particularly to apparatus for cutably dispensing tacky fabric materials such as for example wax impregnated papers used in the meat packing industry.

The food packaging industry in general and meat packing operations in particular require the use of tacky fabric wrapping materials in the course of packaging operations. In the packaging and/or bagging of primal cuts and some retail size cuts of meat for instance where the outer packaging material or wrapping is frequently some form of plastic film or the like, pieces of wax impregnated heavy web textured paper are used to cover projecting bone parts and sawed ends of bone which tend to tear and destroy the integrity or otherwise reduce the effectiveness of the outer wrapping material. The tacky web wax impregnated materials are known generally in the trade as bone wrap. The problems occasioned by the use of bone wrap materials in the meat packing industry are many, since the meat pieces, particularly primal cuts, being packaged are not identical in size, shape and/or weight and require the application oF the bone wrap in varying numbers of pieces and sizes to accommodate the assorted forms of bone projection, sawed bone ends or whatever encountered in the course of routine packing operations.

Meat packing involving the use of bone wrap materials is further complicated in that the operations are usually performed in a low temperature atmosphere or cold room and the substances used to impregnate the bone wrap, wax for instance, tend to become viscous and stiff and agglomerate on the severing edges of the cutting blade apparatus. This of course necessitates periodic cleaning of the bone wrap dispenser cutter equipment accompanied by dismantling and reassembly of the equipment components.

The bone wrap is not suitable for precutting and stacking in the cold rooms because its tackiness makes stacked sheets stick together and because so many different random sizes are needed in ordinary operations. The cored spool or roll of bone wrap has thus gained acceptance in such operations, but up to time of the present invention no completely satisfactory dispenser cutter equipment has been available to industry for holding, dispensing and cutting the bone wrap at low temperature conditions.

With this then being the state of the art, the present invention was conceived and developed having as an object the provision of a dispenser cutter apparatus for rolled materials including a broad range of material characteristics.

It is another object of the invention to provide apparatus uniquely suitable for holding, dispensing and cutting tacky fabric materials such as wax impregnated bone wrap used in meat packing operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bone wrap dispenser cutter apparatus easily used in low temperature atmospheres.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bone wrap dispenser cutter which is easy to disassemble, either completely or in part, clean of agglomerated materials and reassemble.

It is a still further and important object of this invention to provide a bone wrap dispenser cutter having cutting blade guard means which protects against injuries while the apparatus is at rest or while it is in use.

A further object is to provide a dispenser cutter which, after a tearing operation to yield a selected length of bone wrap, operates to position a bone wrap grasping edge area or leader of material from the material roll, readily reached for grasping and pulling the next selected length for cutting and which operably assures against retraction of the leader back into an inaccessible or difficult to reach position in the apparatus.

It is also an object of this invention to provide bone wrap dispenser cutter apparatus which comprises a minimum of relatively simple parts cooperative to produce the desired results without reliance on complex intricate components or even springs and/or operating principles and which functions continually and reliably with consistantly reproducible results over extended operating periods.

In general, apparatus according to the present invention for cuttably dispensing random length pieces of a rolled fabric product comprises in combination, a pair of plates disposed in a fixed parallel juxtaposed vertical orientation each with respect to the other separated by a distance greater than the width of the rolled fabric product; fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upward mounted transversely of the plates adjacent fore and upper edges thereof; blade guard means mounted transversely of the plates pivotally moveable between a first position in which a forward upper horizontal edge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than the blade cutting edge and a second position in which said horizontal edge is at a lower elevation than the blade cutting edge; means to maintain said blade guard means in its first position in the absence of application of downward force on the guard means; first roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position towards the plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof; rod means mounted transversely of the plates with a longitudinal axis lying substantially in a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis of the first roller means; second roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position between the first roller means and the rod means, vertically moveable in mounting means on the plates between a first position in which its longitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means and a second position in which its longitudinal axis is above the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means; and means to hold fabric from a rolled fabric product supply which is passed between the plates over the first roller means and over the rod means, against an underside peripheral surface of the second roller means while the second roller means moves from its second position towards its first position.

Alternative embodiments of the invention comprehend inclusion of the rotatably mounted roll of fabric product transversely of the plates, the provisions of the counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly fixedly attached to the blade guard means and pivotally moveable therewith, the provision of a roller as a substitute for the rod means and the provision of unidirectional rotational clutch means for the first roller means and the roller version of the rod means which permits rotation of these rollers only in the direction of fabric advance from the fabric supply roll.

The hereinabove described and other objects and embodiments of the invention will become the more readily appreciated and understood in the light of the ensuing detailed description and the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the apparatus embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken along section line 3--3 of FIG. 2 and

FIGS. 4 through 6 are schematic partial sectional views drawn as free body diagrams showing an operational sequence of the illustrated embodiment of apparatus according to the invention.

With reference to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, a dispenser-cutter for tacky web materials according to the present invention is shown at 11 and comprises side plates 13,15 joined in juxtaposed parallel relationship by lateral assemblies 17,19 or their equivalents and provided with mounting means such as return flanges 21,23 having holes 25 to accommodate bolts 27 or the like for securely fastening the apparatus to the selected mounting surface. Slots 29,31 are provided in side plates 13,15 adjacent what will for convenience be called the aft end of the apparatus to rotatably mount a roll of tacky web or whatever material 33 to be dispensed and cut from a rotatable core or spool on a shaft 35. A cutting blade 37 having serations or teeth 39 along its cutting edge is disposed laterally, parallel to the spool 35 in a blade holder 41 removably secured between the side plates, with the blade cutting edge facing upwardly adjacent the fore end of the apparatus. The blade 37 is also removable from its holder 41.

A pivotally mounted removable blade guard assembly to protect against injuries in operation comprises a U-shaped channel or trough 43 having a trough depth greater than the combined height of the assembled blade 37 and its holder 41, journal bosses or plates 45,47 fixedly attached at the respective ends of trough 43 and extending rearwardly thereof parallel to and inward of the side plates, journals 49,51 pivotally mounting the assembly at plates 45,47 between the side plates, a counterweight 53 and a counterweight moment arm 55 attaching the counterweight to the trough 43 substantially centrally thereof. In its normal position, that is to say with the apparatus at rest, the blade guard assembly is disposed, as shown for instance in FIG. 3 of the drawings, with the guard trough 43 upper edges at an elevation higher than the cutting edge or teeth 39 of cutting blade 37, thus effectively shielding the cutting edge, and with the counterweight 53 in its lowermost position.

Intermediate the aft end and the fore end of the apparatus, preferably more towards the fore end, and between the axis of rotation of the spool of material 53 on its shaft 35 and the top edges of the side plates 13,15, an aft roller 57 is mounted rotatably, parallel to the spool 35 laterally of the apparatus, on a shaft or on turned down roller shaft ends 59,61 disposed in holes 63,65 in side plates 13,15. Closer towards the apparatus fore end and in about horizontal alignment with and parallel to aft roller 57, a fore roller 67 is similarly rotatably mounted on a shaft or on turned down roller shaft ends 69,71 disposed in holes 73,75 in the side plates.

Intermediate of and parallel to aft roller 57 and fore roller 67 a dancer roller 77 is rotatably mounted on a shaft or on turned down roller shaft ends 79,81 disposed in inverted L-shaped mounting holes or slots 83,85 in side plates 13,15. Here it should be noted that the several roller components of the apparatus are mounted removably to facilitate periodic cleaning. The rollers may be in the form of hollow cylinders rotating on concentric shafts or may, as in the case of the illustrated embodiment, be machined from solid rod stock to make one piece rollers with integral turned down shaft ends. Bearings may be provided where necessary in particular applications and certain of the rollers may selectively incorporate one-way clutch mechanisms as will be more fully treated hereinafter. Slots 83,85 are located and formed with the height of the vertically extending portion such that when the dancer roller 77 is in its lowermost position with its shaft ends resting at the bottoms of the slots its underside is lower than the undersides of aft roller 57 and fore roller 67, and when in its uppermost position its underside is clear of the topmost surfaces of rollers 57,67 by about one and one-half dancer roller diameters. The horizontally extending portion of each of the dancer roller slots is formed preferably to a length slightly greater than twice the diameter of the dancer roller shaft ends 79,81. Slight recesses 87,89 are provided adjacent the fore end of the horizontally extending portions of slots 83,85 in the slot lower edges to hold the dancer roller in a raised position during material loading and threading operations. The dancer roller 77 then can be moved vertically in the vertically extending portions of slots 83,85 and in addition, in its uppermost position of vertical travel, can be moved horizontally into a retained raised position with its shaft ends 79,81 resting in recesses 87,89.

With all of the aforedescribed components of the apparatus at rest in their normal positions and the machine unloaded, the dancer roller will be in its lowermost position and its underside in brushing contact or just out of contact With the uppermost surface of counterweight 53 or, alternatively, with an upper surface of some portion of the counterweight moment arm 55.

To prepare the above described embodiment of apparatus according to the invention for operation, a cored roll of material 33 to be dispensed in cut lengths is placed with the ends of its spool shaft 35 in slots 29,31 with the material lead direction from the roll underside towards the fore end of the machine. Dancer roll 77 is raised and rested with its shaft ends in recesses 87,89 to facilitate threading and the material is threaded through the space between the underside of raised dancer roller 77 and the upper surfaces of aft roller 57 and fore roller 67 towards the fore end of the apparatus a distance sufficient to provide a comfortable grasping edge or leader after the dancer roller drop. Dancer roller 77 is then lifted from the recesses 87,89, moved to the vertically extending portions of slots 83,85 and lowered into position between the aft and fore rollers where it depresses the material 33 into contact with its underside periphery and the upper peripheral surfaces of the aft and fore rollers 57,67 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

FIGS. 3 through 6 of the drawings illustrate a typical operational sequence of the apparatus. With reference to FIG. 3, the leader of material 33 extending from between dancer roller 77 and fore roller 67 is grasped and pulled upwardly and outwardly towards the fore end of the machine with the material's underside forward of the dancer roller held clear of contact with the apparatus components other than an initial relatively brief contact with a portion of the peripheral surface of fore roller 67. As the pulling action progresses, with its direction altered more towards the horizontal, the tensioned material 33 raises the dancer roller 77 in its slots 83,85 as shown in FIG. 4. At this stage of the operation the material underside is in contact only with the peripheral upper surface of aft roller 57 and the material upper surface in contact with the peripheral underside of the dancer roller 77. The pulling action of course effects rotation of any rollers contacted by the material. Specifically, at the initial pull and aft and fore rollers rotate clockwise and the dancer roller and material spool rotate counterclockwise. When the material is pulled substantially in the direction illustrated in FIG. 4 to a desired cutting length, pulling action stops, but with tension maintained, and the material is directed downward to bring its underside into bearing contact on the uppermost edge or edges of the guard trough 43 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Here it should be noted that the leading or foremost upper edge of the guard trough 43 may advantageously be made slightly higher than the trough trailing or aftermost upper edge. This arrangement effects material underside contact with only one trough edge, eliminating the frictional interference of the trailing or aft trough edge on the material underside during the cutting operation. At the operational stage illustrated in FIG. 5, the material is taut and substantially horizontal under the dancer roller 77, elevating the dancer roller to its uppermost working height but not high enough to cause its shaft ends 79,81 to roll into the horizontally extending portions of slots 83,85 and inadvertently engage the retaining recesses 87,89. As further shown in FIG. 5, the bearing action of the underside of the taut material 33 on the upper edge of guard trough 43 pivots the blade guard assembly about its journals 49,51, raising the counterweight 53 and aft end of counterweight moment arm 55 towards the underside of dancer roller 77 and the material 33 therebeneath.

As the downward movement of material 33 is continued, its underside at the cutting blade edge comes into cutting engagement beyond the initial blade engagement illustrated in FIG. 5 and the further downward depression of the trough 43 leading edge pivots the counterweight and its moment arm aft end closer towards the underside of dancer roller 77 and engagement of the material 33 underside therebeneath.

At this stage, with the material firmly on the cutting edge 39 of the blade 37, the cutting action is easily performed by exerting a firm downward pull while simultaneously applying a slight twist or warp to the material to initiate the tear into and through the material edge at one end or the other of the cutting blade.

Immediately as the severed piece of material comes free of the cutting blade 37, ready for use, the tension in the material 33 between the supply roll and the cutting blade abates, permitting the dancer roller 77 to drop as shown in FIG. 7 to its initial or first position in the slots 83,85. During the descent of dancer roller 33 as shown in FIG. 6 of the drawings, the material 33 is gripped between the underside of the dancer roller and an upper surface of the counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly and is pulled over aft roller 57 and pushed forward and upward against fore roller 67, both of which rotate clockwise to accommodate the movement, and the material 33 is thus advanced forward from its supply roll.

Concurrently, the blade guard assembly is pivoted upward and at or near the completion of its travel the aft upper edge of the guard trough 43 hits the underside of the material 33 along the aft side of cutting blade 37 and, to the extent that it may be adhered to the blade cutting edge, serations, teeth or whatever, frees the material to provide a new leading edge or leader thereof for nest sequential dispensing and cutting operation.

In the use of certain types of bone wrap material in apparatus according to the invention it has been found advantageous to secure the fore roller 67 against rotation, or at least against rotation in a counterclockwise (according to the drawings) direction with a one-way clutch or the like so that the bone wrap material will not be pulled backward or counter to the direction of desired advance as the dancer roller drops. Several embodiments of apparatus according to the invention have been operated very successfully with a fixed non-rotatable rod substituted in place of the fore roller 67. Similarly, and towards the same objective, the aft roller 57 may be adapted to unidirectional rotation in the direction of material 33 advance and it is intended that such alternative structures be included in the invention.

Embodiments other than that described in detail hereinabove and illustrated in the drawings are also feasible and have been constructed. For example an assembly without the supply roll of material, it being mounted elsewhere off the apparatus as such, comprising side plates smaller in size than those illustrated, the aft roller, the dancer roller, the fore roller, the cutting blade on its blade support and the blade guard assembly with its counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly, all mounted between said side plates, has been used successfully as a form of adapter kit to modify conventional known equipment into apparatus according to the present invention.

The materials used in fabricating apparatus according to the invention are conventional, preferably stainless steel, monel metal or the like selected for ease of maintenance and cleaning as well as durability and strength and their particular selections are considered well within the ken of persons conversant with the art. The dancer roller, of course must be of sufficient weight to continually and consistently effect the material advance motion during its dropping movement, but not so heavy, on the other hand, as to cause binding or tearing malfunctions in the apparatus, factors readily determined once the bone wrap material to be dispensed and cut is selected. It is possible if desired in given circumstances to use a relatively lighter than normal dancer roller and to spring load or otherwise bias load it in a downward direction into its first position.

Various other alternative forms of the invention will, in the light of the foregoing description, undoubtedly occur to persons familiar with the art and indeed to others, such alternative forms being nonetheless within the spirit of this invention. It is intended therefore that this description be deemed illustrative only and not construed in any limiting sense.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for cuttably dispensing random length pieces of a rolled fabric product comprising, in combination:

a. A pair of plates disposed in a fixed parallel juxtaposed vertical orientation each with respect to the other separated by a distance greater then the width of the rolled fabric product,

b. fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upward mounted transversely of the plates adjacent fore and upper edges thereof,

c. blade guard means mounted transversely of the plates pivotally moveable between a first position in which a forward upper horizontal edge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than the blade cutting edge and a second position in which said horizontal edge is at a lower elevation then the blade cutting edge,

d. means to maintain said blade guard means in its first position in the absence of application of downward force on the guard means,

e. first roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position towards the plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof,

f. rod means mounted transversely of the plates with a longitudinal axis lying substantially in a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis of the first roller means,

g. second roller means rotatably mounted transversely of the plates in a position between the first roller means and the rod means, vertically moveable in mounting means on the plates between a first position in which its longitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means and a second position in which its longitudinal axis is above the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means and

h. means to hold fabric from a rolled fabric product supply which is passed between the plates over the first roller means, under the second roller means and over the rod means, against an underside peripheral surface of the second roller means while the second roller means moves from its second position towards its first position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combination with holding means to rotatably mount a roll of fabric product transversely of the plates with the longitudinal axis of the roll in a position adjacent the plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof and below the longitudinal axis of the first roller means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the means to maintain the blade guard means in its first position and the means to hold the fabric against an underside peripheral surface of the second roller means while the second roller means moves from its second position towards its first position comprises a counterweight and a counterweight moment arm fixedly attached to said blade guard means and pivotally moveable therewith.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rod means mounted transversely of the plates is a rotatably mounted roller.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in combination with roller control means adapted to permit roller rotation only in the direction of fabric advance from a fabric supply roll.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 in combination with roller control means adapted to permit first roller rotation only in the direction of fabric advance from a fabric supply roll.

7. Apparatus for holding a supply of rolled fabric product and cuttably dispensing random length pieces of fabric product therefrom comprising, in combination:

a. A pair of side plates held in fixed vertical juxtaposed parallel relationship to each other by lateral support means connected transversely therebetween separating the side plates by a distance greater than the width of the rolled fabric product,

b. holding means in the side plates to removably rotatably mount a roll of fabric product transversely of the plates with the longitudinal axis of the roll in a position adjacent the plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof and below the longitudinal axis of the first roller means,

c. fabric cutting blade means with a blade cutting edge facing upward detachably fixed to a blade support means removably mounted substantially horizontally transversely of the side plates in mounting means adjacent fore and upper edges thereof,

d. cutting blade guard means removably mounted between and transversely of the side plates, pivotally moveable between a first position in which a forward upper horizontal edge of said guard means is at a higher elevation than the blade cutting edge and a second position in which said horizontal edge is at a lower elevation than the blade cutting edge,

e. a counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly fixedly attached to the cutting blade guard means and pivotally moveable therewith disposed to maintain said cutting blade guard means in its first position in the absence of application of downward force on said cutting blade guard means,

f. first roller means removably rotatably mounted transversely of and journaled in the side plates in a position towards the side plate edges opposite the fore edges thereof,

g. rod means mounted transversely of the side plates in holding means thereon with a longitudinal axis lying substantially in a horizontal plane with the longitudinal axis of the first roller means and

h. second roller means removably rotatably mounted transversely of the side plates in a position between the first roller means and the rod means, vertically moveable in the mounting slot means in the side plates between a first position in which its longitudinal axis is below the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means and wherein part of its peripheral undersurface is in approximate contact with an upper surface of the counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly when the cutting blade guard means is in its first position, and a second position in which its longitudinal axis is above the longitudinal axes of the first roller means and the rod means and wherein part of its peripheral undersurface is in approximate contact with an upper surface of the counterweight and counterweights moment arm assembly when the cutting blade guard means is in its second position,

whereby fabrics from the rolled fabric product supply which is passed between the plates over the first roller means, under the second roller means and over the rod means, the cutting blade means and the cutting blade guard means, raises the second roller means from its first position towards its second position when pulled taut, depresses the cutting blade guard means from its first position towards its second position, contacts at its underside the cutting edge of the cutting blade means and is severed when pulled downwardly after being pulled taut, and is held between said peripheral undersurface of the second roller means and said upper surface of the counterweight and counterweight moment arm assembly, advanced from its supply as the second roller means descends from its second position towards its first position and is urged upward at its severed edge by the cutting blade guard means moving pivotably from its second position towards and into its first position.