Patent GB-1368920-A (GB)
Title: Clamp device for fabric laying-up machines
IPC: A41H43/00
Filed: 1973-04-13
Abstract: 1368920 Laying fabric M FONIO 13 April 1973 [22 April 1972] 17903/73 Heading D1S A fabric laying machine comprises a carriage 1 reciprocable to lay fabric 10 on a table 2 during the forward run thereof, lifting means on the carriage to raise a vertically displacable part of the carriage by a presettable amount before the carriage commences each return run so as to avoid interference by the raised part of the carriage with a fabric layer laid during the preceding forward run of the carriage, and a clamping device including (a) means 6 operable to clamp an end portion of a layer of fabric, (b) vertically displacable clamp supporting means 5, and (c) means engagable by the raised part of the carriage when the carriage approaches the end of its return run to release the clamping means from clamping an end portion of a fabric layer laid during the preceding forward run of the carriage, to raise the clamp supporting means by an amount substantially equal to the preset amount and to clamp the clamping means onto an end portion of a further layer of fabric fed from the carriage. An inclined arm 3 is connected to the carriage 1 by a hinge 4 and interacts with a clamp supporting device 5 to raise this device and open the clamping means 6. The device 5 is mounted on a rack and pinion assembly 7 fitted with a clutch (not shown) which allows the device 5 to be raised when a bracket 9 thereon is displaced upwardly but which retains the device 5 at the level to which it has been raised. The height of the bracket 9 is manually adjustable by a wheel 8. The clamping means 6 comprises jaws 13, 14 on shafts 11, 12 and provided with an eccentrically-mounted knurled roller 15 and a bracket 16, respectively, see Fig. 3. The shafts 11, 12 are coupled to each other by levers 17, 18, respectively, thereon and which are interconnected by a link 19, see Fig. 4. A small roller 21, Fig. 5, for contacting the arm 3 is carried on one arm 20b of a lever 20 keyed to the shaft 11. The other arm 20a is connected to a return spring 22 which urges the jaws 13, 14 to their closed position. A roller 23 is rotatably mounted on the bracket 9 and, in the normal position of the lever 20, is slightly higher than the roller 21. As the carriage 1 moves to the left of Fig. 2, the arm 3 and subsequently a horizontal platform 24 engage the roller 23 to raise the device 5. Slightly before the carriage 1 reaches the end of its return run, the inclined surface of the arm 3 contacts first the roller 21 to turn the lever 20, against the spring 22, and the shaft 11 clockwise. Thus, the jaws 13, 14 are rotated clockwise to release the end of the fabric layer laid during the previous run of the carriage. Subsequently, the arm 3 contacts the roller 23 so that the clamping means 6 is raised to the point at which the platform 24 corresponds to the roller 23. Just before the carriage 1 reaches the end of its run, the roller 21 disengages the platform 24 and the spring 22 returns the lever 20 which rotates the jaws 13, 14 anti-clockwise to clamp the projecting fabric end between the roller 15 and the bracket 16. At the beginning of the next feeding run of the carriage 1, the arm 3 is lifted by interaction with the roller 21 and then descends. Each forward run of the carriage is followed by a lifting of the feeding part of the carriage by a presettable amount proportional to the fabric thickness.