US2615409A - Elastic thread laying attachment for sewing machines - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 28, 1952 R. s. NOGLER EI'AL ELASTIC THREAD LAYING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed New. 17, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET l IN VEN TORS- Oct. 28, 1952 R. s. NOGLER ETAL 2,615,409

ELASTIC THREAD LAYING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed NOV. 17, 1950 INVENTORS.

Patented'Oct. 28, 1952 Y I ELASTIC THREAD LZVAHYING ATTACHMENT FOR SE-WING MACHINES I e g Raymond S. Nogler,Pasadena, and Stewart D.

' Menzies, Manhattan Beach, Calif., assignorsto ngeles, Calif.-, a. corpora? Y Catalina, Inc., Los A tion of California I Application November 17, 1950, Serial No. 196,195

This invention relates to an improved elastic thread laying attachment for' sewing machines and hasfor one of its principal'objects the provision of means which can be applied to'practi cally any commercial Or industrial sewingmachine on the market and'which will perform a specific purpose, namely,'theapplication of a resilient strandycordor stripto a shee't of substantially' non-resilient fabric, the resilient cord being applied under tension so that-when the tension is released, the fabric will assume a shirred or puckered state and appearance.

'One of the important objects of this invention is -to provide an attachment for sewing machines for producing' a shirred effect on fabrics,*which attachment shall be compact, easily applied to practically any industrial sewing machine now on the market with little or no change or adaptation, and which will enable-a much faster and more efficient production of shirred fabricsthan has heretofore-been considered possible;

-Another and further important object of this invention resides in the provision of a shirring attachment for. sewing-machines which will enable the application-of a practically continuous length of resilient cord to a fabricwhile the cord is under tension and which will further enable the convenient doubling back of the cord and the immediate-resumption of a stitching operation forfproducing another linevof such attached resilient cord without interfering withthe continu ity of effort, stitching or final result.

Other and further important objects of the in;

ventionwill be apparent from the disclosures in the accompanying drawings and following specification; J

The invention, in a preferred form, is illus- 9Clai ms. (Cl. 112-100) in actual operation thereon.

Figure 5 is a view similar to- Figure4,.but show-' ing the guide in middle position.

' Figure 6, is a view similar to :both Figures 4 and 5, but showinglthe guide in forward position i and illustrating itsjrelationship to the presser foot of the machinewhereby'the resilientcord is temporarily clamped, enabling turning of the material to be sewed for the purpose "of starting another line of stitching. i. Y

Figure 7 is an end view showing particularly the guide for the resilient cord andthe needle and the presser foot of "the sewing machine, together with the spaced relationship between these parts in that particularposition. J I Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure '7? only showing the presser footin; raised position and illustrating the resilientcord clamped between its upper .surface and the under face of the guide for this cord. This view corresponds to the showing in Figure 6.

the sewing machine attachment-of this inventio and showing the elastic undertension.

As shown in the drawings:-,

The reference numeral l0 indicates generally a vrepresentative sewing-machine, preferably of the type used for industrial production wherein great ruggednessand considerable speed ofop: erationare combined; The machine is provided with the usual base plate I2; and balance-wheel M, A driveshaft; Ifiis connected to the balance wheeland extends longitudinally throughout the upper housing ofthe machine Ill. v I e The attachment itself comprises fa casting or the like 18, which is attached to the under face of the main. bqdyof the sewing machine l0 by means of an integral plate 20 or in some other manner. In. order to fit the attachmentinto the machine anopening 22 is out into thecasing l0 and. a removable',cover;24 is provided fora desired finish and also forinspection' or. repairs.

The castingjltl may bev of various sizes .,and shapes and may be.in one or more parts, depending somewhat upon the particularmachine and any specialpurpose for which it is used.

A drive shaft'yZfi is mounted ,in the casting. 18; i this being. supported by suitable. bearings 8 and a thrust bearing30 isalso .fixed onto the shaft adjacent its lower end forfthe purpose of main} taining the same in desired position.

A bevel gear 32 isfixe'd to the upper en'd of the shaft andthis is in mesh with a correspondrj ing bevel gear 34 fixed onthe main drive shaft I 6 of the 4 machine. The -ratio "between "the" two gears shown is two to one but this if desired or necessary.

m y be. ied

A flat plate 35 which operates as a crank arm is affixed to the lower end of the shaft 26 and eccentrically mounted in the under face of this plate is a pin 38 which may be simply fixed in the'plate or which may include a roller. This pin or rollerg-38operates in a'isloty iilf formed in an adjacent plate 42shaped as best shown in Figures 4, and 6. The slot 40 is offset as shown so that the parts operated by the plate 42 will be similarly offset from the longitudinal center of the main drive shaft 16.

Attached to the forward end of the plate 42 is a slide plate 44 which operates-in-azslot formed.

in the lower face of the casting l8, and this slide plate is held in position in this slot by means of a cover plate 46 as best shown in Figure 2.

Removably attached to the forward end of the slide plate 44, preferably by means of set screws 48, is a guide element somewhat Z-shaped as w shown in Figures 1 andf2 and indicated by the reference numeral 1 50.

The upper end of this guide is adapted to be attached to the forward end of theplate-45by means of the set screws 48 and the'lower-projecting. end is parallel tothe upper end, the whole being integral with-the .vertical portion 50.

,The lower'projecting endv has an opening 52 therein for the passage therethrough of a resile ient cord or strip 54. As best shown in Figure8, the. resilient cord guiding element 50 is offset from the sewing machine needle 56 so as to permit the regular operation of the needle by the main drive shaft l5 of thezsewingmachine but, at the same time, the resilient;cord 54 is-properly fed into a position-adjacent the needle 56 during thestitching operation;

- The usual pressor' foot.,58' is associatedwith both the needle 56 and :the guide element50, the relationship between the parts being best shown in Figures 7 and 8. A length of thread 60 is supplied from the spool 62 for the-needle 56 and the resilient-cord 54 is supplied from a spool 55. These spools may The lengthof resilientcord 5.4 is adapted to be applied to a piece of fabric 68 as best shown in Figure 9, the resilient cord being under tension-when stitched to the fabric by means of the threads 60 and 66. This tension is regulated. by the usual attachment 10 fitted onto the head of the machine II] as shown in Figure l.

In operation, the needle 56 is moved up and down through the fabric 68 in the usual manner and the presser foot is accordingly shifted for afeeding of (the material. At the same time, the

lower end of the guide 50 for the resilient cord. isv reciprocated, moving thecordfrom one side,

of the needleto the other in proper timed relationship with. the speed of the .needle and under feed. This movement is best; illustrated in Figures 4 and 6, which represent the two extremes of position of the lower end of the guide and showing the, same in relationship, to the.

presser foot 58. r

Due to the motion, the thread 60 is applied to the resilient cord 54, first on one side and then on the other side thereof, and at each piercing of the fabric by the needle 56, a lock stitch is formed in conjunction with the thread 66 from the bobbin'64, all: as illustrated in Figuref9; In this manner, the resilient cord 54 is applied under a desired tension to the fabric 68 and stitch thereto at regular predetermined intervals all along the. lengthor. width of the particular, fabric 68 andinifastraightor curved line, as desired.

When the end or side of the fabric 68 is reached, the operator stops the machine normally and in the position shown in Figures 6 and 8. At

this point, the presser foot 58 is raised and the.

guide for the resilient cord is in its forward position, 7 whereupon, the resilient cord will be clamped between the upper face of the presser foot and the underface of the extension of the guide 50. This enables the operator to move the fabric around through an arc of one-hundred and. eighty degrees for the purpose I of: starting'a new line of stitched resilient cord. An -inter.-- mediate step in this movement of the operation isishown in Figure 6-.

. The desired tension is obviously maintained on the resilientcord 54 by-reason of :the fact of. its being clamped betweenthe presser foot and the guide; while, at the same time, the operator has preliminarily provided a suflicient excess length of this cord beyond theedge of thefabric to. produce. a suitable U-turn as shown;in-Figure6. As'soon as the fabric; 68 is again in desired-position with the next lineof stitching, the operationisresumed: with little or no loss of time. does not apply solely tov the repetitionof lines. of; stitchingupon one piece of fabric,,but thesame operation is employedwhen shifting from. one

piece of fabric to another;

Assuming. that, there are no accidental breaks" in the resilient: cord 54 or. the thread 60, the:

operation can be made continuous over; many hours of working time, dependingsolely upon-the;

size and capacity of thebobbin- 64.

It, will be evident that herein is provided ashirring or puckering attachment for sewing struction and one whichis practicallyfreefrom:

flaws due to breakage orreplacement of the thread or other material; The device .is capable of withstanding top speed operation .for extended periods of time and the, ease of operation makes for greatly increased production and satisfied.

operators. 7 1

We are aware that many changes; may:- be made and numerous details of construction varied throughout a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and we, therefore, do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than as necessitated'byf the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

work adapted to be fitted onto the housing of a sewing machine, a vertical shaft rotatably fitted into the frame work, a gear drive connection" between the said shaft-and the main drive: shaft of the machine, a camplate onthe lower endiof." the first named shaft, a slide plate in the .framei work adapted to be reciprocated by thegcamplatez' and a guide element for the resilient thread-like member on the end of the slide plate.

2. A device as described in claim 1, wherein the guide element has an opening in its lower end for the continuous passage therethrough of a length of said resilient thread-like material.

3. A-device as described in claim 2, wherein means are provided for placing the length of resilient material, when passing through the opening, under a predetermined tension.

4. A device as described in claim 3, wherein the end of the guide element is adjacent the needle and the presser foot of the sewing machine.

5. A device as described in claim 4, wherein means are provided for reciprocating the end of the guide element laterally across'the plane of movement of the needle and presser foot during the stitching operation and across the path of movement of the fabric being fed into the machine. 1

6. A device as described in claim 5, wherein a length of thread is supplied to the needle from above and another length of thread is supplied to the needle from a bobbin in the machine to produce a lock stitch about the length of resilient stretched material and fasten the same to'the base fabric. v i

'7. A device as described in'claim 6, wherein the ratio between the bevel gears on the driving and driven shafts is one to. two.

8. A device as described in claim '7, wherein the cam plate includes a stud movable in a slot in the slide plate.

9. A device as described in claim 8, wherein the stud in the cam plate is onset with relation to the longitudinal center of the main drive shaft of the machine.

' RAYMOND S. NOGLER. STEWART D. MENZIES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,067,340 Prazak Jan. 12, 1937 Diamond Dec. 19,1950

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