GB2029470A - A device and a method for everting tubular garment portions and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of everting a tubular article of clothing comprises the steps of mounting one end of the article on a spout member 5, subjecting the other end of the spout member to a relatively powerful suction during a short interval of time, and a less powerful suction during a following interval of time sufficient to effect eversion of the article and removing the article from the spout. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A device and a method for inverting tubular garment portions and the like The invention pertains to an equipment by means of which it is possible to inverse trousers, sleeves and furs.

Garments are manufactured by sowing on the wrong side. Hence it is necessary to revert the product afterwards. This process is normally performed manually. It is a tedious and tiresome job, which has proved to be physically damaging to the operator. The job is especially demanding in the case of turning the legs of denim trousers or the like heavy materials.

In laundry the garments are often inversed several times by hand. This work is even more demanding than the operation during manufacture of clothes.

When processing furs the product is reversed several times. The job is very similar to the above-mentioned operations.

Several semi-automatic devices are known to be used to aid the operator in reversing various garment products. Suction pipes connected directly to exhausters have been applied to reverse hosiery, stockings and the like.

When garments of heavy textile material such as denim trousers or dirty, stiff or wet clothes for laundry are exposed to a suction pipe for inversion, it is not likely to have enough suction power to perform the operation. An increase of the suction leads to designs using heavy and expensive exhaust equipment which will consume excessive power. The high forces will remain during the entire operation even when it is only needed to initiate the inversion. The high forces may damage the material and demand detrimental holding power of the operator. Therefore, no known equipment has been deviced to facilitate general purpose inversion of garments, covering the lightweight materials (hosiery) as well as the heavy materials (trousers and work clothes).

The present invention does in a new and surprising way invert garments in a two-step operation by first creating a suction shock upon the garment, whereby the initial resistance of the material is overcome. While the material is in motion it is exposed to a constant air flow which pulls it into a tube, thus accomplishing the inversion. By this process even the most difficult inversions are obtained without damaging the material or without special, physical demands on the operator.

The equipment for for instance turning of a pair of trousers functions as follows: 1) The trouser leg is pulled a few centimetres over the end of a specificly designed tube.

2) The operator pushes a button which opens a specially designed large valve between the tube and a tank with accumulated vacuum. The shock wave initiates the pulling of the trouser leg into the tube. The following suction created by the exhauster on the tank fulfils the operation whereby the leg is inverted into the tube.

3) Then the valve is closed and the operator places the other leg over the spout of the tube. In the meantime the exhauster has created a new vacuum in the tank. The operation is repeated and the second trouser leg is then inverted. Both legs are now in the tube. The valve is closed and the vacuum in the tank rebuilt by the exhauster.

4) With the valve closed the inverted trousers are then easily pulled out of the tube by the operator.

The automatic equipment uses only a minimum of power when needed, thus facilitating an inexpensive optimum equipment design.

The initial shock is created by opening of a special, large valve between the suction tube to which the garment is exposed. The valve connects through a large opening area the tube with an exhausted tank, whereby the shock wave is accomplished. The tank is connected to an exhauster which by its propulsion creates enough air flow to 1) create the exhaustion of the tank during operation when the valve is closed and 2) maintain the necessary air flow to fulfil the turning operation after accumulated vacuum has been released for the shock initiating the process.

The dimensions of the spout of the tube are chosen in relation to the specific garment material. The internal tube, valve, vacuum reservoir and the exhauster dimensions are designed to create the needed power within the increments of operational time. Thus the equipment can be applied to the inversion of a wide variety of garment materials.

In specific cases it can be necessary to use a few different tube spout configurations which easily can be exchanged, thus allowing for inversion of a wide variety of products.

In very specific cases, i.e. in the fur industry, it can be of interest to operate the specific cycles with specific changes of shock-magnitude and period as well as varying air flow characteristics. This may then be obtained through the same principle only changing the design parameters for exhauster, vacuum reservoir, valve and internal tube. It may also be accomplished through an electric steering system, whereby the operations can be spaced and timed automatically after a pre-selected code and the flow varied accordingly through guided monitoring valves.

The garment inverter shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 consists of (1) a vacuum reservoir: 20 mm thick chipboard panels on a welded structure of special steel profiles. The vacuum reservoir can be made from other materials such as reinforced glass fiber or steel plate.

The reservoir is placed on four supporting legs (2).

The operating table (3) is hinged to the front of the vacuum reservoir (1).

An inner tube (4) is flanged to the inside of the vacuum tank while a tube spout (5) is mounted correspondingly on the outside of the vacuum reservoir (1).

An air cylinder (7) with a valve (6) is mounted on a yoke inside the vacuum reservoir (1) as shown in Fig. 1.

An exhauster (9) driven by an integral motor (10) is mounted outside on top of the vacuum reservoir (1). The intake inside the vacuum reservoir (1 ) is furnished with a filter (8), an air filter, pneumatic valves and regulators (11) and a motor starter relay (12) is mounted in a separate box in the front of the vacuum reservoir (1). A push button (13) for operating the equipment is mounted on the tube spout (5).

The invention even comprises the disclosed method of turning the tubular garment or similar turnable members. Obviously the members may be turned inside out (or outside in) one by one, by separate complete operation cycles including retraction of the turned member from the tube 4 and spout 5. On the other hand, especially as far as trousers are concerned, it is very easy to turn first one leg, by placing its crutch opening against the spout end and operating the device, and then the other leg upon displacement of the crutch portion relative to the spout end, whereby the already turned leg is pressed more or less flat inside the spout and thus give space for the second leg to be turned, whereafter the pair of trousers is retracted. It might even be possible to effect turning of both legs simulta neously, by connecting the entire waist portion with the spout end, such that the vacuum gets access to both legs at the same time.

It should be emphasized that the invention is not limited to any particular purpose of turning the tubular members. Some purposes have already been mentioned, and to them may be added the purpose of subjecting the members to a vacuum cleaning effect, e.g. for removal of fluff from velvet fabrics.

It has been mentioned that upon the first vacuum shock the garment portion should be subjected to a constant air flow, but it will be readily understood that the requirements as to the constancy are not extremely high. Thus, in some instances it may even be sufficient to operate the valve 6 or any other valve means by pure on-off-operation.

Claims (3)

1. A method of inverting a tubular arti cle of clothing comprising the steps of mount ing one end of the article on a spout member, subjecting the other end of the spout member to a powerful suction during a short interval of time, allowing a less powerful suction to exist during a following interval of time sufficient to effect inversion of the article, and removing the article from the spout.

2. An apparatus for inverting a tubular article of clothing, comprising a spout member for receiving one end of the article and means for creating a suction shock pulse on said spout and a following moderate air flow through the spout.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 2, in which the spout is connected with a vacuum accumulation chamber through a large valve member.