US3816219A — Slide mounting machine

Claim 1

Independent Claim 327 words

An automatic film mounting machine for mounting film transparencies which are arranged in connected relation on a roll of film in hinged film mounts movable from a flat open condition to a folded closed position comprising in combination, (1) a rotatable polygonal turret; (2) means for indexing said turret to move each face thereof successively through a series of work stations including a mount loading station, a film loading station, a mount sealing station and a mount unloading station; (3) a mount receiving nest on each of said faces for seating one half of an open mount; (4) a mount clamping means associated with each of said nests and movable between an open position, wherein it allows a mount to be placed in and removed from the nest, and a normally closed position, wherein it holds a mount in the nest; (5) means at said mount loading station for opening said mount clamping means and then inserting one half of an open mount in the nest associated therewith and finally allowing the clamp means to close to hold the one half of the mount in said nest; (6) means at said film loading station for inserting a film frame severed from said roll of film into the half of the mount clamped in a nest on said turret; (7) means for holding the film frame in said open mount during movement of the mount to the mount sealing station; (8) means for folding the unclamped half of the mount over onto the clamped half of the mount to enclose the film therebetween during the interval that the mount is moving from the loading station to the sealing station; (9) means at the sealing station for sealing the two halves of the mount in face-to-face relation with the film frame held therebetween; and (10) means at the mount unloading station for opening said clamping means and ejecting a completed film mount from the nest located at said station.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 327 words

An automatic film mounting machine for mounting film transparencies which are arranged in connected relation on a roll of film in hinged film mounts movable from a flat open condition to a folded closed position comprising in combination, (1) a rotatable polygonal turret; (2) means for indexing said turret to move each face thereof successively through a series of work stations including a mount loading station, a film loading station, a mount sealing station and a mount unloading station; (3) a mount receiving nest on each of said faces for seating one half of an open mount; (4) a mount clamping means associated with each of said nests and movable between an open position, wherein it allows a mount to be placed in and removed from the nest, and a normally closed position, wherein it holds a mount in the nest; (5) means at said mount loading station for opening said mount clamping means and then inserting one half of an open mount in the nest associated therewith and finally allowing the clamp means to close to hold the one half of the mount in said nest; (6) means at said film loading station for inserting a film frame severed from said roll of film into the half of the mount clamped in a nest on said turret; (7) means for holding the film frame in said open mount during movement of the mount to the mount sealing station; (8) means for folding the unclamped half of the mount over onto the clamped half of the mount to enclose the film therebetween during the interval that the mount is moving from the loading station to the sealing station; (9) means at the sealing station for sealing the two halves of the mount in face-to-face relation with the film frame held therebetween; and (10) means at the mount unloading station for opening said clamping means and ejecting a completed film mount from the nest located at said station.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 32 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 1, including means for creasing the fold between the two halves of the mount prior to the time the mount is sealed closed.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 27 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 1, including means at said unloading station for collecting and stacking the completed mounts ejected from said turret.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 110 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the means at said film loading station for inserting a mount into a nest on the turret comprises a hopper holding a plurality of open mounts in stacked relation, means for stripping a mount from said stack and moving it in a track to a position wherein one half thereof is substantially in alignment with and spaced from a nest moved into said loading station; means for accurately aligning said mount with the nest at said loading station and then depositing it into said nest after the clamping means associated with the nest is moved to its open position.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 84 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 4, wherein said last mentioned means comprises a reciprocal transfer member movable from an inoperative position to an operative position, and during the first part of the movement thereof it aligns the mount with the nest at the loading station and then grabs hold of the mount to deposit it in said nest in proper alignment therewith and retracts to its inoperative position after the clamping means on the nest moves to its operative position.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 148 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 4, wherein said transfer member includes a tapered nose piece adapted to enter the window aperture in the half of the mount to be seated in said nest and accurately align the mount with said nest as it is moved into the mount aperture, said tapered nose slidably mounted within said transfer member to move relative to the face of said transfer member and spring loaded to normally extend beyond the face of said transfer member to engage the mount and then the nest before the face of the transfer member does and be retracted within the transfer member as it moves toward the nest after the tapered nose engages said nest; means for applying a vacuum to the face of said transfer member to hold an aligned mount thereon until it is deposited and clamped in said nest.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 166 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the means for inserting a film frame severed from said roll of film into the half of the mount clamped in a nest on said turret comprises a film track spaced from and in substantially parallel relation to a nest on said turret when moved to the mount loading station; a bed knife at the end of said film track; means for indexing a film strip from said roll a frame at a time across said bed knife as a nest is indexed to the film loading station; a film frame transfer arm mounted to move between a raised position, wherein it guides the film end after it passes over the bed knife and directs the leading end thereof into the mount in the nest, and a lowered position, wherein it deposits the cut film frame into said mount; a reciprocal knife cooperating with said bed knife to sever the advanced frame of the film.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 38 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 7, including means for applying vacuum to the mount nest to hold the cut film frame in said mount until the mount is folded over the film and sealed.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 55 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 7, wherein the film frame transfer arm is connected to the knife to be moved to its raised position when the knife is raised and to move to its lowered position when the knife is activated to sever the film frame from the roll of film.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 79 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 7, wherein the means for folding the unclamped half of the mount over onto the clamped half of the mount to enclose the fIlm therebetween comprises a stationary, elongated folding bar which extends from a point below the unclamped half of the mount adjacent the film loading station upwardly and across the path of movement of said unclamped half of the mount to a point adjacent the mount sealing station.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 64 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 10, wherein said folding means includes a supplementary folding member located at a point intermediate the ends of said folding bar and arranged to apply a force to the hinge of the semi-folded mount to fully close or ''''square'''' the hinge to insure proper alignment of the mount halves when the mount is completely folded.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 75 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the mount is made of plastic and one half thereof includes upstanding pins which extend through corresponding holes of the other half of the mount when the mount is completely folded, and wherein said mount sealing means comprises a power operated reciprocal impact head for impacting the pins of the folded amount against the bottom of the mount nest to rivet the mount closed.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 48 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 12 wherein the mount engaging face of the impact head includes compressible buttons normally extending slightly beyond the face of the impact head and adapted to be compressed at least flush therewith to insure full mount closure before impact.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 94 words

An automatic film mounting machine as defined in claim 3, wherein the means at said unloading station for collecting and stacking the completed mounts ejected from said turret comprises an indexable table, a plurality of mount receiving pockets arranged on said table to be indexed in succession to and from a mount receiving position at which a group of mounts is fed into one of said receptacles in stacked relation as they are ejected from said turret, the indexing of said table being timed so that each receptacle receives a given number of mounts.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1977-06-10	1977-12-10	1978-06-11	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1981-06-10	1981-12-10	1982-06-11	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1985-06-10	1985-12-10	1986-06-11	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Slide mounting machine

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