AU606246B2 - Method and apparatus for processing garment portions - Google Patents

Description

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62 46 S F Ref: 82250 FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int Class Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: Related Art: II d 6 LLL LI.Prlii I! Name and Address of Applicant: Russell Corporation Alexander City Alabama 35010 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Address for Service: Complete Specification for the invention entitled: Method and Apparatus for Processing Garment Portions The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us S004402 2z/ 12/89 5845/3 1 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for use in an automated garment making process detects whether a garment portion on a continuously moving conveyor is right side up by use of a photodetector.

If the garment portion is not right side up, the photodetector signals a control unit which causes a flipper assembly to flip the garment portion over as it is discharged from the conveyor. The garment portion retains its original position relative to other garment portions on the conveyor and the conveyor does not stop.

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0~ 00 0 000 0 0 00 00 0 000 0 00 0 0 0 00) 0 00 0 0 0 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESbING GARMENT PORTIONS The present invention relates to a method and apparatus of garment manufacture for detecting whether a garment portion moving along an endless belt conveyor is the right side up and inverting such garment portions which are not the right side up.

Garment manufacturing is an increasingly competitive industry wherein numerous innovations have been made in an effort to reduce the per garment labour and time expenditure. In order to improve productivity, many aspects of garment production have been automated. For example, it is common practice to use automated sewing machines to stitch a seam along one side of a garment. In so doing, the appropriate garment portions are placed on a conveyor which carries the portions through the sewing head where the actual sewing takes place. The proper placement and alignment of the garment portions on the conveyor is a major requirement for successful operation of such automated machinery. Often garment portions are placed on the conveyor system from stacks of thereof, each garment portion in the stack is supposedly in its proper face up or face down position for further processing; however, it sometimes occurs that during the cutting or stacking process a garment 25 portion is stacked in a improper face up or face down position and succeeding garment portions are stacked thereon using the improperly positioned garment as a reference, When this occurs, the automated machinery produces a quantity of defective garments, each having at least one portion sewn in with the wrong side out. Such occurrences can be extremely costly and are not easily prevented by the equipment operators in a garment making assembly line.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for processing fabric garment portions having a preferred side and a non-preferred side selected in i o u o0 0 0 00 0 0 0i 4 4 0i MNOP W

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2 accordance with the weave of the fabric comprising: first means for detecting whether said preferred side is face up or face down; second means for detecting the leading and trailing edge of said garment portion at a predetermined point as it moves along a conveyor; means for selectively inverting a garment as it is discharged from said conveyor; and control means responsive at selected time intervals of selected time intervals to said I. o first and second detecting means for o. controlling said inverting means.

o oa 15 With such an apparatus it is possible to identify 00 0 0 °o and to reposition garment portions which have been positioned in an improper face up or face down position prior to sewing the portion into a garment. Thus on can reduce the number of garment portions improperly sewn into garments and thereby improve the productivity and quality zontrol of the automated garment manufacturing process.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, the following descripion is given, merely by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a top plan view of my invention one embodiment of apparatus according to the invention at the junction of a pair of garment portion conveyors; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the centreline of the conveyor as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a side elevational view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view of the

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I_ ;I ".TUTOBte- 3 4i apparatus; Fig. 6 is a side elevational representation of the i apparatus in position to pass a properly positioned garment portion; Figs. 7,8 and 9 are a series of side elevational representations of the apparatus in the process of repositioning an improperly placed garment portion.

In automated garment making machines, the garment portions are typically carried on endless belt conveyors.

In Fig. 1, there is illustrated a -e-ee-iag- -conveyor which comprises a plurality of parallel and spaced apart endless belt conveyor '1 which are concomitantly driven by a drive shaft 12 and roller 12a, which in turn is driven by a plurality of belts 13 and pulleys 14 from a conventional e len-tJ source of power, not shown. The conveyor ill pass over a support plate 17 and a plurality of end rollers 18 rotatably mounted on a shaft 19. The support plate 17 has a plurality of slots 21 formed thereon intermediate the roller 18 and opening toward shaft 19. A plurality of generally L-shaped members 22 are affixed to the shaft 19 such that a major portion 23 is aligned beneath each slot 21 and a minor portion 24 extends downwardly substantially tangent to shaft i 19. Although the Figs. 1-3 and 6-9 illustrate a true Lshaped member, it should be noted that the member 22 may actually partially encircle the shaft 19 to support the major and minor portions 23 and 24 and may not be a true L.

Ij iNonetheless, the rollers 18 extend radially beyond any cisvature of members 2 about shaft 19 which is supported in Shearing sidewall 20. It will be noted that major portion 23 carries a cloth engaging portion 26, whereas minor portion 24 is smooth for reasons which will become apparent hereafter.

As shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 4, shaft 19 has affixed to one end thereof a sprocket 27 about which an endless chain 28 is engaged. The chain 28 passes over an i idler sprocket 29. Intermediate sprockets 27 and 28, a drive link 31 of chain 28 is connected to the output shaft 32 of a linee actuator 33, which is a multiposition device used to move the link 31 to one of a number of preselected positions thereby rotating the shaft 19, and displacing the members 22 through a predetermined arc. it will be appreciated that the chain 29 may be replaced by a mechanical linkage and actuator 33 may be replace by a reversible electrical motor with the important criterion being that the shaft 19 must be selectively movable through a predetermined arc in either direction.

As seen in Fig. 2, the minor portion 24 of member S 22 is of sufficient length to pass adjacent the surface of a second conveyor 36 located downstream of and -lightly below the screening conveyor 10. The major portion 23 is long enough to extend outwardly over second conveyor 36 when rotated to its full displacement from the reflected and thus the rest position shown in t 'id line in Fig. 2.

Second conveyor 36 may be a side belt conveyor having a surface that is somewhat less than smooth such that garment portions overlying the conveyor are positively urged therealong on the belt. As also may be seen in Fig. 2, a shelf 37 extends beneath the conveyor ll and the conveyor 36.

A photoelectric switch 38 such as an OMRON model No. E3F-R2C4 is mounted above the screening conveyor 10. A retro-reflective target 39 is formed on the support plate i 17, by paint or tape as is well known, in position to cooperate with switch 38 such that a garment portion carried by the conveyor 10 will pass through che optical path between the switch 38 and target 39. The switch 38 will provide an electrical signal indicative of the passage of the leading edge and trailing edge of the garment portion.

This electrical signal serves as an input to a n~icroprocessor control unit 41 such as a GE series one Sk)'$l i t rr 04 o D *14 0.

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o 5 SO S S Sc programmable controller. A photo detector 42 is used to ascertain whether the garment portion has been properly placed on the conveyor It should be understood that the garment portions processed by this machinery have a 'right' side and a 'wrong' side. On the right side the weave of the fabric is presented at 90° to the weave on the wrong side. Thus, one of the sides when viewed from a selected point, will appear as a plurality of fibres aligned perpendicular to the line of sight, whereas the other side will appear as a plurality of fibres aligned parallel to the line of sight. Light incident to the surface of the fabric at an acute ancer will thus be reflected differently depending which side of the fabric the light strikes. The photo detector 42 is 15 positioned to transmit a beam of light, e.g. infrared light, onto the garment portions at an acute angle, and to detect the amount of light reflected from the garment portions. As noted hereinabove, the amount of light rnflacted will differ depending on whether the garment is 'right' side up or 20 'right' side down. The photo detector 42, which may be a 'Smarteye'TM, Model SAL by Tri Tronics of Tampa, Florida, provides an electrical signal which indicates the amount of light reflected and thus the face up or down position of the garment portion to control unit 41.

25 The control unit 41 is operatively connected to control a hydraulic drive unit 43 which in turn controls the actuator 33, Thus, the control unit 41 is responsible for positioning the L-shaped members. In operation, the control unit 41 is programmed to coordinate the movement of the Lshaped members 22 is accordance with the speed of the conveyor and the signals provided by the switch 38 and photodetector 42. Each garment portion is individually screened to insure that its 'right' side is up. The Lshaped members 22 may be positioned in a rest position as shown in solid line in Figs.2 and 7. When the control unit 46

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41 receives a signal indicating a leading edge has passed switch 38, it then looks for a signal from detector 41 indicating whether the garment portion is properly positioned, in which case, the control unit 41 causes the actuator 33 to move the L-shaped member 22 into position shown in Fig. 6 such that the minor portion supports the garment portion as it is discharged from the se-r-en-i-ngFirs conveyor 10 cnto conveyor 36. The control unit includes a timer which measures the time elapsed relative to leading edge and trailing edge signals received from switch 38 to determine when to return the L-shaped member to the rest Sposition.

If the signal from photodetector 42 indicates that the garment portiou is not right side up, the controller O 15 unit 41 causes the, L-shaped members 22 to remain in the rest position, whereupon the garment portions begin to accumulate on shelf 37 as shown in Fig. 7. When sufficient time has So elapsed for approximately half of the garment portion to Spass over the rollers 18, the control unit 41 causes the 20 actuator 33 rapidly to drive the chain 31 forward, thus causing the major portion 23 to rotate upwardly and forwardly between the conveyors 11 thereby lifting the trailing portion of the garment portion froil the conveyor and rapidly carrying it forward as shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

When the major portion 23 stops in the position shown in Fig. 9, the momentum of the garment portion carries it onto the conveyor 36 which then pulls the remainder of the garment portion off of shelf 37. The L-shaped members 22 Sare rapidly returned to the rest position before the next r 30 garment portion reaches the slots 21.

It may be seen that the garment portion has now been inverted and has the proper side up for attachment. It will also be appreciated that by flipping the garment portion in this manner, the part carried forward by the Lshaped members is caused to occupy the position on conveyor ,S WAL, NT 0 rI -U i p ii i "I 7 7 36 which was left vacant as the garment portion remains essentially uniform and the conveyors run continuously, regardless of the face up or face down condition of any garment portion.

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Claims (11)

1. Apiparatus for processing fabric garment portions having a preferred side and a non-preferred side selected in accordance with the weave of the fabric comprising: first means for dctecting whether said preferred side is face up or face down; second means for detecting the leading and trailing edge of said garment portion at a predetermined point as it moves along a conveyor; means for selectively inverting a garment portion as it is discharged from said conveyor; and control means responsive at selected time intervals to said O.ctI first and second detecting means for controlling said inverting means.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said first detecting 1 means comprises a photoelectric detector having an output responsive to the o: amount of light reflected by said garment portion in a selected direction.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said second detecting means comprises a photoelectric detector positioned to detect the presence or absence of a garment portion at said predetermined point and having an output indicator thereof

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said control means comprises a microprocessor having an input from each of said detecting means and an output to said means for selectively inverting said garment portion, with said microprocessor being programmed to actuate said means for selectively inverting at a predetermined time to invert or pass o said garment portion in accordance with RLF/1445R a fc I I 0 0 0 0 94P 0 0 0 00 006 0' 0 0 4 60 0 000 00 0. 0 00 0i 0 S0 0 0 0~ 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 00 0 0p 0 0 0 output signals of said first and second detecting me-r Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, wherein said conveyor comprises a plurality of parallel spaced apart conveyor elements concomitantly driven about an endless path between an intake end and a discharge end of said conveyor and wherein said means for selectively inverting comprises: a plurality of generally L-shaped members mounted in parallel on a common shaft with each member disposed adjacent at least one of said conveyor elements; drive means for rotating said shaft to move said members selectively between a garment 15 portion inverting position and a non- inverting position.

6. Apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein said common shaft extends transversely of said conveyor elements 20 at said discharge end with each L-shaped member located adjacent at least one of said conveyor elements and wherein said drive means rotate said shaft rapidly such that said garment portion is lifted proximal the trailing end by said L-shaped members and carried forwardly to another conveyor 25 for further processing.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 5 or 6 wherein said another conveyor is an output conveyor positioned proximal the discharge end of said plurality of conveyor iand separated therefrom by a predetermined distance; a cloth receiving tray mounted beneath the space between said plurality of conveyor elements and said output conveyor, with said L-shaped members having a minor leg with a length sufficient tu support a garment, between said plurality of conveyor elements and said output conveyor and a major leg i i _;lr having a length sufficient to extend beyond said space between said plurality of conveyor elements and said output conveyor, with each major leg having a fabric engaging portion on the end thereof.

8. Apparatus according to Claim 6 wherein said drive means comprises a multi-position drive unit adapted to position said L-shaped members at a disengaged position such that the garment portion is not contacted by the L-shaped members, a pass position whereat the garment portions are supported thereby as they are discharged from said conveyors, and adapted to urge said shaft in the direction of motion of said conveyor elements such that said L-shaped members are urged upward between said conveyor elements through an arc in excess of 90° at a speed substantially S in excess of the linear speed of said plurality of conveyor elements,

9. Apparatus according to in Claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein each L-shaped member includes a major leg disposed generally upstream of said discharge end and a minor leg extending generally downwardly and forwardly from said shaft relative to said conveyor with said major leg having fabric engaging members affixed thereto. Apparatus according to Claim 7 or Claim 9 when appendant to Claim 7, wherein said drive means selectively positions said minor leg in a non-fabric-engaging position and a fabric-engaging position whereat said minor leg extends forwardly of said conveyor discharge end and supports o b t: properly positioned garment portions subsequent to discharge thereof from I said conveyor,

11. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 5 to 10, wherein said >o"r drive means comprises an actuator in the form of a bi-directional linear actuator operably connected to said shaft or of a bi-directional electric motor. RLF/1445R 11

12. A method for the processing of garment portions on a continuously moving fir!st and second conveyors comprising the following steps: determining the orientation of the garment portion as right side up or wrong side up based on the reflection of light from the garment portion at a predetermined angle; and inverting garment portions determined to be wrong side up as they are discharged from said first conveyor; and rotating a plurality of garment por.;on supporting members into position extending forwardly of said first conveyor such that garment portions determined to be right side up are supported intermediate said first and second conveyors, :0 0" 13. A method according to Claim 12 wherein said inverting step comprises: detecting the passage of the leading edge of a garment portion determined to be the wrong side up at a predetermined point relative to the end of said first conveyor; allowing a predetermined part of said garment portion to accumulate adjacent the end of said conveyor; and rotating a plurality of garment portion supporting members upwardly and forwardly through openings in said conveyor to lift and throw the trailina edge of said garment portion forwardly into engagement with a continuously moving second conveyor such that the trailing edge becomes the leading edge and the accumulated part is drawn onto said second conveyor in a right side up position. T- Y- d W RLF/1445R 12

14. Apparatus for pressing fabric garments, said apparatus being substantially as therebefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A method for the pressing of fabric garments, said method being substantially as therebefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. DATED this TWENTY THIRD day of DECEMBER, 1988 Russell Corporation iPatent Attorneys for the Applicant a' SPRUSON FERGUSON B0 0 a o 0 D f t g