Appeal No. 97-1621
Application 08/073,586
exchanger tubes” (specification, page 1). Claim 1 is
illustrative and reads as follows:
1. A continuous cutter for severing pieces of equal length
from a coiled elongate article, the cutter comprising:
an uncoiler for carrying the elongate article wound thereon
so as to be drawn therefrom;
a movable stand disposed downstream of the uncoiler for
reciprocating movement;
a drive mechanism for causing the movable stand to
reciprocate a given distance;
a shiftable clamp carried by the movable stand so as to
clamp and unclamp the elongate article;
a cutter blade mounted on the movable stand downstream of
the shiftable clamp;
a fixed clamp interposed between the uncoiler and the
movable stand so as to clamp and unclamp the elongate article;
the shiftable clamp being kept in its clamping state with
the fixed clamp simultaneously being in its unclamping state
during the downstream movement of the movable stand, the fixed
clamp being kept in its clamping state with the shiftable clamp
simultaneously being in its unclamping state during the upstream
movement of the movable stand;
the cutter blade severing each piece from the elongate
article being drawn off the uncoiler during each downstream
movement of the movable stand; and
a stretcher disposed between the fixed clamp and the
uncoiler, the stretcher including upper rollers arranged
stationary at given intervals and lower rollers each interposed
between two adjacent upper rollers and movable up and down, so
that the elongate article from the uncoiler advances through the
stretcher while successively turning around the lower rollers in
a meandering manner, and the lower rollers can be raised against
their weight during the intermittent advancement of the elongate
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Last modified: November 3, 2007