Staple fiber cutting mechanism

Claim 1

AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR USE IN CUTTING STAPLE FIBER OF HIGHLY UNIFORM LENGTH COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A TOW CUTTING MECHANISM AND C CONTINUOUS TOW FEEDING MECHANISM ARRANGED TO SUPPLY SAID CUTTING MECHANISM, SAID CUTTING MECHANISM COMPRISING A VERTICALLY EXTENDING, FIX-MOUNTED CUTTER PLATE, A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING, DOUBLE KNIFE-EDGED SUPPLY SLOT FORMED IN SAID PLATE AND ALIGNED TO RECEIVE TOW SUPPLIED FROM SAID FEEDING MECHANISM A DOUBLE KNIFE-EDGED CUTTER BLOCK MOUNTED TO VERTICALLY RECIPROCATE IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT SAID CUTTER PLATE AND TRANSVERSELY OF SAID KNIFE-EDGE SLOT TO THEREBY SEVER SUCCESSIVE SEGMENTS OF TOW PASSED THROUGH SAID SLOT INTO UNIFORM LENGTH STAPLE, SAID DOUBLE KNIFE-EDGED CUTTER BLOCK BEING FURTHER CHARACTERIZED BY A PAIR OF SPACED PASSAGES EXTENDING THROUGH SAID BLOCK TRANSVERSELY OF ITS PLANE OF TRAVEL, A DOUBLE KNIFE-EDGED CUTTER ELEMENT INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID PASSAGES, THE KNIFE-EDGED PORTIONS OF SAID CUTTER ELEMENT EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY PARALLEL AND IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT SAID CUTTER PLATE, THE KNIFEEDGED PORTIONS OF SAID CUTTER ELEMENT BEING SPACED VERTICALLY FROM EACH OTHER A DISTANCE LESS THAN THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF SAID SLOT, WHEREBY, UPON PASSING SAID CUTTER BLOCK THROUGH ONE COMPLETE CYCLE OF RECIPROCATION, TWO SUCCESSIVE SEGMENTS OF UNIFORM LENGTH STAPLE MAY BE CUT.