Patent GB-671007-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in automatic machines for stitching neckties and similar articles
IPC: D05B1/02
Filed: 1949-12-22
Abstract: 671,007. Sewing-machines. CHRISTENSEN AKTIEBOLAGET, A. Dec. 22, 1949 [Dec. 22, 1948], No. 32813/49. Class 112. [Also in Group XXIV] Machines for stitching neckties: folding devices.-In an automatic machine for making neckties and similar articles which have a lining and are stitched, a member with a curved contour is adapted to fold the fabric and feed it down through a slot in a work table to a depth which at any point is substantially proportional to the width of the fabric at that point. In the machine described, the folding device comprises a number of fingers 89, Fig. 1, adjustably secured to a bar 90; after the folding operation a lining, automatically fed from a container, is applied to the fabric, and the assembled tie is corrugated and stitched together by a running stitch and then ejected from the machine. Means for stopping the machine on failure or breakage of the thread and for tensioning, holding, and cutting the thread are described. The various operations are produced automatically in sequence by mechanism including two shafts which are successively connected by interlocked clutches 15a, 15b with a motor-driven member 13 (see Group XXIV). The first of these shafts reciprocates a table 2 backwards and forwards on tracks 72 by means of gears 75, Fig. 2, crank 20 and pitman 21, the movement of the table actuating the folding device and the ejector and effecting translational and work-gripping motions of the pleating or corrugating device; the action of this device to corrugate the .work and the operation of the lining feed and stitching mechanisms are produced by rotation of the second shaft. The bar 90 of the folding device is carried by end-pieces 91, Fig. 2, guided by parallel links 93 and resting on cam members 79 on the table 2 so that as the table moves the folder descends through a slot 22 in the table carrying with it the tie fabric, which has initially been laid in a template on the table; interchangeable templates may be used. The table has a set of depending resilient fingers 23, Fig. 1, along each side of the slit to grip the folded fabric. Running-stitch machines; corrugating work.- The corrugating device comprises a bar 31 with bent ends journalled at 30 in plates 29 and carrying a rod 98, Fig. 19, on which are mounted a number of pairs of fingers 95 adapted to be opened and closed by rotation of a cam-section bar 99 engaging their tails. The plates 29 are mounted on parallel links 28, Fig. 2, and are connected to the table 2 by links 88 so that as the table moves backwards the bar 31 is raised; an arm attached to the bar 31 engages a cam slot Fig. 7, (not shown), in a fixed plate to rotate the bar 31 through a right angle during this movement, thus bringing the fingers 95 to the vertical position, and a linkage connected to the bar 99 is engaged by a member on the table during this movement to rotate the bar to open the fingers, which are held open by a catch. At the end of the rearward movement of the table the tie fabric comes into contact with a lining presented by feed mechanism described below, and a lug on the table trips the catch to allow the fingers 95 to close on the tie and its lining under spring pressure. During the subsequent forward movement of the table the corrugating device moves down to the position shown in Fig. 2, so that the work lies flat just above the path of the stitching mechanism, which comprises two carriages running on tracks carried by bars 218 extending across the machine; the carriages are actuated by a chain passing over sprockets 284 geared to a shaft 280 which is oscillated by a toothed pitman 278 from a crank on the second' main shaft, and in their position of rest, during the operations described above, they lie at the right-hand end of their travel. The carriages overlap one another, the left-hand or leading one having attached at its right-hand or rear end a lug at the tail of a long eye-pointed needle while the following carriage has a cylindrical needle guide with a slot along the side for the needle lug and a small aperture at the end through which the needle point protrudes; a thread eye is provided on top of the needle guide. Only the leading carriage is connected directly to the chain, the following one being connected to it by a catch which is tripped after a predetermined movement; the second carriage has an arm which engages the end pair of fingers of the corrugating device so as to close the fingers up along the rod 98 and thus corrugate the work for the passage of the needle during the second part of the movement of the leading carriage. Proper corrugation of the work is ensured by a comb formed by fingers on a shaft, parallel to the bar 31, which is rocked by connections from a cam on a shaft 151, Fig. 1, to bring its fingers down between those of the corrugating device. The comb is raised and the corrugating device spread during the last part of the return movement of the needle. The fingers of the comb and the upper fingers of the corrugating device have apertures for the passage of the needle; the first few corrugating fingers through which the needle passes have spacers between them so that they do not close up, and they carry cylindrical guides for the needle, the first of these guides having a conical entrance. Thread control; thread-cutters and threadend holders; stopping gear.-Near the left-hand end of the corrugating device is a fixed guide 298, Fig. 32 (rear view), which the needle enters after passing through the corrugations of the work; the aperture of this guide is of such size that the thread end remains in it when the needle retires, and the end is clamped to it by an arm 302 mounted on an oscillating shaft 300 connected at the other end to a lever 307 by which the arm 302 is moved to close the aperture of the guide. The lever 307 is actuated by a spring when a catch 310 is tripped by a member 317 carried by the needle-driving chain during the return movement of the needle, and is restored, to free the thread-end for removal of the work, by a member 324 carried by the chain. The rear part of the thread is held, during the return of the needle, by a device comprising a pair of jaws 343, Fig. 34, on spring-pressed arms pivoted on a sliding member engaged by the needle-driving chain and held apart during the forward movement of the needle by a latch 346 of which the tail has frictional contact with a fixed leaf spring 392, so that on reversal of the movement the latch is opened; the jaws are opened at the end of the reverse movement by a fixed cam 393. The rear end of the thread is cut, after return of the two carriages to their initial position, by a blade 326, Fig. 19, sliding on the one of the last pair of the non-sliding corrugating fingers 95 to co-operate with a fixed blade 325 thereon, the blade being connected as shown to the co-operating finger so that it is actuated to cut the thread when the fingers are opened. The thread passes from the supply through a device for indicating, or stopping the machine, when the thread breaks, and then through a pair of eyes between which it carries a weighted ring to keep it taut. The former device comprises a rigid arm 357, Fig. 36, with a pair of thread eyes 358, between which is an insulated spring arm 363 with a pair of spring shoes frictionally engaging the thread; the arms 357, 363 carry electric contacts 366 included in a circuit for actuating an indicating or stopping device when the contacts are closed, the contacts being normally held open by the frictional drag of the thread passing downwards between the shoes on the arm 363. The outer part of the arm 357 and the eyes 358 are slotted to facilitate insertion of the thread. Ejector.-The completed tie is stripped from the corrugating device, after the latter has been opened during the initial movement of the table in a new cycle of operation, by a device comprising a set of fingers on a shaft mounted in the frame and actuated by an arm secured to the table. Lining feed.-The tie linings are carried in a magazine 9, Fig. 1, with a narrow slit at the bottom of its front wall through which the linings are withdrawn one at a time by devices 176 carried on a shaft 160. This shaft is slidable parallel to itself, and is connected by pitmans 158 from cranks 155 on a shaft 151 driven from the second main driving shaft to move it backwards and then forwards in the frame while the stitching mechanism is in operation; the pitmans 158 are telescopic and are provided with internal compression springs. The devices 176 are slidable on the shaft 160, and are pressed apart by springs ; they are moved a short distance towards each other during the backward motion of the shaft 160 by engagement with fixed cam plates. Mechanism is provided to rock the shaft 160 through 90 degrees during its translational movement, and the devices 176 are rocked with it. Each device 176 carries a lining-engaging member comprising a finger 199 slidable perpendicular to the shaft 160 and to a pin 194 by which the guide for the finger is pivoted to the body of the device 176; the finger is spring-pressed against a jaw 196 fixed to the body of the device. The pin 194 has at one end an arm which is engaged by an arm on the shaft 151 to swing the finger 199 towards the device at the other end of the shaft 160 at the end of the rearward movement of the latter ; a cam surface on the body of the device 176 pushes the finger upwards during this movement, so that it enters an aperture in the bottom of the lining magazine and engages the lowest lining therein, moving it until its end drops through the aperture. During the forward movement of the shaft 160 the jaws 199, 196 close to hold the lining, the devices 176 are allowed to move apart under pressure of their springs to stretch it, and the shaft 160 rocks to bring it into a vertical plane ready to meet the folded tie fabric which is brought to it in