Patent US3581615A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3581615A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon
Assignee: Central Glass Co Ltd
•
Filing: 1969-11-13
•
Granted: 1971-06-01
•
Expires: 1989-11-13
Abstract
Abstract The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically cutting transversely a continuously moving glass ribbon in a direction perpendicular to the direction of its moving pathway, which comprises a guide rail bridged across and above the glass ribbon in a direction oblique to the advancing pathway, and a cutter guided along said guide rail, characterized in that an advancing speed of the glass ribbon is electrically detected, and said cutter is driven to travel proportionally to said advancing speed so as to automatically cut said glass ribbon to predetermined lengths.
Inventors
- 👤 Kenichi Kaneshige
- 👤 Yasuyuki Nagae
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 10:59
CPC Classifications
C; C03; C03B; C03B33/00; C03B33/02; C03B33/023; C03B33/0235; B; B23; B23D; B23D36/00; B23D36/0008; B23D36/0033; B23D36/0058; C03B33/027; C03B33/037; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T83/00; Y10T83/02; Y10T83/0333; Y10T83/465; Y10T83/4653; Y10T83/4656; Y10T83/4676; Y10T83/4682; Y10T83/525; Y10T83/54
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
153 words
Apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon comprising a conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon, a guide rail bridged across said conveyor, cutter means slidably mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing speed of said glass ribbon; a DC motor for driving said cutter, and operable control means for said motor whereby the latter is operable to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off said glass ribbon, said operable control means comprising a digital analogue circuit including a frequency counter for sampling a pulse signal detected through said pulse signal generator in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon and a converter for converting an output of said frequency counter into a direct current voltage.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
153 words
Apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon comprising a conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon, a guide rail bridged across said conveyor, cutter means slidably mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing speed of said glass ribbon; a DC motor for driving said cutter, and operable control means for said motor whereby the latter is operable to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off said glass ribbon, said operable control means comprising a digital analogue circuit including a frequency counter for sampling a pulse signal detected through said pulse signal generator in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon and a converter for converting an output of said frequency counter into a direct current voltage.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
73 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a control circuit of a DC motor involving amplifiers for amplifying the signal voltage, two igniting phase control circuits for receiving outputs of said amplifiers and two thyristors provided in an AC supplying circuit of said DC motor in such a manner that said AC supplying circuit is conducted when the gates of said thyristors are fed with gate signals emitted from these igniting phase control circuits.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
133 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said operable control means comprises a preset counter for integrating a pulse signal detected by said pulse signal generator to produce a cut-starting signal at the output whereby the output voltage of said digital analogue converting circuit is applied to said control circuit of the DC motor to normally drive said DC motor, and a cutter-returning control means including a plurality of switching means for successively transmitting instruction signals in accordance with the travel of said cutter together with the guide rail, said switching means being adapted to apply a signal voltage by said instruction signals for the reverse rotation, reduction of the reverse rotational speed or stopping of said DC motor whereby the cutter is quickly returned back to the original position of said guide rail.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
64 words
An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said operable control means includes a relay contact for the normal rotation provided at the output of said digital analogue converting circuit and an operating circuit for supplying a control current to the exciting coil of said relay contact so as to close said relay contact by a cut-starting signal emitted from said preset counter.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
84 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein an output signal from said digital analogue converting circuit is applied to the control circuit of said DC motor by closing the relay contact of said operable control means, both of the starting and rotation speeds of the DC motor being controlled so as to maintain the advancing speed of the cutter in a given proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon and also to travel said cutter for transversely cutting the glass ribbon.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
153 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 in which said cutter-returning control means includes three switching means for transmitting each instruction signal successively in response to the travelling of said cutter slidably mounted on the guide rail, first and second relay contacts wherein one end of each of said relay contacts is connected to an output of said relay contact for the normal rotation and the other ends of said two relay contacts are connected respectively to said DC power source through variable resistors, and a relay control circuit for successively supplying a control current to the exciting coils of said relay contacts in such a manner that the relay contact for the normal rotation is opened by an instruction signal from said swItching means and simultaneously said first relay contact closes, subsequently the relay contact is opened so as to close said second relay contact and finally the second contact is opened.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
120 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which said relay control circuit of the cutter-returning control means is actuated by means of closing said first relay contact so to apply said signal voltage from the DC power source to the control circuit of said DC motor thereby to reversely rotate said DC motor, said first relay contact being opened by closing said second relay contact so as to apply simultaneously another signal voltage from the DC power source to said control circuit of the DC motor thereby to reduce the reverse rotation speed of said motor, the rotation of said motor being effected so as to return the cutter to the original position by opening the second relay contact.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
117 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said operable control means comprises a control circuit for said DC motor including a plurality of operational amplifiers connected in series with each other, an operational amplifier for the normal rotation in which a signal voltage amplified through said operational amplifier is further amplified by the actuation of said operable control means and an output thus obtained is applied to one of the said igniting phase control circuits, and an operational amplifier for reverse rotation, in which a signal voltage amplified through said amplifier is further amplified by the actuation of said cutter-returning control means and an output thus obtained is transmitted to the other igniting phase control circuit.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
94 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said operable control means comprises a control circuit for controlling said DC motor, in which the igniting phase each of said two thyristors in the supply circuit of the DC motor is controlled respectively by a gate signal from said two igniting phase control circuits, said motor being driven so as to rotate in the normal direction by said operable control means or said motor being is driven to rotate reversely, reduce the reverse rotational speed or stop by means of said cutter returning control means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
241 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said operable control means comprises a control circuit for said DC motor having a crosscurrent-detecting means which involves crosscurrent lines consisting of one line for connecting between an anode of one of said two thyristors and one terminal of the armature of said DC motor, and another line for connecting between an anode of the other of said two thyristors and the other terminal of the armature of the DC motor, a current transformer connecting between a cathode of one of two thyristors and a terminal of said armature of the DC motor, and a crosscurrent transformer connected to said line for a crosscurrent connected to an anode of the other of two thyristors; and two sets of operational amplifiers to be applied with a DC voltage lower than the DC voltage for driving the cutter through a crosscurrent-setting amplifier from another constant voltage DC power source whereby said gate signal of the phase angle coinciding with the lower DC voltage is applied through the two igniting phase control circuits to the gate of each of two sets of the thyristors so as to continuously conduct these two thyristors and the crosscurrent detected through said crosscurrent-detecting means is subjected to comparison by said crosscurrent-setting amplifier with a predetermined standard direct current voltage so as to obtain a differential voltage, which is applied to each of the two sets of the operational amplifiers, respectively.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
116 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said operable control means comprises control circuits for said DC motor which comprise two current transformers in the lines for supplying from said alternating power source to these two thyristors said transformers detecting starting current of normally rotating or reversely rotating of the DC motor, two sets of the starting current control circuits respectively supplied with thus detected current; an operational amplifier constituting a part of said DC amplifier to the input of which is applied these outputs as the correcting signals, a signal voltage obtained at the output of said operational amplifier at the start of either normal or reverse rotation is kept to a desired value.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
118 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said operable control means comprises a control circuit for the DC motor, wherein a low-ripple DC generator functioning as a rotary meter is directly coupled to the DC motor for driving the cutter, said generator inducing the DC voltage in proportion to the advancing speed of said cutter, which DC voltage is fed back through said variable resistors to an input of the operational amplifier constituting a part of the DC amplifier in such a manner that a voltage signal applied to said operational amplifier is compensated so as to obtain a signal voltage coinciding with a desired advancing speed of said cutter at the output of the operational amplifier.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
367 words
An apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon through an analogue control system which comprises a roller conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon formed from a molten glass mass; a guide rail bridged across and above said roller conveyor in a direction oblique to the advancing pathway of said glass ribbon; a cutter slidably mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing distance of said glass ribbon; a DC motor and its control device for driving said cutter so as to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off said glass ribbon; a digital analogue circuit including a frequency counter for sampling a pulse signal detected through said pulse signal generator in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon and a converter for converting an output of said frequency counter into a direct current voltage; a control circuit of a DC motor involving amplifiers for amplifying the signal voltage, two igniting phase control circuits for receiving outputs of these amplifiers and two thyristors provided in AC supplying circuit of the DC motor in such a manner that said AC supplying circuit is conducted when the gates of said thyristors are fed with gate signals emitted from these igniting phase control circuits; a cutter travelling control means provided with a preset counter for integrating a pulse signal detected by said pulse signal generator to produce a cut-starting signal at the output whereby the output voltage of said digital analogue converting circuit is applied to said control circuit of the DC motor to normally drive said DC motor; and a cutter-returning control means including a plurality of switching means for successively transmitting instruction signals in accordance with the travel of said cutter together with the guide rail, said switching means being a adapted to apply a signal voltage by said instructions signals for the reverse rotation, reduction of the reverse rotational speed or stopping of said DC motor whereby the cutter is quickly returned back to the original position of said guide rail.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
367 words
An apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon through an analogue control system which comprises a roller conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon formed from a molten glass mass; a guide rail bridged across and above said roller conveyor in a direction oblique to the advancing pathway of said glass ribbon; a cutter slidably mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing distance of said glass ribbon; a DC motor and its control device for driving said cutter so as to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off said glass ribbon; a digital analogue circuit including a frequency counter for sampling a pulse signal detected through said pulse signal generator in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon and a converter for converting an output of said frequency counter into a direct current voltage; a control circuit of a DC motor involving amplifiers for amplifying the signal voltage, two igniting phase control circuits for receiving outputs of these amplifiers and two thyristors provided in AC supplying circuit of the DC motor in such a manner that said AC supplying circuit is conducted when the gates of said thyristors are fed with gate signals emitted from these igniting phase control circuits; a cutter travelling control means provided with a preset counter for integrating a pulse signal detected by said pulse signal generator to produce a cut-starting signal at the output whereby the output voltage of said digital analogue converting circuit is applied to said control circuit of the DC motor to normally drive said DC motor; and a cutter-returning control means including a plurality of switching means for successively transmitting instruction signals in accordance with the travel of said cutter together with the guide rail, said switching means being a adapted to apply a signal voltage by said instructions signals for the reverse rotation, reduction of the reverse rotational speed or stopping of said DC motor whereby the cutter is quickly returned back to the original position of said guide rail.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
179 words
Apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon comprising a conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon, a guide rail bridged across said conveyor, cutter means slidable mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing speed of said glass ribbon; a DC motor for driving said cutter, operable control means for said motor whereby the latter is operable to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off Said glass ribbon, and means for detecting whether the cutting faces of the glass sheets to be cut off has been in a direction perpendicular to the advancing pathway of said glass ribbon, in which a frequency counter is connected to said pulse signal generator, said detecting means being adapted to count the pulse signal counts delivered into said frequency counter within the time from the start of operation of said cutter for cutting the completion of said cutting operation.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
179 words
Apparatus for automatically cutting a glass ribbon comprising a conveyor which advances a continuous glass ribbon, a guide rail bridged across said conveyor, cutter means slidable mounted on said guide rail; a pulse signal generator for detecting the advancing speed of said glass ribbon; a DC motor for driving said cutter, operable control means for said motor whereby the latter is operable to move said cutter in proportion to the advancing speed of said glass ribbon to transversely cut the glass ribbon and return said cutter to its original position after the completion of cutting each glass sheet off Said glass ribbon, and means for detecting whether the cutting faces of the glass sheets to be cut off has been in a direction perpendicular to the advancing pathway of said glass ribbon, in which a frequency counter is connected to said pulse signal generator, said detecting means being adapted to count the pulse signal counts delivered into said frequency counter within the time from the start of operation of said cutter for cutting the completion of said cutting operation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1974-05-31 | 1974-11-30 | 1975-06-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1978-05-31 | 1978-11-30 | 1979-06-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1982-05-31 | 1982-11-30 | 1983-06-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |