B26D - Definition

Definition statement

This subclass covers:

Cutting of non-metallic sheet material or metal foil in general;

Cutting other forms of non metallic materials not otherwise provided for;

Apparatus or machines therefor; cutting members therefor

• Characterised by the nature or movement of a cutting member which does not travel with the work, e.g. stationary or linearly movable cutting members reciprocating or rotating cutting members;
• Characterised by the nature or movement of a cutting member which travels with the work, i.e. flying cutter, e. g. mounted on a movable arm or carriage;
• Characterised by the nature of the cut made, e. g. beveling, grooving, scoring, forming notches, or splitting/separating layers by cutting; Apparatus therefore;

Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping out, punching, perforating and also for severing by means other than cutting, e. g.

• Means for moving the cutting member into its operative position for cutting, or for actuating the cutting member to effect the cut;
• Arrangements with interrelated action between the cutting member and work feed, or between work feed and clamp, or with means operable by the moving work to initiate the cutting action;

Details of apparatus for cutting, cutting-out, stamping out, punching, perforating and also for severing by means other than cutting

• Means for holding, positioning, clamping or for removing cut-out material or waste;
• Means for mounting or adjusting the cutting member or the stroke of the cutting member;
• Means for treating work or cutting member to facilitate cutting, e.g. by sharpening the cutting member;
• Means for performing other operations combined with cutting, e. g. counting the number of cuts, conveying ,weighting the cut product;
• Cutting beds;
• Safety devices specially adapted for cutting machines;

Cutting apparatus combined with punching or perforating apparatus or with dissimilar cutting apparatus or combinations of several similar cutting apparatus

Relationship between large subject matter areas

- With regard to the aspect of cutting itself, irrespective of the material:

The term cutting as used in groups of subclass B26D covers severing material with a sharp edge penetrating into the material, e.g. a blade as cutting member, without removing material in the form of chips. Therefore severing otherwise than by cutting, e.g. by shearing or tearing, and cutting whereby chips of material are removed, e.g. working material by turning, boring, milling, sawing is not covered by the subclass B26D.

Perforating, cutting-out, punching, stamping-out or severing by means other than cutting regardless of the material is covered by other places especially by B26F or B21D.

Hand- held cutting tools are covered by subclass B26B, particularly hand- held motor- driven cutting tools.

- With regard to the material to be cut:

For the material aspect, subclass B26D covers cutting non-metallic sheet material or metal foil in general, whereby metal foils are covered in so far as they are workable in a manner analogous to paper (as typical non-metallic sheet material). Other forms of non-metallic materials not otherwise provided for are also covered by subclass B26D.

B26D does not cover cutting metal other than the aforementioned metal foils:

Cutting by machine tools used for working metal by removing material is covered by class B23, e.g. for turning, boring, milling, planing, slotting, sawing metal.

Shearing or similarly severing metal is covered by B23D 15/00-B23D 35/00.

Cutting of sheet metal or other metal stock material like metal rods, metal tubes or metal profiles, is covered by subclass B21D, e.g. press-cutting in B21D 28/00. Cutting or splitting metal wire is covered by B21F 11/00 and B21F 13/00.

Particular aspects of cutting other forms of non-metallic materials are covered by places within subclasses of B27 for wood and similar materials and within main group B28D 1/00 for stone or stone-like materials. B27L covers for example cutting veneer strips from trunks or splitting wood, B28D 1/22 covers working stone by cutting, e.g. by incising with cutting discs.

Cutting plastic material (or other non-metallic materials) is covered by places within subclasses of B23, where the term 'metal working' covers other materials unless the context requires otherwise.

- With regard to details common to machines for severing:

This subclass also covers features specific to machines for cutting, perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out, or severing by means other than cutting, which relate to a requirement or problem of a nature which is not peculiar to a machine for these purposes, that is, details of or arrangements for operating or controlling such machines, although the realisation of such features may differ according to the kind of machine concerned. This subclass covers such features in general even if the feature, in any particular case, is to some extent peculiar to, or is claimed only for, a machine designed for perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out, or for severing other than by cutting.

If the details or arrangements have no essential features specific to cutting, perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out or severing machines, the more general classes, e.g. F16, take precedence.

References relevant to classification in this subclass

This subclass does not cover:

Informative references

Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search: