摘要:
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.
摘要:
A three axis, computer controlled apparatus for edging optical lenses maps the surfaces of a lens blank along a path defining the shape of the lens to be cut from the lens blank and from which mapping a computer controlled cutting algorithm directs the movement of the lens in the R, Z and theta axes direction. The apparatus provides rough cuts, finished cuts and automatic placement of bevels and grooves along the edge of the lens with minimal operator intervention.
摘要:
An apparatus and method for laying out a sign containing a plurality of lines of text performs and comprises the steps of entering into a computer information defining the sign text and the heights of the lines of text, providing a spatial factor which corresponds to a related level of openness of the sign, and positioning the lines of text relative to each other to yield balanced spacings between the lines which are a function of the spatial factor and one or more of the line heights. Provision for top, bottom and side margins may also be provided. The layed-out sign may be displayed or plotted and, if it is not satisfactory, the operator may select another spatial factor to provide another lay-out of differing openness.
摘要:
An ink jet printing system suited to the making of large scale graphics, such as outdoor billboards, includes an endless carrier for moving a plurality of rigid flat panels, onto which a graphic is to be printed in sections, repetitively past an ink jet printing station. At the printing station each panel moves in purely rectilinear fashion in a direction parallel to its ink drop receiving face so that such face remains essentially at a uniform spacing from the ink jet printing heads of the printing station as the printing occurs. A means for timing the operation of the ink jet heads takes into account irregularities or changes in the motion of the panels past the printing station so that the ink drops are correctly placed despite such irregularities or changes. The ink jet heads can eject relatively large drops of pigmented ink. In the case of polychromatic half-tone printing, for each pixel of a panel different colors are printed at substantially different times so that the printed ink drops of one color can dry before those of another color are printed, and a heating means may be used to enhance the drying.
摘要:
An apparatus for cutting cigar wrappers with a selected profile from a natural tobacco leaf, the apparatus comprises a vacuum supporting structure on a leaf receiving member. An arrangement is provided for selecting a cut position on the leaf and oriented with respect to the leaf receiving member and a cutting platen is provided including a leaf supporting surface and an arrangement for creating a vacuum on the surface to support a leaf. The platen is positioned in a known leaf receiving location and a transfer means is provided for transferring the leaf from the leaf receiving member to the leaf supporting surface of the cutting platen. The cutter having the desired profile is provided for cutting the profile from the leaf. The platen is then shifted from its leaf receiving position to a leaf cutting position with the support surface of the platen spaced from the wrapper cutter. After orienting the platen relative to the cutter to align the cutter with the cut position for the leaf the cutter is forced against the platen to cut a wrapper from the leaf. The wrapper is then moved and transferred to a selected location for subsequent use.
摘要:
A friction drive apparatus includes an edge detection system for determining a lateral position of a strip material advancing in a longitudinal direction. The edge detection system includes a first sensor and a second sensor for monitoring the lateral position of the strip material. The friction drive apparatus also includes instructions for automatically aligning the strip material as the strip material is advanced a predetermined aligning distance and instructions for calibrating the second sensor with respect to the first sensor to compensate for any potential discrepancies therebetween. The apparatus and methods of the present invention ensure that the strip material is properly aligned in the friction drive apparatus and limit waste of strip material during those operations.
摘要:
A wide format thermal printer for printing a multicolor graphic product on a printing sheet; a vacuum workbed for supporting a sheet material for performing work operations, such as cutting, printing or plotting, thereon; a replaceable donor sheet assembly, which includes a memory, for use with a thermal printer; methods and apparatus for improved thermal printing, including methods and apparatus for conserving donor sheet and reducing the amount of time required to print a multicolor graphic product; a thermal printhead including a memory; methods and apparatus for the alignment of a sheet material for printing or performing other work operations on the sheet material; and methods and apparatus for controlling the tension of the donor sheet during printing with a wide format thermal printer. The wide format thermal printer can include provision for the automatic loading of cassettes of donor sheet from a cassette storage rack. The vacuum workbed can include provision for determining the size of the sheet material supported by the workbed, and for controlling the suction applied to the apparatus in a worksurface of the workbed.
摘要:
An apparatus for producing perforated pounce patterns from sheet material has a work-engaging surface for moving and supporting the sheet material. A tool carriage is supported adjacent, and movable relative to the work-engaging surface, and a tool mount is supported on the tool carriage and movable between elevated and lowered positions relative to the work-engaging surface. A pouncing tool is supported in the tool mount and has a tool shaft and a pouncing wheel rotatably suspended from the tool shaft. The pouncing wheel has a plurality of radially extending pins for forming a perforated path in the shape of a pounce pattern when engaged with the sheet material on the work-engaging surface. A keying member is engaged with the tool mount, and the tool shaft has a longitudinally extending keyway engageable with the keying member for fixing the orientation of the pouncing tool relative to the tool mount. A controller during movement of the pouncing tool relative to the sheet material along a line to be perforated rotates the tool mount so that the pouncing wheel axis of rotation is maintained at an oblique angle to the line of tangency between the wheel and the perforated line thereby producing improved perforations in the sheet material that do not tend to close after being formed.
摘要:
A knife and knife holder assembly for use with a sheet material cutting machine includes a replaceable knife with a lower most tip point and a guard and clamp member having a shoe surface engagable with the material being cut to limit the knife's penetration. An adjustment means and a connecting means associated with the guard and clamp member and with the holder allow for quick and easy adjustment of the vertical position of the member on the holder to vary the amount by which the knife protrudes beyond the shoe surface, thereby adjusting its penetration, and also allows quick and easy movement of the member between tightened and loosened conditions relative to the holder, the knife being removable from and replacable in the holder and the member being vertically adjustable in its loosened condition, and the guard and clamp member in the tightened condition of the connecting means being itself fixed to the holder and also holding the knife clamped in a fixed position to the holder.
摘要:
There is provided an improvement in an apparatus for cutting a profile of a selected shape from a natural sheet material at a given location, which apparatus comprises a cutting platen having an upper generally flat cutting surface and a lower generally flat support surface. The platen is movable to the desired position relative to a cutter which moves along an axis downwardly against the cutting surface to cut the preselected shape from the natural material. In accordance with the improvement, there is provided a fixed anvil having a flat force reaction surface parallel to and facing the supporting surface of the platen so that the cutting action is against the anvil. The anvil can also form the structure for supporting the platen as it is moved into the cutting position.