The present invention relates to an automatic machine for cutting cork sheets which has many advantages over the prior art.

The machine of the present invention is intended specifically for cutting natural cork boards, which are prepared beforehand by known boiling treatments that include flattening of the boards, in order to cut them into sheets of predetermined thicknesses which are intended in particular for the punching of pieces of cork such as the supplementary pieces or lower coverings of cork stoppers for bottles of sparkling wines, the bodies of which stoppers are generally made of cork composition, or for other applications.

At the moment, the work of cutting natural cork boards into sheets in order to perform the punching is carried out by semi-manual methods by means of disk saws and manual application of the cork board in order to obtain successively the various sheets for punching. It is a slow and very dangerous work, which frequently results in accidents.

The machine which is intended to carry out the automatic work of cutting natural cork boards into sheets for punching solves the above-mentioned problems and permits very quick and regular cutting of the cork sheets without any danger to the personnel attending to the work. Moreover, the increase in productivity which is achieved is extraordinarily high, which represents a very important advantage in the cost price of the pieces produced.

Basically, the machine of the present invention is

characterized in that it has a processing unit constituted by a ramp for the supply of the rough cork pieces and a cutting unit which comprises a first drive wheel or set of disks, which drags the rough piece of cork along, causing it to be arranged with pressure over a counter-blade and dragging the piece of cork towards a circular cutter which is in a parallel arrangement relative to the counter-blade, thus enabling the individual cork sheets to be cut. Upon completion of the cutting operation, a second wheel or set of disks which rotates in the opposite direction, that is, in reverse, brings about upward movement of the natural cork board which, in the intermediate processing stage, is situated towards the upper portion again to permit a new cycle of falling by gravity and cutting of a new gauged cork sheet; the process continues until the natural cork board previously supplied is finished, after which a new board is introduced from a feeder device which is situated in the upper portion of the machine and supplies the natural cork boards by gravity, one by one. The laminar cork elements that are produced in the machine are transported by conventional means to subsequent work stages or for despatch.

The set of the two wheels or sets of disks, that is, both that for dragging the natural cork board along and that for retracting it, are preferably toothed and are mounted on a first pivoting arm on which a second arm carrying the second drive wheel or set of disks is articulated in turn. The pressure of the drive wheel or set of disks on the cork board is regulated by means of a pneumatic cylinder which acts in an adjustable manner on the pivoting unit carrying the said wheel.

For a better understanding, some drawings of an embodiment of the present invention are appended by way of non-limiting example.

Figure 1 shows schematically the arrangement of means of the machine of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows schematically a plan view of the operating unit of the machine.

Figures 3 and 4 show respective perspective views of the operation to cut a sheet from a natural cork board.

Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 show schematically respective views of the various operating stages of the cycle of the machine.

The machine comprises a main operating unit or cutting unit which is shown in detail in the drawings, in which it can be seen that it is composed basically of a first drive wheel or set of disks 1 for dragging along a natural cork board 9 for the cutting thereof between a counter-blade 7 and a cutting disk 3. The drive wheel 1 is mounted on a pivoting arm 6, on which a wheel or set of toothed disks 2 for retracting the cork board is mounted by means of a second articulated arm 8.

As will be appreciated, for the machine unit shown in Figure 1, the irregular natural cork boards or strips are supplied one by one, by means of a laterally guided track, from a supply feeder 10, which is situated in the upper portion of the machine to permit supply by gravity; the cork boards fall by gravity as far as the toothed wheel 1 which, as will be appreciated from Figure 2, preferably comprises a plurality of disks arranged in parallel on a common axle, rotating in the direction shown by the arrow and others in the figures. When the wheel or toothed disks 1 establish contact with the cork board, the arm 6 is lifted in accordance with the thickness of the board and presses the board against the counter-blade 7, dragging the board along towards the cutting disk 3 which starts to cut the rough cork board 12; as the wheel or set of disks 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow 11, it will supply the cork board in order for the cutter 3 to cut sheets up to the end of the rough cork board. When the rough cork board for cutting has passed, the arm 6 will drop and a detector will give a signal to the wheels 1 and 2 in order for them to change the direction of rotation to that indicated 13 and 13' in Figure 4.

As can be seen, the purpose of the disk 2 is to hold and take up the rough cork board since the wheel unit 1 will have lost contact with it, as will be appreciated from Figure 8; at the same time as the detector will give the signal for the change of direction of the wheels, it will also give a signal in order to bring about forward movement of a spatula 4 which slides on the rear base 14 which is coplanar with the counter-blade 7. The function of the spatula 4 is to eject the cork sheet which has just been cut, preventing it from remaining between the cutter and the counter-blade, in order to facilitate the return of the rough cork board, avoiding the ledge of some 6 mm existing between the cutter and the counter-blade.

Upon the change in the direction of rotation, the set of disks 2 will change to the direction indicated 13' which will force the cork board which is being processed to be retracted; the wheel or set of disks 1 itself, which rotates in the direction 13, then takes hold of the board again, upon which the arm 6 is lifted again; when the cork board has moved to the initial position, the arm 6 drops again and the detector gives a signal in order for the wheels 1 and 2 to change the direction of rotation 11 and 11' again; the spatula 4 is retracted, leaving the cutting zone free for a new process.

The operating process continues until the whole of the rough cork board has been cut into sheets.

Once the cork board is finished, another rough board is moved from the upper loader and the sheet-cutting process is repeated.

A pneumatic cylinder 5 acts on the pivoting unit, varying the pressure of the wheel or set of disks 1 on the cutter and the counter-blade.

The cut cork sheets will go on to subsequent steps, for example, to a system of conveyor belts 15, 15', for their input to a subsequent step of stacking in a unit 16 or to another operating step combined with the cutting of the cork sheets.