GB794463A - Folding machine for piling fabric in superposed folds preparatory to simultaneous cutting of the various folds according to a pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

794,463. Folding fabrics. SOC. PER AZIONI VIRGINIO RIMOLDI & CO. April 17, 1956 [Sept. 24, 1955], No. 11685/56. Class 42 (2). A machine for laying fabric in superposed folds comprises carriage reciprocating over an adjustable path on a table, the carriage having a motor 5, Fig. 3, driving through a chain drive the carriage wheels 3 and through further drives a pair of top rollers 7, 8 unwinding the fabric T from a roll 6 and a pair of lower rollers 24, 25 delivering the fabric on to the table. As shown, motor 5 is reversed at the ends of the carriage travel when a depending lever 101, Fig. 10, engages adjustable abutments on the table. Motor 5 drives, through worm gearing 11, 12, a friction clutch and a dog clutch, a shaft 13 which drives wheels 3 via a chain 15; the friction clutch damps shocks occurring on reversal of carriage travel. Shaft 13 also drives, through variable-speed pulley and belt gearing 18, 19, 20, a shaft 21 connected, through epicyclic trains, to two shafts 22, 23. The drive from shaft 21 to the two epicyclic trains is conveyed by two separate gear trains driving oppositely-directed one-way clutches, so that the direction of rotation of shafts 22, 23 is unaltered by reversal of motor 5. Shaft 22 drives, via a chain 9, fabric feed-rollers 7, 8, and shaft 23 drives, via chains 32, 40, fabric delivery rollers 24, 25. The planet-carriers of the epicyclic trains are normally held stationary by lock pawls, but can be rotated manually by cranks to effect an instantaneous angular displacement of rollers 7, 8 relative to rollers 24, 25 to vary the length of fabric stock R maintained in a loop following roller 8. Rollers 24, 25 are automatically lifted a small adjustable distance, corresponding to the fabric thickness, at each carriage reversal. Lever 101 carries a cam 123 acting on a follower 122 on a rod 121 connected through a one-way clutch to a shaft 116 carrying a pinion 115 meshing with a rack 114 on the bearings 111 of rollers 24, 25, the bearings being slidable vertically on bars 113. Shaft 116 can also be rotated manually by a hand wheel via a dog clutch. The extent of movement of rod 121, and hence of rollers 24, 25, at each movement of lever 101 is controlled by means of an adjustable eccentric stop-pin 128. Movement of rod 121 also operates, through a link 132, pawls 134, 135 of a counter-mechanism which records the number of travels of the carriage. A flat surface at the rear of the carriage, and additional guide rollers at the top, permit of fabric feed from a pile instead of a roll.