Patent GB-677537-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to cloth layering machines
IPC: A41H43/00
Filed: 1949-07-25
Abstract: 677,537. Folding fabrics. BIEBER, A., BIEBER, L., and EXPRESS PATENT CO. (LIVERPOOL), Ltd. July 25, 1949, No. 19481/49. Class 42 (ii). The invention relates to cloth-layering machines of the type including a table, a carriage reciprocally mounted on rails at each side of the table, opposed pairs of pivotal cloth holders mounted on the table at required distance apart, and means associated with the cloth holders and carriage for actuating the former so that at each reversal of the carriage they are alternately released from and reengaged with the cloth being laid on the table. According to the invention, carriageactuable clamping mechanism is provided to positively hold layered cloth against displacement by bearing upon the then-uppermost fold of cloth and pressing the cloth on to the table of the machine during those periods when a pair of the pivotal cloth holders are disengaged from the cloth, and to so engage each succeeding fold of cloth as it is made. Holding and clamping mechanisms.-As shown, two similar cloth-holding mechanisms, Fig. 1, are situated at a pre-set distance apart on the table 1. Each holding mechanism comprises cloth holder blades 43 pivoted at 42 to the ends of lifting bars 41 which are rotatable about a shaft 38. The clamping mechanism associated with each holding mechanism comprises a bar 54, having clamping prongs 55, carried by arms 56 connected by links 58 to brackets 59 disconnectably secured to shaft 38. The whole of one or each set of holding and clamping mechanisms is slidable along the carriage rails 13 and can be secured in a desired position by means of a clamping handle 86. The mechanism can be moved in conjunction with carriage 3 by engaging hooks 87 with a rod 6 or 11 of the carriage, Fig. 2. . Carriage.-The carriage 3 is reciprocated manually by means of handles 4a, or by an electric motor, along rails 13. Cloth is drawn from a roller 20, over guide rollers 22, 24 with adjustable collars 22a, 24a, respectively, and between spaced rollers 26, 27 mounted in a frame 28, 29, 30 which can be raised gradually, as the thickness of the cloth layers on table 1 increases, by means of a hand lever 33 connected thereto by a linkage. Rollers 26, 27 are held in a raised position by engagement of pawls 32a with ratchet teeth on frame members 30 ; the pawls can be disengaged, for lowering rollers 26, 27, by means of a hand lever 36. Operation.-As the carriage approaches one end of its run, pendant arms 51 thereon strike against and release catches 46 at the sides of the cloth holding mechanism, and thereafter move levers 44, each connected by a rod 45 to a blade 43, to swing the blades from between the previously-laid fold of cloth to positions in line with bars 41. On further movement of the carriage, rod 6 or 11 thereon engages and moves tongues 52 on bars 41 to raise the bars and blades 43. Resilient buffers 70 limit the upward movement of bars 41 and, therefore, the stroke of the carriage. As arms 51 pass levers 44, blades 43 swing inwards across the new layer of cloth under the influence of tension springs 49, and catches 46 return to the locking position. On reversal of the carriage, bars 41 are lowered and blades 43 make and retain a new fold of cloth lying just over the tips of prongs 55 which have so far continued to clamp the previous layers. Continued reverse movement of the carriage now causes prongs 55 to move back from between the new cloth fold, rise, advance again, and descend to clamp the new fold. Pawls 64 on levers 62, pivoted at 62a, are engaged by rollers 72 on the reversing carriage, and levers 62 are moved over to cause arms 56 and prongs 55 to retract ; the prongs are simultaneously raised by engagement of cam rollers on arms 56 with cam surfaces on brackets 59. Rollers 73 on the carriage. now engage upstanding portions 56b of arms 56 to advance the prongs again, the cam members causing prongs 55 to rise further and finally descend to clamping position on the new fold. The descent of prongs 55 is cushioned by means of a dashpot 74.