METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING PARTS FROM PIECES OF IRREGULARLY SHAPED AND SIZED SHEET MATERIAL

摘要

In an apparatus and method for use in cutting pattern parts from a plurality of irregularly shaped and sized pieces of sheet material, such as hides, a piece of sheet material to be cut is spread onto the cylindrical surface of a drum and is then first digitized and subsequently cut while remaining fixed to the drum. From the data obtained by the digitizing a representation of the hide periphery is visually displayed on the screen of a layout unit where an operator interactively arranges visual part representations selected from a computer memory store within the hide periphery representation to arrive at an acceptable layout of parts. Such layout is then converted to digital data used to cause the sheet material to be cut in accordance with the layout during the cutting step.