Contact and Induction Cutting Machine

The present invention relates to a contact and induction cutting machine, and more particularly to a cutting machine in which a sensitive and reliable induction control circuit is used to control the movement of the cutting machine so that the cutting machine may be operated in a safer, simpler, more convenient, and more efficient manner.

To cut the material for making clothes in an efficient manner, most of the ready-made clothes manufacturers now use cutting machines to cut stacked material so as to reduce as many as possible the operating procedures. The cutting machine employed to cut the stacked material usually has an thin, elongate and belt-like blade supported by a blade holder. The blade is up-and-down slidable in the blade holder when it is actuated by a motor above the blade holder. To stop the movement of the blade while the cutting machine is in use, it is necessary to power off the machine. For a floor operator, there are many different kinds of condition that would need an operator to discontinue the movement of the blade. The repeated operation to start, discontinue, and again start the machine is bothersome and inefficient. To save as many as possible efforts during the operation of the cutting machine, some of the operators might even boldly perform other tasks, for example, replace a new stack of material, without switching off the machine, and therefore, the operators are easily hurt by an unexpectedly slided blade. Therefore, it is desirable to have improved and safer design for such cutting machine which is widely employed by ready-made clothes manufacturers so as to prevent as many as possible accidents during the operation.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a cutting machine in which an inductive handle is provided in addition to a conventional manual power switch, whereby, the cutting machine, when its manual power switch is on, can be controlled to work or not to work via the inductive handle, that is, when an operator grips the inductive handle, the blade of the cutting machine shall be actuated to slide up and down, and on the other hand, when the operator releases the inductive handle, a sensitive induction controlling means on the machine shall immediately cause the power circuit becoming an open circuit and thereby discontinue the movement of the blade. When the operator grips the handle again, the induction controlling means shall immediately close the power circuit to resume the movement of the blade for cutting material.

The above and other objects of the present invention as well as the technical means adopted to achieve these objects can be best understood through the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings wherein

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional perspective of a conventional cutting machine employed by the ready-made clothes manufacturers;

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective of a cloth cutting machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows the inductive handle adopted in the present invention and the cross section thereof showing its structure;

FIG. 4 is the induction control circuit diagram of the present invention; and

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the operation of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 2. A contact and induction cutting machine 1 according to the present invention comprises a motor 11 for supplying power required by the cutting machine 1, a flat base 15, an elongate belt-like blade 2 for cutting, a blade holder 14 for connecting and supporting the motor 1 over the flat base 2, an inductive handle 16, and an induction controlling means 3.

The motor 11 drives the blade 2 to slide up and down in reciprocating action at high speed within the blade holder 14. The blade holder 14 serves as a guide rail of the slide stroke of the blade 2. In addition, the blade holder 14 supports the motor 11 and connects the same with the flat base 15 to form an integrally structured cutting machine 1.

Please now refer to FIG. 3. The inductive handle 16 used to control and guide the movement of the cutting machine 1 has a plurality of high-conductibility inductive copper sheets 161 inset around the periphery of its grip portion. When an operator grips the handle 16, an electrostatic induction is produced which causes the induction controlling means 3 below the motor 11 to become a close circuit which enables the motor 11 to run. Reversely, when the operator releases the handle 16, the electrostatic induction disappears, the induction controlling means 3 becomes an open circuit, and the motor 11 stops running. FIG. 4 is a control circuit diagram for an induction control circuit system of the induction controlling means 3. A current passes A1, A2 and flows through a bridge rectifier D1 and then a resistor R7 and finally flows into a field effect transistor (FET) T1. Before the field effect transistor T1, there is a voltage stabilizing protection loop comprising a capacitor C1 and a Diode D2. One end of the field effect transistor T1 is connected to the inductive copper sheets 161 of the inductive handle 16 while two resistors R4, R3 are provided between the field effect transistor T1 and the inductive copper sheets 161. When the cutting machine 1 is powered by turning on a manual power switch thereof but the inductive handle 16 thereof has not been gripped by an operator, the current shall flow to a loop A3 instead of passing a diode D3 and a resistor R8 and flowing into a transistor T2, and therefore, the transsistor T2 can not work to get a diode D4 to emit light. Accordingly, a diode AC-switch (DIAC) D5 in the circuit fails to receive any signal to make a triode AC-switch (TRIAC) D6 and the entire induction control circuit can not become a close circuit to enable the motor 11 to run. However, when the operator wants to use the cutting machine 1 to cut a stack of cloth and grips the handle 16, the contact of the operator's hand with the handle 16 will immediately cause a current to pass the resistor R7 and flows into the field effect transistor (FET) T1. At this point, the contact of the operator's hand with the inductive copper sheets 161 produces an electrostatic induction, and the field effect transistor T1 allows the current to pass the diode D3 and the resistor R8, and finally flows into the transistor T2. At this point, the transistor T2 works and the circuit becomes a close circuit which permits the diode D4 to emit light as a signal. This signal is received by the diode AC-switch (DIAC) D5 which in turn allows the current to flow through a resistor R10 and into the triode AC-switch (TRIAC) D6 which allows the current to flow toward the motor 11 and actuates the same.

Since the existence of the electrostatic induction depends on the contact of an operator's hand with the inductive handle 16 of the cutting machine 1, and the combination of light and electricity is employed in the control circuit, the cutting machine 1 can be operated in a safer and more reliable manner while the condition of interference can be eliminated.

The motor 11 of the cutting machine 1 according to the present invention can run and drives the blade 2 to slide in reciprocating action for cutting only when the manual switch of the machine 1 is turned on and the inductive handle 16 is gripped by an operator, as shown in FIG. 5A. In the event the operator wants to do some other works during the operation and temporarily discontinue the cutting, he or she needs only to release the inductive handle 16 without turning off the manual power switch. As soon as the inductive handle 16 is released, the induction controlling means 3 connecting with the handle 16 shall immediately send a signal to stop the motor 11. The motor will resume its running only when the inductive handle 16 is gripped by the operator again. Since the cutting machine 1 may be conveniently and effectively controlled to run or not run simply by the contact of the operator's hand with the inductive handle, accident and injury unexpectedly caused by the sliding blade 2 during the operation may be minimized.

The foregoing description exemplifies preferred embodiment of the present invention. Still other variations and rearrangements of component parts are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention and will readily present themselves to one skilled in the art.