Cutting mechanism for a dunnage conversion machine and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10940658-B2
Application number	US-201716097478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2017
Priority date	Apr 29, 2016
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A cutting mechanism is provided for a dunnage conversion machine 10 that selectively cuts dunnage sheet stock drawable through the cutting mechanism. The cutting mechanism includes a frame and a pair of opposed cutting blades through which the sheet stock is drawable. The cutting blades include a driven blade and a biased blade, each supported relative to the frame for movement into and out of contact with one another. The driven blade is movable towards the biased blade to cut the sheet stock. The biased blade is biased against movement away from the driven blade to allow for self-adjustability to counter wear of one or both of the opposed blades. Contact of the opposed blades with one another causes the biased blade to be deflected away from the driven blade.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cutting mechanism for a dunnage conversion machine that selectively cuts dunnage sheet stock drawable through the cutting mechanism, the cutting mechanism comprising:
a frame;
a driven blade supported relative to the frame for movement in a movement direction towards a biased blade and across a sheet stock path along which the dunnage sheet stock is movable through the cutting mechanism, to cut the sheet stock into discrete lengths;
wherein the driven cutting blade has a driven cutting edge that lies in a cutting plane that includes the movement direction, the driven cutting edge extending in a direction transverse the movement direction, and
wherein the biased blade has a biased cutting edge that lies in a biased plane that is transverse to the cutting plane, the biased blade being supported relative to the frame for pivoting movement towards and away from the driven blade, the biased blade being biased against movement away from the driven blade where contact of the driven blade with the biased blade effects pivoting movement of the biased blade against a biasing force in a bias direction away from the driven blade, the biased plane being defined by the biased cutting edge which remains in the biased plane through the pivoting movement of the biased blade.

2. The cutting mechanism of claim 1 , where the driven blade is linearly translatable towards the biased blade.

3. The cutting mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the driven cutting edge is linearly translatable between a ready position and a cut position removed from the ready position and in contact with the biased cutting edge, and contact of the blades with one another occurs at a shear point that traverses an edge length of the biased cutting edge as the driven cutting edge moves between the ready position and the cut position and causes the biased blade to pivot and cut the sheet stock at the shear point.

4. The cutting mechanism of claim 3 , where the biased cutting edge is biased to a position where the cutting edge extends across the cutting plane when the driven cutting edge is in the ready position, the cutting plane defining a movement path of the driven cutting edge.

5. The cutting mechanism of claim 3 , where contact of the driven cutting edge with the biased cutting edge effects movement of the biased cutting edge out of a movement path of the driven cutting edge.

6. The cutting mechanism of claim 3 , where each of the driven cutting edge and the biased cutting edge are linear edges.

7. The cutting mechanism of claim 1 , where the driven cutting edge is movable in the cutting plane between a ready position and a cut position removed from the ready position, the biased blade being pivotable about an axis that is parallel to the movement direction of the driven blade, such that an interior angle between the cutting plane and the biased cutting edge decreases as the cutting blade moves from the ready position to the cut position.

8. A dunnage conversion machine, comprising:
a conversion assembly that converts dunnage sheet stock into a relatively less-dense dunnage product, and
a cutting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 , for cutting the sheet stock.

9. A cutting mechanism for a dunnage conversion machine that selectively cuts dunnage sheet stock drawable through the cutting mechanism, the cutting mechanism comprising:
a frame;
a driven blade supported relative to the frame for movement in a movement direction towards a biased blade and across a sheet stock path along which the dunnage sheet stock is movable through the cutting mechanism, to cut the sheet stock into discrete lengths;
wherein the driven cutting blade has a driven cutting edge that lies in a cutting plane that includes the movement direction, and the biased blade has a biased cutting edge that lies in a biased plane that is nonperpendicular to the movement direction, the biased blade being supported relative to the frame for pivoting movement towards and away from the driven blade, the biased blade being biased against movement away from the driven blade where contact of the driven blade with the biased blade effects pivoting movement of the biased blade against a biasing force in a bias direction away from the driven blade; and
a blade guard coupled between the frame and the driven blade, the blade guard configured to be commonly movable with the driven blade between an engaged position of the blade guard and a disengaged position of the blade guard, and the blade guard configured to restrict cutting of the sheet stock and movement of the driven blade separate from the blade guard until the blade guard is moved to the disengaged position.

10. The cutting mechanism of claim 9 , where the blade guard is arranged to project beyond the driven cutting edge to restrict movement of the driven cutting edge beyond an outer periphery of the blade guard until the driven cutting edge is within a predetermined distance from the biased cutting edge.

11. The cutting mechanism of claim 10 , where the predetermined distance is less than about 5 mm.

12. The cutting mechanism of claim 9 , where the blade guard is configured to shift in a direction transverse a direction of common movement with the driven blade, once the blade guard is moved to the disengaged position.

13. The cutting mechanism of claim 9 , further including a slot and key arrangement for guiding movement of the blade guard and the driven blade relative to one another, one of the blade guard and the driven blade including the key of the arrangement, and the other of the blade guard and the driven blade including the slot of the arrangement, where the slot is shaped to maintain common movement of the blade guard and the driven blade until the blade guard is in the disengaged position, and thereafter to allow movement of the driven blade independent from the blade guard.

14. The cutting mechanism of claim 13 , where the slot and key arrangement includes two slots and two corresponding keys, the two slots including an S-shaped slot guiding independent movement of the blade guard relative to the frame and an L-shaped slot guiding both common movement of the blade guard with the driven blade and independent movement of the blade guard separate from the driven blade.

Assignees

• Ranpak Corp

Inventors

• Lemmens Peter L C

Classifications

• B26D1/085

  for thin material, e.g. for sheets, strips or the like · CPC title

• B31D5/0039

  for making dunnage or cushion pads · CPC title

• B26D1/08

  of the guillotine type · CPC title

• B26D7/2614

  Means for mounting the cutting member · CPC title

• B31D2205/0094

  Safety devices · CPC title