US3000334A - Apparatus for sewing neckties - Google Patents

Description

p 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 13 Sheets-Sheet 1 N P I d) U) LL LL.

Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

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Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES 13 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 1'7, 1958 Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES l3 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 17, 1958 k NkQ Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 13 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.6

Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 13 Sheets-Sheet 6 Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES 13 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed March 17, 1958 Sept. 19,, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 13 Sheets-Sheet 8 I cqb'u 24 P 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 13 Sheets-Sheet 9 Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES l3 Sheets-Sheet 10 Filed March 17, 1958 Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH 3,000,334

APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Filed March 17, 1958 1a Sheets-Sheet 11 Sept. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES l3 SheetsSheet 12 Filed March 17, 1958 aw mmT Se t. 19, 1961 E. A. HEDBRANDH APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES l5 Sheets-Sheet 15 Filed March 17, 1958 I I I I I I I I t I I! United States Patent 3,000,334 APPARATUS FOR SEWING NECKTIES Erie Allan Hedbrandh, Erik Dahlbergsgatan 64, Halsingborg, Sweden Filed Mar. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 721,994 Claims priority, application Sweden Mar. 23, 1957 14 Claims. (Cl. 112-174) This invention relates to the making of neckties and more particularly to the seam holding the edges of the necktie together on the back thereof.

To permit tying a neat knot and to hang smoothly and beautifully a tie must possess a certain flexibility and it is therefore important that the longitudinal seam holding the fabric edges together on the back of the tie and usually also retaining a lining, is not too firm so that the flexibility is lost. For this reason this seam is often made with tacking stitches without any stretching of the thread, but this is not sufficient for a satisfactory result if the stitches are made in a usual manner, is. if the thread is pulled directly through both fabric parts in each stitch.

The principal object of the invention is to improve a time-saving method of stitching together two overlapping fabric parts forming the longitudinal edges of a necktie blank and collectively constituting the back of the necktie, comprising the steps of forming the overlapping fabric parts into crimps all of which intersect a straight line, and directing a needle which is longer than the seam through all erimps along said straight line and pulling a thread through all cn'rnps in a single motion, the improvement consisting in holding the crimps of the two overlapping fabric parts spaced apart on said straight line while the needle is being directed through them.

Another important object is to provide an apparatus for carrying out the above improved method, comprising an opposed pair of elongated jaws movable towards each other for clamping the fabric parts, a row of spaced projections on each jaw to form when in staggered position said fabric parts into crimps, said projections being adapted to leave space for a needle way straight through the crimps and being shorter than the intermediate gaps, a spacing bar, two staggered rows of laterally projecting tongues on said spacing bar of a width larger than the length of the projections but slightly less than the gaps between the projections, said spacing bar being movable for inserting said tongues between the fabric parts in the gaps between the projections leaving said needle, way free between the rows of tongues and holding the crimps of the fabric parts spaced apart in said needle way, and a needle sufficiently long to be directed through all the crimps in said needle way in a single motion to pull a thread through them.

Further features of the invention and the advantages gained thereby will become apparent from the following description, reference being had to the enclosed more or less diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 on a large scale shows a longitudinal section through a correctly made seam,

FIG. 2 shows how this seam permits a certain relative displacement of the sewn-together fabric parts in the FIG. 9 shows a side elevation of the apparatus as a whole,

FIG. 10 shows a cross-section on line XX in FIG. 9,

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the work table of the apparatus,

FIG. 12 shows the fundamental details of a drive mechanism for the needle,

FIGS. 13 to 15 show another embodiment of the sewing apparatus, FIGS. 13 and 14 showing a cross-section and corresponding to FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively, while FIG. 15 shows a longitudinal section corresponding to FIG. 7.

:In the two embodiments the apparatus is of such a nature that the seam is made with the necktie turned right side outwards.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the seam on the back of a necktie shall be realized by short tacking stitches made in both fabric parts 1 and 2 alternately and spacing the stitches so that the thread 3 lies between the fabric parts, thus giving them a certain freedom of motion relative to each other in the longitudinal direction of the seam.

The primary means for providing such a seam, thatare shown in FIGS. 3-7, comprise in addition to the needle and thread a crimping member 4 about which the necktie is sewn together, and a spacing member 5 serving to place the fabric in correct position about and within the crimping member on a table 6 of special design. The crimping member 4 which is somewhat more than half as wide as the finished necktie is supplemented by an inner template 7 giving the necktie its shape, and the crimping member and the template can be permanently united but are preferably only guided on each other so as to permit separate withdrawalfrom the finished necktie.

Inasmuch as neckties usually are narrowest at the middle and wider at the two ends, the crimping member 4 and the template 7 consist each of two parts which can be connected to a unit but are easily pulled apart and withdrawn each from one end of the finished necktie.

The crimping member 4 has two limbs 8, 9 forming a lower and an upper jaw, and in the illustrated embodiment it is made from a thin sheet of resilient material which is doubled about its longitudinal axis. In the free state the limbs make an acute angle with each other, as is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, but thanks to the resilience of the material they can easily be pressed together as shown in FIG. 5. Alternately, the limbs or jaws may be made separately and interconnected by hinges and provided with special springs tending to open the crimping member to a suitable angle between the limbs. On the interior side each limb 8, 9 adjacent its free edge has a row of projections or teeth 10, 11 which in side elevation are of rounded triangular shape (FIG. 7) and in their apices have a longitudinal slot 12, 13. The teeth 10, 11 are staggered so that when the limbs are pressed together the teeth on each limb fall into the gaps between the teeth of the other limb, and said gaps are so long that the teeth fill out only a minor portion in the middle of each gap. When the crimping member 4 is in its compressed state (cf. FIG. 5) all slots 12 andv 13 are aligned thus providing a straight needle way in the entire length of the crimping member 4.

In the embodiment shown the spacing member 5 is. an angle bar and on the edge of one flange it has two rows of tongues 14, 15 projecting in parallel from said. edge and being so wide and so staggered that when introduced between the limbs 8, 9 of the compressed crimping member as in FIGS. 5 and 7 they fall into the gaps between the teeth 10, 11 each on one limb, thus filling out the gaps on the greater part of their length.

In addition to the crimping member, the template] and the spacing member 5 there is practically only required a needle which is longer than the crimping member. Such a needle 16 is shown in FIG. 7. It 1s a orocheting needle of the pawl type and thus has near its apex a hook 17 and a pawl 18 which places itself over the hook opening when the needle is withdrawn through a cloth. A commercial short needle of this type can preferably be prolonged by a piano wire or the llke with a. somewhat smaller diameter than the needle proper being welded thereto.

The work table 6 has a recess 19 of the shape of the finished necktie and a somewhat larger cross-section than the template 7. The necktie blank which has been cut into shape and is usually jointed at its middle and hemmed at its ends, is placed over said recess whereafter the template 7 with the crimping member 4 is placed thereon so that it sinks into the recess together with the fabric as is shown in FIG. 3. The lining 20 of the necktie is then placed on the'template and the lower limb 8 of the crimping member, whereupon the marginal portions 1 and 2 to be sewn together are folded inwardly on top of the lining 20 and about the upper limb 9 of the crimping member, respectively. This is done by passing the spacing member 5 lightly over the crimping bar as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 so that the fabric will be smoothly stretched while the crimping member is compressed about the fabric parts 1, 2 and tongues 14, 15 of the spacing member, as shown in FIG. 5, preferably with the aid of a press bar 21. The fabric is thus given the shape shown in FIG. 7, i.e. the parts 1 and 2 are alternately crimped up over respectively down below the needle way formed by the guide slots 12 and 13, but between the projections or teeth 10, 11 said parts 1 and 2 lie beneath respectively above said way. The needle is now directed through the crimping member and the fabric parts, it being given the necessary support in the slots 12 and 13, and when the hook 17 of the needle emerges, a thread is hooked thereonto whereaf ter the needle is retracted, carrying the thread along, which is then cut off and knotted.

Preferably a crepe thread is used which is cut off when fully stretched and knotted with an eXcess length of some centimetres, which length is then pulled in by the thread itself due to its elasticity. With the use of such a thread the desired flexibility is further increased and the risk that the necktie will lose its shape by a pull of the seam when the necktie is stretched in length by ironing and tying, is completely eliminated. Should an ordinary nonelastic thread be used, it must be considerably longer than the seam and thus lie in bights or loops between the stitches, which bights or loops, if visible, reduce the saleability of the necktie.

When the seam has been made, the press bar 21 is raised and the spacing member 5 is laterally withdrawn while the two-part crimping member 4 is withdrawn through the ends, the template 7 being left in the necktie. The press bar 21 which is provided with asteam passage 22 at one edge is turned so that this edge will be facing downwards and is lowered to impart a first. ironing to the new seam, as is shown in FIG. 8. The template 7 can possibly be of such a design that the necktie can be ironed completely when in position thereon.

In the preferred embodiment certain of the parts described above, viz. the spacing member 5, the needle 16 and the press bar 21 are mounted on a frame which also includes a movable holders for the template 7 and the crimping member 4. FIGS. 9 and show such a design in which the frame mainly consists of a pair of stands 23 and 24, one at each end of the table.

At each end the spacing member 5 has a lug 25 which is pivoted in an arm 26 which in turn is mounted on a shaft 27 connecting the stands 23, 24, and the spacing member is thus movable only transversely of its longitudinal direction, which facilitates the handling of said member.

The press bar 21 is rotatably mountedcn a pair of vertical racks 28 which are guided on said stands and mesh with gears 29 secured to a common shaft 30 which is mounted on the stands 23 and 24. At one end said shaft 30 has a lever 31 by means of which the press bar can be raised and lowered, and the weight of the press bar and the racks are balanced by a coil spring 32 which is passed onto the shaft 30 and anchored to said shaft on one hand and to said one stand 24 on the other.

Mounted on the frame is a holder for the crimplng member 4 and the template 7 which both consist of two parts but can be connected to a unit. Said holder is in the form of a bar 33 which is suspended on the stands 23 and 24 by means of hinged arms 34, 35 so that the bar 33 is movable approximately in the same manner as the spacing member 5 and can be raised and brought to rest against abutments on said stands so as to leave the table free. The bar 33 has some securing means, e.g. latches or clips, by means of which the template 7 is removably secured to the raised bar 33 while the crimping member in turn is removably secured to the template. The whole assembly is then swung downwards and placed on a neck-tie blank spread on the table, whereupon the bar 33 is released from the template and again raised.

Mounted at one end of the table is a reel or the like (not shown) for the needle 16 the major part of which is a piano wire or the like, and a device 36 (FIG. 9) for advancing and retracting the needle, which is diagrammatically shown in FIG. 12. Said device comprises two pairs of rolls 37 which are spring-loaded to clamp the needle and interconnected by means of gears (not shown) to be driven by means of a crank. Between and on either side of the roll pairs are guide sleeves 38 which guide the needle up to the needle way formed by the guide slots 12, 13 in the projections or teeth of the crimping member 4 when said member is in the position shown in FIG. 5.

To facilitate placing the necktie blank on the table, the latteras is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11has a pair of ribs 39 on either side of the recess 19 over which the necktie blank is to be spread. The ribs serve the purpose of localizing the side edges of the blank and are preferably undercut at the inner sides in order to hold the fabric edges down until the template 7 and the crimping member 4 are placed thereon.

The embodiment of the sewing apparatus shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 is simplified in different respects primarily in that the template and the press bar are provided with projections and function as clamping means crimping the fabric while the separate crimping member has been replaced by a support or ruler which only has the purpose of facilitating folding the fabric of the necktie.

Said figures show a table 51 and, in a recess therein, a template 52, giving the necktie its shape. The template has a row of blind holes 53 each containing one ball 54 supported on a spring 55 inserted under said ball. The mouth of the hole may be reduced somewhat or the spring can be Welded to the ball and the bottom of the hole so that the ball cannot fall out.

A press bar 56 is rotatably and vertically movably suspended over the table 51 in a frame similar to the one described above. In the underside said press bar has a row of blind holes 57 with balls 58 and springs 59 therein similar to the corresponding arrangement in the template, and when the template has been placed in correct position on the table with the aid of swingable holders on the frame, each ball 58 is positioned directly above a gap between two balls 54.

A spacing member 60 with staggered tongues 61, 62 is supported by a pair of rods 63 which are movable in bores 64 in the press bar and loaded by springs 65 normally holding the rods projecting into the position shown in FIG. 13, which is determined by stops '66. By rotating the press bar the spacing member can be swung through the difierent positions indicated in. FIG. 13 to fold the necktie fabric inwardly over the template 52, and then the press bar is lowered as shown in FIG. 14, whereby the spacing member 60 is applied by the force of the springs 65 against the lower fabric part 1, and the press bar is then engaged with the upper fabric part 2, pressing it against the spacing member 60.

Folding of the fabric is facilitated by a support or ruler 67 which may be a thin steel band which during folding is held in FIG. 13 position by a pair of movable arms (not shown) on the stands at the ends of the table. The ruler 67 has holes at the ends to be mounted and held stretched on pins on said arms, and when the press bar is lowered and clamps the fabric against the spacing member and the template, the supporting arms of the ruler 67 is swung down and release the ruler which is then pulled out at one end. The fabric is then retained on both sides of the spacing member, as is shown in FIG. 15, while a crocheting needle 68 is passed along it, penetrating the crimps over the balls, and is then retracted pulling a thread along.

As will be seen from FIG. 15, the needle when penetrating the crimps must move the balls 54 and 58 out of its way, compressing their springs '55 and 59. The lateral forces reacting on the needle are opposed by the tongues of the spacing member 60, which tongues on the inside have slots or grooves 70 forming a guide way for the needle in which the latter has a certain clearance while the overlapping tongues are otherwise applied directly against each other.

In the embodiment of the sewing apparatus as last described the seam will obviously not be entirely concealed as in the embodiment first described but the stitches pass altogether through the doubled outer fabric part 2, thus being visible on the back of the necktie. From the viewpoint of appearance this is hardly of any significance and from the purely technical viewpoint it comprises an improvement inasmuch as the back of the necktie is prevented from becoming wider than the front side and that it will be easier to iron the necktie, e.g. after it has been cleaned when the old folds may have disappeared.

Further modifications of the sewing apparatus may of course be resorted to within the scope of the appendant claims. For example the balls 54, 58 of the embodiment last described can be substituted for the teeth 10, 11 of the first embodiment and vice versa.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for stitching together two overlapping fabric parts forming the longitudinal edges of a necktie blank to form the longitudinal seam of said necktie comprising: an opposed pair of elongated jaws mounted for movement towards each other for clamping the fabric parts; a longitudinal row of spaced projections on each jaw to form said fabric parts into crimps when the projections on one jaw are in staggered position relative to those on the other jaw, said projections being adapted to leave space for a needle way straight through the crimps and being shorter in a direction longitudinally of said jaws than the spaces between the projections on each jaw; a spacing bar operatively associated with said jaws and mounted for lateral movement and in parallel relation thereto; two staggered rows of laterally projecting tongues on said spacing bar of a width longitudinally of said spacing bar larger than the length of said projections in a direction longitudinally of said necktie blank but slightly less than the length of said spaces between the projections, and spaced to be inserted, by lateral movement of said spacing bar relative to said jaws, between the fabric parts in said spaces between the projections, leaving said needle-way free between said rows of tongues and holding the crimps of each fabric part spaced apart from adjacent crimps of the other fabric part; and a needle operatively associated with said jaws and spacing bar and being sufiiciently long to be directed through all the crimps in said needle-way in a single motion to pull a thread therethrough.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising a table having a recess therein of the shape of the necktie, a frame associated with said table, and movable means on said frame for carrying the crimping jaws and the spacing bar and positioning them in relation to the recess in said table.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the crimping jaws are constituted by a pair of elongated limbs articulated along one longitudinal side and provided with said projections along the other longitudinal side.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, comprising a template, about which the necktie blank can be shaped into a necktie and adapted to be removably attached to one of said limbs, both the said limbs and the template being divided transversely into two parts and said parts being adapted to be removably united with each other to be deposited on a necktie blank as a unit and then be withdrawn through the opposed ends of the finished necktie.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which one crimping jaw is a template about which the necktie blank can be shaped into a necktie, and the other crimping jaw is a press bar.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5, in which the press bar is rotatable as well as raisable and lowerable, and the spacing bar is movably mounted on the press bar to be positioned over the template in the recess of the table by rotating the press bar and to rest on the template while the press bar is being lowered.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said projections are constituted by separate elements resiliently socketed in recesses in the crimping jaws to permit being pressed into said recesses by the needle, and the tongues of the spacing bar have their inner sides provided with grooves forming a guideway for the needle.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the needle is a crocheting needle prolonged with a wire of somewhat less diameter than the needle proper.

9. An apparatus for stitching together two overlapping fabric parts constituting the longitudinal edges of a necktie blank to form the longitudinal seam of said necktie comprising: first means for forming the overlapping fabric parts into staggered, opposed crimps, all of which intersect at single straight line; second means operatively associated with said first means for holding the crimps of one of said two fabric parts spaced apart from adjacent crimps of the other of said fabric parts, both of said means being constructed to permit passage through said crimps of a needle in a single motion; and a needle operatively associated with said first and second means and which is of sufiicient length to pass through all of the crimps formed by said first means at the same time and which is adapted to pull thread through all of said crimps in a single motion.

10. Apparatus as recited in claim 9 wherein said first means is efiective to form crimps whose greatest dimension longitudinally of said necktie is less than the distance between each pair of crimps on a given fabric part.

11. Apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said first means comprises an opposed pair of elongated jaws movable towards each other for clamping the fabric parts; projections spaced longitudinally along each of said jaws, the projections of one of said jaws being staggered relative to those of the other of said jaws, said projections being adapted when said jaws are drawn together to form opposed, staggered crimps in the overlapping fabric parts, the projections of each of said jaws being spaced from one another a distance greater than the longest dimension of the individual projections taken longitudinally of said necktie blank, said projections being adapted to permit a needle to pass through said crimps when said projections are in crimping position.

12. Apparatus as recited in claim 11 wherein said second means comprises a spacing bar mounted to be moved in a direction substantially transversely of said jaws, said spacing bar having a first row of laterally projecting tongues at least a portion of which are adapted when said spacing bar is moved toward said jaws to pass between the spaced projections on a given one of said jaws; a second row of laterally projecting tongues at least a portion of which are adapted when said spacing bar is moved toward said jaws to pass between the spaced projections on the other of said jaws, the tongues in each row being therefore staggered with relation to the tongues 10 of the other row, the width of each of said tongues being greater than the longest dimension of the individual projections taken longitudinally of said necktie blank but less than the distance between the projections on each of said jaws, said rows of tongues being so situated relative 15 56 free between said rows of tongues and holding the crimps 20 2,781,010

8 of each fabric part spaced apart from adjacent crimps of the other fabric part.

13. Apparatus as recited in claim 11 wherein said projections are separate elements resiliently socketed in recesses in said jaws permitting them to be pressed into said recesses by the needle.

14. Apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said tongues have their inner sides provided with grooves forming a guideway for the needle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 21,728 Schramm Feb. 25, 1941 Hall Dec. 28, 1937 2,122,811 Fulirnedoro July 5, 1938 2,286,224 Naftali June 16, 1942 2,608,170 Newman Aug. 26, 1952 2,754,781 Newman July 17, 1956 Newman Feb. 12;, 1957

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