Matteo Piantoni, Albino, Italy; Valerio Soli, Bologna, Italy; Davide Russo, Florence, Italy; and Paolo Carrara, Sovere, Italy.
Assigned to GDM S.P.A., Bologna, Italy; and University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy.

Filed: 4/14/15
Issued: 4/7/20

A device for cutting a web of fibrous material, comprising: the web of fibrous material; a rotatable drum for moving the web, where the web includes a variable density material having a discrete distribution of fibers defining solid zones and empty zones free from material, the rotatable drum also defining a feed surface for the web and including a first cutting zone; a laser source configured to generate a laser beam extending along an operating direction towards the first cutting zone to make, on the web, an incision extending along a predetermined cutting line interposed between a first edge and a second edge of the web, wherein, at the first cutting zone, the laser beam is partly absorbed by the solid zones to make the incision and a portion of the laser beam passes through the web via the empty zones; a recovery system including at least one chosen from a mirror and a permeable portion of the rotatable drum for recovering the portion of the laser beam and at least partly located along the operating direction, at the first cutting zone, in such a way as to intercept the portion of the laser beam and direct the portion of the laser beam towards a second cutting zone to make a further incision on the web; wherein the laser source and the recovery system are configured to: use the laser beam at the first cutting zone to make the incision along the predetermined cutting line without separating the first edge from the second edge; use the portion of the laser beam at the second cutting zone to make the further incision along the predetermined cutting line by which the first edge is completely separated from the second edge.