In outer cutting work, the shape of an outer contour is cut mainly using slot cutting. Because of this, as is shown in Fig. 1, it is natural for neighboring blanks to be connected at the middle part of the blanks. This form is called the "center carrier" form. The carrier is the part where the material is connected for feeding the material. It is necessary that the carrier has enough strength to move the material so that there is no deformation during feeding of the material. In the case of the center carrier, there is the problem that the material will bend if the connected part is small. It is necessary to connect with as large a width as possible. Further, since undulations will appear on the edge of the material due to slot cutting, guiding the material becomes difficult.

In order to solve this problem, preparing carriers on both sides of the blank is the form of a dual side carrier shown in Fig. 2. This not only makes it easy to guide the material, but also makes it possible to stabilize the strength of the material. This can be considered to be a standard method for preparing a carrier in outer cutting work. As seen relative to the center carrier, it appears that the carrier parts of the dual side carrier are a waste of material. That is certainly true from the aspect of the material. But this can be considered to be a price to be paid for stability in the shape of formation.

Figure 3 shows the form of a carrier during progressive cutting work when bending, etc., is present at one side. This is called a single side carrier and has properties similar to the center carrier. This is a method of connecting blanks wherein care needs to be taken about the sideward bending of the material.

Figure 4 shows a form that is used during the formation of extremely small sized shapes. This is a method for connecting blanks in which priority is given to the stability of holding the blanks rather than to the loss of material.

The purpose of a carrier is to hold the blanks. At the same time, it should also be possible to easily recover the blank that is separated out by cutting in the last process. How the blanks are connected when carrying out outer cutting work is also a very important matter. Although carriers are very often explained to be a part of the progressive cutting work, it should be known that they should also be considered from the point of view of preparing the blanks.