CA1071029A - Apparatus for affixing slide fastener elements to fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

CASE: 52-CS

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

An attachment for a sewing machine is driven by the needle bar, and includes a knife which engages and feeds a ladder of fastener elements through the machine as the machine stitches the elements to fabric. The knife selectively is driven into deeper engagement with the ladder to sever the ladder at the end of the slide fastener. Computer/control devices are provided.

Description

CASE: 52-CS

~ his invention relates to an improved apparatus for affixing slide fastener elements to fabric, for instance, the fabric of a garment. More specifically, the invention relates to apparatus by which a "ladder" or line of slide fastener elements may be sewn directly to the fabric of a garment without the conventional intervening zipper tape.
According to the present invention, there is provided apparatus for use in machine sewing a continuous line of fastener elements to fabric and for severing connecting cords of the line of fastener elements upon completion of the sewing operation, the apparatus including a reciprocable blade engagable between adjacent fastener elements of the line, a linkage driven in timed relationship with a needle of the sewing machine for reciprocating the blade in a con-tinuous path to feed the fabric and fastener elements in step-by-step fashion through the sewing machine, and a selectively actuable mechanism for deepening the path of reciprocation of the blade to sever said connecting cords~
~b Other features of the invention will be apparent from a study of the accompanying specification including the attached drawings. In the drawings:
Fig. ~ is an enlarged view transverse of a line of fasteners with which the invention is adapted to be used.
Fi~. 1 is a perspective view of an attachment em-~odying the invention attached to a conventional sewing machine;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the attachment showing the ~ ' .
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~07~0Z9 adjacent parts of the sewing machine in fragmentary fashion and taken from the opposite side of the attachment from Fig. 1. The lower portion of the side of the attach-ment is broken away to show the knife guide means;
Fig. 2a is a section view taken on the line 2a-2a of Fig. 2;
Fig. 3 is a top view with respect to Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a front end view shown in fragmentary fashion;
Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing the engagement of the feed and cut-off knife with a line of fastener elements;
Fig. 7a is an enlarged fragmentary front end view of the knife and related parts in the position shown in Fig.
7;
Fig. 8 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 7 but showing the feeding process further advanced with the knife having fed one of the fastener elements (blackened . .
for easy recognition); -Fig. 8a is an enlarged fragmentary end view of the knife and related part in the position shown in Fig. 8;
Fig. 9 is a view comparable to Figs. 7 and 8 but ' showing the needle fully depressed with the cutter pin extended to cause the seVering of the line of fastener ` elements.

Fig. 9a is an enlarged fragmentary view of the knife _3_ .- . . ' . , , . . .. ~ :

~10'71~Z~
and related part in the position shown in Fig. 9;
Fig. 10 is a front end view of a modified apparatus adapted for sewing side-by-side lines of fastener elements. This view is partly in section to show the relationship of the feeding knife with the lines;
Fig. 11 is a side view partly in section showing the apparatus of Fig. 10;
Fig. 12 is a view showing lines of fastener elements attached to a single piece of fabric by the modification of the apparatus shown in Figs. 10 and 11;
Fig. 13 is an enlarged sectional view of the product shown in Fig. 12, the fabric having been cut intermediate the lines;
Fig. 14 is a further step towards completion of the product shown in Fig. 13 wherein the fabric is folded to dispose the lines of fastener elements on the inside of the fabric in invisible fashion;
Fig. 15 shows in sectional view the fastener of Fig.
14 with its lines interlocked;
Fig. 16 is a view of the fabric in assembly of Fig. 15 showing the zipper slider and an end stop;
Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the system employ-ing the apparatus disclosed in Figs. 1 through 11; and Fig. 18 is a block diagram showing the various steps in the process using the system of Fig. 17.
Referring now to the drawings, a typical fastener element with which the invention is adapted to be used is shown in Fig. A. It comprises a "U"-shaped fastener element having an enlarged head H at its bight, legs L, .

~ 0710Z9 and heels N. Notches o indent the legs adjacent the heels. This "U"-shaped element is of plastic and embedded in the heels are cords M running the length of the fastener and serving to immobilize the elements and uni-formly space them. As in the past, the severing of such a line of fasteners is accomplished by simply cutting the cords M between adjacent elements where desired.
As shown in Fig. 1, an apparatus embodying the in-vention is generally designated 10. It is adapted to be 10 mounted on the presser foot shaft S of a standard sewing machine having a needle bar NB with clamp C and needle N
working in cooperation with the sewing machine bed B. A
conventional feed dog FD ~Fig. 17) engages and moves fabric through the machine from the underside.
The apparatus comprises a frame 12 having a foot poxtion with a vertical opening 14 adapted to receive the presser foot shaft S to which the frame 12 may be secured by the clamping screw 16 disposed in a tapped hole inter-secting the opening 14. The front end of the frame com-20 prises a pair of pressing shoes 18 and 20. The shoes arejoined ~y a web 22 having a depending spreader cam 24 (Fig. 5~. To stabilize the fastener elements E as they move between the shoes 18 and 20 and are spread by the cam 24, the shoes may present lnwardly extending flanges 26 and 28 which engage in the notches O (Fig. A).
Disposed above the shoe 20 in the front of the frame and mounted for movement reciprocally of the frame with some vertical movement as well, is the feed arm 30. Arm 30 rests against the frame 12, and is held thereagainst ; -5-~(~71029 by the retainer plate 31. The front end of the arm 30 is confined to limited vertical movement by the stop finger 32 which is secured by bolts as shown to the leftward side of the frame 12 and extends up over the shoe 18 to present its distal end above the arm 30. In addition, the feed arm 30 is formed with a slot 34 adjacent its rear end.
The slot 34 receives a "T"-shaped spacer 36 which is bolted as by bolt 38 to the frame. The spacer 36 limits the vertical movement of the rear of the arm but permits 10 horizontal reciprocal movement of the arm against the frame (see section 2a).
As shown in Fig. 2a, the frame 12 is drilled with successive smaller bores 37, 37a, 37b from its upper sur- ~ ;
face downward, the last bore 37b intersecting the cutout for the rearward end of the arm 30. The last bore 37b receives a pin 39 which engages the upper surface of the arm 30. The pin 39 is headed at its upper end and is urged downwardly by a spring 39a disposed in bore 37a be-tween the pin 39 and a set screw 39b which is adjustably 20 disposed in tapped bore 37. The pressure exerted on the feed arm by the pin 39 serves to damp the motion of the arm 30 and also to slightly urge the forward end of the arm 30 upward and counterbalance the weight thereof. This assure5 that the knife 57 clears the elements E as the knife moves forwaxd.
Thus, the feed arm 30 is confined to a limited horizontal movement as limited by the opening 34 at its rear end. At its forward end, the arm 30 is permitted slight vertica~ movement limited upwardly by the stop 32.

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Downwardly, the travel of the front end of arm 30 islimited, as will be described.
An upward extension 40 (Fig. 2) of the arm 30 mounts a perpendicularly outward threaded stud 42 which is re-ceived into an opening in the drive arm 44. The forward end of the drive arm 44 is slotted, as shown at 46, to receive the clamping screw CS of the needle clamp C.
A bracket 47, the lower end of which is attached to arm 30, a suitable compression washer 47a and a nut 48 are 10 also received by the shaft 42 so that the drive arm 44 is pressed snugly against the feed arm 30. As a result, when the needle vertically reciprocates, as in a sewing -motion, the drive arm ~4 oscillates about the stud 42.
This causes an up-and-down oscillating movement of the front end of the feed arm 30.
Further controlling the motion of the feed arm 30 and drive arm 44 is the cam roller 50 which is mounted for free rotation on a spindle 52 on arm 44. ~ cam sur-face 54 is provided in a slot 56 in the stationary frame 20 12. The cam 54 is formed with a peak 54a which, as the roller 50 rolls over it, causes the rightward movement (Fig. 2~ of the entire drive arm/feed arm assembly 44,30.
At this same time, the feed arm 30 has dropped due to the fxictional engagement of the descending drive arm 44 with the feed arm 30. A spring shoe 58, mounted on frame 12, urges the wheel S0 leftwardly. The spring shoe 58 is pivoted to the frame 12 by pin 60. The shoe 58 is urged le~twardly by a spring 58a disposed between the shoe 58 and the frame 12.
Mounted on the front end of the arm 30 is a feed knife or blade means which serves, as it moves down and rightwardly (Fig. 2), to engage between adjacent fastener elements E of the line of fastener elements to move the entire line a short distance rearwardly in the sewing machine.
In operation, preferably the feed arm 30 reaches its reaxward limit as the needle shaft reaches its lower limit. Then, as the shaft raises, the arm 44 is cor-respondingly driven up. This causes the front end of 10 the arm 3Q to raise. As the needle N moves farther upward, the spring shoe 58 urges the arm 44 forwardly (Fig. 7) causing the knife to move foxwardly also.
It will be understood that as the arm 30 and knife 57 is making its hoe-like motions, pulling in step-by-step fashion the fastenex line through the machine, the needle N is appropriately synchronized with this motion to sew the fastener elements E, one-by-one, to the fabric F.
The mechanism fox cutting off the line of slide fastener elements E includes the feed arm 30 and the knife 20 57 as already described. It will be noted that the right-ward end ~Fig. ~ of the drive arm 44 is formed with a slot 62. On the othex side of the frame 12 there is mounted an electxic solenoid 70 having an armature comprising a pin 72. The pin is biased in the retracted condition by the spring 73 and stop element 74 limits the retxoactive travel of the pin (Fig. 1~.
Upon actuation of the solenoid 70, the pin is dxiven into the slot 62. The pin has a tapexed fxont end ~Fig.2~

so that even though, as shown in Fig. 2, the pin is not precisely aligned with the slot, the driving action by the solenoid 70 causes the pin to wedge into the opening 62 and to move the drive arm 44/feed arm assembly in a rightward direction. This is done against the bias of the spring shoe 58.
The rightward movement as described causes the knife 57 to assume a new rightward position (Fig. 9) at which the knife is free to be driven all the way down to sever connecting cords of the line of slide fastener elements between adjacent elements (Fig. 9a). It wiIl be under- -stood that the knife 57 is normally held above such a lower level by the horizontal retaining guide means 76 (Fig.
9) comprising the upper surface of cam 24. This means normally prevents the movement of the knife 57 to a level sufficiently low so that the line of fasteners are severed. However, as shown in Fig. 3, the guide means 76 terminate just rightward of the normal end of travel of the feed knife 57. Hence, the normal recip-rocation of the knife 57 is at a level whereat the cords holding the fastener elements E together are not engaged or cut thereby: the knife normally only engages between adjacent elements E and steps the line along. It is only upon actuation of the solenoid 70 and penetration of the slot ~2 b~ the pin 72 which drives the assembly 30, 44 rightward to its limit which permits the severing position of the knife 57.
It will be clear that after the severing of the coxds M, the continued activation of the solenoid with _g_ :

~07~0Z9 the machine operating will cause the continued stitching of the machine and the continued advancing of the fabric F, but no feeding of the line of elements E. This enables the machine to make so-called anchoring stitches before and after the sewing of the line of elements E.
The basic principles and operation of the feeding and severing foot for zipper lines having been now explained, the modification shown in Figs. 10 and 11 should be readily understandable.
In the Figs. 10-11 embodiment, the primed form of the same reference numerals used in the Figs 1 through 9 embodiment are employed where applicable.

Reference is made to Fig. 10 which is a front view of a presser foot embodying the invention and having dual fastener line feeding and severing capabilities. In this modification, the frame 12' supports a pair of fastener element-spreader cams 24' and element guide rails 26', 28' formed in the shoe structure 20', 18'.
The front end of a feed arm 30 is formed with a pair of unitary knives 57'. As in the Figs. 1 through 9 embodi-ment, the knives 57', when supported on the guides 76 and are driven in their hoe-like fashion, serve to step the lines of spaced side-by-side elements E' along. Upon the activation of the solenoid (not shown) the arm 30' and knife 57' move to its more rightward position and operate rightward of the guide 76' to accomplish the severing of the cords of the lines of fasteners simul-taneously.

With the apparatus shown in Figs. 10 and 11, lines ~071~`29 of side-by-side spaced parallel fasteners may be stitched directly to a layer of fabric as shown in Fig. 12. As shown, the relative canting of the two elements E' shown in Fig. 10, dispose the lines of fasteners in opposite fashion (Fig. 12), that is, with the heads of the fastener elements pointing outward with respect to the other line of fasteners. The intermediate product, therefore, is as shown in Fig. 13, a pair of fastener lines with their "U"-shaped openings opposing each other.
As shown in Fig. 3, the fabric F between the elements may then be cut on a line parallel to and intermediate the two lines (see the broken line CL in Fig. 12 indi-cating the cut line~. In the next steP in the garment manufacturing process, the fabric F may be folded at the positions FF just outside of the lines of fastener elements E', yielding the further intermediate product shown in Fig. 14. Finally, a slider X may be applied and the lines of elements E' intermeshed thereby, as shown in Figs. 16 and 15. A conventional slider stop SS may be 20 applied at the fabric joint and further stitching done along the line of severance, as will be understood by one skilled in the art.
Thus, using the dual applicator described in Figs.
10 and 11, there i5 provided means for economically producing, without use of the conventional intermediate tapes, an invisible-type fastener directly attached to the fabric of a garment. Those in the trade will ` appreciate the elimination of the expensive and time-con-suming intermediate steps including the previously thought - . .
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necessary provision of slider elements already affixed to intermediate tapes. Obviously, the apparatus and method of the present invention offers profound advantages over conventional processes.
Figs. 17 and 18 show in self-explanatory fashion in block diagram, the controls for apparatus embodying the invention.
Referring to Fig. 17, a keyboard is connected to a computer/control device which in turn is connected to the sewing machine motor as well as to a cycle sensor capable of counting the number of rotations of the main shaft of the sewing machine.
In an actual commercial embodiment, the computer/
control device takes the form of an instrument known in the trade as a "Microprocessor" and is available from the Pro-Log Corporation of Monterey, California, and bearing the model number PLS-402.
Additional connections to the computer/control device lead to the stitch solenoid 70, a start switch, a digital display element indicating the number of stitches the computer/control device is set for in accordance with the pre-pxogrammed length fed in by the keyboard and a format circuit which establishes a general program for the machine's operation.
Now referring to Fig. 18, the method of operating the machine, includin~ the cixcuitry set forth in Fig. 17, is pxesented~
~ 5 will be understood, prior to operation of the sewin~ machine the keybo~rd is used to feed into the 107~ [)29 computer/control device information basically includingthe desired length of the zipper. The pre-established format circuitry establishes from this information the number of stitches involved and also presents to the computer/control device the number of end stitches which serve to provide stitching to the fabric prior to and subsequent to the actual stitching of the line of fasteners so that at either end of the line there are additional securing stitches to avoid the inadvertent working free of the ends of the fastener lines.
Pursuant to the instructions fed to the machine by the computer/control device, the commencement of the stitching operation is effected with the solenoid 70 activated. The activation of the solenoid causes, as the needle end reciprocates, the blade 75 to simply recipro-cate in its cutting position without effecting any feeding of the fastener element line.
When the cycle sensor has counted the appropriate number of pre-stitches, the computer/control device automatically deactivates the solenoid 70 so that in sub-sequent reciprocations of the needle, the drive arm 44 - drives the feed arm 30 and in the aforedescribed hoe-like motions feeding the line of fasteners at each recipro-cation of the needle, with the needle correspondingly stitching the individual elements to the fabric F.
When the cycle sensor has counted the pre-determined number of rotations of the sewing machine drive shaft which equate to the number of inches of zipper to be installed, the computer/control device activates the solenoid 70 to ~0'71C~Z9 to cause the cutting operation of the line of elements E
as aforedescribed.
Finally, with the solenoid 70 activated, the solenoid and the knife 57 reciprocating in its cutting position without feeding of any lines of element, the final or post stitches are counted out by the sensor prior to the shutting down of the machine.
It will be apparent that the improved apparatus and method as described represent a tremendous advance in the art which effects new economies in the manufacture of garments and improves quality of the final product.

Claims (7)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An apparatus for affixing a line of zipper fastener elements to the material of a garment or the like, the line of zipper elements comprising a plurality of "U"-shaped plastic elements each having at its bight an enlarged head and a pair of parallel legs, the elements being held in spaced aligned relation by a pair of cords bonded in the respective legs of each element, the appa-ratus comprising a sewing machine, means for holding the line with the "U"-shaped elements with their heads down against the fabric so that the needle of the sewing machine can pass over the successive legs and stitch them to the fabric, reciprocating blade means driven in timed relation-ship with a needle of the sewing machine for feeding the fabric and line step-by-step fashion through the sewing machine and engaging means selectively actuatable for deepening the reciprocation of the blade means to sever the line of fasteners.

2. In an apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, the improve-ment wherein the apparatus includes means for counting the elements as they are sewn on the fabric and for actuating the engaging means after a selected number of elements have been sewn.

3. In an apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, the improvement wherein the apparatus includes means for terminating the sewing operation a selected number of stitches after the line of elements have been severed.

4. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the blade means comprises a hoe-type structure driven by the sewing machine in hoe-like movements successively engaging with its blade behind successive elements to pull them through the machine.

5. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the hoe-type structure when engaged by the engaging means makes a deeper stroke and its blade drops to sever the cords of the line of fastener elements whereby the feed means comprises the severing means.

6. For a sewing machine, an attachment adapted to sew a line of zipper fastener elements onto the fabric of a garment, the line comprising a series of "U"-shaped elements each having an enlarged head on its bight and a pair of parallel legs, the elements being held in appropriate spaced aligned relation by a pair of parallel cords embedded respectively in the respective legs of the elements, the attachment comprising a body, guide means for guiding the line through the machine with the head down on the fabric and the legs directed upward, line feed and line severing means including a hoe-like element pivotally attached to the body, a driving element connected to the needle-driving means of the sewing machine and to the hoe-like element to drive the hoe-like element in hoe-like strokes as the needle reciprocates, the blade of the hoe-like element facing the line adapted to engage behind the elements, one after another, and pull them into the machine as the needle reciprocates, and engagement means which when actuated permits the hoe-like element to make a deep stroke to sever the cords on the line of fasteners.

7. An attachment for a sewing machine as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the engagement means includes solenoid means and associated means which when in engaged position alters the hoe-like stroke of the hoe-like means for the severing operation.