Patent GB-578334-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to pressing machines for garments and the like
IPC: D06F71/34
Filed: 1942-07-21
Abstract: 578,334. Garment presses. REECE FOLDING MACHINE CO. July 21, 1942, No. 10196. Convention date, Jan. 9. [Class 138 (ii)] [Also in Group XXIV] In a garment press of the type having a fixed back and movable head and means for moistening and drying out the work means are provided for automatically timing the operations so that steam is admitted to the work just before the press is closed and the steam is cut off and drying medium (hot air) is applied, both while the work is held under constant maximum pressure for which the machine is adjustably set. A lower main frame 10 supports a member 11 on which the buck 15 is secured and a rear member 12 carrying and guiding the press head 14 which is secured to the forward ends of a pair of L-shaped arms 25 pivoted on trunnions 24 on a ring 20 having a key 22 extending into a vertical guiding groove in the frame member 12. The ring is secured by a set screw 21 to a shaft 17 sliding in bearing 18, 19 formed on the frame 12 which has attached plates 32 formed with cam grooves to receive rollers 30 mounted on the depending ends of the arms 25 which thus give a straight lift before a swing back in raising the press head. This is raised by a rod 57 pivoted to a lever 52 rocked by a cam 50 and working on an eccentric 471 loose on a shaft 61 secured to the arms 25. The lever 52 is formed of spaced parallel arms 54, Fig. 2, pivoted on a rod 53 extending between two #-shaped supports 35 carried on rods 36 in the frame 10 and each having rolls 55 engaging grooves in a cam disk 50 driven by worm gear 39, 40, Fig. 7, clutch C, and belt 45 form a motor 42. The eccentric 471 rotates on a shaft 61 secured at its end to the arms 25 and is keyed to the hub of a worm wheel 63 journalled in the spaced walls 59 of a block 58 secured to the rod 57 and having journalled in extensions 60 a worm 64 which can be turned by a handle 66 to set the eccentric so as to adjust the length of the connection between the arms 25 and the lever 52 and thus the pressure applied to the work. The buck comprises a U-shaped body 70 closed by a wire mesh screen turned down over the sides and clamped and a pervious pad over the screen covered by a cloth folded over the edges and secured by a tie string. In the chamber so formed are steam heating coils 76 with inlet and outlet pipes 78, 80 and the head is similar, with the addition of uniformly distributed perforations 69 in the top wall 70<1>. The buck is fitted with a spray nozzle 87 fed by a pipe 86 branching from the inlet pipe 78 under control of a valve 88 normally closed by a spring 108 but adapted to be opened by a lever 110 engaging its spindle and having a forked end resting on a collar 112 on a rod 111 operable by a foot lever 113 or by a lever 114 engaging a hole in a block 115 formed on the rod 111 and having a roll 117 engaging a cam 118 on the shaft 38. A pipe 89 also leads from the buck chamber to the intake end of a suction fan 94 and has a valve normally closed by a spring 97 but adapted for opening by a lever 99 engaging a hole in a block 101 on the valve stem and operable by a treadle 103 or by a roller 105 engaging a cam 106 on the shaft 38. The shaft 38 is driven by a motor 42 and clutch C through a belt 45 the motor shaft pulley 44 having two complementary parts adjustable by a lever 138 and rod 141 threaded in a nut 143 and fitted with a handle by turning which the effective size of the pulley 44 can be raised to give the desired speed to the shaft 38. The pulley 46 is integral with the outer clutch drum 145 which surrounds shoes expanded by cams on spaced shafts 146 journalled in a disk with a brake drum 200 keyed on the shaft 41. Arms 148 fixed on the spaced shafts 146 have followers to engage an annular cam 166 loose on the shaft 41 and having a grooved collar 151 engaged by rolls on the forked arm of a lever 155 another arm of which carries a brake block for engaging the drum 200. Another arm 156 of the lever connects by a link 157 with a double treadle 43, 43<1> on a shaft 104 journalled in the frame and fitted with a counter-weight to hold the treadle in either operative or inoperative position. Means is provided for automatically stopping the shaft 38 when the head engages the buck and when it is in open position. This is effected by a cam 170 on shaft 38 with weights at diametrically opposite points which engage a lever 172 the lower arm 174 of which has roll 176 engaging a slot in a bar 175 having a forked end embracing a pin 182 on a lever 183 and having an upward extension 184 to which the lever 183 is pivoted and a stop tongue 188 engaging the lever 183. A slot in the lever 183 engages a pin on the forked arm of the lever 155 and a spring connects the pin 182 with the bar 175 tending to keep the pin in the forked end of the bar. A rod 178 with handle 180 screws into the offset end of the bar 175. Thus with the rod withdrawn from contact with the lever 174 the cam 170 moves the lever 174 idly, but with the rod 178 screwed in to stop play of the roll 176 in its slot, the cam will move the lever 174, bar 175, and lever 183 to declutch and stop the shaft 41 and 38 and hold the head in pressing or raised position. The motor 42 is secured on a platform 130 sliding on rods 131 between the sides of the frame 10, springs 135 pulling on the platform to keep the belt 45 in tension, which can be relieved by moving the lever 133 pivoted at 134 to push a rod attached to the platform, when it is required to adjust the size of the pulley 44. With the cams fast on the shaft 38 the operation of pressing garments is automatically correctly performed the steam spray being applied just before the press is closed and continued for a predetermined time after closing, then shut off and after a predetermined time suction is turned on during full pressure of the head, thus drawing air through the head heating it therein and drawing it through the whole surface pressed, and finally passing it through the fan and a dehydrating device 121 to air. Suction is cut off just before the head is lifted. Specification 578,344 is referred to which differs from this only in the invention claimed.