Abstract

A vacuum feed mechanism for precision feeding a printed continuous double-backed corrugated paper board web to a platen die cutter for producing printed foldable box blanks. The feeder has several adjacent horizontal endless belts, with each belt having spaced cleats extending over the width of the belt facing outward and a row of holes between each cleat. A vacuum plenum extends through each belt with a lower wall containing longitudinal slots in registration with the belt holes. A suction fan removes air from the vacuum plenum producing air flow from the edges of the belts between adjacent cleats, through the belts and into the vacuum chamber to draw the belt into contact with the plenum chamber wall and the web in contact with the belt cleats, holding the web without slippage while the web is intermittently fed to the platen die cutter. The belt advancing mechanism utilizes separate drive pulleys for each belt keyed to a common shaft and separate idler pulleys freely rotating on another common shaft providing minimum inertia and permitting rapid starting and stopping of the belts for synchronized feeding of the web to the platen die cutter.