The present invention relates to a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass.

Background Art

Nowadays, in order to cany out the truncation, known in the jargon as "cropping", of a flat sheet of laminated or stratified glass being worked on a worktable of a cutting machine, two operating principles are generally applied in order to mechanically (i.e. not via heat or chemical means) break the intermediate layer of plastic material: bending of the sheet in the cutting region, or traction of the sheet in the direction of movement of the two parts of the sheet defined by the cut.

Bending of the sheet is generally done by means of two series of suckers, which are designed to adhere to the inner face of the sheet in proximity to the cutting line, with a first series of suckers on one side of the cutting line, and the second series on the other side.

The suckers are then lowered a few millimetres in order to produce a bending, or a cycle of bendings, downwards, in order to achieve the complete breakage of the intermediate layer of plastic material.

This downward bending, or these downward bending cycles, are often insufficient to achieve the immediate separation of the two parts of the sheet being worked, thus requiring to resort to ancillary activities which lengthen the working times.

Traction of the two parts of the cut sheet is achieved with means for gripping each of the two parts, comprising various actuator means, and means for moving at least one of the two parts of the sheet on the plane of arrangement of the same worktable, such movement means being complex in terms of devising and operation.

The traction solution is therefore effective, but it requires machines that are relatively complex and expensive. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to devise a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass, which is capable of overcoming the drawbacks of the above mentioned known cropping techniques.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a tilting device which is capable of bending a sheet around the cut region, in a more effective manner than in known tilting devices.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tilting device that is cheaper to make than traction cropping devices yet no less effective.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass that is structurally simple and easy to use, and which can be made using known systems and technologies and at low cost.

This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass, characterized in that it comprises two side-by-side rows of suckers, each supported by a bar of a frame which is pivoted, on the opposite side with respect to the suckers, to a supporting structure, said bars both resting on the same means for the alternating lifting and lowering of said bars, which are adapted to produce the simultaneous alternating tilting of both of said frames and of the corresponding rows of suckers.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the tilting device according to the invention, illustrated, by way of non-limiting example, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a device according to the invention in the inactive configuration;

Figure 2 is a top view of a cutting surface for sheets of laminated glass, provided with a tilting device according to the invention;

Figure 3 is a partially sectional front elevation view of the device according to the invention in the inactive configuration of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the device of Figure 3 ;

Figure 5 is a sectional side view of the device according to the invention in a first tilting configuration, downwards;

Figure 6 is a partially sectional front elevation view of the device according to the invention in the tilting configuration of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a sectional side view of the device according to the invention in a second tilting configuration, upwards;

Figure 8 is a partially sectional front elevation view of the device according to the invention in the tilting configuration of Figure 7.

Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figures, a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass is generally designated by the reference numeral 10.

The device 10 comprises two side-by-side rows 11 and 12 of suckers 13 and 14, each supported by a bar, 15 and 16 respectively, of a frame 18 and 19.

Each frame 18 and 19 is pivoted, on the opposite side with respect to the suckers, to a supporting structure 20 for a cutting surface 21 , which is designed to receive, by resting, a sheet 22 to be worked, such supporting structure and cutting surface being understood to be of a type that is per se known.

The bars 15 and 16 both rest on same means 23 for the alternating lifting and lowering of such bars.

The alternating lifting and lowering means 23 are adapted to produce the simultaneous alternating tilting of both of the frames 18 and 19 and of the corresponding rows 1 1 and 12 of suckers.

In the embodiment of the device 10 according to the invention, described herein for the purposes of non-limiting example of the invention, the alternating lifting and lowering means 23 comprise a plurality of supporting brackets 24, whose width is such as to receive, by resting, both of the bars 15 and 16, a U-shaped member 25 being fixed to each bracket, or pair of brackets as shown in the figures, and being arranged so as to straddle a tubular beam 26 fixed to the supporting structure 20.

Each U-shaped member 25 is defined by two opposite plates 27 and

28.

Each plate 27 and 28 has a cam-shaped slot 29 with steps, with predominantly longitudinal extension, which is mirror symmetrical with respect to the slot of the opposite corresponding plate.

Such slots act as guides for a cylindrical body 30, which is arranged so as to slide within each of them, the cylindrical body 30 being fixed to a slider 31, which is arranged so as to perform a translational motion within the tubular beam 26 between two stroke limits determined by the ends of second slots 32 which have a rectilinear extension in the direction of advancement of the slider 31 in the tubular beam 26, such slots being formed on the tubular beam at the cam-shaped slots 29.

The slider 31 is moved within the tubular beam 26 by actuator means such as for example a fluid-operated cylinder 33, the stem 34 of which, for example, is fixed to the tubular beam 26, while a jacket 35 is fixed to the slider by means of an opening 36 on the tubular beam 26.

The operation of the tilting device according to the invention is as follows.

After the cutting operations on the sheet of laminated glass are completed and any chemical, heat and/or mechanical treatments have been performed on the intermediate layer of plastic material, such operations being intended as known per se and achieved with known apparatuses and therefore not described, the operator of the machine, or the electronic control unit, commands the cylinder 33 so that from the inactive configuration, shown in Figures 1 and 3, the cylindrical body 30 moves from the central region 29a of the slot 29 to the lateral regions 29b and 29c alternately.

The U-shaped member 25 is prevented from sliding on the tubular beam 26 by protrusions 41 which protrude from the lateral faces of the beam 26 and are placed so as to move vertically in corresponding third slots 40, which are vertical in extension.

For a first tilting phase, which is schematised in Figures 5 and 6, the cylinder 33 moves the slider 31 so that the cylindrical body 30 moves in the two second slots 32 in a first direction. By means of this translational movement the downward movement of the U-shaped member 25 is obtained, since the cylindrical body 30 arranges itself in the first lateral region 29b, which with its lower edge forms a support for the cylindrical body 30 which is now at a height that is farther from the lower edge of the plate 27 than is the lower edge of the central region 29a of the slot 29.

The lowering of the U-shaped member 25 produces the lowering of the bracket 24 and therefore of the bars 15 and 16 which rest upon it. In this way the symmetric and simultaneous downward tilting of the frames 18 and 19 and of the respective rows 11 and 12 of suckers is obtained.

For the second tilting phase, which is schematised in Figures 7 and 8, the cylinder 33 moves the slider 31 so that the cylindrical body 30 moves in the two second slots 32 in the second and opposite direction. By means of this translational movement the upward movement of the U-shaped member 25 is obtained, since the cylindrical body 30 arranges itself in the second lateral region 29c, which with its lower edge forms a support for the cylindrical body 30 which is now at a height that is nearer to the lower edge of the plate 27 than is the lower edge of the central region 29a of the slot 29.

The lifting of the U-shaped member 25 produces the lifting of the bracket 24 and therefore of the bars 15 and 16 which rest upon it. In this way the symmetric and simultaneous upward tilting of the frames 18 and 19 and of the respective rows 11 and 12 of suckers is obtained. The tilting sequence, first upward and then downward or vice versa, the tilting speed and the number of tilting manoeuvres are variable according to technical necessities in order to obtain the optimum cropping.

In practice it has been found that the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects.

In particular, with the invention a tilting device has been provided which is capable of bending a sheet around the cut region, in a more effective manner than in known tilting devices.

Moreover, with the invention a tilting device has been provided that is cheaper to make than traction cropping devices yet no less effective, since there is only one actuator that performs all the movement.

Moreover, with the invention a tilting device for cropping a sheet of laminated glass has been provided that is structurally simple and easy to use, which can be made using known systems and technologies and at low cost.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

In practice the materials employed, as well as the dimensions and the contingent shapes, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2009A000313 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, such reference signs have been inserted for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.