US2086662A - Method and apparatus for making buttonholes - Google Patents

Description

July 13, 1937. R. A. C(IDLLINS ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING BUTTONHOLES Filed July 18, 1955 2 ts-Sheet Jnverziors;

M W: 2% ayoq .45 0172 July 13, 1937. R. A. COLLINS ET AL 2,086,562

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING BUTTONHOLES A v Filed July 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'AVAVAVAVAUAVAV'A: i l- 7A VA Al N VAVAVAVAVB AVAVAVA'AVAVA A AV z VAVAVAVAVA' 3 a; Q mm 29 y VDQ QLM a Q Jar/2115.

Patented July 13, 1937 PATENT oFFIcE METHon AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING BUTTONHOLES Ralph A. Collins and Frank Mondello, Brooklyn,

N. Y., assignors to The Reece Button Hole Machine Oompany, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Maine Application July 18, 1935, Serial No. 32,018

7 Claims. This invention relates especially to the formation of buttonholes in work comprising a plurality of superposed layers or plies of material, as, for example, in coat lapels and facings which usually comprise two plies of finish fabric and an interposed ply of interlining or stiffening material of a totally dissimilar character, such as canvas. When such an assembly is cut toform the buttonhole slit, the intermediate ply, which contrasts in appearance with the finish fabric, is exposed, and in the subsequent working or sewing of the buttonhole it has been found in practice virtually impossible to cover and conceal this contrasting slit edge completely and permanently, resulting in a buttonhole of an unsightly appearance which is highly objectionable in high grade work. This difliculty iswell recognized in the art, and various expedients have been resorted to in the attempt to overcome it, but none of these have provided a wholly satisfactory solution of the problem. In accordance with the present invention the problem is solved in a simple and effective way by causing the buttonhole stitches to bind the edges of'one of the exterior or finish fabric plies over the slit edge of the intermediate or interliningply, thereby completely and permanently concealing the latter.

The invention will best be understood from the following description of the mechanism and operations illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these, however, having been chosen for pur- "poses of' exemplification merely, as it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the invention, as defined by the claimshereunto appended, may be otherwise embodied and practiced without departure from its spirit and scope.

In said drawings; Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a buttonhole machine embodying and operating in accordance with the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations of the looper mech anism as viewed from points at right angles to each other, respectively.

" Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of the front end of the machine.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of certain of 'the instrumentalities adjacent the stitching point,

showing the work in place and a buttonhole partly completed therein.

Fig. 6 is a similar view with the work omitted. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 1-1, Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing the completed work. I

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of the throat plate.

While the invention may be embodied and practiced in a wide variety of ways, for convenience it is herein illustrated in connection with a buttonhole sewing machine of the general type shown and described in the Kiewicz Patent No. 1,558,182, October 20, 1925. Sucha machine comprises a bed l5 provided with suitable work clamps it for holding the work for the action of the cutting and sewing instrumentalities, and a sewing head il in which are carried sewing-instrumentalities comprising a reciprocating needle bar l8 carrying a needle it above the bed plate and suitable looper or under-thread mecha-- nism 28 below the bed plate. The needle bar and looper mechanism are actuated by any suitable means (not shown in detail but well known in the art) from a driving shaft 2i journalled in the head. The looper mechanism herein shown is substantially identical with that shown and described in the Kiewicz patent above referredto and requires no description in detail, although it will be obvious that any other type of looper or under-thread mechanism usual in the art may mechanism well known in the art and not shown herein. Also, in machines of this type it is customary to give the stitch forming instrumentalities a semi-rotation in sewing around "the eye end of the buttonhole and a similar rotation in the opposite direction upon the completion of the work in order to restore them to their initial positions. To this end, said instrumentalities are carried by turrets 22 and 23 rotatably mounted in the head I l and operated by suitable mechanism likewise well known in the art and not shown in detail herein.

Machines of this type are further usually provided with means for cutting the work to form the buttonhole slit therein. A conventional form of such cutting mechanism is indicated in Fig. l and includes a cutter 24 carried by a lever or arm 25 pivoted in the head il and actuated at the proper time by suitable instrumentalities not shown. The operation of the cutter to cut the buttonhole slit may take place either before or after the stitching of the buttonhole, but in a machine constructed and operated in accordance with the present invention the slit is out before stitching.

The turret 23 carries a throat plate 26 having a sewing opening 21 through which the needle operates and also, if desired, having a guide openby the buttonhole stitches 30, as shown in Fig. 8. Such throat plates are usual in machines of this type in order to support the work for the stitching instrumentalities immediately adjacent the stitching point, but in accordance with the present invention the throat plate 26 is modifiedto' needle opening 2?, being, generally speaking, disposed at an inclination from the former to the latter toward the median line of the throat plate. 20 In Fig. '7 is shown a piece or" work W compris ing three superposed plies, namely, two exterior plies of'finish fabric a, b and an interposed ply c of interlining or stiffening material and through all of which plies has been cut a buttonhole slit s. 25 At the stitching point the raised portion 32 of the throat plate supports the work and presses against the contiguous ply b at the side of'the buttonhole slit where the stitching is taking place, while the material at the opposite side of the 30 slit-is left less firmly supported by the cut-away or depressed portion 3|. As shown in Fig. 5 the feed movement of the stitching instrumentalities is in the direction of the arrow A, so that the relative movement of the work with respect to 35 the stitching mechanism is in the direction of the arrow B, and it will be seen that the inclination of the edger33toward the slit sis in the latter direction. Consequently, as the feeding and stitching operations progress, the raised portion 32, shoulder 34, and edge 33 act in the nature of a plow which first engages the contiguous exterior ply b at a point relatively remote from the slit s and thereafter, as the feeding proceeds, crowds or forces said exterior ply laterally toward the center line of said slit, and thereby causes a marginal portion thereof adjacent the slit to be projected beyond the corresponding edges of the other plies, and particularly beyond the edge of'the adjacent intermediate ply c, as shown at d in Fig. '7. The projection of this marginal or edge portion becomes greatest immediately adjacent the stitching point, so that the buttonhole stitches 30, which are thereupon formed about the slit edges of the several plies, 55 cause this projected portion ofthe ply b to be bound over the slit edge e of the adjacent or intermediate ply 0, thereby effectually concealing and finishing said edge, as shown in Fig. 8. We claim:

V60 1. In a buttonhole machine, in combination,

means for holding a plurality of plies of material having a buttonhole slit cut therein, means for forcing the marginal portion of'an exterior ply which lies immediately adjacent the slit laterally 65 toward said slit beyond the edge of the adjacent ply, and buttonhole stitching, mechanism for sewing buttonhole stitches along the edges of said slit and about the slit edges of all of the plies.

2. In a buttonhole machine, in combination,

70 means for supporting a plurality of superposed plies of material having a buttonhole slit cut therein, buttonhole stitching mechanism-for sewfor relatively moving said supporting means and stitching mechanism tocause the latter to sew a line of buttonhole stitches along and about the edges of said slit, and means for progressively 'forcing the marginal portion of an exterior ply which lies immediately adjacent-the slit laterally toward said slit beyond the edge of "the adjacent ply immediately in advance of the stitching point.

4. In a buttonhole machine, in combination, means for clamping a plurality of superposed piles of material having a buttonhole slit out therein, buttonhole stitching mechanism, means ior relatively moving said elampingmeansand stitching mechanism to cause the latter tosew a line of buttonhole stitches along and about theedges of said slit, and a throat v pl-ateiassoeiated with said stitching mechanism and-engagingthe work, said throat plate having'a'plowadapted, as the stitching progresses, to *force the marginal portion of the contiguous exterior ply lying immediately adjacent'the: slit laterally toward said slitbeyond the edge'of the adjacent, ply.

5. Ina buttonhole machine, in combination, work clamping means, .buttonhole stitching mechanism, means for relatively moving said" clamping means and stitchin q echanism to cause the latter to sew a line of buttonhole stitches-along and about the edges of a; buttonhole slit in the work, and .a'throat plate. associated with said stitchingtmechanism, said throat plate having a portion engaging, the work at the side of the slit being sewn, said portion terminating in an edge inclined toward'the slitin the direction of the relative movementof the work with respect to thestitching mech-anism-andextending substantially, to said slit.

6. The method of making a buttonhole which includes cutting a slitin a plurality of superposed plies of material, forcingthe marginal portions of an exterior ply which lies immediately adjacent the slit laterally toward said slit to cause said portions to project beyond the edge of the adjacent ply, and sewing buttonhole stitches through allof the plies alongand-about the edges of the slit and thereby bindinggsaid marginal portions of said exterior-ply over'the slit-edges of the adjacent ply. V

'7. The method of makinga buttonhole which includes cutting a slit in a plurality of superposed plies of material and sewingsbuttonhole stitches throughall of the plies along and about 1 the .edges of the slit while-progressively.forcing the marginal portion ofan exterior ply which lies immediately adjacent the slit .toward said slit beyond the edge of the adjacent ply immediately in advance of the stitching point and thereby causing said marginal portion to be ,bnund by said stitches over the slit edge ,of the adjacent ply.

RALPH A. COLLINS. FRANK MONDELLO.

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