Abstract:
A clothing presser is provided with a stationary ironing buck, a movable ironing head, a rocking arm having the head mounted on its forward end and adapted to swing to bring the head onto the buck, and a toggle mechanism operated by a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly to impart an additional force to the head to permit the head to be strongly pressed against clothing on the buck.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a clothing presser for pressing clothing, particularly for pressing the front of the waist portion of trousers, with a powerful additional force. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     In general, a clothing presser has a stationary ironing buck and a movable ironing head adapted to be moved toward and away from the buck. The head is brought into pressure contact with clothing on the buck to permit the clothing to be pressed between the head and the buck. The head is mounted on one end of a rocking arm and, when the rocking arm is swung by the actuation of a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder mechanism mounted on the other side of the rocking arm, the head on the rocking arm is pressed against the buck. 
     With the conventional presser, however, no great pressure can be generated since not only a piston-cylinder assembly is operated by an air pressure but also this pressure is determined by the lever ratio of the rocking arm. In consequence, the clothing can not be sufficiently pressed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a clothing presser in which a toggle mechanism is combined with a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly to permit clothing to be strongly pressed with an added pressure. 
     According to this invention there is provided a clothing presser comprising a stationary ironing buck, a movable ironing head, a rocking arm having the head mounted on one end thereof and adapted to swing to bring the head onto the buck, a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly for causing the rocking arm to be swung, and a toggle mechanism operated by the piston-cylinder assembly and rocking arm to impart an additional pressure to the head to permit the head to be strongly pressed against clothing on the buck. 
     With the clothing presser according to this invention an added pressure resulting from the toggle mechanism is applied to the head on the rocking arm through a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly supported by the toggle mechanism. In consequence, the head on the rocking arm is strongly pressed against the buck to permit the clothing on the buck to be strongly pressed therebetween without the necessity of using any powerful, large sized pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly and expensive hydraulic device. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a left side elevational view, partly in cross section, showing the inoperative state of a clothing presser according to this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a left side elevational view, partly in cross section, showing the operative state of the clothing presser in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a toggle mechanism taken on line 3--3 in FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the toggle mechanism in FIG. 3. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     This invention will be explained as applied to the pressing of the front of the waist portion of trousers. 
     In FIG. 1 two mutually facing upright support plates 2 (only one is shown) are mounted on a base 1 and a stationary ironing buck 3 is provided on the upper portions of these support plates 2 so as to extend horizontally therefrom. A mat 4 is mounted on the buck 3 and a movable ironing head 5 is adapted to be brought into pressure contact with the mat 4 on the buck 3. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the head 5 is mounted on a forward end 7a of a rocking arm 7 which is swingably mounted on the upper end portions of the support plates 2 through a shaft 6. The rocking arm 7 is adapted to be swung by the actuation of a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly 8. That is, the upper end of a piston rod 8a of the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is pivotally mounted on a rear end portion 7b of the rocking arm 7, and the base end of the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is connected, as described below, through a toggle mechanism 10 to a support 9 which is mounted on the support plates 2. 
     The toggle mechanism 10 has a construction as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. A pair of bearings 10a are fixed on the support 9, and a rotary shaft 11 is journaled in the bearings 10a. An eccentric cam 12 is integrally formed on, or secured to, the rotary shaft 11. A ring member 14 is disposed around the outer periphery of the eccentric cam 12 with roller bearings 13 arranged therebetween. On the upper portion of the outer periphery of the ring member 14 is mounted a connecting member 15 to which a lower end portion 8b of the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is pivotally connected through a shaft 8c. An inverse u-shaped anchoring member 16 is mounted on the lower end portion of the outer periphery of the ring member 14 and the lower end portion of the anchoring member 16 is loosely inserted into a through hole 9a in the support 9. A stop 17 fixed to the support 9 is disposed between leg portions 16a of the anchoring member 16 and is adapted to stop the rotation of the ring member 14. The stop 17 is substantially circular in cross section and has a flat bottom surface where it is secured to the support 9. An actuating lever 18 is securely mounted on the shaft 11. Between the actuating lever 18 and the rocking arm 7 is disposed a connecting rod 19 which is disposed substantially in parallel with the piston-cylinder assembly 8. At the upper end portion of the connecting rod 19 is provided an elongate hole or a control portion 19a which extends in the longitudinal direction of the connecting rod 19. A pin 20 is mounted on that intermediate portion 7c of the rocking arm 7 which is situated between the shaft 6 and the rear end portion 7b of the rocking arm 7. The pin 20 is loosely fitted in the elongate hole 19a. 
     Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, a bag 21 through which water vapor or air passes is provided under the buck 3. A slide member 23 is attached to the lower portion of the bag 21 and can be moved up and down along a guide 22 on the support plate 2. To the lower end of the slide member 23 is connected the upper end of a rod 24a of a pneumatically operated piston-cylinder assembly 24 whose lower end is pivotally mounted on the base 1. The slide member 23 is moved up and down by the actuation of the piston-cylinder assembly 24. When the rod 24a is in the raised position the bag 21 is collapsed as shown in FIG. 1, and when the rod 24a is in the lowered position the bag 21 is expanded as shown in FIG. 2. An opening of the bag 21 communicates with an outlet 25a at the upper end of a duct 25, and an air blowing fan or blower 26 is disposed in the lower end portion of the duct 25. A radiation or a heater 27 for heating air from the fan 26 is disposed in an intermediate portion of the duct 25. Water vapor from a boiler, not shown, is supplied to the heater 27 and is heated by it. 
     In operation, the slide member 23 is moved by the actuation of the piston-cylinder assembly 24 to an uppermost position where the bag 21 is collapsed as shown in FIG. 1. The waist portion of trousers is placed around the buck 3 with the front of the waist portion of the trousers on the mat 4 so that the buck 3 and bag 21 are covered with the waist portion of the trousers. The rocking arm 7 is swung, by the piston-cylinder assembly 8 and toggle mechanism 10, in a clockwise direction to permit the front of the waist portion of the trousers to be pressed between the head 5 and the buck 3. 
     The pressing operation of the presser will be explained in more detail. 
     When the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is actuated, the rod 8a of the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is extended, causing the rocking arm 7 to be clockwise swung around the shaft 6 to permit the head 5 to be brought into pressure contact with the mat 4 on the buck 3, as shown in FIG. 2. As a result, the front of the waist portion of the trousers is pressed on the mat 4 on the buck 3. During the initial stage of the pressing operation the pin 20 of the rocking arm 7 engages an upper hole end 19b of the elongate hole 19a of the connecting rod 19. At this stage, however, the toggle mechanism 10 does not work. When the rod 8a is further extended, the clockwise swinging movement of the rocking arm 7 causes the connecting rod 19 to be raised through the shaft 20 on the rocking arm 7 and in consequence the actuating lever 18 is swung in a counterclockwise direction. The distance for which the center of the actuating lever 18 travels by the swinging movement is indicated by l 1  as shown in FIG. 4. With the swinging movement of the actuating lever 18 the eccentric cam 12 is also counterclockwise rotated through the same angle as that of the lever 18 to cause the ring member 14 to be raised by an amount l 2  from a position indicated by a solid line to a position indicated by a double-dot dash line in FIG. 4. The actuating lever 18 and eccentric cam 12 are shaped so that l 1  is greater than l 2 . Upon comparison between the amounts of work a force transmitted from the piston-cylinder assembly 8 to the connecting rod 19 is increased through the actuating lever 18 and eccentric cam 12 and the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is raised by a correspondingly increased force. As a result, the above-mentioned increasing force is added to the rear end 7b of the rocking arm 7 and the head 5 is pressed by a great force against the buck 3. Accordingly, although the force from the piston-cylinder assembly itself is restricted, the front of the waist portion of the trousers is strongly pressed between the head 5 and the buck 3. 
     When the pressing operation begins, the rod 24a of the piston-cylinder assembly 24 is retracted to move the slide member 23 downward, thereby to permit the bag 21 to be expanded as shown in FIG. 2. Then, water vapor heated through the heater 27 is sent by the fan 26 into the bag 21 to give a suitable moisture to the waist portion of the trousers through the bag 21. At the end of this operation, the supply of the water vapor is stopped and instead dry air heated by the heater 27 is conducted by the fan 26 into the bag 21. The waist of the trousers, which surrounds the bag 21 and is expanded by the expanded bag 21, is dried by the hot air introduced into the bag 21. Thereafter the supply of the dry air is stopped. The rod 8a of the piston-cylinder assembly 8 is retracted to cause the rocking arm 7 to be swung in a counterclockwise direction to permit the head 5 to be moved away from the front of the waist portion of the trousers on the mat 4 on the buck 3. During this process the piston-cylinder assembly 24 is actuated such that the rod 24a is extended to cause the bag 21 to be collapsed as shown in FIG. 1. Shortly before the rocking arm 7 is counterclockwise swung to an original position, the pin 20 on the rocking arm 7 engages a lower hole end 19c of the elongate hole 19a and in consequence the connecting rod 19 is lowered to cause the actuating lever 18, eccentric cam 12 and ring member 14 (that is, the toggle mechanism 10) to be returned to the original position. 
     Although this invention has been explained as pressing the front of the waist portion of the trousers, this invention is not restricted thereto. This invention can of course be applied to the pressing of a variety of clothes.