MXPA06010864A - Quilted fabric panel cutter - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for cutting a quilted material web (20) having a quilted patterns (32,34) thereon into panels (24,26) having a desired length and width with respective quilted patterns centered therein. A first detector (182) detects a center of a quilted pattern on the quilted material web;and in response thereto, a cutting apparatus (120,150,152) cuts the quilted material web to form edges (36,38,40,42) of a panel equidistant from the quilted pattern center. The cutting apparatus includes a pair of trim blades (150,152) that cut opposite side edges of the panel equidistant from the quilted pattern center and a cross cutting apparatus (120) that cuts end edges of the panel equidistant from the quilted pattern center.

Description

PADDED FABRIC PANEL CUTTER This PCT application is a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 10 / 963,300, filed on October 12, 2004, which claims the benefit of US Provisional Application Serial No. 60 / 555,460, filed on October 23, 2004. March 2004, both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to the cutting of flat material and, more particularly, to the cutting of quilted fabric articles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Quilting is a sewing process by means of which layers of textile material and other fabrics are joined to produce compressible panels that are both decorative and functional. Stitch designs are used to decorate the panels with sewn designs, while the stitches themselves join the different layers of material that make up the quilts. Large-scale quilting processes generally employ high-speed, multi-needle quilting machines to form a series of panels along plies of the multilayer materials. These large-scale quilting procedures generally employ heads for sewing chain stitches that produce elastic stitch chains that can be supplied by large spools of thread. After the design has been sewn into a panel, the panel must be cut to a length and finished off to a width, so that the stitched design is centered on the cut panel. If a panel is automatically cut from a web of padded material without locating the padded design, the padded design may be moved to one side of the panel or, in certain circumstances, may be partially cut off when the panel has been cut off from the web. Therefore, the panel must be cut out of the frame using manual or semi-automatic procedures where an operator is used to align the cutting devices, so that the padded design is approximately centered on the panel. Additionally, proper centering of the panel design facilitates a panel assembly or stitching procedure that is more automated and requires less work. Therefore, there is a need to provide a panel cutter with a relatively simple design that accurately and automatically centers the design on the panel in the cutting process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a panel cutter and a method that quickly locates cutters with respect to a padded design in a panel. Additionally, the panel cutter and the method of the present invention automatically cut the panel to an adequate length and width with the padded design centered on the panel. In addition, the panel cutter of the present invention uses known cutting devices and components available in the market, as well as providing a solution with a relatively low cost for a difficult problem in the quilting industry. Therefore, the panel cutter of the present invention is especially useful for cutting panels with quilted designs from a web of quilted material. In accordance with the principles of the present invention and in accordance with the described embodiments, the present invention provides an apparatus for cutting a web of quilted material having quilted designs thereon, to form panels having a desired width and length with the respective padded designs centered on that site. A first detector detects a center of a quilted design in the quilted material web and, in response thereto, a cutter device cuts the web of quilted material to form the edges of a panel equidistant from the center of the quilted design. In one aspect of the invention, the cutting apparatus is an apparatus movable trimmer to a position displaced from the center of the cushioned design a first distance in a transverse direction substantially perpendicular to a length of the quilted material web. The first distance being basically equal to one half the width of the panel and the trimmer apparatus being operable to cut the web of cushion material to form a first side edge of the panel in a longitudinal direction in response to the first detector detecting the center of the design padded. In another aspect of the invention, the cutting apparatus is a pair of trimmer blades, wherein each of the trimmer blades is movable on an opposite side of the center of the quilted design. The pair of trimmer blades can be operated to cut the weft of quilted material to form opposite side edges of the panel extending in the longitudinal direction equidistant from the center of the quilted design. In a further aspect of the invention, the cutting apparatus includes a transverse cutting apparatus movable in the transverse direction to cut the quilted weft material to form end edges of the panel extending in the transverse direction. A second detector is movable to a position displaced from the transverse cutting apparatus at a second distance in the longitudinal direction, wherein the second distance is equal to the length of the panel. The second detector detects an end edge of the weft of quilted material and the transverse cutting apparatus can be operated to cut the weft of quilted material and form end edges of the panel equidistant from the center of the quilted design. These and other purposes and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic elevated view of a weft of quilted material containing padded panels to be cut from it. Figure 2 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a panel cutting machine that can be used to cut a panel from a web of cushion material in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic end view of the panel cutting machine of Figure 2 looking upstream from the downstream end of the panel cutting machine. Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a control system that can be used with the panel machine of Fig. 2 in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart that indicates the process of cutting a panel from the weft of quilted material using the panel cutting machine of Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 6 is a schematic side view of the weft of material padding of figure 1, illustrating a first cutting operation of another embodiment of a panel cutter in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Figure 7 is a schematic side view of the quilted material web of Figure 1, illustrating a second cutting operation using components of the embodiment of Figure 6. Figure 8 is a schematic side view of the web of quilted material of Figure 1, illustrating a further embodiment of a panel cutter in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With respect to Figure 1, a web of padding material 20 is transported along an exit portion of a quilting machine (not shown) in a direction indicated by the flow arrow 22. Said quilting machines are of the type shown and described in U.S. Patent No. 5,154,130 and in the U.S. Patent Application filed as Express Mail No. EV354968586US, entitled MULTIPLE HORIZONTAL NEEDLE QUILTING MACHINE AND METHOD and filed on March 19, 2004, said patent and application being incorporated by means of of the present in its entirety by reference herein. The cushioned material 20 must be cut to form the padded panels 24, 26 with the respective perimeters 28, 30 within which the padded designs 32, 34 are located. Therefore, to cut the panel 24 to a desired length, the weft pattern Padded material 20 should be cut along the cut lines 36, 38. Additionally, to cut the panel 24 to a desired width, the web of padded material 20 is cut along the trim lines 40, 42, eliminating in this manner the selvage pieces 44, 46. As will be noted, due to the nature of the quilting process, the positions of successive quilted designs 32, 34 often vary slightly, which substantially complicates the process of cutting panels. For example, if the panels 24,26 are cut to a length after the web of quilted material is moved through an increasing feed equal to a panel length, the quilted designs on some panels will not be centered. Panels with unfocused padded designs are more difficult to assemble properly and / or sew together with other panels and, if the padded design is too far from the center to be unusable, the panel must be discarded. Therefore, to facilitate automatic, rapid and efficient cutting of the panels 24, 26, a central or reference mark 48 is used and centered exactly with respect to the padded designs 32, 34 in the respective panels 24, 26 The central mark 48 can be automatically applied to the weft 20 as part of the quilting process using a whole series of means and procedures, for example, a glueable element, paint, detectable seams, and so on. Additionally, the central mark 48 can have any useful shape, for example, a circle, a point, a grid, and so on. Alternatively, the center mark 48 may be printed on the screen 20 using the apparatus and methods shown and described in US Patent No. 6,435,117; 6,263,816; 6,158,366; 6,012,403; and 5,873,315, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The central mark is often located on a back side of the panel, that is, the side opposite to a side that presents the padded design for a user. With respect to Figure 2, a panel cutter 100 has an upstream portion 102, a cutting portion 104 and a downstream portion 106. As used herein, "upstream" refers to a position, movement or direction to the left of a transverse cutting blade 123, while "downstream" refers to a position, movement or direction to the right of the transverse cutting blade 123. A web of cushion material 20 is fed through the rollers 108. , 110 along an upstream table 112 and through a pair of opposite gripping rollers extending transversely 1 14. The gripping rollers are coupled and uncoupled by the actuators 116, for example pneumatic cylinders. After the gripping rollers 114 engage the web of padded material 20 gripped therebetween, the driver 117 (FIG. 3), for example, an electric motor, is ignited to feed the web of cushion material between the web rollers. grip 114 in a longitudinal direction 118 generally parallel to a length of the weft. The cutting portion 104 (FIG. 2) includes a transverse cutting device 120 and a cutting apparatus 122. The transverse cutting apparatus 120 has a cutting blade 123 which is operatively connected to a motor 124 which is mounted on a sliding carriage. 126. A linear guide 1.28 extends in the transverse direction 130 (Figure 3), ie, perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 118. The sliding carriage 126 has a plurality of rollers 132 that move on opposite longitudinal edges of the guide rail 128. The ends of a driving belt 136 are connected to the sliding carriage 126 and are wound through a tension pulley 138 and a transmitting pulley 140 which is rotated by a motor 142. Therefore, operating the engine 142 is effective to move the slide carriage 126 and the cross cutter blade 123 in the transverse direction 130 to cut the web of padding material 20. A gripper bar 144 extends It transversely extends over a full width of the panel cutter 100 and is supported at its ends by the cylinders 146. The movement of the gripper bar 144 in the vertical direction is guided by the wheels 147 advancing on opposite sides of the linear guides. 148. The actuators 146 move the clamping bar 144 toward a plate 149 to fix the web of padding material therebetween. The trimmer 122 includes left and right feed and cut mechanisms 150, 152, respectively, which are located on opposite sides of the panel cutter 100 adjacent to the ends of the feed rollers 114. The feed and cut mechanisms 150, 152 are described in detail in U.S. Patent No. 6,736,078, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Each of the feeding and cutting mechanisms 150, 152 is operated by a motor 154 that rotates the upper and lower cutting wheels 156, 158, respectively, as well as the upper and lower conveyors 160, 162, respectively. Each of the feeding and cutting mechanisms 152, 154 has a sliding carriage 164 which supports the motor 154, the cutting wheels 156, 158 and the conveyors 160,162 and is mounted by the wheels 166 on a guide rail 168. Each one of the sliding carriages 164 is mounted on a nut (not shown) which is threaded on a screw 170 rotated by an actuator 172. Therefore, the feeding and cutting mechanisms 150, 152 are movable to the desired positions on the rail 168 by operating the respective actuators 172. An upstream central marking detector 180 has a detector 182 mounted on a sliding carriage 184 which is held by rods linear guide 186 below the upstream table 1 12. The central mark detector 180 can be any device that is capable of providing output signals representing a detected position of the central mark 48 in the quilted material web 20, by example a vision camera. The vision camera has a charge coupled device (CCD) that provides an output that is converted to digital form and processed to determine the location of a central mark in the quilted material web 20. The sliding carriage 184 is also connected to a driving band 188 which extends around a tension pulley 190 and a transmitting pulley 192 which is rotated by a motor 194. Therefore, the operation of the motor 194 is effective to move the detector 182 in the longitudinal direction 118. A downstream portion 106 has a downstream conveyor 174 operated by a transmitting pulley 176 that is rotated by a motor 178. A downstream length detector 196 has a detector 198 mounted on a sliding carriage 200 which is held by the linear guide rods 201. The detector 198 can be any device capable of providing an output signal in response to the detection of an edge of the web of material 20 padding, for example a photo-eye. The sliding carriage 200 is connected to a driving belt 202 wound through a tension pulley 204 and a transmitting pulley 206. A motor 208 rotates the transmitting pulley 206 to provide a linear movement of the detector 198 in the longitudinal direction 118.

As shown in Fig. 4, a programmable controller 210 is used to coordinate the operation of the various actuators and motors in the panel cutter 100, to execute a panel cutting operation as shown in Fig. 5. A frame of Padded material 20 is first loaded into the panel cutter 100 and is located between the gripping rollers 114 and the operator is then able to initiate a cycle of panel cutting operation. The controller 210 first determines, at 250, the size of the next panel 24 (Figure 1). In this mode, the panel cutter 100 has the ability to cut panels up to 203.2 centimeters wide and 152.4 centimeters long. However, also substantially small panels can be cut and, in addition, the successive panels in the weft of padded panels 20 can be of different sizes. Assuming that the first panel to be cut is 152.4 centimeters long and 203.2 centimeters wide, the controller 210 first commands the positioning motor of the detector 194, at 252, to move the detecting slide 184 and the central mark detector 182 to a location that is 76.2 centimeters upstream of the cross cutter blade 123. Therefore as the web moves downstream, the center mark detector 182 is now in a position to locate the next center mark in the web of padded material 20 with respect to the transverse cutting blade 123. In addition, the controller 210 commands the after-screening motor of the length detector 209 to move the length detecting slide 200 and the length detector 198 to a position that is 152.4 centimeters downstream of the cross cutter blade 123. In this position, the length detector 198 is capable of trolling the length of the panel to be cut out of the quilted material web 20. Subsequently, the controller 210, at 256, initiates a feeding of the quilted material web 104. The feeding of the web is initiated by the controller 210 ordering the gripper roller motor 117 which rotates gripping rollers 114 in directions that cause the web 20 to move downstream. The quilted material web 20 has a quilted design 32 on an upper side facing up, above the upstream table 112 and a central mark 48 on an opposite bottom side facing down, below the upstream table 112. Found below the upstream table 112, the center mark detector 182 is visualizing the bottom side of the frame 20. When the center mark passes a transverse center line 66 (figure 1) in a field of view of the detector 182, the detector 182 provides an output signal to the controller 210 and the controller commands the motor of the grip rollers 117 to stop. As will be appreciated, the method of stopping the operation of the gripping rollers 114 can involve successive decelerations of the gripping roller motor 117, so that the web of padding material 20 can be stopped with the central mark 148 located precisely in the center line 66 of the field of view of the detector 182. If the center mark 48 is highlighted from a longitudinal center line 68 (FIG. 1) of the field of view of the detector 182, as indicated by the central mark 48a shown with dashed lines in Figure 2, the detector 182 and the controller 210 are capable, at 260, of determining the magnitude of the shoulder. The controller 210 then instructs the side trim positioning motors 172 to locate the feed and cut mechanisms 150, 152 so that the side cutter blades 156, 58 are equidistant from the detected center mark 48a. Subsequently, at 262, the controller 210 commands the clamping actuators 146 to lower the clamping bar 144, thereby holding the web of cushion material 20 between the clamp bar 144 and the stationary plate 149. Then, the controller 210 provides command signals to the motor of the cross cutter blade 124 to initiate the rotation of the cross cutter blade 123. In addition, the controller 210 commands the positioning motor of the cross cutter blade 142 to move the slide carriage 126 which supports the rotating transverse cutting blade 123 transversely along the panel cutter 100 along the cutting line 36 (figure 1). That movement is effective to cut a cut piece 56 to form an entry edge of the panel 24. When the cross cutter blade 123 terminates its transverse movement, the controller 210 terminates the operation of the positioning motor of the cross cutter blade 142 and initiates, at 264, the operation of the downstream conveyor motor 178. Therefore, the cut-out piece which has been cut off from the end of the quilted material web 20, is fed from the panel cutter 100. Then the controller 210, at 266, instructs the clamping actuators 146 to raise the clamping bar 144 from the plate 149, thereby decoupling the web of padding material. The controller 210 then turns on the side trimmer motors 154 of the left and right feed and cut mechanisms 150, 152. The operation of the side trimmer motors 154 initiates the rotation of the upper and lower cutter wheels 156, 158, respectively, and the upper and lower conveyors 160, 162 of the feeding and cutting mechanisms 150, 152. Therefore, as the web of cushion material 20 is pushed downstream by the gripping rollers 144, it is captured between the upper conveyors and lower 160, 162 on both sides of the panel cutter 100. The two upper and lower conveyor assemblies 160, 162 are operative to pull the web of padded material 20 past the respective upper and lower cutter wheel assemblies 156, 158 The controller 210 also commands that operation of the down feed conveyor motor 178 allows that the downstream feed conveyor 174 facilitates the transportation of the padded material web 20 along the panel cutter 100. Therefore, the left and right cutter wheel assemblies 156, 158 move along the respective cutting lines 40, 42 to form side edges of the panel 24 that are equidistant from the detected central mark. That operation continues until, at 268, the length detector 198 detects the leading edge 36 (figure 1) of the panel 24 and, at the same time, provides a feedback signal from the leading edge to the controller 210. The controller 210 turns off immediately the gripper feed motor 117, the two motors of the feed and cut mechanism 154 and the downstream conveyor motor 178. Subsequently, the controller 210 commands the clamping actuators 146 to lower the clamping bar 144 on the web of padded material 20 and against the fixed plate 149. In addition, the controller 210 commands the cross-sectional positioning motor 142 to move the slide carriage 126 and the rotary transverse cutting blade123 transversely along the panel cutter 100 throughout of the cutting line 38 to form an exit edge of the panel 24. Then, at 272, the controller 210 commands the holding actuators 146 to be lift the holding bar and release the web of cushioned material 20. The controller 210 then starts a panel feeding by activating the motors of the feeding and cutting mechanism 154 and the downstream conveyor motor 178. The two sets of upper and lower cutting wheels they continue to cut the side edges 40, 42 of panel 32 so that they are equidistant from the central mark 48.

Therefore, the panel cutter 100 has the advantage of cutting panels from a web of quilted material in which the quilted designs are consistently and precisely centered on the panel. Additionally, with the panel cutter 100, the successive padded designs can be of different sizes, while the panels can be cut accurately and quickly to have different lengths and widths with the padded panels centered thereon. Although the invention has been illustrated by describing a modality and although the embodiment has been described in considerable detail, it is not intended to restrict or limit in any way the scope of the appended claims to said details. Additional advantages and modifications will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art. As will be noted, there are many variations related to the structure and operation of the detectors 182,198, the transverse cutter 120 and the trimmer 150,152. For example, Figure 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the panel cutter 100 using a transverse cutter 120 and a single center mark camera or detector 182. The cross cutter 120 is mounted on a second cutter slide carriage. transverse 214 which allows the movement of the transverse cutting apparatus 120 in the longitudinal direction 118. Therefore, the transverse cutting apparatus 120 is movable to the left and to the right, as seen in Figure 4. In a procedure similar to that described previously, the controller 210 is operative to move the web of padded material 20 to the right, as seen in FIG. 4 and to cause the transverse cutting apparatus 120 to cut the web 20 along the cut line 36. Subsequently , the controller 210 provides command signals to move the transverse cutter 120 to the left, as seen in FIG. 6, to the posi shown in Figure 7. The transverse cutting apparatus 120 is moved through a distance equal to a length of the padded panel 24, ie, the distance between the cross-cut tracks 36, 38. As described above, the controller 210 is operative to cause the transverse cutting apparatus 120 to move through the web of cushioned material 20 along the cutting line 38, thereby cutting the panel 24 to the desired length. Subsequently, the controller 210 initiates the movement of the padded web material 20 and causes the feeding and cutting apparatus 150, 152 to cut along the cut lines 40, 42 to form the side edges of the panel. Figure 8 illustrates an additional embodiment of the panel cutter 100 using a single center mark detector 182 and two cross cutters 120a, 120b. Each of the transverse cutting devices 120a, 120b is supported on a separate cross-section sliding carriage 214a, 214b that is movable in the longitudinal direction 118. In the manner described above, the controller 210 is operative to feed the padded web 20 to the right, as seen in Figure 8, until the central mark 48 is detected crossing the center line 66 (Figure 1) of the detector 182. The controller 210 then stops feeding the weft of quilted material 20. Subsequently , the controller 210 causes the transverse cutting apparatus 120a, 120b to move along the cutting lines 36, 38, thereby cutting the panel 24 to its desired length. As will be noted, alternatively, the controller 210 may operate the transverse cutter 120a, 120b in a sequential or simultaneous manner. As will be noted, in yet another embodiment, both the transverse cutting blades and the motors can be mounted on the respective longitudinal slide carriages 214a, 214b, instead of the transverse slide carriage of Figure 2. Then, the longitudinal slide carriages 214a, 214b they can be mounted on a separate or common transverse sliding trolley. Therefore, in its broader aspects, the invention is not limited to the specific details shown and described. As a consequence, deviations from the details described herein may be made, without deviating from the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims (30)

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION CLAIMS

1. - An apparatus for cutting a weft of quilted material having a quilted design to form a panel, the panel having a width and length with the quilted design disposed thereon, the weft of quilted material being movable in a longitudinal direction substantially parallel to a length of the weft of quilted material, the apparatus comprising: a first detector for detecting a center of the quilted design in the weft of quilted material; and a cutter apparatus responsive to the detector detecting the center of the padded design to cut the web of cushion material and form panel edges equidistant from the center of the web. Padded design.

2. An apparatus for cutting a web of quilted material having a quilted design to form a panel, the panel having a width and length with the quilted design disposed therein, the web of quilted material being movable in a longitudinal direction basically parallel to a length of the weft of quilted material, the apparatus comprising: a first detector for detecting a center of the quilted design in the weft of quilted material; and a trimmer being movable to a displaced position with respect to the center of the padded design a first distance in a transverse direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the first distance being substantially equal to one half the width of the panel, and the trimmer apparatus being able to operating to cut the weft of quilted material and forming a first side edge of the panel in the longitudinal direction in response to the first detector detecting the center of the quilted design.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further characterized in that the trimmer comprises a pair of trimmer blades, each of the trimmer blades being movable on an opposite side of the center of the quilted design, and the pair of trimmer blades being able to operating to cut the weft of quilted material and forming opposite side edges of the panel extending in the longitudinal direction equidistant from the center of the quilted design.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further characterized in that the trimmer blades are movable to respective positions displaced in opposite directions from the center of the padded design by the first distance.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further characterized in that the trimmer blades are movable in the transverse direction.

6. The apparatus according to claim 3, further characterized in that it additionally comprises: a transverse cutting apparatus that is movable in the transverse direction to cut the quilted weft material and form end edges of the panel extending in the transverse direction; and a second detector for detecting an edge of the weft of quilted material and which is movable to a position displaced with respect to the transverse cutting apparatus by a second distance in the longitudinal direction, the second distance being substantially equal to the length of the panel and the transverse cutting apparatus being movable in response to the second detector to form the equidistant end edges with respect to the center of the padded design.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that the second detector is movable in the longitudinal direction.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that the first detector is movable to a position displaced with respect to the transverse cutting apparatus a third distance in the longitudinal direction, the third distance being basically equal to one half the length of the panel.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further characterized in that the first detector is movable in the longitudinal direction.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that it additionally comprises a control connected to the first detector, the second detector, the cutting apparatus and the transverse cutting apparatus and being operable to order the operation of the cutting apparatus and the transverse cutting apparatus.

11. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that the first detector is a vision camera.

12. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that the second detector is an edge detector.

13. The apparatus according to claim 6, further characterized in that the edge detector is a photocell.

14. The apparatus according to claim 2, further characterized in that the padded design is deployed on a first side of the weft of quilted material and the second detector is located adjacent to an opposite side of the weft of quilted material.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, further characterized in that the first detector is located adjacent to the opposite side of the weft of quilted material.

16. An apparatus for cutting a weft of quilted material having a quilted design to form a panel, the panel having a width and length with the quilted design disposed therein, the weft of quilted material being movable in a longitudinal direction basically parallel to a length of the quilted material web, the apparatus comprising: a transverse cutting apparatus that is movable in a transverse direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to cut the quilted web material and form end edges of the panel extending in the cross direction; a length detector for detecting an edge of the weft of quilted material and which is movable in the longitudinal direction to a position displaced with respect to the transverse cutting apparatus by a distance substantially equal to the length of the panel; a camera movable in the longitudinal direction to a position displaced with respect to the transverse cutting apparatus a distance substantially equal to one-half the length of the panel, the camera being operable to detect a center of the quilted pattern in the web of quilted material; and a pair of trimmer blades, each of the trimmer blades being movable to a position on an opposite side of the center of the padded design, and the pair of trimmer blades being operable to cut the weft of quilted material and form opposite side edges of the blade. panel extending in the longitudinal direction equidistant from the center of the quilted design.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, further characterized in that the padded design is deployed on a first side of the weft of quilted material and the chamber is located adjacent to an opposite side of the weft of quilted material.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, further characterized in that the length detector is located adjacent to the opposite side of the weft of quilted material.

19. A weft of quilted material comprising: a weft of quilted material comprising a plurality of quilted designs longitudinally spaced from the weft of quilted material; and a plurality of central markings, each of the central markings representing a center of one of the plurality of padded designs, the plurality of central markings being used to cut padded panels to basically center the respective padded designs within the padded panels.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, further characterized in that the padded design is deployed on a first side of the weft of quilted material and the plurality of central marks is located on an opposite side of the weft of quilted material.

21. A method for cutting a web of quilted material having a quilted design to form a panel, the panel having a width and length with the quilted design disposed therein, the weft of quilted material being movable in a longitudinal direction with with respect to a length of the quilted material web, the method comprising: applying a central marking to the web of quilted material, the central marking identifying a center of the desired quilted design; moving the web of cushion material in the longitudinal direction; detect the central brand; stop the movement of the quilted material web in response to the detection of the central mark; and cutting the quilted weft material to form opposite side edges of the panel extending in the longitudinal direction equidistant from the center of the quilted design.

22. - The method according to claim 21, further characterized in that it further comprises stopping the movement of the weft of quilted material, cutting the quilted weft material in a transverse direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to form a first end edge of the panel displaced with respect to the center of the padded design in the longitudinal direction by a distance substantially equal to one-half the length of the panel.

23. The method according to claim 21, further characterized by additionally comprising: after cutting the first edge, moving the padded weft material in the longitudinal direction; detect the first end edge of the panel; and cutting the padded web material in the transverse direction in response to detection of the first end edge to form a second end edge of the panel separated from the first end edge by a distance substantially equal to the length of the panel, the first and second end edges being basically equidistant from the center of the quilted design.

24. The method according to claim 23, further characterized in that it further comprises: a transverse cutting apparatus that is movable in the transverse direction to cut the padded weft material to form end edges of the panel; provide a length detector; and, before detecting the first end edge of the panel, moving the length detector to a position displaced with respect to the transverse cutting apparatus by a distance substantially equal to the length of the panel. The method according to claim 21, further characterized in that it further comprises: providing a camera for detecting a center of the quilted design in response to movement of the weft of quilted material in the longitudinal direction; and moving the camera to a position offset from the transverse cutting apparatus by a distance substantially equal to one half of the length of the panel. The method according to claim 21, further characterized in that it further comprises: providing a pair of trimmer blades, each of the trimmer blades being disposed on an opposite side of the center of the quilted design; and moving each of the trimmer blades to a position offset from the center of the cushioned design by a distance substantially equal to one-half the width of the panel; and cutting the weft of quilted material to form two parallel lateral edges opposite in the longitudinal direction that are equidistant from the center of the quilted design and are separated by a distance substantially equal to the width of the panel. 27.- A method for cutting a web of quilted material having quilted designs to form panels, each of the panels having a width and a length with a respective quilted design disposed there, the weft of quilted material being movable in a longitudinal direction with respect to a length of the weft of quilted material, the method comprising: applying central markings to the weft of quilted material, the central markings identifying centers of the respective quilted designs; providing a transverse cutting apparatus for cutting end edges of the respective panels; providing a length detector for detecting the end edges of the respective panels; provide a trimmer to cut side edges of the panel; provide a center detector to detect the centers of the quilted design; moving the center detector to a position offset from the transverse cutting apparatus by a distance substantially equal to half the length of the panel; moving the web of cushion material in the longitudinal direction; detect a position of a central brand; stop the movement of the quilted material web in response to detecting the position of the central mark; moving the trimmer apparatus to a position that centers the center mark with respect to the trimmer apparatus; operating the transverse cutting apparatus to form a first end edge of the panel; moving the length detector to a position offset from the center mark by a distance substantially equal to the length of the panel; moving the web of cushion material in the longitudinal direction; operating the trimmer apparatus simultaneously to cut opposing side edges of the panel substantially equidistantly with respect to the center mark; detect the first end edge with the length detector; stopping movement of the quilted material web in response to detection of the first end edge; operating the transverse cutting apparatus to form a second end edge of the panel, the first end edge and the second end edge being equidistant from the center mark. 28. The method according to claim 27, further characterized by additionally comprising iterating the steps of detecting a position of a central mark through operating the transverse cutting apparatus to form a second end edge for each of the marks central in the web of quilted material. 29. The method according to claim 27, further characterized in that the padded design is deployed on one side of the weft of quilted material and the method further comprises applying the center markings to an opposite side of the weft. 30. The method according to claim 29, further characterized by additionally comprising printing the central marks on the opposite side of the frame.