Patent GB-191029451-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Machines for Folding and Fastening a Skirt Fold.
IPC: A41H9/02
Filed: 1910-12-19
Granted: 1911-12-14
Abstract: 29,451. Greenberg Automatic Fitting Machine Co., and Greenberg, S. E. Dec. 19. Measuring for.-A machine for pinning a hem on a lady's dress consists of a rotatable platform 1, Fig. 1, on the bearing spindle 4 of which is mounted a disk 8, which frictionally engages with a pinion 9 on a shaft 10. The shaft is driven through chain gearing and a countershaft 13 by a motor 14. The person wearing the skirt to be pinned stands on a platform while it is rotated, and, to enable her to support herself, a rail 26 is provided on a rotating ring 18. The ring is concentric with an equal fixed ring 17, on which it is supported by means of balls in an annular race. Gearing 24, 23, 22 causes the ring 18 to rotate synchronously with the platform. The folding and pinning mechanisms are mounted on bars 40, 35 respectively, which can be raised by racks and pinions 43, 37 in a supporting frame 29. The frame itself is supported on bars 30, 31, of which the bar 30 can be moved by a hand pinion 33 engaging rack teeth on the bar, so as to adjust the frame 29 radially with respect to the platform. Telescoping splined shafts 48, 44, connected by mitrewheels 47, 46, transmit power to the mechanisms on the frame, and pawls 34, 41 hold the bars 35, 40 at the required height after adjustment. The personwearing the skirt to be pinned mounts the platform, which is then rotated. The skirt is folded and pinned during the rotation, the folding being effected by a groove 73, Fig. 2, in a presser-foot 70, which is mounted on an endlong sliding rod 71. The foot is normally held against the skirt by a spring 72, but can be removed by a cam-lever as in sewing-machines. The projecting surface of a serrated feeding-surface feeds the skirt horizontally step by step, folding it ready for the insertion of the pins, and is assisted in the feeding operation by two other flat serrated surfaces, one above and one below. These surfaces are mounted on a plate 60, one end of which has a forked engagement with a guide-screw, and the other is reciprocated by an eccentric driven by a shaft 78 in gear with the shaft 48. An adjusting-screw outside the feed-casing enables the amplitude of feed to be adjusted. The pins are inserted through the folded skirt by an arm 94, Fig. 6, which takes them singly from a reel of tape in which they are inserted edgewayswith their heads protruding. The tape is pulled off the reel by a toothed wheel 84, the teeth on which engage between the pins. The wheel is rotated step by step by a pawl 87 on a lever 88, which is pivoted at 89 and given a reciprocatory motion by a connecting-rod 90 and eccentric 92. A spring detent 86 engages in notches on the supporting body of the wheel, thereby ensuring a correct step-by-step. movement. The tape being in position with a pin presented, the lever 88 swings to the left, whereupon a projection 96 on the arm 94 rides over a fixed cam-track 97 and depresses the forward end of the arm about the pivot 95. Spring fingers 102, held projecting from the forward end by a rod 100 which passes through the arm, are normally held by a compression spring surrounding the rod, so that projections inside the arm register with notches on the fingers. Under these conditions, the fingers are open to their fullest extent, but, after depression and engagement with a pin 82, a fixed projection 105 abuts against a stop 106 on the end of the rod 100, forcing the fingers 102 out of the other end of the arm 94 and closing them. The return movement of the lever 88 causes the arm 94 to raise the fingers carrying the pin into position above the skirt fold. In this position, the projection 96 riding clear of the cam-track, the resetting- springs 98, 99, 111 pull the arm into an horizontal position, pinning the fold. Simultaneously. a spring detent which locked the rod 100 with the fingers closed, is released and allows the fingers to open. A plate 113 behind the fingers ensures the pin being driven home.