An Improved Method and Apparatus for Reproducing and Per- manently Recording the Lays employed in Cutting Out Garments, and other analogous purposes.
Year: 1897

page_text: 66
"
An Improved Method and Apparatus for Reproducing and Per-
manently Recording the Lays employed in Cutting Out
Garments, and other analogous purposes.
I HENRY MERRITT, of Lyme View, Romiley, in the County of Chester, Manager
of a Clothing Factory, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:―
This invention has for its object a process and apparatus for permanently
recording and reproducing "lays" ready for cutting cloth for clothing or the like
Hitherto, when it has been desired to cut
by cutting machinery or by hand.
cloth into garments, parts of garments, or the like, it has been customary to have
these lays marked out by means of patterns of paper, cardboard, metal or the like,
cut to the required shape by skilled cutters.
These have been arranged on the cloth by skilled workers as closely as possible
(with a view to preventing waste) and then marked round by means of chalk.
This cloth, marked as described, constitutes the "lay."
As the workers who prepare or build up these "lays" vary in skill, some are
not able to arrange these patterns and mark out the lay as economically as others.
As a result of this there is often a great and unnecessary waste of time and of
material.
To prevent this it has been variously proposed to mark out in the manner
desired by a printing process; or by means of "lays" marked out in paper, cloth
or metal the lines of which have been perforated and transferred to the cloth
placed beneath, by powdered chalk, paint or the like. In some instances the
cloth marked through these perforated lays is passed through a hot roller machine
with a view to fixing the marks firmly to the cloth. These processes besides
being very costly, are objectionable because in some cases the designs are not
faithfully committed to the cloth, and in others, especially when the chalked lay
is subjected to pressure in hot roller machines, the marks may become too thick
or the cloth be stretched and the designs distorted with the possible result of
producing disproportionate garments or parts of garments or the like.
My invention is intended to obviate these defects and to ensure absolute
accuracy in the reproduction of “lays" besides effecting a considerable saving or
gain in the time labor and material expended in such reproduction.
By means of my process and apparatus a model “lay" the work of a highly

page_text: skilled draughtsman or marker, may be accurately and expeditiously and
economically reproduced by operatives who are not experienced in this class of
work.
The drawings illustrate specially invented frames or apparatus from which and
by which the "lay" is suspended and held in a firm position during one of the
operations described in my process.
The operations in my process may be thus described. The lay is marked out
to the best advantage on the cloth. it is intended to cut, or on some other cloth or
suitable-paper as the case may be, by a skilled cutter or marker out.
The "lay" is then carefully photographed, so that a faithful and permanent
record of all the marks, designs and figures thereon may be preserved.
In order that the "lay" may be clearly photographed for recording and repro-
ducing I cause it to be hung or suspended with care and precision from a frame
specially adapted to the purpose and which is capable of suspending and holding
firmly in the right position various widths and lengths of cloth, as the "lays
vary greatly in size.
"
After being thus suspended and photographed the "lay" if it be intended to
cut it out for making up purposes, may be used in the customary way, that is, by
being cut out alone, or, if desired, by being placed on the top of other cloths of
corresponding length which it is desired to cut, and used as a guide to the cutter
in cutting out the requisite garments, parts of garments, or the like. The cutting
may be by hand or by machine, in small or in large quantities.
When it is desired to reproduce a "lay" all that is necessary is that the person
appointed to do the marking out shall take the cloth it is intended to cut and
having the photograph of the original lay placed before him, or in a position
convenient for reference, shall proceed to place the various patterns, or similar
ones, used in building up the original lay, on the cloth in strict accordance with
the positions assigned to the said patterns, in the photograph, and shall then
mark round them by means of chalk or the like.
In this way an exact and faithful reproduction of the best "lay" of the most
skilled cutter or marker out may be obtained whenever necessary by an unskilled
person, the photograph acting as guide, besides being a permanent record to refer
to, and make comparisons from.
On the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 shew in front elevation and
transverse section an apparatus upon which the lay can be conveniently supported
whilst being photographed. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section thereof.
The frame a is made with adjustable bars be one (b) horizontal and the other (c)
vertical, the bars be and the parts of the frame with which they form a rectangle
are provided with hooks d on which the lay can be suspended. The bar c is
preferably made with a roller or rollers c¹ at its lower end and provided with
pawls a catching into racks a¹ on the frame a to fit its position.
The camera should be placed at the desired distance away from and opposite
to the centre of the adjustable rectangle formed by part of the frame a and the
bars b & c.
Or a roller or bar e as seen at Fig. 3, may be suspended in suitable brackets
fixed in a frame e¹ or wall or to the ceiling or other convenient fixture, and an
adjustable har f provided beneath the same, the lay a
by clothes pegs or suitable clips g and weighted cords or cords g¹ wound round
being supported at one end
suitable fixed pegs or hooks or grips at 2, the other end or part of the lay being
held by the hooks on the bar f, and if all the lay can not be photographed at
once the end may be drawn back as indicated on the drawing Fig. 3, beneath
the bar for otherwise disposed of behind the roller or bar e and the bar f.
The bar f if not too heavy may hang of its own weight.
In case the lay is too long to reproduce in one photograph I propose to rule
dividing lines across the said lay so that it will be exactly understood how the
partial records may be joined together.

page_text: my said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The improved method of permanently recording and reproducing the lays
employed in cutting out garments, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The improved apparatus, substantially as herein before described with
reference to the accompanying drawings, for supporting the lays.
Dated this 11th day of August 1897.
HENRY MERRITT.