Apparatus for bonding sheet-like textile pieces

For the (partial) bonding of textile pieces, that is to say (large) outer material parts 10 to (small) interlinings 11, outer material parts 10 in bundles 14 are fixed in front of press plates 12, 13 by means of a holding device 15, and only regions 22 of the outer material parts 10 intended for bonding are introduced between the press plates 12, 13, specifically after previous preparation, that is to say positioning, of the interlining 11 on a layout surface 23 on the top side of the upper press plate 12.

The invention relates to an apparatus for bonding sheet-like textile 
pieces, especially those for outer garments, in which the textile pieces 
to be bonded to one another (outer material part and interlining) are 
bonded to one another between press plates movable relative to one 
another, with heat and pressure being applied, a feeder station for 
manually laying the textile pieces to be bonded together on one another 
being arranged on the tending side. 
In a known apparatus of this type (German Patent Specification No. 
1,953,577), pairs of press plates are arranged in the region of pressing 
stations on both sides of a conveyor belt for the textile pieces. These 
are laid onto the conveyor belt and onto one another in the region of a 
feeder station and are then conveyed into the pressing stations and out of 
these again. When relatively small textile pieces are processed by means 
of this known bonding press, it is customary to lay them onto the conveyor 
belt next to one another in succession in the conveying direction. 
The textile pieces to be bonded to one another are mainly supplied to the 
apparatus as bundles. The bonded textile pieces leaving the bonding press 
will, when their content corresponds to that of the bundles supplied, be 
combined again in an appropriate way. This conveyance encounters 
difficulties when the apparatus has a large working width and when several 
attendants are employed on both the feed and delivery sides. 
The known apparatuses are also uneconomic when interlinings which are small 
in relation to the outer material parts are to be bonded to the latter and 
are to be placed off-center, for example in the region of the hems and 
button strips. They are uneconomic, on the one hand because of the labor 
force required, and on the other hand because of the heating of the press 
plates which are excessively large for partial bonding. 
The object on which the invention is based is to propose an apparatus for 
bonding textile pieces, which makes it possible to achieve economical, 
energy-saving operation, even when textile pieces of different sizes are 
to be bonded (partially), and furthermore when the predetermined bundles 
of textile pieces are to be retained after bonding. 
The apparatus according to the invention makes it possible to work in such 
a way that the bundles of textile pieces supplied, especially outer 
material parts, are fixed (held) outside the region of the press plates, 
and only the regions to be bonded to an associated textile piece 
(interlining) are introduced between the press plates, with the bundle 
being preserved. It thus becomes possible to utilize the press plates more 
efficiently or have press plates of smaller dimensions. Furthermore, the 
predetermined bundle is preserved without being broken up in the meantime 
and recombined. 
According to the invention, the procedure here is that the bundled outer 
material fixed in bundles on the tending side are turned over in 
succession with the part to be bonded, in the manner of pages of a book 
and are introduced, together with the interlining, between the press 
plates. After bonding, these free regions of the outer material parts, 
together with the interlinings, are moved out of the region between the 
press plates and brought into a hanging position directed downwards. The 
bundle consequently experiences no change of location, but remains fixed 
in the holding device until all the outer material parts have been 
provided with an interlining. 
Special economic advantage is achieved when the outer material parts to be 
bonded or the regions receiving the interlining, whilst continuing to be 
bound in the bundle, are laid onto the top side of the upper press late, 
that is to say onto the layout surface of the latter, and the interlining 
is then brought into the desired position. The textile pieces to be bonded 
to one another are then prepared for bonding on the bench-like top side of 
the upper press plate, whilst at the same time a bonding cycle is 
executed. The upper press plate is then moved out of the pressing 
position, and on the one hand the bonded textile piece slides into the 
downward-directed position and on the other hand the prepared outer 
material part, that is the part provided with an interlining, slides into 
the region between the press plates, namely onto the exposed lower press 
plate. Very short cycle times are possible as a result. 
According to a further proposal of the invention, the textile pieces bonded 
to one another are moved out of the essentially horizontally directed 
bonding position into the downward-directed collecting position by a 
movable member, namely a draw-off rod, as a result of the downward 
movement of the latter. 
Further features of the invention relate to the constructional design of 
the holding device for the textile pieces, to the mounting and design of 
the press plates and draw-off rod and to further constructive details.

The apparatus shown in the drawings serves for bonding textile pieces by 
means of heat and pressure. These are mainly outer material parts 10 and 
interlinings 11. In the present case, these are to be bonded to one 
another in such a way that the interlining 11 of small area in relation to 
the outer material part 10 is to be joined to the latter off-center, that 
is to say in the edge region of the latter. 
For this purpose, only the region of the outer material part 10 to be 
subjected to heat and pressure is moved between two press plates 12 and 
13. These are heated. Bonding is carried out when the press plates 12 and 
13 are moved relative to one another, and in the present case, in the 
bonding position (FIG. 1 and FIG. 4), the lower press plate 13 is moved 
upwards against the upper press plate 12 or against the textile pieces 
received between them. 
In the present case, the outer material parts 10 are supplied to the 
apparatus in bundles and are also processed in this form. For this 
purpose, a bundle 14 of this type is fixed at working height on the 
tending or operator side of the apparatus, that is to say in front of the 
press plates 12, 13. In the present exemplary embodiment, a holding device 
15 for temporarily receiving the bundle 14 consists of two retaining rods 
16 and 17 movable relative to one another for clamping. These extend 
essentially horizontally and at the same height, at a distance from one 
another, transversely in front of the press plates 12 and 13. The 
retaining rods 16 and 17 can be moved apart from one another against 
spring pressure, so that the bundle 14 can be received and clamped between 
the retaining rods 16 and 17. In the present exemplary embodiment, the 
retaining rod 17 facing the press plates 12, 13 is arranged fixed in 
place, whilst the outer retaining rod 16 is supported pivotably in a 
bearing 19 via lateral supporting arms 18. An extension 20 adjoining the 
supporting arm 18 is loaded by a spring 21 which prestresses the 
supporting arm 18 and consequently the retaining rod 16 in the clamping 
direction, that is to say in the direction of the retaining rod 17. The 
retaining rod 16 can be moved back against the load of the spring 21 by 
hand and the bundle 14 thereby introduced or removed. 
In the initial position, the bundle 14 of outer material parts not yet 
provided with an interlining 11 is clamped in such a way that the entire 
bundle hangs on the outer retaining rod 16 remote from the press plates 
12, 13. At the same time, a region 22 of the outer material parts 10, 
which is to be provided with the interlining 11, hangs on the outside, 
that is to say facing the attendant. 
To bond the interlinings 11 on the outer material parts 10, the regions 22 
of the outer material parts 10 are introduced in succession between the 
press plates 12 and 13 by being turned over in the manner of the pages of 
a book, after the interlining 11 has previously been laid on. The 
respective regions 22 of the outer material parts 10 are pivoted through 
virtually 270.degree. during this operation. 
After the interlining 11 has been bonded to the outer material part 10, 
without any change in the position of the bundle 14, the region 22 of the 
outer material part 10 provided with the interlining 11 is moved downwards 
into a hanging position in the region between the retaining rod 17 and the 
press plates (FIG. 4). The outer material parts 10 thus treated now hang 
solely on the retaining rod 17. 
To prepare the outer material part 10 and interlining 11 for the bonding 
operation, the outer material part 10 or the region 22 is laid onto an 
intermediate support, that is to say onto the top side of the upper press 
plate 12, when this is located in the bonding position according to FIG. 1 
and FIG. 4. For this purpose, the press plate 12 is provided with an upper 
bench-like layout surface 23 which is designed to slope downwards in the 
manner of a shed roof, that is to say towards the tending side. The 
interlining 11 is laid in the correct position onto the region 22 of an 
outer material part 10 spread out on the layout surface 23. This 
preparatory activity takes place completely or partially during a pressing 
or bonding cycle. 
To make it easy to handle the textile pieces, a stack 24 of interlinings 11 
is provided on an interlining holder 25 of angular cross-section. This is 
arranged above the upper press plate 12, specifically in a region remote 
from the tending side, but in any case outside that part of the layout 
surface 23 serving for receiving the outer material part 10. In this way, 
the interlinings 11 can be brought into the required position over a short 
distance. 
The outer material part 10, or its region 22, provided with an interlining 
11 is brought into the pressing position, that is to say into an 
essentially horizontal position resting on the top side of the lower press 
plate 13, as a result of the displacement of the upper press plate 12 when 
it slides down from the latter. For this purpose, in the present exemplary 
embodiment, the upper press plate 12 is displaced approximately in the 
plane of the pressing surfaces or in the tending direction into an opening 
position remote from the tending side, as shown in FIG. 2. The region 22 
of the outer material part 10 thereby automatically comes into the 
pressing position on the lower press plate 13. When the press plate 12 is 
now returned to the initial position (the to-and-fro movement according to 
the arrow 26), the pressing operation can take place. At the same time, 
the upper press plate 12 is ready again to receive the next outer material 
part 10. 
To execute the movements according to the arrow 26, the upper press plate 
12 is attached to the top ends of supporting spars 27 arranged laterally. 
These are in turn received between side walls 28 of a machine frame. The 
bottom ends of the supporting spars 27 are supported in a pivot bearing 
which, in the present case, consists of a transversely directed supporting 
rod 29 mounted in the side walls 28. To execute the pivoting movements of 
the supporting spars 27 and consequently the to-and-fro movement of the 
press plate 12, a laterally arranged pressure-medium cylinder 30 connected 
to the adjacent side wall 28 is used here. 
In the present case, to carry out the pressing operation, the lower press 
plate 13 is moved against the upper press plate 12 which is stationary 
during this time. For this purpose, two lateral pressure cylinders 31 are 
provided which are attached to the supporting spars 27 or to a cross 
member 32 connecting these to one another. Piston rods 33 of the pressure 
cylinders 31 can be extended up against the underside of the press plate 
13 in the pressing position. 
In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the lower press plate 13 is 
arranged on the lateral supporting strut 34. By means of an (angled) end 
remote from the tending side, these are held in a pivot bearing 
consisting, here, of a bearing rod 35 directed transversely. This is 
fastened to the side walls 28 in a region allowing free movement of the 
upper press plate 12 (FIG. 2). The up-and-down movement of the lower press 
plate 13 is executed through an arc of a circle about the bearing rod 35. 
The lower initial position of the press plate 13 is defined by a fixed 
stop 36 for the supporting struts 34. Likewise, the retracted position of 
the press plate 12, remote from the press plate 13, is fixed by a stop 37 
for the supporting spars 27. 
In order to bring the region 22 of the outer material part 10 out of the 
pressing position into the downward-directed stand-by position after the 
press plates 12, 13 have been opened, a stripping member is provided which 
consists of a transversely directed draw-off rod 38. This is moved up and 
down in the region between the holding device 15 and the press plates 12, 
13, and as a result of its downward movement from an upper position 
according to FIG. 4 into the lower position represented by dot-and-dash 
lines, the region 22 of the outer material part 10 is carried along. 
The draw-off rod 38 is connected via lateral pivoting levers 39 or a 
transversely directed bearing rod 40 to the supporting spars 27 and is 
consequently moved to and fro together with these. An actuating cylinder 
41, likewise arranged laterally on the supporting spars 27, executes the 
movements of the pivoting lever 39 and consequently the up-and-down 
movement of the draw-off rod 38. 
During the pressing operation or during the time when an outer material 
part is laid onto the upper press plate 12, the draw-off rod 38 is in the 
upper position, that is to say underneath the prepared outer material part 
10. When the upper press plate 12 moves back into the position according 
to FIG. 2, the draw-off rod 38 automatically assumes a pqsition above the 
plane of the outer material part 10 moved into the pressing position. 
After the press plate 12 has returned to the initial position, although 
the draw-off rod 38 maintains its upper position unchanged, nevertheless 
it is now located above the outer material part 10 to be stripped off 
later. The stripping-off operation is carried out by means of the 
actuating cylinder 41 at the appropriate time. 
In a further development of the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the 
apparatus can be designed so that several holding devices 15 are provided 
next to one another and can be actuated separately, in order to allow 
several attendants to work independently in the way described above. 
In the present exemplary embodiment, the upper press plate 12 is of 
trapezoidal cross-section. The layout surface 23 is divided off from the 
remaining (heated) part 42 of the press plate 12 by insulation 43. This on 
the one hand prevents heat from being dissipated upwards, but on the other 
hand prevents undesirable heating of the layout surface 23. The insulation 
43 can, if appropriate, be designed as a layer of air.