US2398063A - Means for stretching cloth - Google Patents

Description

9 M. WEIDENFELD 2,398,03

MEANS FOR S'IIRETGHING CLOTH Filed April 7, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Aprifi 1946. M. WEIDENFELD 2,398,63

MEANSFOR STRETCHING CLOTH Filed April 7, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3

' IN V EN TOR.

Mom: We {0/4 Patented Apr. 9, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR STRETCHING CLOTH Morris Weidenfeld, Mattapan, Mass.

Application April 7, 1945, Serial No. 587,147

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine used in stretching cloth and more particularly for the stretching of cloth which has been sewed in pleats or tucks. has generally been done by hand except, perhaps, in the treatment of fabrics in or after their manufacture wherein a tentering machine or cloth stretching and finishing machin has been used.

The present invention applies more particularly to the stretching of fabrics which have been machine tucked in parallel lines longitudinally of the cloth. In the present invention the cloth, after it has been threaded through the machine, will be automatically fed and stretched in a continuous process as the cloth is passed over the steam table and rolled on a cylinder or spindle as a finished product.

In the present invention a smooth cord comparatively heavier than the cloth itself is sewed along the side edges of the cloth and serves to retain the cloth in the holding jaws as the cloth is drawn over the steam table. In most tentering frames the tenter moves with the cloth but in the present case the cloth moves while the holding jaw remains stationary. The cloth, therefore, is not clamped or pinned but simply held in its stretched position by means of the smooth cord which ofiers little friction as the cloth is drawn over the stretching table. The stretching table may be of any of the usual constructions of steam table in which heat or live steam with a certain amount of moisture, if desired, is made to come in contact with the cloth through a suitable table cover as the cloth is drawn over the steam table.

Without further describing the merits and advantages in the present invention, the invention will be described in connection with the embodiment disclosed in the drawings in which Figure 1 shows a plan view of the invention with an intermediate portion of the table broken away.

Figure 2 shows a side elevation of the device shown in Figure 1 as viewed from the left.

Figure 3 shows an enlarged detail of part of the invention.

Figure 4 shows a modification of the detail shown in Figure 3, and

Figure 5 shows a side view of the detail shown in Figure 4 as viewed from the right of that figure.

In the arrangement shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, I is a steam table of the usual type to which steam may be fed in any desired fashion. The

For the most part this work of clamping screws table I in the present invention is provided at either end with pairs of extending brackets 2 and 3 which may be attached to the table in any suit able fashion. Supported by the brackets 2 and 3 are transversely extending rails or bars 4 and 5 which may be keyed at the ends by keys 8 and I so that the rails or bars 4 and 5 are maintained in a fixed position. Any other means may be used to accomplish this result as, for instance, the rails 4 and 5 may be made square and may fit in square holes in the brackets 2 and 3. These rails 4 and 5 support the guide channels 8 and 9 by means of the supporting brackets I0 (Figure 3) which have collars II fittingover the rails or bars 4 and 5 to which they are clamped by means I2 threaded through the clamping collars II so that the support may be tightened in position on the rails. The guides 8 and 9, therefore, may be adjusted laterally of the table I to accommodate the proper width of cloth which is to be stretched.

As indicated in Figure 3, the channel guide 8 is shaped in the form of a letter O with a slot I4 on the inner side, facing the table to receive the cloth I5. This slot runs the whole length of the guides 8 and 9 which is open at its endsso that the cloth might continue to feed into andout of the guides. The cloth I5 is provided at the side edges with tapes or cords I6 which may be round in cross sectionand which are larger than the opening I4 so as to prevent the cords from being pulled through the opening. These cords are stitched to the cloth before the cloth is fed to the machine and may be cut from the cloth after the stretching has been accomplished, either prior to the winding of the cloth on the roll or after it has been rolled up.

It will also be noted, as viewed in Figure 1, that the front ends of the guides I1 and I8 gradually come closer together, thus permitting the cloth to be fed to the machine in unstretched state.

As further indicated in Figure 1, the machine is provided with two side extending arms I9 and 20 carrying bearings 2| and '22 in which the winding roll 23 is journalled. This winding roll may be provided with clamping fingers 24, 24, etc., to hold the cloth initially as it is being drawn over the machine' The roll 23 may be driven through the shaft 25 by the pulley 26 and belt 27 powered by means of the motor 28 which may be controlled from a foot pedal 29 at the front of the machine.

In the operation of the device the guide channels 8 and 9 are adjusted for the proper width to which the cloth is to be stretched and clamped in place by means of the clamping screw 12 (Fi ure 3). The cloth may have been initially threaded through the guides 8 and 9 after the edge cords I6 have been attached before the guide channels were clamped in position. The cloth is then attached to the roller 23 and the operator is then ready to operate the foot pedal for turning the roll and drawing the cloth over the table.

The foot pedal 23 may have a resistance control for varying the motor speed in the manner commonly used in sewing machines.

In the modified details shown in Figures 4 and 5, a channel guide 30 is shown in which the opening 3| may be adjustable by means of a front adjustable plate 32 which is supported by a downwardly extending flange 33 of the guide channel to which the plate is attached by means of screws 34, 34 passing through slots 35, 35 in the plate 32. By this means the plate 32 may be raised or lowered to adjust the width of the opening 3| so that the channels can handle any cloth which may be desired.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to 'be stretched is passed, and means for adjustably supporting said guid channels laterally of the table, said guide channels being shaped and positioned with their forward ends, through which the cloth first passes, closer together than the rear end and being provided with a slot extending along the channel for the purpose of receiving the cloth with a cord at the edge thereof thicker than the cloth whereby the cord Will retain the cloth in the slot.

2. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to be stretched is passed, and means for adjustably supporting said guide channels laterally of the table, said guide channels having a slot therein running along its whole length and wider than the thickness of the cloth to be stretched, the cloth being fed therethrough having cords along the side edges thereof substantially thicker than the width of the slot whereby the cloth will be retained at its edges as it is fed through the channel, said guide channels being shaped and positioned with their forward ends through which the cloth passes being closer together than the rear ends.

3. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to be stretched is passed, and means for adjustably supporting said guide channels laterally of the table including supporting rails attached to either side of the table, pairs of' clamping brackets, one pair attached to each guide channel, slidably positioned and clamped to said supporting rails.

4. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to be stretched is passed, and means for adjustably supporting said guide channels laterally of the table, said guide channel hav-- ing a slot, means for adjusting the Width of the slot, said slot running along the whole length of the channel and being adjusted in width to permit the cloth being stretched to pass through, the cloth being fed therethrough having cords along the side edges thereof substantially thicker than the width of the slot whereby the cloth will be retained at its edges as it is fed through the channel, said guide channels being shaped and positioned with their forward ends through which the cloth passes being closer together than the rear ends.

5. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to be stretched is passed, a spindle mounted and spaced from one end of the table and adapted to receive the cloth as it comes from the table, and means for driving the spindle to draw the cloth through the guides, said guides being closer together where the cloth first enters and gradually widening apart where the cloth is over the table.

6. In combination with a steam table, means for steaming and stretching pleated cloth and the like, including a pair of guide channels through which the cloth to be stretched is passed, a spindle mounted and spaced from one end of the table, said spindle having means for holding the cloth as it comes from the table, and means for driving the spindle to draw the cloth through the guides, said guides being closer together where the cloth first enters and gradually widening apart where the cloth is over the table.

MORRIS WEIDENFELD.

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