Chopper for forming rubber slugs

Claim 2

An improved chopper for formIng slugs from a continuous length of a resilient, flexible stock material fed between the bite of a pair of adjacent, counter-rotating rollers and adhered to the peripheral surface of one roller of said pair comprising: A. means including a pair of cutting disks pressed against the periphery of said one roller for severing a substantially uniform, continuous strip of material from the peripheral surface of the roller; B. a third roller disposed adjacent to said one roller for receiving said continuous strip about a portion of the peripheral surface thereof; C. means including a cyclically operable knife driven at a substantially constant cyclic rate for severing said continuous strip of material at preselected intervals as the strip of material is conveyed along the surface of said third roller; D. control means including a timing circuit for controlling said cyclically operable knife wherein said control means further includes a pneumatic actuator, a source of pneumatic fluid coupled with said actuator, a pneumatic selector valve interposed between said actuator and said source of penuamatic fluid, and means including an electrically energizable solenoid coupled with said timer for controlling said selector valve.

Claim 3

The chopper of claim 1 wherein said actuator is supported for oscillatory motion and includes a recilinearly reciprocating shaft, and means for fixedly coupling said knife with said shaft, whereby simultaneously imparted oscillatory and rectilinear motion of the knife is accommodated.

Claim 4

The chopper of claim 2 further comprising means for driving said counter-rotating rollers at a first constant rate, whereby a first constant angular velocity is imparted to the peripheral surfaces thereof, and means for driving said third roller at a second constant rate such that the peripheral surface thereof is driven at a second constant angular velocity substantially greater than the angular velocity imparted to the surfaces of the counter-rotating rollers, whereby said strip of material is subjected to tension as the material is received about the peripheral surface of said third roller.

Claim 5

The chopper of claim 3 wherein said third roller is supported in spaced relation to said one roller and driven by means including an electrically energizable motor.

Claim 6

The chopper of claim 4 further comprising means including a pinch roller disposed in engagement with said strip for forcing the strip into adherence with the peripheral surface of said third roller.

Claim 7

A chopper for forming rubber slugs of a selected mass, comprising: A. a pair of mill rollers defining a bite of a constant width through which a continuous sheet of resilient stock material is delivered, said sheet being adhered to the peripheral surface of one of said rollers; B. means for driving said rollers at a constant rate for imparting a substantially constant angular velocity to the peripheral surfaces thereof; C. a platen roller disposed in parallelism with said one roller and in close proximity therewith; D. means for driving said platen roller at a substantially constant second rate for imparting to the peripheral surface thereof an angular velocity somewhat greater than angular velocity imparted to the peripheral surfaces of said pair of rollers; E. means for extracting a continuous strip of stock material from said one roller including a pair of mutually spaced severing disks pressed against the peripheral surface of the one roller; F. means for supporting said strip in engagement with the peripheral surface of said platen roller, whereby said strip is subjected to constantly applied tension; G. a cyclically operable knife supported at the distal end of a rectilinearly reciprocating shaft supported in a plane paralleling the longitudinal axis of the platen roller and intersecting the peripheral surface thereof for severing said strip; and H. means for precisely controlling the reciprocation of said shaft wherebY the strip is severed at preselected intervals for thereby forming a plurality of slugs having preselected masses.

Claim 8

A chopper for forming rubber slugs of a selected mass, comprising: A. a pair of mill rollers defining a bite of a constant width through which a continuous sheet of resilient stock material is delivered, said sheet being adhered to the peripheral surface of one of said rollers; B. means for driving said rollers at a constant rate for imparting a substantially constant angular velocity to the peripheral surfaces thereof; C. a platen roller disposed in parallelism with said one roller and in close proximity therewith; D. means for driving said platen roller at a substantially constant second rate for imparting to the peripheral surface thereof an angular velocity somewhat greater than angular velocity imparted to the peripheral surfaces of said pair of rollers; E. means for extracting a continuous strip of stock material from said one roller including a pair of mutually spaced severing disks pressed against the peripheral surface of the one roller; F. means for supporting said strip in engagement with the peripheral surface of said platen roller, whereby said strip is subjected to constantly applied tension; G. a cyclically operable knife supported at the distal end of a rectilinearly reciprocating shaft supported in a plane paralleling the longitudinal axis of the platen roller and intersecting the peripheral surface thereof for severing said strip; and H. means for precisely controlling the reciprocation of said shaft wherebY the strip is severed at preselected intervals for thereby forming a plurality of slugs having preselected masses.