US2957437A - Seam inverting machine for overlock stitched seam - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 25, 1960 s. LEVENSTEIN ETAL 2,957,437

SEAM INVERTING MACHINE FOR OVERLOCK STITCHED SEAM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 20, 1959 INVENTORS Zazzl L we Ze' 5 Le Sal alzfz y m BY M 6% RNEY Oct. 25, 1960 4 s. LEVENSTEIN ETAL 2,957,437

SEAM INVEIRTING MACHINE FOR OVERLOCK STITCHED SEAM Filed Feb. 20, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 T0 MOTOR 57 56 INVENTORS Siazzley Lemzzsfiz'zz Z60 a ga/fly BY M Q ATTORNEY United States Patent SEAM INVERTING MACHINE FOR OVERLOCK STITCHED SEAM sanit Levenstein, 256 St. Marks Ave., Freeport, N.Y., and Leo Soloway, 805A Linden Blvd., Brooklyn, N.Y.

Filed Feb. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 794,777

8 Claims. (Cl. 112203) edge stitch binding seam employing an overedge-stitch j is illustrated in Figs. 7-9 of the drawings herein, to facilitate understanding of the novel seam-inverting and panel 5' stretching operations carried out in accordance with the g invention.

l] lustratively, the perspective fragment showing the garment seam 100 in Fig. 7 herein is of a girdle 1 having panel 101 formed of two-way stretch fabric and of an elastic one-way stretch band 102 which may be positioned either as a leg band or as a waist band, and is shown in overlying relation to panel 101 and stitched by the compound overedge-stitch seam 102. The compound overedge stitch seam 102 is formed by the so-called overedge sewing machine employing one threaded needle, one threaded looper and one blind looper. In preparing the seam disclosed in Fig. 7 on such a machine, the machine would have one needle threaded with thread designated 100, the blind looper threaded with thread designated by the numeral 111, and the looper threaded with the thread designated by the numeral 110. The machine has its overedge looper timed so that needle thread 100 is interlocked at the bottom of the work, e.g., panel 101 of the girdle, with the needle thread 110 at the top of the work, namely, stretchable elastic band 103. As shown in Fig. 7, the looper thread is interlocked at the top of the work, e.g., one-way stretch elastic band 102, as well as at the bottom of the work, cross stretchable panel 101 of the girdle 1, with both of the looper threads 110 and 111 or thread 110 alone.

After this overedge binding operation just described, the elastic band in edge lies in overlying relation to the panel 101 of the sewn garment 1 as shown in Fig. 7, and in sectional view along line 8-8 ofFig. 8. It is customary to invert the band by hand to rotate band 102 by 180 in a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 9, thereby disposing the outer edge of the panel 101 and the inner edge of band 102 in edge-to-edge abutting relation as required by placing the finished garment in the condition in which it is to be worn.

, In contrast to this hand inverting operation practiced heretofore, the present invention provides a machine for inverting a longitudinally extending elastic band seamed to a fabric work piece with a compound overedge-stitch fiom an edge overlying relation of eleastic band to work piece to an edge-to-edge abutting relation of elastic band to work piece, said machine comprising first and second pairs of fabric engaging rollers for engaging the band and work piece, respectively, driving and mounting shafts for the upper rollers of the first and second pairs of rollers, driving and mounting shafts for the lower rollers of the first and second pairs of rollers each of the driving and mounting shafts of the first pair of rollers being disposed at an angle lying between about 20 to about 43 preferably between about 35 to about 43 to each of the driving and mounting shafts of the second pair of rollers, coupling means connecting the rollers driving and mounting shafts of the lower rollers and like coupling means connecting the driving and mounting shafts of the upper rollers.

By feeding an unfolded edge of the elastic band into the bite between the first pair of fabric engaging rollers having its axis at an angle of between about 20 to about 43 to the axis of the second pair of fabric engaging rollers, the rotation of the rollers effects a driven fricband into the bite of the second pair of fabric engaging rollers, the rotation of the rollers effects a driven frictional divergent movement of the band and work piece respectively, to permit high speed inverting operations to be carried out by relatively unskilled operators.

Heretofore machines comprising separately driven roller pairs, each furnished with its own speed control motor means have been utilized for other uses, such as to iron continuous, inetgral fabric webs at the edges and stretch these to standard Width as is required during the finishing operation grey goods manufacture. These roller machines have not been used in finishing operations after the garment has been cut, assembled and sewn for the reason that garments vary widely in size and quality and such machines would have to be adjusted for each garment pressed therein. These roller machines include mechanical and electronic guides and control devices to separately pull each of the opposite edges of stock grey goods and webs to bring the fiat Web to a standard width. These electronic and mechanical control devices permit automatic operation on the web stock material prior to and after the various finishing operations carried out with liquid textile treating agents due to the fact that but a single adjustment is sufiicient to complete hundreds or thousands of yards of fabric web which is stretched to standard dimension.

These roller devices of the prior art have been tried by the present inventors for inverting the seams of finished stitched garments to which elastic bands are attached by overedge-stitch seams but have found them to be unsatisfactory. It appears that the reason that the devices have not been practical to produce high speed inverting of banded work pieces is that seperate motor drives of the ironing machine must be brought into exact synchronism and a separate width adjustment must be made between the rollers when each change in garment size is made. The width adjustment track, the speed synchronism device and the speed control elements each must be adjusted for each garment to necessarily render the machine so diflicult to operate as to prohibit economic use of the machine for inverting seams of elastic banded garments.

The machine of the present invention is capable of inverting the seams of finished garments at a surprisingly rapid rate employing relatively unskilled operators. By hand these operators can invert the seams of only about from two to three garments a minute. In contrast, with the rollers of the machine of the present invention revolving at 300 r.p.m. inverting speed for the complete run of sizes of manufactured girdles can be made at the rate of 20 garments per minute.

By employing a roughened elastomeric surface, e.g.', rubber, plastic, etc., on one of the rollers of the first pair of fabric engaging rollers and a smooth highly polished metal surface on the other of said rollers of machine.

said pair of rollers, a uniform driving action is attained for propelling the garment through the rollers of the The top rollers of the first and second pairs are like in respect to their surface characteristics and similarly the bottom rollers are alike. In a preferred embodiment, illustrated herein, the top rollers are rubber and the bottom rollers highly polished stainless steel.

When the seamed band has been inverted by the machine the location of the garment at the storage location at the end of the machine depend upon the angle of feed of the gannent to the first pair of rollers. To facilitate uniform collecting of finished garments with seams in the inverted position a guide member is pro vided along the side of the first pair of rollers to thereby provide the same angle of feed for all garments fed to the machine. A preferred guide member is an arcuate U-member of arch which facilitates guiding the garment along both side edges.

Separation of the rollers to control the bite and the driving force imparted to differing thicknesses of garments is facilitated by employing levered separators urged into closing position by spring means and into open positions by adjusting screws and by a foot treadle lever arrangement.

In order to facilitate understanding, reference will be had to the appended drawings illustrative of certain arrangements, means and modes of operation embraced by this invention, and in such drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a machine in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view with parts removed, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a work piece and band in overlying relation and joined together by a compound overedge-stitch;

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, but showing the band in inverted position after having passed through the machine of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in Fig. l a seam inverting machine embodying the present inven tion. At the left hand of the machine 10 there may be seen a variable speed driving unit. Near the right hand end of the machine there is provided a seam inverting roller unit 12 comprising lower steel roller 34 and upper roughened rubber surfaced roller 36 for engaging the band 102. A similar pair of rollers, lower steel roller 42 and upper roughened roller 43, comprise the panel engaging roller unit 14 at the far right hand end of the machine as shown in Fig. 2.

A treadle operated separator unit 13 is shown in Fig. 3, this unit serving to separate the lower steel rollers of roller unit 12 and roller unit 14 from the upper rubber rollers thereof, as will be explained in detail hereinafter.

The entire machine may be mounted upon a base support 15. On the base support 15 there is mounted a bearing 16, for supporting the upper driving shaft and a second bearing 17 is mounted therebelow for lower driving shaft 21 (see Fig. 5). Spaced from bearings 16 and 17 is a fixed bearing 18 carried by a support arm, and it will be understood that the bearings 16 and 18 are coplanar. Underlying the fixed bearing 18 is a movable bearing 19 that is carried by a movable support arm..

A first upper roller shaft 20 is journaled in the bearings 16 and 18 and a first lower roller shaft 21 is journalei in the movable bearings 17 and 19.

Referring to Fig. 4, there may be seen a fulcrum pin 22 for the bearing and fixed support arm 18 for the upper roller shaft. Fulcrum pin 22 is mounted in an aperture in fulcrum support plate 24, which is in turn mounted on the support 15 on the spacer block 33, through an aperture 25 and the fulcrum support plate there extends a lifter arm 26 that is adapted to separate the shaft 21 from the shaft 20. A collar stop 23 is attached to the lifter arm 26 above the fulcrum support plate 24, and may abut next the underside of the base support 15. A spring 66 around the upper end of the rod 26, and is held between the fixed support arm 18 and a nut 69 that is screwed onto the screw threads 71 on the upper end of the rod 26.

Spaced from the rod 26 there is provided a second lifter rod 32 which extends through an aperture 31 in the fulcrum plate 30. A collar stop 29 is fixed to the rod 32 and abuts the underside of a bearing support arm 28. A spring 68 surrounds the upper end of the rod 32 and extends between the upper surface of the bearing arm 28 and a nut threaded on the screw threaded end of the rod 32.

Referring now to Fig. 2, there may be seen on the lower roller shaft 21 a middle roller 34 having a tapered end 35. A resilient rubber roller 36 is mounted on the shaft 20, and forms, with roller 34, a pair of work-engaging rollers. Adjacent the roller 36, there is a universal joint 38 connecting the first upper shaft 20 with a second upper shaft 40. Instead of a universal joint, a flexible shaft coupling of conventional construction (not illustrated) may be used. Underlying the universal joint 38 there is provided a like universal joint that couples the first roller shaft 21 with the second roller shaft 41. I

Mounted on the lower fixed bearing of the second roller shaft 41 is a roller 42 that is made of steel, and is similar to the roller 34. Forming a pair with the roller 36 is a resilient roller '43 mounted on the second upper shaft 40. The upper shaft is carried in the bearing end 44 of an arch 45, which arch 45 has a depending leg 46 that serves as a work drive. An extension 47 of the leg 46 is secured to the support base of the machine.

The variable speed driving unit 11, shown at the lefthand side of Figs. 1 and 2, and also in Fig. 3, comprises a housing 50 having a driving gear 51 rotatably mounted therein. Gear 51 is driven by a speed reducing gear 52 that is fixed to a gear driven by the pinion 55. Pinion 55 is mounted on a shaft that is in turn driven by .a pulley 56 having a groove therein to receive the belt 57. The belt 57 may be driven from any convenient source of power, such as an electric motor. The gear 51 is fixedly connected with a shaft, that is in turn connected with the shaft 20.

As may be seen in Fig. 5, a gear 53 on the shaft 20 meshes with a gear 54 on the shaft 21, and since the gears 53 and 54 are the same size, it will be apparent that the shafts 20 and 21 will be driven at the samespeed. It is to be noted that the bearing 17, shown in Fig. 5, is immediately mounted so that the shaft 21 may be moved toward or away from the shaft 20; of course, the movement of the bearing 17 is limited so that the gears 53 and 54 are always in driving relationship with each other.

The position of the roller 36 relative to the roller 34 is shown in Fig. 6, wherein it may be seen that the surfaces of these rollers are in contact with each other in the operating position.

Referring now to Fig. 3, there may be seen a treadle 60 pivotally mounted on a peddle fulcrum 61. A connecting rod 62 is pivotally connected to one end of the treadle 60, and is pivotally connected at its other end to =base 15. The opposite end of the lever 63 is pivotally connected with the lifter rod 62. The parts 62 and 63 may be duplicated, as shown in Fig. 2, to thereby connect with the lifting rod 32, also.

The shafts 20 and 21 are substantially parallel to each :other, and the shafts 40 and 41 are substantially parallel to each other. and 41 are at an angle of between about 20 and about The shafts 20 and 40 and the shafts 21 43 to each other. We have found that the above mentioned angular relationship between the shafts is essential in order to provide a satisfactory and completely workable device. If the shafts are disposed at an angle below twenty degrees, the machine will not function for normal size garments intended for human use. If the shafts are disposed at a greater angle to each other than about 43, the problem of providing suitable driving connection between them has been found to be insurmountable, from a practical viewpoint.

In operation, the belt 57 is driven to thereby drive the shafts 20 and 21. The shafts 40 and 41 will be driven by the shafts 20 and 21, respectively, by the universal couplings 38 and 39, respectively. A garment, such as above noted, is taken by the operator, and it will be understood that the band 102 is joined to the work piece or panel 101 by stitching, as shown in Fig. 7, and is in overlying relation thereto, also as shown in Fig. 7. The operator grabs the work piece or panel 101 in one hand, and a part of the band .102 in the other hand and moves his or her hands apart, thus performing an unfolding operation on the band 102, and by rotating the hand holding the band 102, thereby inverts the band 102. By continuing to move the two hands apart, the operator will efiect a stretching apart of the Work piece 101 and band 102, and thus the work piece 101 and band 102 will be brought into aligned relationship, at least at the pant grabbed. Then by releasing the band 102, the band 102 will be brought into abutting edge-to-edge contact with the work piece or panel 101, and that section of the garment will be as shown in Fig. 9. This entire action may be performed in a matter of a few seconds.

The part of the garment with the band 102 inverted is then moved towards the seam inverting roller unit 12, and the band 102 is placed between the rollers 34 and 36, while the panel or work piece 101 is placed in the nip of the rollers 42 and 43. As the garment is caused to move through the two pairs of rollers, the above-described hand operation will be repeated by the machine, to thus stretch the band .102 and the panel 101 and to invert the band 102 into the position shown in Fig. 9 throughout its length.

-It will be understood that the springs 66 and 68 urge the outer ends of the members 18 and 28 downwardly, to thereby urge the bearing ends upwardly so as to yieldingly urge the lower shafts 21 and 41 upwardly. Thus, the lower rollers 34 and 42 are yieldingly urged into contact with the upper rollers 36 and 43. Also, by reversing the treadle 60 the members 18 and 28 may be rotated so as to oppose the action of the springs 66 and 68, to thereby separate the lower rollers from the upper rollers, in order to aid in the introduction of the band and garment therebetween.

The invention is defined in the claims which follow.

We claim:

1. A machine for inverting a longitudinally extending elastic band seamed to a fabric work piece with a compound over-edge-stitch from an edge overlying relation to an edge-to-edge abuting relation of said band to said work piece comprising first and second pairs of fabric engaging rollers for engaging the band and work piece respectively, driving and mounting shafts for the upper rollers of said first pair and said second pair of rollers, driving and mounting shafts for the lower rollers of said first pair and second pair of rollers, each of the driving shafts of said first pair of rollers being disposed at an angle to each of said driving shafts of said second pair of rollers of between 20 and 43, geared means operatively connected with said first upper and lower shafts for driving said shafts at the same speed, coupling means connecting the roller driving and mounting shafts of the upper rollers and coupling means connecting the roller driving and mounting shafts of the lower rollers.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle between said driving shafts lies between 35 to 43.

3. -A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fabric engaging rollers of said first and second pairs of rollers comprise upper rollers which are covered with roughened elastomeric material and lower smooth-surfaced metal rollers.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said coupling means is a flexible coupling member.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 4 wherein said coupling means is a universal joint.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lower rollers of said first and second pairs of fabric engaging rollers are operatively connected to roller separating means and a foot treadle for actuating said roller separating means to separate the upper rollers and lower rollers of each of said pairs of rollers.

7. A machine for inverting the seam between a fabric work piece and a longitudinally stretchable band joined to and overlying said work piece by a compound overedge chain-stitch comprising a base, a first pair of axially aligned bearings fixedly mounted on said base, a first upper roller shaft journaled in said first pair of bearings, a third bearing substantially coplanar with said first pair of bearings and carried by said base, a second upper roller shaft journaled in said third bearing, a universal joint drivingly connecting said first and second upper roller shafts, fourth and fifth substantially coplanar bearings lying below the level of said first three bearings, a first lower roller shaft journaled in said fourth bearing and underlying said first upper roller shaft, a second lower roller shaft journaled in said fifth bearing and underlying said second upper roller shaft, a universal joint drivingly connecting said lower roller shafts and underlying said universal joint connecting said upper shafts, a first pair of rollers fixed on said second shafts, the upper roller of each pair having a resilient surface and the lower roller of each pair having an unyielding surface, geared means operatively connected with said first upper and lower shafts for driving said shafts at the same speed, said first upper and lower shafts being at an angle between 20 and 43 with said second upper and lower shafts, respectively, whereby a band in edge overlying relation to a fabric work piece and stitched thereto by a compound overedge stitch seam is rotated through to dispose it in edge-to-edge abutting relation to said work piece by feeding said band between said first pair of rollers and said work piece between said second pair of rollers, the seam being inverted between said upper and lower shafts.

8. The machine of claim 7 and further comprising a treadle and means operatively connecting said treadle and said fourth and fifth bearings for movement toward and away from said upper shafts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,354,514 Seymour Oct. 5, 1920 1,645,036 Bacon Oct. 11, 1927 2,131,621 Greicius Sept. 27, 1938 2,198,656 Cohn et al. Apr. 30, 1940 2,367,145 Sheldon Jan. 9, 1945 2,688,176 Birch Sept. 7, 1954 2,718,046 Sutton Sept. 20, 1955

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