US2616194A - Steam heated head for garment presses - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 4, 1952 E. J. fwww-ELF .ETAL 2,616,194

STEAM HEATED HEAD .Fox GAEMENT PREssEs Filed .JuneA 9. 194s IN V EN TOR. J. rERwELP BY A. WAGGE'TT ZW d AT TMA/E71 Patented Nov. 4, 1952 STEAM HEATED HEAD FOR GARMENT PRESSES Edward J. Terwelp, Davenport, Iowa, and Thomas A. Waggett, Moline, Ill., assignors to American Machine and Metals, Inc., New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Delaware Application June 9, 1949, Serial No. 97,996

l 2 Claims. l

The invention relates to steam heated elements for garment presses. More especially, the invention is designed for that type of press in which there is an essentially stationary buck and a movable pressing head swinging in a vertical plane. g K

In such presses, the head must be elevated each time a portion of the garment is pressed. Depending upon the nature of the work, the head may have to be elevated several times a minute. The head must be elevated enough to permit ready access to the entire surface of the lower pressing element for draping the garment without danger of burning the hands or the head of the operator.

Experience has shown that the speed of pressing is dependent on the rate at which heat can be transferred from the head to the wet garment. To avoid injury to the fabric, the maximum temperature permissible at'the pressing face is about 340 degrees F., r even less with rayons. Accordingly, steam at 100 pounds per square inch or less is used to heat the head. Since it is not permissible to make Athe head hotter, the only way to get more heat from the steam inside of the head onto the garment is to make the face of the'head thinner.

Another* difficulty commonly experienced in pressing heads is that as the steam gives up its heat, some of it is apt to condense and this condensed steam tends to form a blanket at the lower face of the head, that is, on the inner face of the surface which does the pressing. By making this face a stainless steel plate with a smooth inside surface as well as a smooth outside surface, the smoothness on the inside facilitates draining o'f moisture away toward the exhaust. This smooth'surface also gives a lbetter wetting surface and thus facilitates the transmission of heat. These two advantages together with a smaller thickness of the face plate than in a cast iron head,4 all facilitate the rapid transfer of heat to the fabric being pressed.

If the head is a cored casting with a polished pressing face, a great deal of energsr is required to elevate this heavy head and to bring it back down into pressing position without undue loss of time. Since the pressing head must not slam down on the Work, the inertia of the head moving downward rapidly must be absorbed by dashpots or snubbers. It is obvious that the press is only productive during the time that the head is down and in touch with the garment placed on the lower buck. It is not productive during the time it is being elevated or being brought down.

For several decades it has been realized that if a welded steel head could be substituted for the cored cast iron head,l much weight would be saved and the performance of the press greatly enhanced. Patents 1,684,819 and 1,876,626 were granted Ernest Davis on applications filed in 1926 and 1928 respectively.

Such heads, made of carbon steel plates, have not found wide acceptance. Welding the parts warps the profile of the head due to distortion when it is heated. The surface of a carbon steel plate does not take a high polish comparable to cast iron. Expansion causes leakage of steam. The head still had to be plated to prevent corrosion.

Attempts to securelightness by using a cast aluminum head were only partially successful because the pressing surface is not hard enough to prevent marring the surface by buttons on the garments which are being pressed, and under some conditions the pressing surface deteriorates and gets rough.

The invention resides in the discovery that a light, non-rusting, and generally desirable press head may be made by casting the top and sides of the head in steel. Since the spaces that were formerly cored can now be molded without cores, the walls of the casting can be made lighter and steel may be used as the material rather than cast iron. The invention further teaches that with the back and sides thus cast in steel, it is possible to select a type of stainless steel plate, which combines the unique qualities of not rusting, lightness, substantially the same rate of temperature expansion as the cast steel body, and which can be welded to the bottom edge of the rim of the cast steel body. Since this stainless steel plate has a higher conductivity than a similar thickness of cast iron and has a smoother interior surface, the rate of heat transmission and accordingly the speed of pressing is greatly improved. Any condensation reaches the exhaust pipe more rapidly with the smooth inner surface of the pressing face than with the rough surface of a cast face.

The object of the invention is to provide a light-weight welded pressing element having a cast steel back and sides and a stainless steel face plate having substantially the same coefficient of expansion welded thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a light-weight welded pressing element having a steel casting which forms the back and the sides of a pressing element and which also has raised portions within the rim and a stainless steel face will match the lower head (not shown).

plate having substantially the same coeflicient of expansion which may be welded to the rim of the casting and also to the intermediate raised portions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a high-speed pressing head in which the advan-` tages of a stainless steel face plate, relatively thin, with high conductivity, is secured by welding it to a cast steel housing.

Still another object of the invention is to secure freedom from interference with Vheat transmission by condensation or imbedded sand particles by a construction which makes the inner surface of the face of the head smooth and sloping uni-f formly toward the outlet.

The invention is applicable alike to the upper or -to the lower pressing element and is not limited to the particular height of pressing elements herein shown by way of illustration.

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of one type of pressing head built in accordance with the invention.Y

Fig. 2 is a top view of the same pressing element with thecover plate removed.

Fig. 3 is a vertical elevation of the pressing element, partly in section, taken along line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. .4. is a bottom View of the steel casting before it is welded to the face plate.

The cast steel body generally indicated at I comprises the generally .flat back plate 2 and a downwardly extending rim 3. At a number of points within the area circumscribed by the rim 3 portions of the back 2 are depressed to form cones 4. Each of these cones extends down to the yback face of the face plate 5. Elach cone has a central opening E either cored or drilled. As shown on the bottom view in Fig. 4, partitions 1.,- 8, 9 extend part-way across the distance between the two rims leaving spaces HJ which allow steam to pass around the ends of these partitions. As shown, it may be convenient to have these partitions pass through the axis of the raised conical portion 4, but this is not essential.

At each end, toward the rear, a boss II is cast on the rim and this is drilled for connection 'to steam pipes. Thus steam may enter through one of the'V pipes II, ow around the partition 1, 8 and 9 to the other boss which permits the steam to passout. In this manner, a continuousflow of steam over the inner surface of the face plate is assured withV maximum heating benefits during pressing. The face plate may be formed in a press or otherwise to the desired contour that This face plate is made of stainless steel of a type which has substantially the same rate of expansion as thesteel casting. Its size is such that a flange I2' remains outside of the rim This .steel face plate is welded to the rim by a weld I3. To prevent distortion under pressure, the back ofA the face plate is attached to the cones 4 by plug welds I4 in the manner shown in Patent 1,782,234.

The top of the casting may have a. number of bosses I5 which are drilled and tapped at I8 for the bolts by which the head is suspended from the movable pressing arm.

To close the back and reduce the radiation of heat. the back 'may be closed Yby a cover plate I1 vattached to a' flange I 8 onthe top `of the steel casting I. This plate has holes through which the bosses I5 project.

If desired, the space between the back 2 and the cover plate I1 may be lled with an insulating compound such as asbestos to further reduce the loss of heat.

We claim:

1. An improved hollow buck having a thin stainless steel face and a steel frame supporting the steel face comprising, a steel frame consisting vof a relatively thick rigid substantially flat plate having a rim extending around its edges on one face and having hollow columns rising from the same face, a relati-vely thin stainless steel concave plate designed to transmit heat to the work welded to the top of said rim and welded at intermediate points to said columns to form a space for containing steam under pressure, said frame and said plate having substantially the same coefcients of thermal expansion, and steam connections to the space between said plate and said cast steel frame.

2. An improved hollow buckk having a. thin stainless steel face and a steel frame supporting the steel face comprising, a steel frame consisting of a substantially rigid at plate having a rim extending around its edges on one face and having hollow columns rising from the same face and a ridge extending around the edges of its other face, a relatively thin stainless steel concave plate designed to transmit heat to the work welded to the top of said rim and welded at intermediate points to said columnsV to form a spacefor containing steam under pressure, said frame and said plate having substantially the same coecents of thermal expansion, and steam connections to the spacebetween said plate and said,

steel frame, and a coverplate supported on said ridge tominimize condensation within saidlspacev EDWARD J, 'I'ERWELP. 'l'.I-IOMAS,v A. WAGGETT;

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

UNITED STATES" PATENTS

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