US3016850A

US3016850A - Rufflers

Info

Publication number: US3016850A
Application number: US805198A
Authority: US
Inventors: Samuel P Caldwell
Original assignee: Mite Corp
Current assignee: Mite Corp
Priority date: 1959-04-09
Filing date: 1959-04-09
Publication date: 1962-01-16
Anticipated expiration: 1979-01-16

Description

Jan. 16, 1962 s. P. CALDWELL RUFFLERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1959 ATTORNEYS Jan. 16, 1962 s. P. CALDWELL 3,016,850

RUFFLERS Filed April 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR W ffwwr qua/MW! J M ATTORNEYS Unite rates Pate ntOfitice 3,016,850 Patented .lan. 16, 1962 3,016,850 RUFFILERS Samuel P. (Caldwell, l-lamden, Conn, assignor, by means assignments, to Mite Corporation, New Haven, Conn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 9, 1959, Ser. i o. $05,198 illaims. (CL ll2-l35} This invention relates to sewing machine attachments and more particularly to a miller attachment adapted to be employed with the ordinary household sewing machine.

Rufller attachments for sewing machines are normally provided with rullling mechanism which is actuated by a fork arm attached to the needle bar of the machine with which the attachment is used. This needle bar operates a ratchet wheel to effect counting of the stitches between the pleating or ruffling operation. It also actuates at intervals, which are adjustable, a feed blade which effects the pleating or rufiling of the material in that it carries forward a part of the material to pleat it over an under part. Thirdly, the fork arm effects the resetting of the blade to its initial position.

In the usual attachment of this character the forward position of the feed blade depends upon the position of the fork arm at the end of its upward stroke. In order, therefore, to effect ruflles of different width, the feed blade is reset or moved backwardly through a variable distance so that the movement of the feed blade from its reset position to its final forward position determined by the limit of the upper stroke of the needle bar will be variable.

As the fork arm continues to move the pendulum to the extreme forward travel of the needle bar, the unwanted stroke of the needle bar cannot be discarded and hence rufflers which are stroked to one machine cannot be used on machines having different strokes and reliance on the extreme travel of the fork arm to finally place the feed blade at the limit of its movement necessitates careful factory adjustment of rufflers to correspond to each make or model of sewing machine.

As the attachments are made in quantity, it is, of course, desirable to have them universal in use, that is, usable with any make or model of machine, without having to be adjusted by the user in accordance with the particular stroke of the sewing machine with which the attachment is employed. In the present instance this result is effected by discarding the unwanted stroke of the needle bar particularly upon its forward movement.

Three conditions affect the forward end position of the feed blade. One is the length of the stroke or the top limit position of the needle bar. Another is the distance of the needle bar from the presser bar to which the attachment is secured, and a third is the size of the hub or needle screw on the needle bar to which the fork arm is connected. Sewing machines vary in all these features but these variations can be eliminated by the present construction in which the unwanted stroke of the needle bar is discarded by causing the actuating pawl carried by the fork arm to ride off of the shoulder of the pendulum lever at the proper time so that the forward stroke will always end at the same point.

Also in attachments of this character a separator blade is employed over which the material passes, which separator blade lies between the feed dog of the sewing machine and the material. In some forms of sewing, this separator blade is necessary but it sometimes interferes with the feed of the material in that it is prevented from engagement with the material rearwardly of the pleat being formed. In the present instance the separator blade is opened up or cut away so as to allow full feed dog action while at the same time holding the material upwardly from the feed dog to some extent. The separator blade is particularly desirable where forming ruffles on one piece of cloth which is sewed to another coincidentally with the willing operation, but by cutting away or opening up the feed blade so as to permit full feed dog action, better feeding of the material is effected and clogging of the material is prevented as well as raveling and forming loose loops over the edge of the ruffle. With the use of such a separator and blade the feed dogs contact both upper and lower plies of the goods and will feed the entire loop forwardly but at the same time raises the goods slightly above the bed plate to prevent feeding until the needle is moved upwardly out of the ruffie.

One object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved ruliler attachment for sewing machines.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rufiier attachment for sewing machines which will be usable with machines of various makes and models without special adjustment to compensate for the stroke of the particular machine with which the attachment is employed.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a ruiller attachment for sewing machines wherein the end position of the rullling blade is determined by the attachment itself rather than by the end position of the upward stroke of the needle bar so that this forward position of the feed blade will always be constant regardless of such stroke.

Still another object of the invention is to effect the above result by discarding the unwanted part of the stroke of the needle bar particularly at the upper end thereof by causing the pawl carried by the fork arm of the machine to be disengaged from the pendulum lever which carries the feed blade at a given point in the operation of the fork arm.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

PEG. 1 is a side elevational view of a miller attachment embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a partial side elevation taken from the side opposite that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the mechanism for effecting disengagement of the pawl from the shoulder of the pendulum lever which carries the fork arm;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the separator blade;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the feed or ruffiing blade;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing the operation of forming a ruffle; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view substantially on line 9-? of FIG. 8.

To illustrate one embodiment of the invention there is shown in the drawings a rufr'ler attachment comprising a frame it) having at its forward end an adapter ill by which it may be secured to the presser bar of a sewing machine. Secured to and extending laterally from the frame is a foot member provided with. a spring shoe 13 below which the material passes.

Pivoted to the frame upon a pivot pin .15 is the usual pendulum lever 16 to the lower end of which is pivoted a carrier member 17 which carries the usual feed blade 18 having at its forward end serrated teeth 19 to engage the material and move it forwardly to form the pleat or ruffle. The carrier member 1'7 travels between a spring guide member 29 and the frame It) in order that it may be properly guided in its movements.

A fork arm 21 is also pivoted upon the pin 15 and provided with a bifurca ed forward end 22 for attachment to the needle screw or a hub upon the needle bar in the usual manner.

The fork arm is provided with a laterally extending lug 23 to which is pivoted at 2.4 a pawl carrier 25 so that the latter may be moved in a generally horizontal plane. The pawl carrier 25 is provided with a downwardly projecting pawl 26 designed to engage a shoulder 27 formed on the pendulum lever in order to move the latter in a clockwise direction and advance feed blade 18 or move it toward the left, as shown in P16. 1.

In order that the advance of the pendulum lever may be timed or counted so that a pleat may be formed at various intervals in the sewing operation, a ratchet wheel 2% is rotatably mounted on the pin 15, this ratchet wheel having deep and shallow notches. A masking member 29 may be secured to this ratchet wheel to cover one of the deep notches, as shown in FIG. 3.

The fork arm is provided at its rear end with an up wardly extending finger 3th with which may be engaged one of a number of

openings

31, 31 and 3t in the pawl carrier 25 depending upon the setting of the latter about its pivot pin 24%. That is, the pawl carrier may be moved about its pivot so that it will engage the shoulder 27 on the pendulum lever but will not be in engagement with the ratchet wheel or with the masking member 21 In this position a rutile will be made at each complete stroke of the needle bar. When, however, the pawl carrier is moved over to the position shown in FIG. 2 wherein the finger 3% is engaged in the opening Zit the pawl will contact the ratchet wheel 2? and make a rufiie every sixth stitch. Vl/hcn moved so as to engag the finger and the opening 31 a rufde will be made every twelfth stitch, and when the pawl carrier is moved to position to register the opening indicated by the star on the drawing with the finger 3%, the pawl will be held out of engagement with the shoulder 27 and will effect straight stitching. These adjustments are the usual ones with an attachment of this character.

It will be seen that the engagement of the pawl 26 with the shoulder 27 upon the upward stroke of the fork arm will move the lower end of the pendulum lever forwardly or toward the left, as shown in FIG. 1, thus effecting a forward stroke of the ruliling blade. in order to reset the ruffiing blade to its starting position, a horn 33 is provided on the fork arm, which horn is adapted to engage a cam-shaped member 34 pivoted at 35 on the pendulum lever ltd so that it may be adjusted in order to vary the distance through which the pendulum lever and feed blade are reset. The distance through which the lever is reset will determine the width of the rufiie as the forward position of the feed blade determined by the movement of the pendulum lever by the pawl 26 is constant.

With the above construction it will be seen that the forward end position of the feed blade will be determined by the position of the fork arm at the upper end of its stroke. However, as previously stated, it is desired that this forward end position be determined independently of the stroke of the needle bar of the machine. To this end, as shown more particularly in FIGS. 1 and 5, the frame member is provided with a beveled or inclined edge 37 adjacent the shoulder 27 when the lever 16 is at the end of its forward stroke. This inclined surface is in the path of the pawl 26 whenever it is permitted to engage the shoulder 27. The engagement of the pawl with the inclined edge or surface 37 will cause it to ride upwardly so as to be disengaged from the shoulder 27, as shown in dotted-line position in FIG. 5. Therefore, the disengagement of this pawl from the shoulder 27 will be determined by its position on the frame and not by the position of the fork arm at the upper end of its stroke as the fork arm may continue its movement after such disengagement without effecting additional movement of the pendulum 16. Thus the unwanted position of the upward stroke of the fork arm is discarded and the final position of the rufliing blade or feed blade determined independently of the final upper position of the fork arm.

it will be understood that when the pendulum lever 16 is reset by the horn 33, the shoulder 27 will be moved in a counterclockwise direction so as to permit engagement of the pawl 26 with the shoulder 27 upon the upward stroke of the fork arm, and this engagement will continue during a part of this stroke. When the pawl 26 reaches the position shown in full lines in FIG. 5, it will have begun to ride up upon the inclined or cam surface 37 but is still in engagement with the shoulder 27. However, upon further movement of the pawl and lever to these parts will have moved to their dotted-line positions shown in FIG. 5 wherein the pawl will be moved further upwardly upon the surface 37 and become disengaged from the shoulder 27 and no further movement of the pendulum lever or feed blade will be effected.

As previously stated, it is desirable in some kinds of work to use a separator blade between the goods or material and the feed dogs of the sewing machine. Such a separator blade is shown at 39 and is secured adjacent its rear end to the guide member it? which is carried by a part of the frame it). As shown in FIG. 8, the material ll is fed between this separator blade and the feed blade 18, the pleat or ruffie 42 being formed between the latter and the spring shoe 1%. The latter is provided with an opening 43 for the passage therethrough of the needle 44. The sewing machine bed is indicated at 45 through an opening in which the feed dog 46 may move. While it is sometimes desirable, as stated, to space the material 41 slightly above the feed dogs in order to permit the needle to move out of the rufile before feeding begins, it is not desirable to completely shield the material from the feed dog for in that case only the upper ply of the material will be engaged by the feed dog and improper feeding and even jambing of the feed may result. In order to permit contact of the feed dogs with the lower ply of the material below the pleat, the sepa rator blade is provided with a relatively wide recess 47 so as to straddle the feed dog, as shown in FIG. 9. Thus, while the material is slightly raised above the bed of the machine to delay the engagement of the feed dog therewith, nevertheless the latter may be raised through the opening 47 to engage the lower ply of the goods so that both plies will be fed forward positively.

This will not only prevent the unraveling or pulling out of the upper ply of the loop so that the same width of pleat or ruffle is always obtained, but will effect stitching closer to the edge of the pleat and eliminate jambing or obstruction in the feed of the material.

It will be noted that the needle opening 43 in the spring shoe 13 is relatively wide and, as the opening 47 is also wide, the sewing machine, when the attachment is used, may sew either to the right or left of center as is sometimes desirable in the case of a zigzag machine Where the straight stitching is sometimes off center.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A ruffler attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a lever pivoted thereto and carrying a ruffiing blade at its lower end, a fork arm pivoted to the frame, a pawl carrier actuated by the fork arm, a pawl on said carrier having an end portion engaging said lever to effect a forward movement of the rut-fling blade, and cam means on the frame to disengage said pawl from the lever at a predetermined point in the upward stroke of the fork arm.

2. A ruffler attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a lever pivoted thereto and carrying a ruffling blade at its lower end, a fork arm pivoted to the frame, a pawl carrier actuated by the fork arm and having a pawl thereon to engage said lever and effect a forward movement of the ruffling blade, and means in fixed position on the frame and formed integrally therewith and disposed in the path of said pawl to disengage said pawl from the lever at a predetermined point in the upward stroke of the fork arm.

3. A rufiler attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a lever pivoted thereto and carrying a ruffiing blade at its lower end, a fork arm pivoted to the frame, a pawl carrier actuated by the fork arm and having a pawl thereon to engage said lever and effect a forward movement of the ruifling blade, and said frame being provided with a cam surface in the path of said pawl to engage the latter at a predetermined point in the upward stroke of the fork arm and disengage it from said lever.

4. A ruffler attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a lever pivoted thereto and carrying a ruffiing blade at its lower end, a fork arm pivoted to the 20 frame, a pawl member actuated by the fork arm, said lever having a shoulder portion to be engaged by the pawl member to effect a forward movement of the feed blade upon an upward stroke of the fork arm, said frame having an inclined cam surface with which said pawl engages at a predetermined point in the stroke of the fork arm to effect disengagement of the pawl from said shoulder.

5. A ruifler attachment for sewing machines comprising a frame, a lever pivoted thereto and carrying a ruffling blade at its lower end, a fork arm pivoted to the frame, a pawl member actuated by the fork arm, said lever having a shoulder portion to be engaged by the pawl member to effect a forward movement of the feed blade upon an upward stroke of the fork arm, and said frame having an upwardly inclined cam surface with which said pawl engages at a predetermined point in the stroke of the fork arm to lift said pawl out of engagement with said shoulder and permit further movement of the fork arm without efiecting movement of the lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 564,359 Barnum July 21, 1896 931,641 Parsons Aug. 17, 1909 1,547,528 Sears July 28, 1925 2,574,661 Russell Nov. 13, 1951