IES64900B2 - A mock-linking apparatus and process - Google Patents

Abstract

A mock-linking apparatus is used in a process whereby the trim to be stitched to the garment unfinished edge has a double row of single bed stitching adjacent one edge for improved simulation of linking loops. The edge of the trim is folded over and then the whole trim is folded, manipulated and presented by a single-piece guide with a presentation section (28) inclined to the feed direction at an angle in the range or 100{ to 110{. A stitching head has a deflector (32) engaging the lower section of the folded trim and a foot (36) configured to accommodate the upper side of the trim with its folded under edge. Drive is provided by a separate pair of drive rollers (4, 42) mounted downstream of the stitching head whereby there is a clear path for the layers of fabric through the stitching head free from drive dogs. The deflector (32) can be displaced by a piston (35) to remove the lower trim section from the stitching head. The upper trim section is guided so as to overlap the garment to a lesser extent than the lower section.

Description

A Mock-Linking Apparatus and Process -The invention relates to the linking of a trim to the unfinished edge of a knitted garment such as at the neckline or at the arm hole if the knitted garment is sleeveless.

In general, there have been very many advances in production of knitted garments. These have been primarily in the area of the knitting operations and accordingly production of knitted garment panels is now quite efficient and has a large degree of versatility. However, one of the major post-knitting operations is that of linking trim to the unfinished edge of a garment, usually at the neckline in both round-neck and V-necked garments. This has traditionally been carried out using a machine such as that described in US Patent Specification No. 3,476,064 for point-for-point linking. Such machines have impaling pins to which the unfinished edge of a garment is attached by a skilled operator in a manner to exactly match the stitching pattern. Again, using a large degree of skill the operator aligns the trim on to the impaling pins together with the unfinished garment edge, and operates the machine so that they are linked together. While the link which is produced is extremely effective and looks very well, there is a very large time input required of skilled people. This can therefore become the critical activity in meeting orders and in lead times generally in a production plant.

To overcome this problem, the present inventors devised a mock-linking apparatus and process which is described in European Patent Specification No. EP 175,509. This invention provides for the linking of a trim to a garment unfinished edge in an extremely quick manner without the requirement for high operator skill. In the invention, a - 2 thread chain-stitching operation on a particular construction of trim and the unfinished edge allows for simulation of the point-to-point linking. In more detail, trim is produced by knitting courses in which a fold area is formed by a transfer course which gathers together pairs of adjacent loops of normal courses. The gathered loops are taken up by a slack course which is a row of discrete loops referred to as a single bed knitted course. When folded at the transfer course, a well defined and kinked fold edge is formed by protruding loops of the slack course. A seam line is presented adjacent the fold edge which runs through spaces between sets of gathered loops. There is then chain stitching of thread having a similar colour to that of the yarn through the seam-line and the garment unfinished edge. If the stitch spacing corresponds with the distance between the spaces along the seam line, a point-for-point link is simulated as the chain stitching is difficult to see.

This prior art apparatus and process was found by the inventors to be effective, however, some problems arose and there was in general a need for improvement. In particular, it was found that improvements were needed to improve the accuracy of the chain-stitching through the seam line to reduce the amount of re-work required. Rework is expensive at this stage of operation as it is late in the production process. It was also believed that improvements in efficiency could be achieved by allowing for faster operations without a detrimental effect on quality. Further, it was believed that the apparatus and process could be modified significantly to improve the simulation of point-to-point linking.

According to the invention, there is provided a mocklinking apparatus comprising :3 a trim guide and a stitching head together defining a path for a trim comprising a trim body and a waste row interconnected by a transfer course, the guide being constructed to fold the waste row over against the trim body, and to fold the rib and body for reception of a garment unfinished edge therebetween whereby a chain stitching operation may be carried out by a needle, foot and footplate of a stitching head to stitch together the garment and trim to simulate point-for-point linking wherein :the stitching head comprises a deflector mounted upstream of the footplate to guide the lower side of the trim body into an aligned position; the stitching head comprises a separate foot spaced-apart from the footplate and being configured to accommodate and guide the upper side of the trim body together with the folded-over waste row in parallel alignment with the lower side and being offset inwardly with respect to the deflector so that the upper side overlaps less of the garment after chain-stitching; and the apparatus further comprises a pair of drive wheels mounted downstream of the stitching head for positive engagement with the trim at both the upper and lower surfaces and control means for driving the wheels at a speed according to the knitting gauge and chain stitching speed.

In one embodiment, the deflector further comprises an auxiliary guide for guiding the upper side of the trim body towards the stitching head.

Preferably, the auxiliary guide is aligned with a guiding surface of the foot.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a deflector drive having means to move the deflector in and out in a direction transverse to the feed direction to remove the lower side of the trim body from the stitching operation, when required.

Preferably, the trim guide comprises a single guide member mounted on a support.

In another embodiment, the trim guide support is adjustably mounted to accommodate different neck band sizes.

In one embodiment, the stitching head is mounted on a cantilever base.

Preferably, the angle of presentation of the trim to the stitching head is in the range of 100° to 110°.

According to another aspect, the invention provides a mock-linking process comprising the steps of :knitting a trim comprising a trim body and a waste row interconnected by a transfer course, the trim further comprising a double row of single bed stitching at the transfer course; folding the waste row to a position whereby an unfinished edge of the garment may be received between a lower trim side and an upper trim side, the waste row being folded over between the upper trim side and the unfinished edge leaving the double row of single bed stitching prominent for simulation of point-for-point linking; feeding the lower side of the trim body through a deflector which aligns said trim side into an aligned position; moving the upper side of the trim together with the folded-over waste row through a foot whereby the upper side of the trim is in parallel alignment with the lower side and is offset inwardly so that the upper side overlaps less of the garment after chain-stitching; and stitching together the garment unfinished edge and the trim at a seam line adjacent the transfer course, the trim and garment edge being driven through the stretching head by a pair of drive wheels mounted downstream of the stitching head for positive engagement with the trim at both the upper and lower surfaces thereof at a feed rate set according to the knitting gauge.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which sFig. 1 is a perspective view of a mock-linking apparatus of the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus; Fig. 3 is a side view of the apparatus; Fig. 4 is a detailed perspective view showing a stitching head of the apparatus; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic front view showing the apparatus in use; Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the apparatus in use; Fig. 7 is a side view showing the apparatus in use with particular detail of the trim reaching the stitching head; and Fig. 8 is a side view showing the apparatus in use.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an apparatus 1 for mock-linking a trim to a garment unfinished edge. The drawings also illustrate a process for mock-linking. An overview of the apparatus is shown in Fig. 1 in which the major components are a modified off-the-arm sewing machine 2 having a cantilevered base 3 which supports the foot and the stitching head generally and support feet 4. In combination with various items of equipment attached to the machine 4, the major operating parts of the apparatus are an initial trim support 10, a trim guide 20, a stitching head 30 and a drive 40.

The initial trim support 10 comprises a base plate and a number of upstanding guide arms for support of trim as it is drawn from a supply.

The trim guide 20 is illustrated most clearly in Figs. 2 and 3 from which it will be seen that it is in a single piece having a support 21 which is connected by bolts to a forked connector 22. The connector 22 is connected to a fixed bracket 23 on the machine 2 by engagement of a hand nut 24 against the forks of the fork connector 22.

This is an extremely simple connection arrangement and allows adjustment by pre-setting the position of the guide 20 at an infinite number of positions along an axis indicated by the arrow 25 of Fig. 2. This allows easy pre-setting according to the garment type. The configuration of the support 21 provides an angle of approach of 105° for entry of the trim to the stitching head 30.

The bracket 21 supports a waste row folding section 26 for folding over the waste row in a knitted trim to be linked to the unfinished edge of a garment. The bracket 21 also supports a trim manipulation section 27 and finally a trim presentation section 28 for presentation of the trim to the stitching head 30. The manipulation section 27 has an outer wall 29 which is spaced-apart from the presentation section 28 (which forms an inner wall) by a distance of 6.5 mm. This allows a large degree of freedom of movement to accommodate different knitted trim gauges and prevents stretching and damage to stitches.

As shown most clearly in Fig. 4, but also in other drawings, the stitching head 30 comprises a foot plate 31 which together with various other items provides a clear path for the trim and the unfinished edge during stitching without impingement by items such as drive dogs mounted underneath. This is important as it helps to avoid stretching and relative slipping of various parts of the trim and the edge. The foot plate 31 has a needle socket 31(a) in a conventional arrangement. However, it also includes a ramp configuration 31(b), the angle of which is slightly exaggerated in the drawing for clarity. This ramp helps to stretch out the fabric for effective stitching. However, the stretching effect is minimal, being just enough to achieve the desired alignment. The stitching head 30 further comprises a deflector 32 just downstream of the presentation section 28 of the guide 20. The deflector 32 comprises a deflector arm 33 which is Cshaped to encompass the lower side of the folded trim, which side is to be stitched to the rear surface of the garment unfinished edge. The deflector further comprises an Integral auxiliary guide 34 which acts as a guide for the upper side of the trim and leads into a foot 36 of the stitching head 30. The deflector 32 is movable transverse to the direction of travel by operation of a pneumatic piston 35 under operator control to remove the lower side of the trim from the stitching operation and allow versatility at the end of the mock-linking process for a particular garment. This versatility includes, for example, routing of the chain stitching away from the mock-linking seam to a vertical seam.

The foot 36 Is offset transversely with respect to the deflector 32 as it is located inwardly thereof as shown most clearly in Fig. 5. This is because the seam line is closer to the edge of the upper or front side of the trim which is facing outwardly in the finished garment. The foot 36 comprises an arm 37 which is C-shaped to accommodate the upper side of the trim which includes both the upper side of normal stitching and the waste row folded underneath. It is therefore wider than the configuration of the deflector arm 33 > the latter of which does not accommodate a waste row or its equivalent. Finally, a thread 38 having a similar colour to that of the garment yarn and a stitching needle are illustrated in Fig. 4.

The drive 40 of the apparatus 1 is best illustrated in Fig. 3 is located downstream of the stitching head 30. It comprises a lower, steel drive wheel 41 for engagement with the lower surfaces of the mock-linked garment. The drive 40 also comprises an upper drive wheel 42 having teeth in registry with those of the lower wheel 41 and a release mechanism 43 to move the wheel 42 upwardly out of the drive position. The upper wheel 42 is of plastics material to provide for high-friction engagement. Both wheels are connected to an electrical drive mechanism, not shown, the speed of which is set according to the gauge of the knitted fabric.

In operation, the apparatus 1 is used in a mock-linking process to attach a ribbon of trim to the unfinished edge of a garment such as along a neck line. In the drawings, the trim is shown in Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive and is indicated by the numeral 50. The trim 50 has a transfer course 51 connecting normal stitching 52 to a waste row 53. The normal stitching body 52 incorporates a fold line 54 formed by a stitching course. These drawings also illustrate a garment 60, an unfinished edge along a neckline of which is to be attached to the trim 50. The trim 50 is produced as described in European Patent Specification No. EP 175,509, with the important exception that there is a double slack course or row of single bed stitching. It is the single bed stitching which provides the looped appearance of the link as they are looped transversely of the garment in a prominent manner. By knitting a double row of single bed courses, there is improved thickness in the fold line for improved folding over and visual appearance. It also fills in the holes at the seam line better for improved strength. This feature of the process is quite simple to implement at a knitting machine, but does have major advantages in the end product and in the process.

For mock-linking, the initial trim support 10 supports the trim 50 for the guide 20 in a flat configuration as illustrated by the diagram for stage A. The waste row folding section 26 then operates to fold over the waste row 53 as illustrated by the diagram for stage B. As the trim 50 moves into the manipulation section 27, the body 52 is folded towards the right as viewed from the front as illustrated in Fig. 5(b). This is illustrated in the diagram for Stage C and by virtue of the configuration of the manipulation section 28, the trim is manipulated to an unfinished edge reception stage D by the presentation section 28 of the guide 20. Manipulation to the stage C would appear initially to be unnecessary, however, it has been found to be very important in ensuring that the trim is evenly manipulated with a smooth transfer to the reception stage D in a manner whereby the unfinished edge may be easily presented between the upper and lower trim sides by an operator. It has also been found that because of the folding, manipulation and presentation operations are achieved by a single guide 20, irregularities which can arise by having separate sections are avoided and excellent consistency has been achieved. It has also been found that the angle of 105° for presentation of the trim has been particularly effective to achieve the necessary balance between stretching of the trim and maintaining registry with the stitching head 30. The stage E is illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. At this stage, the unfinished edge has been presented between the upper and lower sides ready for stitching.

The stitching head 30 provides a non-intrusive path for the fabric at Stage E because there are no drive dogs mounted underneath, which would have the effect of from time to time causing mis-registry between the lower and upper sides of the trim. The sloped part 31(b) of the foot plate 31 provides a small degree of manipulation which is required to ensure that there is no slack in the fabric and consistency is also helped by operation of the auxiliary guide 34 of the deflector 32. This provides a smooth transition between the presentation section 28 of the guide 20 and the foot 36. The deflector 32 may also be used under operator control to remove the lower side of the trim 50 from the stitching operation to allow a different stitching operation to take place in a very efficient manner. This is achieved by simple control of the piston 35 to pull the deflector and therefore the lower side of the trim away from the stitching head.

When considering movement of the fabric through the stitching head 30, operation of the drive 40 must be borne in mind as this provides a positive drive away from the stitching head 30 for a consistent feed rate of the fabric in registry with the chain stitching operation. This drive arrangement avoids the problems which have heretofore arisen from time to time whereby different layers of the fabric may slip with respect to each other, thereby causing quality problems and re-work. Further, by virtue of the fact that the drive 40 is separate from the stitching head, it helps the operator to view the stitching operation and allows him/her to have greater control over the apparatus . These aspects have been found to be very important in practice to achieve the necessary quality with the desired efficiency.

It will be appreciated that the invention provides an apparatus and process which in practice significantly improves both the quality and efficiency of mock-linking operations. The fact that the guide 20 is in one piece and its particular configuration and presentation angle are found to be particularly important in achieving consistency. Further, the mounting arrangement whereby there is easy adjustment to accommodate different size neckbands has been found to be important for set-up between different batches. While it may appear to be a small point, the fact that there is a relatively large gap between inner and outer walls at the manipulation stage of the guide has been found to be important in avoiding excessive stretching of the fabric. It must be borne in mind that the accuracy which is required for registry of the various layers has very little tolerance if the necessary quality is to be achieved. Operation of the drive 40 is very effective at providing the necessary positive non-differential drive in a manner which is both simple and non-intrusive at the stitching head. The arrangement of the deflector is very important in providing versatility when a different stitching operation is required. It has also been found that the double row of single bed stitching is important at achieving an improved visual effect and by virtue of the improved apparatus, it can be incorporated with no detrimental effect on quality.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described, but may be varied in construction and detail.

Claims (5)

1. A mock-linking apparatus comprising :a trim guide and a stitching head together defining a path for a trim comprising a trim body and a waste row interconnected by a transfer course, the guide being constructed to fold the waste row over against the trim body, and to fold the rib and body for reception of a garment unfinished edge therebetween whereby a chain stitching operation may be carried out by a needle, foot and footplate of a stitching head to stitch together the garment and trim to simulate point-for-point linking wherein :the stitching head comprises a deflector mounted upstream of the footplate to guide the lower side of the trim body into an aligned position; the stitching head comprises a separate foot spaced-apart from the footplate and being configured to accommodate and guide the upper side of the trim body together with the folded-over waste row in. parallel alignment with the lower side and being offset inwardly with respect to the deflector so that the upper side overlaps less of the garment after chain-stitching; and the apparatus further comprises a pair of drive wheels mounted downstream of the stitching head for positive engagement with the trim at both the upper and lower surfaces and control means for driving the wheels at a speed according to the knitting gauge and chain stitching speed.

2. A mock-linking process comprising the steps of :knitting a trim comprising a trim body and a waste row interconnected by a transfer course, the trim further comprising a double row of single bed stitching at the transfer course; folding the waste row to a position whereby an unfinished edge of the garment may be received between a lower trim side and an upper trim side, the waste row being folded over between the upper trim side and the unfinished edge leaving the double row of single bed stitching prominent for simulation of point-for-point linking; feeding the lower side of the trim body through a deflector which aligns said trim side into an aligned position; moving the upper side of the trim together with the folded-over waste row through a foot whereby the upper side of the trim is in parallel alignment with the lower side and is offset inwardly so that the upper side overlaps less of the garment after chain-stitching; and stitching together the garment unfinished edge and the trim at a seam line adjacent the transfer course, the trim and garment edge being driven through the stretching head by a pair of drive wheels mounted downstream of the stitching head for positive engagement with the trim at both the upper and lower surfaces thereof at a feed rate set according to the knitting gauge.

3. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

4. A process substantially as hereinbefore described 5. With reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

5. A garment whenever produced by a process incorporating a mock-linking process as defined in any preceding claim.