Orbiting blade coaxial cable cutter/stripper

The present invention relates to apparatus for severing multiple layers of coating or covering materials from a central core such as a conductor of a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. More specifically, the invention relates to improvements in automated machinery for sequentially severing and removing multiple layers of material from a wire or other filamentary member utilizing a cutting blade with a circular cutting edge which orbits the material being cut. The prior art includes many types of apparatus for severing and removing a covering layer from a central, filamentary member, as in the removal of insulation and sheathing from an electrical wire or coaxial cable. Such apparatus typically includes one or more cutter blades which are moved from a position spaced radially outwardly from the position at which the cut is to be made inwardly toward the wire, at least partially through the covering layer. The blade(s) may be moved only in linear, reciprocating motion, as in the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,051, or may be rotated about the axis of the wire as they are moved toward and away from the wire, as in the case of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,745,828 and 4,993,287, or may be moved in a path which orbits the axis of the wire, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,164. Typically, after the covering layer is severed, the severed section or slug is stripped from the wire. While some forms of apparatus are designed to cut and strip only a single layer of material from the central core, making only one cut at the same axial length from the end of the workpiece and at the same radial depth in each workpiece, others are programmable to make a series of cuts, each through a distinct layer of covering material, at different axial positions and different radial depths, as in the case of coaxial cable where several, superposed layers of covering material are required to be cut and stripped from a central conductor. It is with this latter type of apparatus, particularly that of aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,6119,164 (hereinafter "the '164 patent"), that the present invention is concerned. Apparatus for supporting a coaxial cable, or the like, and effecting cutting and stripping operations to remove a portion of one or more layers which concentrically cover a central conductor. A single blade, having a circular cutting edge, is moved in an orbital path about the cable with rotary motion of a motor translated to orbital motion of the blade through a plurality of plates rela