Apparatus with belt valve vacuum system for working on work material
First Claim
1. An apparatus for working on work material, said apparatus comprising:
- a table for supporting work material and including,a top layer of material providing a work material support surface and having air passages extending vertically therethrough and distributed over said support surface,means located below said top layer of material for vertically supporting said top layer and forming a plurality of compartments each having a top communicating with the air passages of that portion of said top layer overlying said compartment,means providing an air plenum,an elongated rigid air valving member having a valving face extending along its length,means defining a plurality of first ports and a plurality of second ports in said valving face, said valving face having a plurality of successive areas arranged in a row along its length with there being at least one of said first ports and at least one of said second ports located in each of said areas,means providing communication between said at least one first port of each of said areas and an exclusively associated one of said compartments,means providing communication between said at least one second port of each of said areas and said air plenum,a belt deflector unit movable along the length of said valving face,an air valving belt extending along the length of said valving face and cooperating with said belt deflector unit,means positioning the longitudinal portion of said belt located on either side of said deflector unit closely adjacent to said valving face,said belt deflector unit having means for deflecting said belt away from and holding it in spaced relation to said valving face at the location of said deflector unit to provide free communication between those first ports and those second ports located adjacent said deflector unit, andmeans for moving said belt deflector unit along the length of said valving face to vary the selection of which of said first and second ports are brought into communication with one another by said deflector unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for working on a single layer or a layup of sheet material, or other work material, has a table for supporting the work material with a support surface selected areas of which may be vacuumized. The selective vacuumization of support surface areas is accomplished by a simple valving system interposed between an air plenum and a plurality of individual compartments underlying the work surface, the valving system including an elongated valving member having a plurality of first and second ports distributed along the length thereof, a belt extending along the length of the valving member and overlying the ports and a belt deflector movable along the length of the valving member, the position of the belt deflector determining the selection of which second ports are connected to which first ports. In the selective vacuumization mode of operation a vacuum is applied to the air plenum. The same apparatus however may also be used to provide a positive air pressure over all of the work surface by applying a positive pressure rather than a vacuum to the air plenum, the valving system in this case simultaneously connecting all of the first ports and all of the second ports to one another.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An apparatus for working on work material, said apparatus comprising:
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a table for supporting work material and including, a top layer of material providing a work material support surface and having air passages extending vertically therethrough and distributed over said support surface, means located below said top layer of material for vertically supporting said top layer and forming a plurality of compartments each having a top communicating with the air passages of that portion of said top layer overlying said compartment, means providing an air plenum, an elongated rigid air valving member having a valving face extending along its length, means defining a plurality of first ports and a plurality of second ports in said valving face, said valving face having a plurality of successive areas arranged in a row along its length with there being at least one of said first ports and at least one of said second ports located in each of said areas, means providing communication between said at least one first port of each of said areas and an exclusively associated one of said compartments, means providing communication between said at least one second port of each of said areas and said air plenum, a belt deflector unit movable along the length of said valving face, an air valving belt extending along the length of said valving face and cooperating with said belt deflector unit, means positioning the longitudinal portion of said belt located on either side of said deflector unit closely adjacent to said valving face, said belt deflector unit having means for deflecting said belt away from and holding it in spaced relation to said valving face at the location of said deflector unit to provide free communication between those first ports and those second ports located adjacent said deflector unit, and means for moving said belt deflector unit along the length of said valving face to vary the selection of which of said first and second ports are brought into communication with one another by said deflector unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A machine for working on sheet material, said machine comprising a table having an upwardly facing support surface for supporting one or more layers of sheet material spread thereon, and
a carriage movable along said support surface in one coordinate direction relative to said table for carrying a tool for working on sheet material spread on said support surface, said table including a top layer of material providing said support surface and having air passages extending vertically therethrough and distributed thereover, means located below said top layer of material for vertically supporting said top layer and forming a plurality of compartments each having a top communicating with the air passages of that portion of said top layer overlying said compartment, means providing an air plenum, an elongated rigid air valving member having an elongated valving face extending along its length, said valving face having first and second longitudinal zones separate from one another extending along the length of said face and said valving face being divided along its length into a plurality of successive areas each assigned to a respective one of said compartments, said first longitudinal zone of said valving face having in it a plurality of first ports, there being at least one of said first ports in each of said successive areas of said valving face, means providing communication between said at least one first port of each of said successive areas and the one of said compartments to which such area is assigned, said second longitudinal zone of said valving face having in it a plurality of second ports distributed along its length, there being at least one of said first ports in each of said successive areas of said valving face, means providing communication between said second ports and said air plenum, a belt deflector unit movable along the length of said valving face, an air valving belt extending along the length of said valving face, cooperating with said belt deflector unit, and of sufficient width to fully overlie both of said first and second zones of said valving face, means causing said belt on either side of said deflector unit longitudinally of said valving face to be positioned close to said valving face, said belt deflector unit having means for deflecting said belt away from and holding it in spaced relation to said valving face at the location of said deflector unit to provide communication between those first ports and those second ports located adjacent said deflector unit, and means for moving said belt deflector unit along the length of said valving face in response to movement of said carriage relative to said table in said one coordinate direction.
Specification