Method and apparatus for manufacture of insulating sleeves

Claim 1

Apparatus for making longitudinally slit fibrous sleeves including means for feeding sleeves to be slit in a feed path; means for slitting the sleeves in said path; and means for supplying sleeves to the feeding means; the supply means including means for delivering separate sleeves endwise and in end-to-end relation into the feed path of the feeding means; the slitting means comprising a centering rod adapted to engage and pass through the bore of sleeves being slitted, the rod carrying a slitting knife having a slitting edge inclined with respect to the feed path and positioned to enter the interior of the sleeves when they are advanced in said feed path and form a radial slit in the wall of the sleeves, the slitting knife having a leading end and a trailing end, and supporting means for the centering rod and slitting knife, the supporting means being connected with the centering rod downstream of the slitting knife and lying in the plane of the knife thereby providing for projecting of the supporting means radially through the slit formed in each sleeve by the knife carried by the centering rod; and the feeding means including means for advancing the sleeves sequentially in end-to-end relation comprising a pair of conveyor belts having conveyor runs lying in planes parallel to and spaced at opposite sides of the slitting knife to engage and grip opposite outside surfaces of the sleeves, the conveyor runs in engagement with the sleeves being driven in a direction from the leading end of the knife to the trailing end of the knife and the conveyor runs in engagement with the sleeves being of sufficient length to extend throughout the length of and beyond the knife.