Sawing machine

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic sawing machine for cutting blocks of natural and/or concrete stone material, which comprises a single motorized conveyor belt having a conveyor plane for transporting the material to be cut and a driving wall placed substantially at 90° with respect to said conveyor plane so that all together contribute to give the conveyor belt a substantially “L”-shape. The machine comprises a support fixed to the machine and a rotatable crown element placed at the top of said support, provided of a plurality of protuberances spaced apart from each other so as to allow each of said protuberances to be inserted in turn into one of said slot obtained in one of said second portions of said strips, following the movement of the conveyor belt. Methods of cutting blocks of natural and/or concrete stone material with the automatic sawing machine are also provided.

Claims

1. An automatic sawing machine (1) for cutting blocks of natural and/or concrete stone material, wherein said machine (1) comprises: a single motorized conveyor belt (2), which defines a cutting path suitable for receiving in succession said blocks of material to be cut and to transport them from a first inlet station (7) to a second outlet station (6); and a plurality of cutting devices (8) each of them being provided with a motor (8a) on whose axis a circular blade (10) is keyed, said cutting devices (8) being constrained to said machine (1) and being arranged above the cutting path defined by the conveyor belt (2) with respect to a vertical direction so that the respective circular blades (10) are inside the cutting path itself; wherein said single motorized conveyor belt (2) comprises a conveyor plane (3) for transporting the material to be cut and a driving wall (4) that all together contribute to give the single conveyor belt (2) a substantially “L”-shape, and a series of modular strips (5) placed adjacent one to the other, wherein each of said modular strips (5) is a single element having itself an L-shape constituted by a first portion (5a) and a second portion (5b) placed substantially at 90° with respect to said first portion (5a), and wherein the series of said first portions (5a) of the strips (5), side by side, constitute said conveyor belt (3) and wherein the series of said second portions (5b) of the strips (5), side by side, constitute said driving wall (4); wherein each of said second portions (5b) of said strips (5) is provided with a slot (12); the machine (1) further comprising a support (14) fixed to the machine and a rotatable crown element (15), placed at the top of said support (14), provided of a plurality of protuberances (16) spaced apart from each other so as to allow each of said protuberances (16) to be inserted in turn into one of said slot (12) obtained in one of said second portions (5b) of said strips (5), following the movement of the conveyor belt (2).

2. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein said single conveyor belt (2) is provided with a cover (11) arranged at said first inlet station (7) and at said second outlet station (6), to protect said second portions (5b) of the strips (5), in correspondence with the change of direction of the conveyor belt (2).

3. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 2, wherein said cover (11) is a crankcase cover.

4. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein a length of said single conveyor belt (2) can be modified, adding or removing one or more of said single modular strips (5) according to requirements.

5. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, which further comprises guides (17) removably fixed to said second portions (5b) of said strips (5) to form a support surface raised above said second portions (5b) of said strips (5).

6. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein the positioning of said circular blades (10) is adjustable according to the required depth of cut.

7. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein said conveyor plane (3) of the conveyor belt (2), or each of said first portions (5a) of the strips (5) which make up said conveyor plane (3) of the conveyor belt (2), is coated with a mat (18) of protective material.

8. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 7, which further comprises a series of rollers (19) which determine a V-shaped path (20) in order to perform the proper tensioning of said conveyor plane (3) of the conveyor belt (2) coated with said mat (18) in protective material.

9. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 7, wherein said mat (18) of protective material is rubber.

10. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein said cutting device (8) is also provided with a device (8b) that allows the blade (10) rotation, where the rotation axis is longitudinal with respect to the conveyor belt, so that the cutting head (8) is able to assume a tilted position with respect to the transport direction of the material to be cut.

11. Automatic sawing machine (1) according to claim 1, further comprising circular blades having different diameters keyed on the motor (8a) axis.

12. A method, comprising cutting blocks of natural and/or concrete stone material with the automatic sawing machine (1) of claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be better highlighted by examining the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment, illustrated by way of non-limiting example, with the support of the attached drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a sawing machine according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a detail of FIG. 1, wherein the conveyor belt is shown at the outlet station of the sawing machine;

(4) FIG. 3a is a detail of FIG. 2, wherein a strip of the conveyor belt is shown;

(5) FIG. 3b shows the strip of FIG. 3a coated with protective material;

(6) FIG. 4 is an overall view from the back of the sawing machine of FIG. 1;

(7) FIG. 5 is a detail of FIG. 4 wherein the crown is shown in engagement with the opening of the strips of the conveyor belt of FIG. 2;

(8) FIG. 6a shows a detail of the fixing of the strips to a chain running on a modular carpentry;

(9) FIG. 6b shows a series of plates and counter-plates which fix one each other two carpentry modules of FIG. 6a;

(10) FIG. 7 shows a detail of the guides for obtaining the space required for using disks of different diameters on the same shaft;

(11) FIG. 8 is a front view of another embodiment of a sawing machine according to the present invention, wherein the conveyor belt is covered by a mat;

(12) FIG. 9 shows a belt tensioning system covered by a mat of FIG. 8;

(13) FIG. 10 shows a detail of the embodiment of FIG. 8 wherein a wedge for distancing the stones from the shoulder of the strips is visible;

(14) FIG. 11 shows a detail of the cutting device shown in FIG. 1, wherein the cutting blade head inclination is shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(15) With reference to FIGS. 1-7, a first embodiment of a sawing machine 1 according to the present invention is shown below.

(16) FIG. 1 shows an overall view of an automatic sawing machine 1 for cutting blocks of natural and/or concrete stone material, where a single motorized conveyor belt 2 is visible, which receives the material to be cut and carries it from a first inlet station 7 to a second outlet station 6, along which some cutting devices 8 are arranged, each of them is provided with a motor 8a (See FIG. 11) on whose axis a circular blade 10 is keyed. Cutting devices 8 are arranged above the cutting path defined by the conveyor belt 2 relative to a vertical direction so that the respective circular blades 10 are within the cutting path itself.

(17) As best shown in FIG. 2, the single conveyor belt 2 is L-shaped, consisting of a conveyor plane 3 of the material to be cut and a driving wall 4. The single L-shaped conveyor belt 2 consists of a series of modular strips 5 (detailed in FIG. 3), placed one adjacent to the other, wherein each of said strips 5 is a single element, also L-shaped, consisting of a first portion 5a and a second portion 5b. The series of the first portions 5a of the strips 5, side by side, contribute to form the conveyor plane 3, while the series of the second portions 5b of the strips 5, side by side, contribute to form the driving wall 4, which acts as a guide for guiding the stones transported during their transport on the conveyor plane 3. Each of the second portions 5b of the strips 5 is provided with an opening, such as slot 12.

(18) The single conveyor belt is placed at an angle of about 20° to the ground.

(19) For safety reasons, at the first inlet station 7 and at the second outlet station 6 of the sawing machine 1, the conveyor belt 2 is provided with a corresponding covering device 11, such as a crankcase, arranged to protect the second portions 5b of the strips 5, in correspondence with the change of direction of the conveyor belt 2.

(20) The automatic sawing machine 1 is also provided with a device consisting of a support 14 fixed to the machine (shown in FIG. 4 and in detail in FIG. 5), at the top of which there is a crown-type rotatable element 15, provided with a plurality of protrusions 16 spaced apart one each other in such a way as to allow each of them to engage, in turn, in one of the slots 12 formed in one of the second portions 5b of the strips 5, following the movement of the conveyor belt 2. The distance between two adjacent protrusions 16 of the crown 15 and the distance between a slot 12 of a strip 5 and the slot 12 of the adjacent strip 5 is such that, during the movement of the conveyor belt 2, a continuous action is generated between the crown 15 and the slots 12. In practice, during the movement of the conveyor belt 2, a first protrusion 16 of the crown 15 passes through the slot 12 of a strip 5, followed by the similar action of the successive protuberance 16 of the crown 15 passing through the slot 12 of the adjacent strip 5 and so on, until all the projections 16 of the crown 15 are passed in turn through the slot 12 of adjacent strips 5, to restart a new cycle with the new passage of the first protuberance 16 in a slot 12 of a new strip 5.

(21) This allows such projections 16 of the crown 15 to pass through the slot 12 of the portion 5b of the strip 5 and to reach and hit the worked stones or other similar material being transported onto the conveyor plane 3.

(22) In this way, the stones which are passing in correspondence with the crown 15 are thus laterally moved ahead of few millimetres, sufficient to prevent them from colliding and getting caught against the crankcase 11 at the outlet station 6 of the sawing machine 1. Prolonged damage to the crankcase 11 and stop the machine to free the stones entangled in the crankcase 11 itself are thus avoided.

(23) The modular L-shaped strips 5 are fixed to the sawing machine 1 in a removable manner. In particular, the strips 5 are fixed by means of screws on the transport chains 22 (FIG. 6a) which rotate on a structure, such as a modular carpentry 23. Each carpentry module 23 is fixed to an adjacent module by means of plates 13a and counter-plates 13b screwed to each other by screws 24 (FIG. 6b). In this way, it is possible to choose the length of the single most suitable conveyor belt 2 according to the momentary needs, by adding or removing the appropriate number of strips 5, after having momentarily removed the plates 13a and counter-plates 13b.

(24) As shown in detail in FIG. 7, the automatic sawing machine 1 of the present invention comprises guides 17 fixed removably to the second portions 5b of the strips 5 to facilitate the insertion/removal of the circular blades 10 of the cutting device 8. In particular, when there is the need to cut stones up to 45 cm high and large diameter disks, the presence of the guides 17 allows to raise the support surface above the strip 5b. Vice versa, in the absence of such guides, the strip 5b has its own height and it is possible to mount small disks for cutting 0 of low stones. Thanks to these guides 17, it is therefore possible to replace a circular blade 10 with a more suitable diameter, according to the requirements of different heights in the cutting of the stones or similar material to be cut. Blades with different diameters are used to increase productivity and decrease the disk consumption.

(25) FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the sawing machine 1 of the present invention, wherein the conveyor plane 3 of the conveyor belt 2 is entirely covered with a mat 18 of protective material, such as rubber. This mat 18 protects the first portions 5a (not shown in FIG. 8 because covered by the mat 18) of the strips 5 from any incisions caused by a circular blade when a precise cut of the stone is required, i.e. without “witnesses”.

(26) In this second embodiment, where the presence of the protective mat 18 is required, the automatic sawing machine 1 is provided with a tensioning system of the conveyor belt 2 shown in FIG. 9, which comprises a series of rollers 19 which determine a path at V-shape 20.

(27) FIG. 3b shows another embodiment of the sawing machine 1 of the present invention wherein, in each single strip 5, the first portion 5a is coated with a protective material 18, such as rubber. Therefore, each first portion 5a of the strip 5 is thus rubberized to be protected from any incisions.

(28) FIG. 10 shows a detail of the sawing machine 1 of the present invention, wherein there is a wedge-shaped device 21 located next to the crown 15, towards the outlet station 6, to further facilitate the spacing of the stones from the shoulder of the 5b portions of the strips 5.

(29) FIG. 11 shows a detail of the cutting device shown in FIG. 1. In particular, device 8b that allows the cutting disk rotation 10 is shown such as to allow the head of the device to assume a tilted position, with respect to the transporting direction of the material to be cut, depending on the user's needs.

(30) Naturally, many modifications and variations of the preferred embodiment described above will be evident to those skilled in the art, still remaining within the scope of the invention.

(31) Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment described, illustrated only by way of non-limiting example, but is defined by the following claims.