US2662673A - Sleeve expander and/or former - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1953 Y. AMBER 2,562,673

SLEEVE EXPANDER AND/OR FORMER Filed May 10, 1951 8 JNVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 15, 1953 UNITED: STATES gram OFFICE SLEEVE EXPANDER AND/R FORMER Yervant Amber, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May 10, 1951, Serial No. 225,563

Claims. 1

This invention belongs to thatgeneral class of devices known "asclothes pressing auxiliaries and relatesrpa-rticularly to means forpressing garment sleeves without leaving any creases whatsoever ill-that such devices are forms which readily-conform to the shape of garment sleeves and receivetheirpressed condition by a steaming and-cooling process The devices hold the cloth ofwthe sleeve ina taut manner automatically sozthat an-operator has'looth hands free to smooth the wrinkles and thus make a complete and finishedpress with a minimum of effort.

The invention has among its objects the production of aameans of the kind described, or similar means, that is simple, durable and compact in structure, inexpensive to make and manufacture, dependable and efiicient in use and service; and a device that is convenient to employ and handleand which has proven very satisfactory in use whenever and Wherever found applicable.

One of the important objects is to eliminate the required hand pressures necessary in present types of pelican type sleeve expanders and formers and thus make it easy for the operator to smooth out the wrinkles with his hands before the steaming operation in that an operator can do much better work and in less time than with the well known types since his hands are 0 free and do not have to be employed in applying pressure to the expander or former. In applicants device, resilient means are employed for automatically expanding the former and for limiting degrees of pressure.

Other objects, advantages and features of this particular invention will appear from a careful perusal of the accompanying drawings, the subjoined and detailed description, the preamble of this specification, and. the claims appended hereto.

Below, applicant describes one of the preferable forms of his invention in order to teach the art thereof and show how to make and use the same, but it is to be understood that the drawings and description thereof are not to limit the invention in any sense whatsoever except as the same may be limited by the prior art.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the sleeve expander or pressing form;

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the handle portion of the expander and which clearly shows the interior construction and the positioning of its various parts;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken sub: stantially along the line 4-4 of Figure The particular form of the invention, as-illustrated, comprises the main supporting arm I having the handle portion 2, and the under pi:v oted arm 3'; these parts, forming a pelican type sleeve former which is a name now commonin the trade because of its shape which isin the form of the bills of a pelican bird. Both arms have their distal ends rounded so that. they can easily enter the sleeve. of a jacket or coat. The handle has a rounded chamber portion 4-in which is suificient room to accommodate the lower end of a catch or'latch lever 5, apQrtion of a control lever 6 and one, end of a tensile spring I, as shown.

The control lever B is pivoted to, the handle at 8 and has a portion 9 which overlies the handle 2 and which is secured to a wooden gripping means Ill. The gripping-means Ill and the arms and 3 may be made of any suitable material which is non-heat conducting so as to eliminate sweating and accumulation of moisture. Wood has been found satisfactory in that it does not sweat and is not corrodible so as to cause stains or other marks which might soil or injure the fabric being pressed. One or more nonrust rivets I l are employed for holding the gripping means ID to the control lever 6. This lever extends from the chamber 4 in a gentle arc as indicated at l2 and its end is pivoted to the under arm 3 at 13. At the top portion toward the handle of the device, the under arm is provided with a groove M to neatly accommodate the slightly curved element 12. The element l2 and the two arms have substantially the same are formation so as to agree with the average shape of sleeves and also to form a neat compact article.

The are portion l5 of the control lever has a plurality of teeth 16 which are adapted to be engaged by the dog or web portion l! which bridges the top portion of the latch lever 5 between its legs I 8 and i 9, see Fig. 4. The lower portion of this lever is pivoted at 20 so that the dog I! at the base of the web can be made to engage any of the teeth I6 and thus hold the under arm 3 in any position desired, so as not to exceed the stretch limit of the garment sleeve and thus over stretch it and deform it. The under arm 3 is constantly urged away from its supporting arm I by the tensile spring 1 which has its ends anchored at the rivet 2| in the bore 22 and at the hole 23 of the control lever portion or end of the extension l2. The expansion of the device or arms must be limited in order to prevent damage and deformity of such material as knitted goods and crepe etc.

It is, of course, understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of form, style, design, materials and construction of the whole or any part of the specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof; such changes and modifications are considered as being within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In an automatic stretcher device for garment sleeves and the like which comprises a principal top supporting arm with a handle portion at its rear end, a control lever pivoted to a portion of the handle and having an offset portion extended under the top supporting arm, a secondary arm pivoted to the forward end of the control lever, spring means in the handle portion which constantly forces the arms apart, and

lever means pivoted to the handle which can be set to limit the separation of the arms, and said control lever having another offset rear end portion positioned over the handle,

2. In a device for expanding the sleeves and similar parts of garments, the device having a main supporting arm with a handle portion at an end thereof, an offset control lever having an intermediate portion pivoted to the handle portion, the lever having a relatively short length over the handle portion and a long arc-like portion beneath the supporting arm, an under arm having a portion intermediate its ends which is pivoted to the forward end of the arc-like portion, a spring in the handle having one end fixed to the handle and the other end fixed to the lever at the arc-like portion thereof and which spring is constantly urging the arms apart, and dog means which limit the distance of separation of the arms but allow the arms to be brought together.

3. The device recited in claim 2 wherein the dog means consists of a pivoted lever which extends upwardly from the handle and through which the control lever passes, the pivoted lever having a web thereon which serves as a dog, and a rounded portion on the control lever having teeth on the outer portion thereof which are adapted to be engaged by the dog so that the control lever is always free to be moved in a direction to bring the arms together.

4. In a pelican type sleeve former having a pair of curved arms in longitudinal abutment, link means pivoted to an end of one of the arms and having an end portion which is pivoted to the other arm intermediate the ends thereof, the link means passing through said end of one of the arms and extending over a portion thereof to form a gripping means so that the arms can be worked in scissor fashion, and spring means attached to one of the arms and to the link means for automatically forcing the arms apart.

5. The sleeve former recited in claim 4 wherein a latch lever is pivoted at the said one of the arms and which makes contact with a portion of the link means at various points when moved rearwardly, the latch lever when in operative position functioning to limit the expansion of the sleeve former to various degrees. I

YERVANT AMBER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,206,605 Greco et al. July 2, 1940 2,477,878 Jordan Aug. 2, 1949 2,478,488 Keck Aug. 9, 1949

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