US2115571A

US2115571A - Garment cutting tool

Info

Publication number: US2115571A
Application number: US154463A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank E Cooper
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1937-07-19
Filing date: 1937-07-19
Publication date: 1938-04-26
Anticipated expiration: 1955-04-26

Description

April 26, 1938.

F. E.. COOPER 2,115,571

GARMENT CUTTING TOOL Filed July 19, 1957 Patented Apr. 26, 1938 PATENT OFFICE GARMENT CUTTING TOOL Frank E. Cooper,

Independence, M0.

Application July 19, 1937, Serial No. 154,463

3 Claims.

This invention relates to garment manufacture and particularly to the production of reinforcements for the side walls of openings, such as surrounding button holes, the ends or corners of the mouth openings of pockets, and the like. The general object ofthe invention is to provide such openings with double thickness of cloth around the entire periphery instead of only on two sides as now commonly practiced with the usual button hole or pocket openings.

A further object of the invention is to produce a device whereby one or more thicknesses of fabric, may be cut at a single operation to form either a button hole or the opening of a pocket, or the like in a garment.

Another object of the invention is to produce a device of this kind which is adjustable over a wide range for long or short slits, and which will completely sever the fabric with clean edges and will maintain its position on the fabric to cut straight down through superimposed plies of fabric without departure from a straight line.

A still further object of the invention is to produce a device of this kind which is of strong, durable, eflicient, and inexpensive construction; and in order that it may be fully understood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a fragment of cloth which has been slit or cut in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective View of the same indicating the four flaps. turned back to provide a margin of double thickness, the opposite end and. side walls of the opening being in parallel relation.

Figure 3 is a topplan view of the device for cutting or slitting the cloth, illustrated with three cutting knives. 40 Figure 4 is a side elevation of the device with the center knife shown dotted, and with one end knife ready for a cutting stroke and the other end knife in elevated or inoperative position.

Figure 5 is an end view of the device as shown inFigure 4.

Figure 6 is an enlarged section through one of the knife carrying rods looking down on top of the arrangement adapted to hold the knives in inoperative position.

Figure 'l is an enlarged fragmental perspective through one of the guide standards forminga part of the invention.

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmental perspective of the cutting edge of one of the end knives of 5 Y-shape.

Figure 9 is a fragmental perspective View of the cutting edge of a Y-knife taken from a different angle than as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a side elevation of the third knife forming a part of the invention.

The reinforced opening and its method of production will be first described. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, I is a fragment of a cloth or fabric in which a button hole or the mouth of a pocket is to be cut. with its opposite end and side margins in parallelism and of double or reinforced thickness, a straight slit 2 is made, said slit having its opposite ends terminating in diverging branch slits 3, either straight as shown, or they may be curved or semi-circular. The proportions of the slits are such that four straight lines (dotted in Figure 1) joining the ends of the branch slits 3 will outline the length and width of the completed opening, button hole or pocket, desired. The four cloth flaps thus produced are now folded back as in Figure 2, along the dotted lines, the result being the completed opening with its opposite side and end walls in parallel relation and of double thickness (see Figure 2). It will be apparent that the cloth may be slit by any suitable instrumentalities, and that the angle formed between the companion slits 3 and the lengths of said slits, determines the overall length and width of the complete opening 4 when the flaps are folded back as described and illustrated. The flaps thus provide reinforcements for double stitching on all sides of the opening.

It is found in the commercial cutting of dress goods, particularly when it is of silk or silk-likematerial, the most practical method of producing the reinforced opening, is by the use of the tool or device shown in Figures 3 to 9 inclusive, since the various slits must be made as a more or less single operation through the plies of fabric, since any slipping of the plies on each other, or a shifting or divergence of the cutting tool or its angle of cut, will result in the slitting of the cloth in such fashion that when the dresses are completed the position of the pockets or button holes will vary in accordance with the location of that particular piece of fabric in the pile when it was cut. To overcome this difficulty and to insure a vertical cut, the tool comprises a more or less weighty base member 5 which is adapted to rest upon the superimposed layers of cloth, perhaps to the thickness of several inches.

Secured rigidly adjacent one end of the base plate 5 is an upright standard 6, one convenient method of mounting the standard being by having its base portion, 1 overlapped and firmly clamped by a pair of L-shaped clamping members 8 bolted to the base 5. The upper end of the standard is offset inwardly and is formed with a vertically extending head 9 having a vertical bore or guideway slidingly receiving a rod H. The lower end of the rod is enlarged in the drawing as shown as at I2 to detachably receive a generally Y-shaped cutting or miter blade 13, the branches of the Y being straight as here shown,

To produce a rectangular opening,

but obviously they may be curved or crescent shaped which preserves the general Y-shape of the preferred form of the cutting knife, to produce a pair of branch slits in diverging relation to the line of the center slit as will hereinafter appear. The upper end of the rod H is formed in a driving head M, to which mallet blows or other force may be applied to drive the knife I3 through the fabric. The vertically sliding rod I I and the guideway [0 having interlocking bayonet slot portions, whereby, when the knife is in operative position it is held against rotation or radial movement to maintain the stem of the Y-knife in proper position as will hereinafter appear, but when the knife is in inoperative position it may be rotated to cause the bayonet slot portions to hold the knife elevated and out of the way.

In the form of the device as herein shown, the passageway I0 is formed with an internal vertical slot l5 to receive a projecting guide rib IE on the vertically sliding rod 9. The upper end of the slot l 5 communicates with a horizontal radial recess ll formed in a cap piece l8 secured to the upper end of the standard 9 and in effect forms a part of said standard. This arrangement is such that when the knife is elevated, the end of its rib I6 is withdrawn from the slot l5, at which time the rod II is rotated (it is shown partially rotated in Figure 6), the lower end of the rib I6 moves into the recess l1, so that the knife is held against downward movement with the stem of its Y cutting edge at right angles to its operative position.

The other end of the base 5 carries a pair of L-shaped clamp and guide members l9, which slidingly receive and act as guides for the base' portion 20 of a second standard or post 2 I, carrying a Y-shaped knife 22, the operating parts and cooperative relationship between the post 2| and knife 22 being identical in all respects to the corresponding parts above described in connection with the standard 6 and the knife l3, except that the parts bear a reversed relation so that the stem portions of the Y-knives l3 and 22 point towards each other when they are in cutting position. The post 2| is adapted to be moved backwardly and forwardly toward and from the post 6 by means of a threaded bolt 23, swivelled to the base 20 of the post 2| and in threaded relation with a block member 24 fixedly secured to the base plate 5.

It will be apparent that in the making of short slits of the character shown in Figures 1 and 2, provided the straight portion or main part of the slit is not longer than the overall length of the stem portions of the Y cutting knives, may be produced as a result of a double cutting operation. To perform such operations the device is laid on the pile of dress goods with the fixed cuting knife l3 vertically overlying the pattern marking one end of the opening to be cut. The operator now rotates the knife l3 in its bayonet slot which limits the direction of rotation and makes it impossible to cut the fabric with the Y-knife turned in the wrong direction, and lowers said knife into contact with the fabric on the cutting table. One or two blows of a hammer or mallet will drive the knife I3 vertically down through all of the fabric. The knife is now elevated and locked up out of the way by reverse operation. The operator now manipulates the adjusting bolt 23 until the adjustable knife 22 is lined up with the other end of the pattern marking the slit to be cut, and said knife in turn is used to cut the miter down through the pile of fabric. When the two knives are used in the manner described, the overall length of the slit should not be so long that the stem portions of the two Y-knives do not overlap slightly in their slitting operations. This overlapping of the cutting members is desirable to insure that all of the threads are severed.

It will be apparent that convenience in manipulation and the necessity of being able to make short slits for small button holes, will establish a limitation on the length of the stem portion of the two Y-shaped knives, and at the same time will also limit the maximum length of slit which can be made with said two knives. To make it possible to cut slits of any length Within the adjusting range of the tool, I have found it desirable to provide the guide heads 9 and 25 of the standards with opposed slots 21 (see Figure 7), which form vertical guide ways to slidingly receive a straight cutting knife 28. This knife 28 is removable and is used to connect the slits cut by the stern portions of the miter or Y-shape knives when the overall length of the opening isv greater than the combined lengths of said stem portions. When such a long slit is to be cut, the operations of cutting the end miters may be performed as described, the miter knives being then elevated and turned so that their stem portions are out of the way, and then the post 2| is displaced laterally so that the knife 28 may be engaged in its guides 21, as shown in full lines in Figure 3 and in dotted lines in Figure 4, for cutting the long connecting slit as will be readily understood.

From the above description it will be evident that I have produced a reinforced opening in garments and a device for cutting the same which embodies all of the features of advantage set forth as desirable, and while I have described and illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that I reserve the right to all changes within the spirit of the invention and without the ambit of the prior art.

I claim:

1. A cloth cutting tool comprising a pair of vertical standards arranged to overlie the fabric to be cut, a pair of Y-shaped knives vertically reciprocating on said standards with the stem portions of the knives projecting toward one another and arranged in a straight line, and vertical guideways in the opposed faces of said standards.

2. A cloth cutting tool comprising a pair of vertical standards arranged to overlie the fabric to be cut, a pair of Y-shaped knives vertically reciprocating on said standards with the stem portions of the knives projecting toward one another and arranged in a straight line, means for adjusting one standard toward and from the other and vertical guideways in the opposed faces of said standards.

3. A cloth cutting tool comprising a pair of vertical standards arranged to overlie the fabric to be cut, a pair of Y-shaped knives vertically reciprocating on said standards with the stem portions of the knives projecting toward one another and arranged in a straight line, vertical guideways in the opposed faces of said standards, and means for retaining said knives when at their upper limit of travel with their stem portions out of alinement.

FRANK E. COOPER.