Abstract:
A cutter for cutting fabric and similar sheet materials spread on a supporting surface includes a rotary cutting blade and an associated sharpening element in the form of a rotary sharpening disk or similar element. A simplified sharpening apparatus and procedure is obtained wherein both the cutting blade and the sharpening element are continuously driven by a single drive motor and wherein the sharpening element is periodically moved along its axis of rotation into and out of sharpening engagement with the cutting blade to sharpen or renew the edge on the blade, such a sharpening event if desired occuring while the blade remains in cutting relation with the material being cut.
Abstract:
An apparatus for annotating a workpiece with powder comprises a writing device which outputs a stream of powder and a mechanism such as an X-Y plotter for moving the device and the workpiece relative to one another to shape the annotation. One such writing device comprises a grinding wheel which grinds powder from a stick of chalk, a nozzle aimed at the workpiece, and air moving means for entraining the powder and transporting it through the nozzle. Another such writing device comprises a storage means for the powder, the storage means tapering to form a downwardly sloping guide which collects powder and leads to an outlet, and a gear adjacent the guide having teeth which move the powder along the guide towards the outlet. Both the rate of powder grinding by the first device and the rotational speed of the gear in the latter device are variable in proportion to the writing speed to adjust the output of powder and thereby provide an annotation of generally uniform intensity despite variations in writing speed.
Abstract:
An automatically controlled cutting machine having a reciprocating cutting blade that is translated along a cutting path through a layup of limp sheet material under computer control includes an ultrasonic transducer that establishes standing waves along the length of the blade. The reciprocating motions of the blade shift the nodes in the standing wave to different elevations within the layup so that cutting is uniform in each ply of the limp sheet material. A drill used to produce marking holes in the material is also provided with ultrasonic means and aids the drilling in penetrating through the layup during drilling operations.
Abstract:
Three dimensional garment pieces are formed with a computer generated mold produced from pregathered numerical data describing the object or person to be clothed.
Abstract:
A sewing machine, or similar machine which consumes thread at a work station, has combined with it a thread color device located between the work station and a thread supply. The color device causes the thread issuing from it to have any one of a number of available colors, allowing stitches of different color to be made at the work station without changing the thread or rethreading the needle. The timing of a change in thread color at the color device with respect to the schedule of work performed at the work station, and the movement of the thread from the color device to the work station, are controlled so that a change in thread color occurs at the work station at substantially the same time as such change is desired in the work schedule performed at that station. This control may include a means for pulling thread from the work station, a means for performing a thread wasting routine at the work station, or a means for effecting a color change at the color device in advance of the need for such change at the work station with the timing of the color change at the color device being such that the color change arrives at the work station at the desired time in the work schedule.
Abstract:
Sheet material spread on a cutting table is clamped to the surface of the table by parallel flexible bands of ferromagnetic material attracted to the table by magnets associated with the table. The bands are threaded under and over rollers journalled on a tool carriage which moves a cutter wheel in cutting engagement with the sheet material in response to command signals received from a programmable computer. The rollers pick up portions of the bands ahead of the carriage assembly and lay down portions of the bands behind it as the carriage assembly advances longitudinally of the table.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for cutting sheet material utilizes a closed loop automatically controlled cutting machine having a reciprocating cutting blade as the cutting tool. Sheet material to be cut is spread in multiple plies to form a layup, and the cutting blade and the material are then moved relative to one another in cutting engagement along predefined lines of cut. During cutting, a sensor detects a cutting parameter that is affected by the interaction of the cutting blade and sheet material, and signals provided by the sensor are fed back in the closed loop automatic control mechanism to adjust or initiate further steps in the cutting operation. Such adjustment or initiation alters the cutting machine operation for cutting conditions in real time in order to improve the overall performance of the machine.