GB2081316A

GB2081316A - Automatic loading of seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder

Info

Publication number: GB2081316A
Application number: GB8122600A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: MORI SUKEO
Current assignee: MORI SUKEO
Priority date: 1980-07-31
Filing date: 1981-07-22
Publication date: 1982-02-17
Also published as: GB2081316B; JPS5731891A

Abstract

Stocking blanks 5 are picked up by their welts hook 6 of a pick-up unit A. A transfer unit B indents spreader pegs T, T' in the open welt which then move to enlarge the welt opening. The transfer unit B then moves towards a stocking blank holder C of a conventional toe closing machine, and a toe end of the stocking blank S is sucked part-way into a suction tube P while the enlarged welt opening is passed over an end of the suction tube P. As movement of the transfer unit B continues, the end of the stocking blank S is pulled back out of the tube P so that the blank is turned inside out on the exterior of the tube. The transfer unit B is then withdrawn in readiness for a toe closing operation. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Automatic loading of seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder This invention relates to the art of hosiery manufacture and is directed to a method of and apparatus for automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the loaded stocking blanks, such as an automatically operated machine for closing the toes of the stocking blanks.

In U.S. Patent No. 3941069 there is described an automatically operated toe closing machine in which seamless tubular blanks for ladies' stockings are loaded by hand upon a part of the machine known as a stocking blank holder. The holder has an open-ended suction tube flanked by a pair of finger pieces. In the loading operation, an operator takes a stocking blank, right side out, and presents it toe end first to the open end of the suction tube so that the stocking blank is sucked partway into the tube. The suction then stops and the operator reverse-folds the welt end portion of the stocking blank over the open end of the tube to encircle the same and draws the stocking blank out of the tube and onto the periphery of the latter so that the stocking blank is positioned, inside out, at a predetermined place on the tube in encirclement thereof.Thereafter the stocking holder and the stocking blank thereon are subjected to further machine operations which have no connection with the present invention.

Attention is directed to U.S. Patent No. 3941069 for a description of the toe closing machine itself and for a more detailed explanation of its method of operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement in this loading technique, whereby the stocking blanks are loaded automatically upon the stocking blank hoider.

Accordingly, the present invention provides in a first aspect thereof a method of automatica!ly loading seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the loaded stocking blanks, comprising the steps of placing the stocking blanks in a position in which they are operatively related to a transfer unit, operating the transfer unit to transfer the stocking blanks from said position to the transfer unit, and operating the transfer unit to re-transfer the stocking blanks from the transfer unit to said stocking blank holder of the machine.

In a second aspect thereof, the present invention provides apparatus for automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks one at a time onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the stocking blanks, comprising a container which receives a supply of the stocking blanks therein, a member operative to engage with and hold open a welt end of each stocking blank, a plurality of spreader pegs movable between opened and closed positions, means operative to insert the spreader pegs in their closed position in the open welt end of each stocking blank and thereby transfer the stocking blank from the member to the spreader pegs, means operative to move the spreader pegs to their opened position and thereby enlarge the open welt end of the stocking blank thereon, and means operative to receive said stocking blank holder in the enlarged open welt end of the stocking blank and thereby re-transfer the stocking blank from the spreader pegs to said stocking blank holder of the machine.

In a preferred arrangement, the apparatus comprises a container for a supply of seamless tubular stocking blanks, a pick-up unit operative automatically to pick up the stocking blanks one at a time from the container, and a dual function stocking blank transfer unit operative automatically to transfer the stocking blanks to itself from the pick-up unit and then automatically to re-transfer the stocking blanks from itself to the stocking blank holder of a toe closing machine.

The operation of this apparatus provides a method of automatically loading stocking blanks in a machine for closing the toes of the stocking blanks.

The present invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus for automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder of a toe closing machine, according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of part of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2 during transfer of a stocking blank from a pick-up unit to a transfer unit; and Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 3 but showing the apparatus during the transfer of the stocking blank from the transfer unit to the stocking blank holder of the toe closing machine.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, as in the abovementioned U.S. Patent No. 3941069 the toe closing machine includes a plurality of stocking blank holders C arranged to travel along an endless oval path D with their axes disposed horizontally and in mutually parallel, spaced relation. The holders C travel along the path D in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2 and come to rest in turn at times at a loading position where the path D intersects its own longitudinal axis X.

An axis Y is tangent to the path D at axis X and extends vertically through the horizontal axis of the stocking blank holder C at the loading position.

Again, as in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent each stocking blank holder C is composed of a suction tube P and finger pieces Ca.

The present apparatus comprises generally a container 1 for stocking blanks S, a pick-up unit A which automatically picks up the stocking blanks one at a time from the container 1 and a dual function transfer unit B which automatically transfers the stocking blanks to itself from the pick-up unit A and which thereafter automatically re-transfers the stocking blanks from itself to the stocking blank holder C at the loading position.

More particularly, the container 1 receives therein a stacked supply of lengthwise extending seamless tubular stocking blanks S and is placed below the stocking blank holder C in the loading position with the stocking blanks parallel to the holder, welt ends S' of the stocking blanks being at the forward end of the holder C. The pick-up unit A includes a bracket 4 supported by and vertically movable with a carrier 3 which moves up and down along a pair of spaced guide rods 2.

A lever 5 supported in the bracket 4 is operatively related to a fork-shaped hook 6 to cause the latter automatically to engage the welt ends of the stocking blanks, one at a time, at the start of each cycle of operations of the apparatus. The bracket 4 with a stocking blank S supported on the hook 6, is automatically raised by the carrier 3 from a lowermost position to an intermediate position at axis X opposite the transfer unit B. The welt end S' of the stocking blank 5 is held in an opened condition to enable the transfer unit B to enter the latter and transfer the stocking blank to itself from the hook 6. The bracket 4 after being freed of the stocking blank-is automatically raised further by the carrier 3 to an uppermost position where it is held out of the way.The bracket 4 is automatically lowered directly from its uppermost position to its lowermost position prior to the start of each cycle of operations. The described movements of the carrier 3 are controlled by suitable microswitches which are regulated by a control drum of the toe closing The dual function transfer unit B is disposed so as to be movable lengthwise of and parallel to the holder C in lateral relation thereto when the holder is at the loading position. The transfer unit B includes a vertically disposed base plate 8 upon which a pair of meshed gears 7 and 7' are rotatably supported, the plate itself being slidably supported on a spaced pair of horizontally extending guide rods 8a.The plate 8 is provided with support arms 9 and 9' having respective elongated slots 12 and 12' at one end thereof and with support arms 10 and 10' having respective elongated slots 14 and 14' midway of their length.

The arms 9 and 10 are juxtaposed with oneanother, as are the arms 9' and 10'. Respective shoulder screws 11 extend freely through the slots 14 and 14' in the arms 10 and 10' and through suitable apertures in the arms 9 and 9' into supporting engagement with the gears 7 and 7'.

Similar screws 1 7 and 17' extend freely through suitable apertures in the arms 10 and 10' and through the slots 12 and 12' in the arms 9 and 9' into supporting engagement with blocks 1 6 and 16', which in turn are supported on the plate 8. An upper pair of spreader pegs T' and T extend normal to the upper arms 9 and 10 at their free ends respectively, while a similar lower pair of spreader pegs T and T extend normal to the lower pair of arms 9' and 10' at theirfree ends respectively.

A reversing motor unit M, on the opposite side of the plate 8, is operatively related to the gear 7 to turn the meshed gears upon command alternately in opposite directions through an arc of about ninety degrees between forward and retracted positions. In the retracted position of the gears, the shoulder screws 11 and the pairs of arms 9, 10 and 9', 10' occupy the positions shown in Fig. 3 and in full lines in Fig. 2, wherein the spreader pegs T and T' on each pair of arms are in abutting relation. When the gears are turned to their forward position, the shoulder screws 11 act upon the pairs of arms 9, 10 and 9', 10' to tum same about the screws 17, 17' and at the same time to slide the arm 9 lengthwise of the arm 1 0 and to slide the arm 9' lengthwise of the arm 10'.

As a result, the arms turn to the positions indicated in Fig. 4 and in chain-dotted lines in Fig.

2, wherein the spreader pegs are spaced horizontally on bqth sides of the axis Y and spaced vertically on both sides of the axis X. In Fig. 2 the positions of the shoulder screws under this condition are indicated at 1 1'.

In operation of the apparatus, with the gears 7 and 7' in their retracted position, the plate 8 is moved forwardly in the direction of arrow a in Fig.

1 so that the abutting pegs T T' pass through the open welt end of the stocking blank, as shown in Fig. 3, to transfer the stocking blank from the hook 6 of the bracket 4 to the pegs, after which the hook 6 is withdrawn from the welt end of the stocking blank, The bracket 4 is then raised to its uppermost out-of-the-way position leaving the stocking blank on the pegs. With forward motion of the plate 8 stopped, the motor M turns the gears 7 and 7' to their forward position, thereby pivotting the pairs of support arms away from each other and causing the spreader pegs T and T' to separate horizontally and vertically, with the upper pair of pegs moving upwardly in the direction of arrow b and the lower pair of pegs moving downwardly in the direction of arrow b' (Fig. 1).Such movement of the pegs causes them to engage with and to enlarge the open welt end of the stocking blank, as shown in Fig. 4, where the fabric of the stocking blank is in tensioned engagement with the spreader pegs. The stocking blank is thus transferred to the transfer unit B from the pick-up unit A.

Forward movement of plate 8 then resumes so that the spaced pegs and the enlarged stocking blank thereon move along holder C in the direction of arrows c, d in Fig. 1, during which movement the stocking blank is drawn over the forward end of the holder. During the first part of such forward movement of the plate 8, the toe end of the stocking blank is sucked into the suction tube P, as shown in Fig. 4, and during the remaining part of such forward movement the stocking blank is pulled back out of the suction tube and onto holder C to encircle the same, so that the stocking blank is thereby turned inside out. Thereafter the plate 8 is moved in the opposite direction to withdraw the pegs T and T' from the stocking blank which remains on the holder C, and the gears 7 and 7' are turned to their retracted position to place the support arms and the pegs in position for the transfer of a new stocking blank thereto. Thus the stocking blank is re-transferred from the transfer unit B to the stocking blank holder C. The holder C with the stocking blank thereon moves along the oval path D and another holder takes its place so that the cycle of operations may be repeated.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the loaded stocking blanks, comprising the steps of placing the stocking blanks in a position in which they are operatively related to a transfer unit, operating the transfer unit to transfer the stocking blanks from said position to the transfer unit, and operating the transfer unit to re-transfer the stocking blanks from the transfer unit to said stocking blank holder of the machine.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, including the steps of providing a supply of the stocking blanks in a first position and moving the stocking blanks one at a time from said supply to said position in which the stocking blanks are operatively related to the transfer unit.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, including the steps of enlarging a welt openings of each stocking blank, retransferring the stocking blanks from the transfer unit to the stocking blank holder while the welt openings thereof are held in said enlarged condition, and subsequently returning the welt openings to their normal size.

4. Apparatus for automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks one at a time onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the stocking blanks, comprising a container which receives a supply of the stocking blanks therein, a member operative to engage with and hold open a welt end of each stocking blank, a plurality of spreader pegs movable between opened and closed positions, means operative to insert the spreader pegs in their closed position in the open welt end of each stocking blank and thereby transfer the stocking blank from the member to the spreader pegs, means operative to move the spreader pegs to their opened position and thereby enlarge the open welt end of the stocking blank thereon, and means operative to receive said stocking blank holder in the enlarged open welt end of the stocking blank and thereby retransfer the stocking blank from the spreader pegs to said stocking blank holder of the machine.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said machine includes a plurality of stocking blank holders which move along an endless path with each stocking blank holder coming to rest in turn at a loading position, and wherein the apparatus acts to load each stocking blank in turn on a respective ones of the stocking blank holders when said respective stocking blank holder is at rest at said loading position.

6. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 or 5 including at least one gear operatively related to the spreader pegs to move the same between their opened and closed positions.

7. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the spreader pegs are movable lengthwise of said stocking blank holder.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the member is a hook which engages the welt end of each stocking blank to present the same in an open condition to the spreader pegs.

9. A method of automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the loaded stocking blanks, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 0. Apparatus for automatically loading seamless tubular stocking blanks one at a time onto a stocking blank holder of a machine for operating upon the stocking blanks, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.