CA1063440A - Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tape - Google Patents
Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tapeInfo
- Publication number
- CA1063440A CA1063440A CA315,366A CA315366A CA1063440A CA 1063440 A CA1063440 A CA 1063440A CA 315366 A CA315366 A CA 315366A CA 1063440 A CA1063440 A CA 1063440A
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- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- tape
- ring
- sewing
- holding
- machine
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
- 238000009958 sewing Methods 0.000 title abstract description 67
- 230000033001 locomotion Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 36
- 238000005304 joining Methods 0.000 claims description 13
- 238000004080 punching Methods 0.000 claims description 7
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 239000004744 fabric Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000003466 welding Methods 0.000 description 2
- BSYNRYMUTXBXSQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Aspirin Chemical compound CC(=O)OC1=CC=CC=C1C(O)=O BSYNRYMUTXBXSQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 208000036829 Device dislocation Diseases 0.000 description 1
- 241001387976 Pera Species 0.000 description 1
- 238000005452 bending Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009963 fulling Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229920000728 polyester Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 230000003405 preventing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001105 regulatory effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229920002994 synthetic fiber Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 239000004758 synthetic textile Substances 0.000 description 1
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- Sewing Machines And Sewing (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Apparatus for forming components of shoulder straps for ladies garments including tapes with either a buckle or a ring sewn onto one end. The apparatus allows the sewing to be performed with a non-linear seam, by means of a sewing machine of the type which moves its bed and sewing foot through a pre-determined path while sewing is being performed by a needle.
The apparatus includes a special holding device for the ring or buckle element which allows this movement to occur, the holding device including a main body part and a holding part, the holding part having clamping means for the element. The body part is movable to suitably position the holding part firstly in a position to receive an element from a magazine and secondly in the sewing position. The holding part and body part have inter-engaging sliding surfaces allowing movement of the holding part relative to the body part in a plane parallel to those parts of the tape clamped by the sewing foot and bed then the body part is in the sewing position, and the body part includes releasable locking means for locking the holding part firmly in the body part during transfer of an element from the magazine to the hold-ing part, and during movement of the device to the sewing position. The locking means are releasable so that the holding part is free to move with the tape being sewn, during sewing.
Apparatus for forming components of shoulder straps for ladies garments including tapes with either a buckle or a ring sewn onto one end. The apparatus allows the sewing to be performed with a non-linear seam, by means of a sewing machine of the type which moves its bed and sewing foot through a pre-determined path while sewing is being performed by a needle.
The apparatus includes a special holding device for the ring or buckle element which allows this movement to occur, the holding device including a main body part and a holding part, the holding part having clamping means for the element. The body part is movable to suitably position the holding part firstly in a position to receive an element from a magazine and secondly in the sewing position. The holding part and body part have inter-engaging sliding surfaces allowing movement of the holding part relative to the body part in a plane parallel to those parts of the tape clamped by the sewing foot and bed then the body part is in the sewing position, and the body part includes releasable locking means for locking the holding part firmly in the body part during transfer of an element from the magazine to the hold-ing part, and during movement of the device to the sewing position. The locking means are releasable so that the holding part is free to move with the tape being sewn, during sewing.
Description
The present invention relates to devices and apparatus for forming components of shoulder straps for ladies garments particul-arly brassieres. Such a shoulder strap is formed of two parts united together, namely a first strap portion comprising a first tape with a buckle (or so-called slide) secured to one end, and a second strap portion comprising a second tape having a ring secured thereto, ~he two strap portions being united ~y passing a free end of the first tape through the ring and then bac~ through the two slots of the buckle. A strap of this kind, which is well ~nown in the art, will be referred to hereinafter as being "of the type described." The first tape is preferably inelastic, and the second tape is preferably elastic.
The buc~le and ring are conventionally secured to their re-spective strap portions by sewing together a main portion of the respective tape and an end portion thereof after the latter portion has been passed through the two slots of the ~uckle or through the ring as appropriate. However, instead of sewing, ~n ultrasonic welding step may be used with appropriate synthetic fabrics. The t, term "joining machine" will be used to signify either a sewing machine or another type of machine, for example an ultrasonic welding machine, which can join together two parts of a tape.
, Manufacture of these shoulder straps has hitherto involved much manual labour. The only machine known to applicants which .~! manufactures shoulder straps of this ty~e is the machine shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,497,116 to Herron et al, which issued Febru~ry 24th, 1970. The Herron machine is complicated, and is understood to be not entirely satisfactory in operation. The present , .
invention is concerned with a machine which is different from t~at of the Herron machine in very many ~ays. One particular difference ;~ 30 lies in the arrangement used to unite the two parts of the strap -, toge~her when these have ~een formed in different ~arts of the i machine; this arrangement is the subject of our Canadian Patent - Application No. 259,295 filed April 14, 1976.
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10639~40 The aforesaid application relates prlncipally to operations relating to the uniting of the strap portions which occur in a third section of the machine. The present invention is concerned with fLrst and second sections of the machine which form the first and second strap portions respectively, and which could be used, if desired, quite independently to produce the strap portions, without any means for uniting the two portions. These sections of the machine differ in various respects due to the fact that the first section has to combine the tape with a buckle which requires that the tape be threaded through two slots, whereas the second (elastic) tape is merely pushed once through the ring before being sewn in position. These sections do however have various features in common, and one such special feature of these sections is the arrangement whereby desired forms of seam, and particularly zig-zag seams, are used for sewing the buckles and rings in place onto the ~ . , ~ respective tapes.
, ~, ~,, Zig-zag seams can be produced by known sewing machines of the ,t bar-tack type having a bed and co-operating sewing foot capable or moving material clamped therebetween through a zig-zag path to sew 20 the required seam. The present invention provides special means for holding the ring or buckle element which allows use of such , machines.
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' "r~l, In accordance with one aspec,t of the present inven-tion, apparatus for securing a ring to a tape includes a `;; joining machine, means for supplying horizontally disposed .1 ~; rings to a delivery point, a ring holding and transfer ,~i device arranged to receive the horiæontally disposed rings when fed thereto at the delivery point, tape advancing means ~ for advancing tape in a first direction to position a free end -i 30 of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, means - for punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, - and means for moving the ring horizontally in said first ., i -2-~ 063~40 direction into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubling the free end of the taPe against a main portion of the tape to position both thicknesses of tape in the operative part of the joining machine.
Preferably there is provided means for temporarily supporting the ring during punching of the tape therethrough.
Preferably said tape advancing means includes a horizontally movable carriage supporting clam~ing elements for the tape material, and wherein said carriage is movable from - 10 the retracted position to an advanced position in which advanced position the clamping elements are positioned over a portion of the ring and just short of the path of the movement of the ~unch-ing means, ~he travel of said carriage corresponding to the length of tape required to be attached to the ring, and further comprising knife means operable ~hen the threading means is in retracted position to sever the tape at a point sufficiently in advance of the outer end of the clamping elements to provide an end portion of the ~ape suitable for threading through the ring.
; 20 ~urther in accordance with the invention, a method for securing a ring to a tape includes the steps of:
sup~lying a horizontally disposed ring to a delivery point and inserting said ring in a ring holding and transfer device, advancing tape in a first direction to position a - free end of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, - moving the ring horizontally in said first direction into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubling the free end of tape against a main portion of the tape to ~osi-tion both thicknesses of tape ln the o~erati~e pa~t of the `;
.
, joining machine, and ooerating said joining machine to join the free end portion of tape to the main ~ortion of the tape.
The term "ring" or "ring element" as used herein means an element having an aperture for receing a ta~e therethrough, as for attaching said tape to another tape also received through the ring, and will be understood as not limited to a circular ring having only one aperture.
In addition to Application No. ~50,295 referred to above, reference is also directed to our co-pending Canadian Patent Apolication Nos. 250,239 and 250,290 filed Aoril 14, 1976 and No. filed concurrently herewith which claim various other features of the machine described herein.
A soecific embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show general views of the whole machine and detailed views of the first and second strao form--` ing sections, and in which:
Figures IA and lB show respectively plan and side -` 20 views of a completed shoulder strap as formed by the machine, Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic plan view of the whole machine taken on a plane just above the level occupied by the ~- first and second tape during most of the machine operations, this drawing showing the division of the machine into the main sections A, B and C, '~
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second tape during most of ~he machine operations, this drawing showing the division of the machine into the main sections A, B
and C, Figures 3A and 3~ show overall detail plan views of the left hand portions and right hand portions of the machine, respectively, Figures 4A and 4B are front elevations of the machine taken along line 4-4 Figures 3A and 3B respectively and showing the main components of sections A and B, Figure 5 shows a perspective viet~ of the left hand part of section A of the machine (as seen from the front~ showing the parts in broken lines in a first position and in full lines in a second `~ position, : Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the right hand part of ' section A of the machine (as seen from the front), with parts in a - - first position, Figure 7 is a plan view of section A with the parts in the second position, Figure 8 is an elevational view on line 8-8 of Figure 7 with ` parts in the second position, ~ ;
~l~ 2a Figure 9 is an enlarged elevational view of a buckle holding . .:
~'' and transfer device of section A in its second position, and Figure 10 is a view of the same holding and transfer device - on line 10-10 of Figure 9, Figure 11 is a perspective view of certain components of : section B of the machine in a first position, , Figure 12 showq some of the same components in a second :
position, ~;~
~ Figure 13 is a diagrammatic plan view of the main components , ` of section B showing first, second, third and fourth positions of a ring holding and transfer device, , ;- Figure 14 is a front elevation of section B of the machine .:~ showing the ring holding and transfer device in its first position, ~ 5-'' .~
.
Figure 14a is a front view of components of section B, similar to Fig. 14 but with the ring holding device removed, '!, Figure 14b, which appears on the same drawing sheet as Figure 10, is a view on 14b-14b of Fig. 3B showing the ; elastic tape advance device, Figure 15 is an enlarged view of the ring holding and transfer device and the elastic threading station taken on line 15-15 of Figure 13, , Figure 16 is a diagrammatic perspective view of parts of the ring holding and transfer device in two positions, Figure 16a is a diagrammatic perspective exploded view .;.
of interior parts of the ring holding and transfer device, .
~ and ,~
-~, Figure 17 is a perspective view of the ring holding `:~
;~, and transfer device showing additional parts.
The general features of the whole machine will firstly ~ -i be described as a background to the detailed description of ;~, parts in accordance with this invention.
-~ Brief Summary of Main Components and Operat`ion of Machine The machine is designed to produce shoulder straps for brassieres, as illustrated in Figure 1. The strap includes . ;"
a first strap portion comprising a firsttape 10 which~ is sub-stantially inextensible and which preferably comprises an outer envelope of smooth polyester fabric which encloses a strong fabric strip. This tape has a buckle 12 sewn onto one end, by thetape having been passed through two slots in the buckle and sewn back onto itself along a seam about 1/2 inch from the buckle. The second strap portion comprises a second elastic tape 14 which has had its end passed through a ring , :
3Q 16 and been sewn back onto itself along a seam about 1/2 inch from the ring. The two strap portions are united by the first tape having been passed through the ring and then through both slots of the buckle and pulled out to suitably position the -` 1063~40 buckle.
The basic components and operation of the machine will firstly be described in general terms with reference to Figures
The buc~le and ring are conventionally secured to their re-spective strap portions by sewing together a main portion of the respective tape and an end portion thereof after the latter portion has been passed through the two slots of the ~uckle or through the ring as appropriate. However, instead of sewing, ~n ultrasonic welding step may be used with appropriate synthetic fabrics. The t, term "joining machine" will be used to signify either a sewing machine or another type of machine, for example an ultrasonic welding machine, which can join together two parts of a tape.
, Manufacture of these shoulder straps has hitherto involved much manual labour. The only machine known to applicants which .~! manufactures shoulder straps of this ty~e is the machine shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,497,116 to Herron et al, which issued Febru~ry 24th, 1970. The Herron machine is complicated, and is understood to be not entirely satisfactory in operation. The present , .
invention is concerned with a machine which is different from t~at of the Herron machine in very many ~ays. One particular difference ;~ 30 lies in the arrangement used to unite the two parts of the strap -, toge~her when these have ~een formed in different ~arts of the i machine; this arrangement is the subject of our Canadian Patent - Application No. 259,295 filed April 14, 1976.
- 1- `~,, ~, , ~aF
:. .
10639~40 The aforesaid application relates prlncipally to operations relating to the uniting of the strap portions which occur in a third section of the machine. The present invention is concerned with fLrst and second sections of the machine which form the first and second strap portions respectively, and which could be used, if desired, quite independently to produce the strap portions, without any means for uniting the two portions. These sections of the machine differ in various respects due to the fact that the first section has to combine the tape with a buckle which requires that the tape be threaded through two slots, whereas the second (elastic) tape is merely pushed once through the ring before being sewn in position. These sections do however have various features in common, and one such special feature of these sections is the arrangement whereby desired forms of seam, and particularly zig-zag seams, are used for sewing the buckles and rings in place onto the ~ . , ~ respective tapes.
, ~, ~,, Zig-zag seams can be produced by known sewing machines of the ,t bar-tack type having a bed and co-operating sewing foot capable or moving material clamped therebetween through a zig-zag path to sew 20 the required seam. The present invention provides special means for holding the ring or buckle element which allows use of such , machines.
;l .
.~
' "r~l, In accordance with one aspec,t of the present inven-tion, apparatus for securing a ring to a tape includes a `;; joining machine, means for supplying horizontally disposed .1 ~; rings to a delivery point, a ring holding and transfer ,~i device arranged to receive the horiæontally disposed rings when fed thereto at the delivery point, tape advancing means ~ for advancing tape in a first direction to position a free end -i 30 of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, means - for punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, - and means for moving the ring horizontally in said first ., i -2-~ 063~40 direction into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubling the free end of the taPe against a main portion of the tape to position both thicknesses of tape in the operative part of the joining machine.
Preferably there is provided means for temporarily supporting the ring during punching of the tape therethrough.
Preferably said tape advancing means includes a horizontally movable carriage supporting clam~ing elements for the tape material, and wherein said carriage is movable from - 10 the retracted position to an advanced position in which advanced position the clamping elements are positioned over a portion of the ring and just short of the path of the movement of the ~unch-ing means, ~he travel of said carriage corresponding to the length of tape required to be attached to the ring, and further comprising knife means operable ~hen the threading means is in retracted position to sever the tape at a point sufficiently in advance of the outer end of the clamping elements to provide an end portion of the ~ape suitable for threading through the ring.
; 20 ~urther in accordance with the invention, a method for securing a ring to a tape includes the steps of:
sup~lying a horizontally disposed ring to a delivery point and inserting said ring in a ring holding and transfer device, advancing tape in a first direction to position a - free end of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, - moving the ring horizontally in said first direction into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubling the free end of tape against a main portion of the tape to ~osi-tion both thicknesses of tape ln the o~erati~e pa~t of the `;
.
, joining machine, and ooerating said joining machine to join the free end portion of tape to the main ~ortion of the tape.
The term "ring" or "ring element" as used herein means an element having an aperture for receing a ta~e therethrough, as for attaching said tape to another tape also received through the ring, and will be understood as not limited to a circular ring having only one aperture.
In addition to Application No. ~50,295 referred to above, reference is also directed to our co-pending Canadian Patent Apolication Nos. 250,239 and 250,290 filed Aoril 14, 1976 and No. filed concurrently herewith which claim various other features of the machine described herein.
A soecific embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show general views of the whole machine and detailed views of the first and second strao form--` ing sections, and in which:
Figures IA and lB show respectively plan and side -` 20 views of a completed shoulder strap as formed by the machine, Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic plan view of the whole machine taken on a plane just above the level occupied by the ~- first and second tape during most of the machine operations, this drawing showing the division of the machine into the main sections A, B and C, '~
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second tape during most of ~he machine operations, this drawing showing the division of the machine into the main sections A, B
and C, Figures 3A and 3~ show overall detail plan views of the left hand portions and right hand portions of the machine, respectively, Figures 4A and 4B are front elevations of the machine taken along line 4-4 Figures 3A and 3B respectively and showing the main components of sections A and B, Figure 5 shows a perspective viet~ of the left hand part of section A of the machine (as seen from the front~ showing the parts in broken lines in a first position and in full lines in a second `~ position, : Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the right hand part of ' section A of the machine (as seen from the front), with parts in a - - first position, Figure 7 is a plan view of section A with the parts in the second position, Figure 8 is an elevational view on line 8-8 of Figure 7 with ` parts in the second position, ~ ;
~l~ 2a Figure 9 is an enlarged elevational view of a buckle holding . .:
~'' and transfer device of section A in its second position, and Figure 10 is a view of the same holding and transfer device - on line 10-10 of Figure 9, Figure 11 is a perspective view of certain components of : section B of the machine in a first position, , Figure 12 showq some of the same components in a second :
position, ~;~
~ Figure 13 is a diagrammatic plan view of the main components , ` of section B showing first, second, third and fourth positions of a ring holding and transfer device, , ;- Figure 14 is a front elevation of section B of the machine .:~ showing the ring holding and transfer device in its first position, ~ 5-'' .~
.
Figure 14a is a front view of components of section B, similar to Fig. 14 but with the ring holding device removed, '!, Figure 14b, which appears on the same drawing sheet as Figure 10, is a view on 14b-14b of Fig. 3B showing the ; elastic tape advance device, Figure 15 is an enlarged view of the ring holding and transfer device and the elastic threading station taken on line 15-15 of Figure 13, , Figure 16 is a diagrammatic perspective view of parts of the ring holding and transfer device in two positions, Figure 16a is a diagrammatic perspective exploded view .;.
of interior parts of the ring holding and transfer device, .
~ and ,~
-~, Figure 17 is a perspective view of the ring holding `:~
;~, and transfer device showing additional parts.
The general features of the whole machine will firstly ~ -i be described as a background to the detailed description of ;~, parts in accordance with this invention.
-~ Brief Summary of Main Components and Operat`ion of Machine The machine is designed to produce shoulder straps for brassieres, as illustrated in Figure 1. The strap includes . ;"
a first strap portion comprising a firsttape 10 which~ is sub-stantially inextensible and which preferably comprises an outer envelope of smooth polyester fabric which encloses a strong fabric strip. This tape has a buckle 12 sewn onto one end, by thetape having been passed through two slots in the buckle and sewn back onto itself along a seam about 1/2 inch from the buckle. The second strap portion comprises a second elastic tape 14 which has had its end passed through a ring , :
3Q 16 and been sewn back onto itself along a seam about 1/2 inch from the ring. The two strap portions are united by the first tape having been passed through the ring and then through both slots of the buckle and pulled out to suitably position the -` 1063~40 buckle.
The basic components and operation of the machine will firstly be described in general terms with reference to Figures
2 and 3. These figures illustrate the three main sections into which the machine may be divided, namely a first section A which forms the first strap portion with the buckle, the second section B which forms the second (elastic) strap portion with the ring, and section C which unites these parts together to form the completed shoulder strap assembly.
In section A, tape 10 is supplied by a spool 20, and buckles 12 are supplied (orientated horizontally) by a mag-azine assembly 22. The buckles are moved from the supply position (shown in broken lines) to a vertical threading :
position (shown in full lines in Figure 2) adjacent the bed of a sewing machine 24 by means of a pivotable holding and transfer device indicated at 26, this being one of the '-devices with which the present invention is primarily con-... .
~ cerned. The tape material 10 is fedendwise along a horizontal -~,, path between the open blades of a knife 28 by a so-called ;
~' picker 30. This picker is movable horizontally and has thin ;. 20 bald-like clamping members which thread the end of the tape '.,`~ through the upper slot in a vertically disposed buckle held in . .~
:~ the threading position by the device 26. The projecting outer , end of the tape 10 is then locked in position relative to c! the buckle by a locking member indicated at 31, t,o allow the ,';, picker to withdraw, and the free end of the tape is bent down-'~, wardly across,the central area of the buckle by an air blast .~ :
~ from the tube 32. The bent end is then tucked back through :
. ~
:,~ the lower slot in the buckle by a horizontally movable blade ,~ 34 into a position under the main part of the tape and sit-uated for sewing onto this main part by sewing machine 24.
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',~ The projecting end of the tape is then sewn to the main :
i; portion by the sewing machine 24.
~ ~ ~ - 7 -- In section B meanwhile, a ring 16 is transferred from magazine assembly 38 to a ring holding and transfer device 40 which holds the ring horizontally; this is the other device ; with which the . .
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1~)6344~) present invention ia primarily concPrned. The ~l~stic taFe 14 i, then fed endwise from supply spool 42 by picker 4l ~hich moves the tape between the open blades of ~nife 46 to a position in which an end portion of the tape overlies the rir.g 16. The pati of ~ovemen_ of ~ie tape is parallel to but spaced from the iritial pat~ of movement of tape lO in section A. The end portion of the t~pe is then punched through '~he ring 16 ~y a downwardly ~pera ~ing punch moved by an air cylinder shown at 45 in Figure 3B. Then the ~ic~c-r 44 withdraws after releasing the tape. Ring 16 is then m~ved horizontally by tie device ao over the bed of a sewing mac~ne 48, in such manner that the projecting end of the tape is folded bac.~
under the main portion of the tape so that the m~chine can then be operated to sew the two portions of tape together around the ring.
After sewing, the kri~e _ _ ,';
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: . : . : - ~ - -46 is operated to sever a suitable length of elastic which remains attached to the ring, and the ring 16 with the tape attached is moved into the holding position shown at 40X in Figure 2, the ring being simultaneously rotated to the vertical position with the tape 14 hanging from its lower side.
Turning to section C, the main operative parts of this section are the clamping devices 50 and 51. Both of these are mounted for translational movement towards and away from section A, and when the sewing operation has been completed in section A these clamping devices advance together to grip the tape 10. The first device 50 clamps the tape 10 adjacent the buckle 12, and the second device 51 clamps the tape just to the left hand side of knife 28, which is then operated to sever the tape 10. The device 51 has a narrow projecting end which extends (in the advanced position of device 51) away from buckle 12, and is suitable for threading the free end of the tape 10 both through the ring 16 and through a slot in the buckle, as will be described. The devices 50 and 51 then withdraw together to bring the tape into alignment with the original direction of movement of ; 20 the elastic tape 14 and of ring 16 so that the projecting end of tape 10 is suitably aligned with the ring 16, which can then be moved onto the end of the tape by further move-ment of device 40 along the same path which this device moved in transferring the ring from the first position to the sew-ing position. The device 40 then releases the ring. Then, the clamping device 51 simultaneously rotates through 180 degrees and moves towards the device 50 to bring the project-ing end of the tape 10 under the main portion of this tape, and final movement of device 51 inserts the projecting end of the tape through the lower slot of buckle 12. The end of tape 10 is then pushed upwardly by part 53 of a buckling g _ , : . . , . , , ~ . . . . ., , . - :
device indicated generally at 54, and is tucked back through the upper buckle slot by a pneumatically operated blade 55 which is also part of the buckling device. A pulling device 57 (shown in Fig. 3A) mounted on an inclined slideway then grasps the projecting end of the tape 10 pulling a suitable amount through the buckle to give the final strap shown in Figure 1. The completed strap is then removed by the e~ector 59 indicated in Figures 3A and 7.
All movements described are caused by pneumatic cylinders, operated automatically.
In the detailed description which follows, reference will be made to lateral (leftward and rightward) directions, and fore and aft (forward and rearward) directions: these will be understood as directions in horizontal planes, with lateral directions being from side to side of the machine (parallel to the main paths of tape movement~, and fore and ~-- aft directions being perpendicular thereto. A forwards direction will be understood as meaning towards the front ' of the machine which is at the bottom in the plan views. Detailed Description of Section A of Machine , The left hand part of section A of the machine, whichis particularly shown in Figures 5 to 7 and 8, and of which a component is shown in Figures 9 and 10, will now be described in detail.
` The magazine assembly 22 for the buckles 12 includes ` a vertical tube 100 in which the buckles are vertically stacked.
, This tube is mounted by means of a bracket 101 attached to -, the machine bed and by a buckle supply assembly including ~' two plates 103 which between them form a horizontal laterally extending passageway for horizontally disposed buckles which ~--are pushed out of the magazine to a delivery point at the ~-end of the passageway by a blade 104 operated by a pneumatic ' " ,, .
'' ~ ` ' ' . ' .
cylinder 105. The buckles in the tube 100 are urged downwardly by a weight to position them at the front end of blade 104.
The buckles leaving the magazine pass into the buckle holding and transfer device 26, which is shown in best detail in Figures 9 and 10. This device is mounted on a bracket 110 for pivotal movement about a horizontal fore and aft axis, and the device is movable by a pneumatic cylinder 112 from a generally vertical first (buckle receiving) position, indicated in Figure 5, to a generally horizontal second thread- -ing position shown in Figures 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. This device allows buckles to be positioned vertically adjacent the operative part of the sewing machine (between the sewing foot and the bed) without there being any attachments made to the sewing machine bed.
~.
The holding and transfer device includes a main body -A, part 114 which is directly, pivotally attached to bracket 110, and a buckle holder part 115 which, under circumstances to be described, is movable relative to part 114. Part 114 :~
includes a box portion 117 having at its outer end a parallel ~: 20 sided recess in which is slideable a parallel sided lug 118 of the holder part, best shown in Figure 9. The sides of lug 118 are parallel to the major surfaces of box part 117, so that when the device is in its second position as shown in Figure 9 the holder part can move horizontally by the sliding of the lug 118 in its recess. Lug 118 can however be locked . .
in position by two pins 120, shown by broken lines in Figure 9, which are mounted at the outer end of a plate 121. This plate is pivoted centrally of the box part 117 at pivot 123, and is movable by a pneumatic cylinder 125 located near the pivot mounting of part 114 and having its piston rod 126 arranged to press the pins 120 into conically shaped recesses which occupy positions corresponding to pins 120 in the side :~ .
... , , . . .. .. . ~ .
:1063440 of lug 118, as also shown in Figure 9.
The buckle holder part 115 includes a plate member 129, having at one end a fixed member 130 with a groove for receiving one end edge of the buckle, and also slidably mounting a further grooved retainer member 132 which is urged towards member 130 by a spring 134. Members 130 and 132 are so arranged that when the device 26 is in its first, vertical position these members can receive between them the edges of a buckle which is pushed out of the magazine assembly by the blade 104. The spring 134 is sufficiently strong to hold the buckle firmly between members 130 and 132 while the device i. pivoted by cylinder 112 from the first to the second ~:
position. During this movement, the position of holder part 115 is locked by extension of the cylinder 125. In its second position, the device 26 positions the buckle 12 ad-jacent the bed of the sewing machine 24.
The sewing machine 24 is a commercially available item known as a bar-tack machine and which is suitable for sewing of a zig-zag type of seam across a tape. For this purpose, ~-the sewing machine includes special means for moving its bed 140 and its sewing foot 142 through a predetermined path of movement while the needle remains stationary. One small addition to the commercial sewing machine is a vertical pin 143 extending upwardly from the bed and passing through an aligned bore in foot 142. This pin is positioned just to the rear of the tape when sewn, and serves a purpose in prevent-ing unwanted movement in a manner described in our copending :
Patent Application No. 250,295 aforesaid. -The left hand part of section A also includes locking device 31 which is a blade movable by a cylinder 31a which is mounted at the side of the sewing machine nearest the device 26, and is inclined downwardly from this side of the sewing machine towards the position occupied by the buckle when in the second position of device 26. Cylinder 31c is coupled to a parallel air blast tube 32. Locking device 31 has two prongs engageable with the edges of a tape inserted by picker 30 and which straddle the clamping elements of the picker to hold the tape against the buckle and to prevent its withdrawal when the picker retracts. The air blast tube 32 causes the end of the tape, when free of the picker clamping elements, to be bent down when air is supplied to it. Also in this part of the machine is the blade 34, movable laterally by a pneumatic cylinder 34a, and which is aligned with the ~; lower slot in the buckle when positioned as shown in Figure 4A and which is suitable for tucking an end of the tape back through this lower slot after bending of the tape by the air : blast, and for positioning the free end of the tape under '''r the main part of the tape and under the needle of the sewing machine for sewing.
The right hand portion of section A will now be described with reference to Figure 6, and also Figures 7 and -; 20 8.
:. ~
The tape spool 20 is mounted above and to the rear of the machine on a spool holder 148 held by bracket 149, with '~ the tape being led down through guides and then passed between a friction wheel 150 and a pressure roller 151, from " which tape 10 passes horizontally under fingers 153 into ;'! ~ picker 30 along a lateral path which is aligned with the buckle 12 in the sewing position. Friction wheel 150 is normally idle, but can be driven in such direction as to move ; the tape towards the right, for a purpose to be described.
''r 30 The picker 30 comprises a carriage 155 movable on two ~, vertically spaced, horizontal slide rods 157 which extend laterally, i.e., parallel to the desired path of tape move-.
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ment from wheel 150 to the buckle in its sewing position. An arm 159 e~tends leftwards from carriage 155 and the front end of this carries a thin, flat member with a rearwardly extending part 160, and with a leftwards extending part 162.
Part 162 cooperates with a similar upper member 163 carried by a part 163a which is pivotal relative to part 160 about pivot means indicated at 164. Part 163a is urged downwardly onto 162 by a piston rod of a pneumatic cylinder 166, which is mounted above part 163a on a fixed part 159a of the arm 159. Parts 162 and 163 together provide narrow projecting clamping elements capable of holding between them the free end of tape 10, and the thin, flat form of parts 160 and 162 allow these to advance the tape firstly over an anvil portion of the knife 28, and then through the upper slot of the buckle 12 held in the threading position by the device 26, elements 162 and 163 and the tape all passing through the slot. The necessary movement of the carriage 155 is provided ~-by a pneumatic cylinder 168. The part 163a is spring urged upwardly, so that on release of pressure from cylinder 166 the picker can be withdrawn without withdrawing the tape.
:,f "'! This arrangement is capable of accommodating various widths `~ of tape.
.;, ,?;~ The knife 28 operates with a scissors action, and includes a fixed anvil 170 having a horizontal surface just beneath the lowest surface of the picker element 162 (to allow this element to slide easily over the anvil), and the :,~
knife has a movable blade 172 pivotally attached to the rear of the anvil and movable by a pneumatic cylinder 174. The knife 28, spool holder bracket 149 with spool holder 148, and the friction wheel 150 and roller 151 and their associated mounting and drivin~ means, are all mounted on a carriage ` 180 which is adjustable in lateral position on a bed 182.
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Also, knife 28 carries a rightwards extension with a stop member 184 which engages the picker carriage 155 and provides a stop for this carriage which ensures that the picker clamping elements 162, 163 are suitably spaced on the right hand side of anvil 170 when the knife operates. With this arrangement, the length of the first strap portion can readily be adjusted by shifting the position of the carriage 180 on bed 182, the picker travel corresponding to the total length of tape used in the first strap portion and being regulated by the position of stop member 184.
- Detailed Description of Section B of Machine This section of the machine will now be described with reference to Figures 3B, 4B, and 11 to 17, of which Figures 14, 16 and 17 show detailed views of the ring holding and transfer device which is a main component of this section.
The magazine assembly 38 comprises a vertical-tube ~; 200 in which the rings 16 are vertically stacked, this tube extending upwardly from member 202 which forms a fore and aft extending slideway 203 for horizontally disposed rings, and which is itself supported on a bracket 204. Within slideway 203r a blade 206 is horizontally movable by pneumatic cylinder 207, to move the rings from the bottom of the stack in tube 200 to a delivery point which is also a threading position ;~ shown in Figures 2, 3, 11 and 12. As seen in Figure 11, blade 206 has a cut away upper front portion for receiving the ring 16, this cut away portion being bounded by a V-shaped surface 206a which receives the side of the ring, and by a flat horizontal ring supporting surface 206b. As also shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13, the forward part of member 202 is provided with a vertical slot communicating with the centre of slideway 203, and in this slot is movable
In section A, tape 10 is supplied by a spool 20, and buckles 12 are supplied (orientated horizontally) by a mag-azine assembly 22. The buckles are moved from the supply position (shown in broken lines) to a vertical threading :
position (shown in full lines in Figure 2) adjacent the bed of a sewing machine 24 by means of a pivotable holding and transfer device indicated at 26, this being one of the '-devices with which the present invention is primarily con-... .
~ cerned. The tape material 10 is fedendwise along a horizontal -~,, path between the open blades of a knife 28 by a so-called ;
~' picker 30. This picker is movable horizontally and has thin ;. 20 bald-like clamping members which thread the end of the tape '.,`~ through the upper slot in a vertically disposed buckle held in . .~
:~ the threading position by the device 26. The projecting outer , end of the tape 10 is then locked in position relative to c! the buckle by a locking member indicated at 31, t,o allow the ,';, picker to withdraw, and the free end of the tape is bent down-'~, wardly across,the central area of the buckle by an air blast .~ :
~ from the tube 32. The bent end is then tucked back through :
. ~
:,~ the lower slot in the buckle by a horizontally movable blade ,~ 34 into a position under the main part of the tape and sit-uated for sewing onto this main part by sewing machine 24.
.
',~ The projecting end of the tape is then sewn to the main :
i; portion by the sewing machine 24.
~ ~ ~ - 7 -- In section B meanwhile, a ring 16 is transferred from magazine assembly 38 to a ring holding and transfer device 40 which holds the ring horizontally; this is the other device ; with which the . .
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1~)6344~) present invention ia primarily concPrned. The ~l~stic taFe 14 i, then fed endwise from supply spool 42 by picker 4l ~hich moves the tape between the open blades of ~nife 46 to a position in which an end portion of the tape overlies the rir.g 16. The pati of ~ovemen_ of ~ie tape is parallel to but spaced from the iritial pat~ of movement of tape lO in section A. The end portion of the t~pe is then punched through '~he ring 16 ~y a downwardly ~pera ~ing punch moved by an air cylinder shown at 45 in Figure 3B. Then the ~ic~c-r 44 withdraws after releasing the tape. Ring 16 is then m~ved horizontally by tie device ao over the bed of a sewing mac~ne 48, in such manner that the projecting end of the tape is folded bac.~
under the main portion of the tape so that the m~chine can then be operated to sew the two portions of tape together around the ring.
After sewing, the kri~e _ _ ,';
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: . : . : - ~ - -46 is operated to sever a suitable length of elastic which remains attached to the ring, and the ring 16 with the tape attached is moved into the holding position shown at 40X in Figure 2, the ring being simultaneously rotated to the vertical position with the tape 14 hanging from its lower side.
Turning to section C, the main operative parts of this section are the clamping devices 50 and 51. Both of these are mounted for translational movement towards and away from section A, and when the sewing operation has been completed in section A these clamping devices advance together to grip the tape 10. The first device 50 clamps the tape 10 adjacent the buckle 12, and the second device 51 clamps the tape just to the left hand side of knife 28, which is then operated to sever the tape 10. The device 51 has a narrow projecting end which extends (in the advanced position of device 51) away from buckle 12, and is suitable for threading the free end of the tape 10 both through the ring 16 and through a slot in the buckle, as will be described. The devices 50 and 51 then withdraw together to bring the tape into alignment with the original direction of movement of ; 20 the elastic tape 14 and of ring 16 so that the projecting end of tape 10 is suitably aligned with the ring 16, which can then be moved onto the end of the tape by further move-ment of device 40 along the same path which this device moved in transferring the ring from the first position to the sew-ing position. The device 40 then releases the ring. Then, the clamping device 51 simultaneously rotates through 180 degrees and moves towards the device 50 to bring the project-ing end of the tape 10 under the main portion of this tape, and final movement of device 51 inserts the projecting end of the tape through the lower slot of buckle 12. The end of tape 10 is then pushed upwardly by part 53 of a buckling g _ , : . . , . , , ~ . . . . ., , . - :
device indicated generally at 54, and is tucked back through the upper buckle slot by a pneumatically operated blade 55 which is also part of the buckling device. A pulling device 57 (shown in Fig. 3A) mounted on an inclined slideway then grasps the projecting end of the tape 10 pulling a suitable amount through the buckle to give the final strap shown in Figure 1. The completed strap is then removed by the e~ector 59 indicated in Figures 3A and 7.
All movements described are caused by pneumatic cylinders, operated automatically.
In the detailed description which follows, reference will be made to lateral (leftward and rightward) directions, and fore and aft (forward and rearward) directions: these will be understood as directions in horizontal planes, with lateral directions being from side to side of the machine (parallel to the main paths of tape movement~, and fore and ~-- aft directions being perpendicular thereto. A forwards direction will be understood as meaning towards the front ' of the machine which is at the bottom in the plan views. Detailed Description of Section A of Machine , The left hand part of section A of the machine, whichis particularly shown in Figures 5 to 7 and 8, and of which a component is shown in Figures 9 and 10, will now be described in detail.
` The magazine assembly 22 for the buckles 12 includes ` a vertical tube 100 in which the buckles are vertically stacked.
, This tube is mounted by means of a bracket 101 attached to -, the machine bed and by a buckle supply assembly including ~' two plates 103 which between them form a horizontal laterally extending passageway for horizontally disposed buckles which ~--are pushed out of the magazine to a delivery point at the ~-end of the passageway by a blade 104 operated by a pneumatic ' " ,, .
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cylinder 105. The buckles in the tube 100 are urged downwardly by a weight to position them at the front end of blade 104.
The buckles leaving the magazine pass into the buckle holding and transfer device 26, which is shown in best detail in Figures 9 and 10. This device is mounted on a bracket 110 for pivotal movement about a horizontal fore and aft axis, and the device is movable by a pneumatic cylinder 112 from a generally vertical first (buckle receiving) position, indicated in Figure 5, to a generally horizontal second thread- -ing position shown in Figures 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. This device allows buckles to be positioned vertically adjacent the operative part of the sewing machine (between the sewing foot and the bed) without there being any attachments made to the sewing machine bed.
~.
The holding and transfer device includes a main body -A, part 114 which is directly, pivotally attached to bracket 110, and a buckle holder part 115 which, under circumstances to be described, is movable relative to part 114. Part 114 :~
includes a box portion 117 having at its outer end a parallel ~: 20 sided recess in which is slideable a parallel sided lug 118 of the holder part, best shown in Figure 9. The sides of lug 118 are parallel to the major surfaces of box part 117, so that when the device is in its second position as shown in Figure 9 the holder part can move horizontally by the sliding of the lug 118 in its recess. Lug 118 can however be locked . .
in position by two pins 120, shown by broken lines in Figure 9, which are mounted at the outer end of a plate 121. This plate is pivoted centrally of the box part 117 at pivot 123, and is movable by a pneumatic cylinder 125 located near the pivot mounting of part 114 and having its piston rod 126 arranged to press the pins 120 into conically shaped recesses which occupy positions corresponding to pins 120 in the side :~ .
... , , . . .. .. . ~ .
:1063440 of lug 118, as also shown in Figure 9.
The buckle holder part 115 includes a plate member 129, having at one end a fixed member 130 with a groove for receiving one end edge of the buckle, and also slidably mounting a further grooved retainer member 132 which is urged towards member 130 by a spring 134. Members 130 and 132 are so arranged that when the device 26 is in its first, vertical position these members can receive between them the edges of a buckle which is pushed out of the magazine assembly by the blade 104. The spring 134 is sufficiently strong to hold the buckle firmly between members 130 and 132 while the device i. pivoted by cylinder 112 from the first to the second ~:
position. During this movement, the position of holder part 115 is locked by extension of the cylinder 125. In its second position, the device 26 positions the buckle 12 ad-jacent the bed of the sewing machine 24.
The sewing machine 24 is a commercially available item known as a bar-tack machine and which is suitable for sewing of a zig-zag type of seam across a tape. For this purpose, ~-the sewing machine includes special means for moving its bed 140 and its sewing foot 142 through a predetermined path of movement while the needle remains stationary. One small addition to the commercial sewing machine is a vertical pin 143 extending upwardly from the bed and passing through an aligned bore in foot 142. This pin is positioned just to the rear of the tape when sewn, and serves a purpose in prevent-ing unwanted movement in a manner described in our copending :
Patent Application No. 250,295 aforesaid. -The left hand part of section A also includes locking device 31 which is a blade movable by a cylinder 31a which is mounted at the side of the sewing machine nearest the device 26, and is inclined downwardly from this side of the sewing machine towards the position occupied by the buckle when in the second position of device 26. Cylinder 31c is coupled to a parallel air blast tube 32. Locking device 31 has two prongs engageable with the edges of a tape inserted by picker 30 and which straddle the clamping elements of the picker to hold the tape against the buckle and to prevent its withdrawal when the picker retracts. The air blast tube 32 causes the end of the tape, when free of the picker clamping elements, to be bent down when air is supplied to it. Also in this part of the machine is the blade 34, movable laterally by a pneumatic cylinder 34a, and which is aligned with the ~; lower slot in the buckle when positioned as shown in Figure 4A and which is suitable for tucking an end of the tape back through this lower slot after bending of the tape by the air : blast, and for positioning the free end of the tape under '''r the main part of the tape and under the needle of the sewing machine for sewing.
The right hand portion of section A will now be described with reference to Figure 6, and also Figures 7 and -; 20 8.
:. ~
The tape spool 20 is mounted above and to the rear of the machine on a spool holder 148 held by bracket 149, with '~ the tape being led down through guides and then passed between a friction wheel 150 and a pressure roller 151, from " which tape 10 passes horizontally under fingers 153 into ;'! ~ picker 30 along a lateral path which is aligned with the buckle 12 in the sewing position. Friction wheel 150 is normally idle, but can be driven in such direction as to move ; the tape towards the right, for a purpose to be described.
''r 30 The picker 30 comprises a carriage 155 movable on two ~, vertically spaced, horizontal slide rods 157 which extend laterally, i.e., parallel to the desired path of tape move-.
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ment from wheel 150 to the buckle in its sewing position. An arm 159 e~tends leftwards from carriage 155 and the front end of this carries a thin, flat member with a rearwardly extending part 160, and with a leftwards extending part 162.
Part 162 cooperates with a similar upper member 163 carried by a part 163a which is pivotal relative to part 160 about pivot means indicated at 164. Part 163a is urged downwardly onto 162 by a piston rod of a pneumatic cylinder 166, which is mounted above part 163a on a fixed part 159a of the arm 159. Parts 162 and 163 together provide narrow projecting clamping elements capable of holding between them the free end of tape 10, and the thin, flat form of parts 160 and 162 allow these to advance the tape firstly over an anvil portion of the knife 28, and then through the upper slot of the buckle 12 held in the threading position by the device 26, elements 162 and 163 and the tape all passing through the slot. The necessary movement of the carriage 155 is provided ~-by a pneumatic cylinder 168. The part 163a is spring urged upwardly, so that on release of pressure from cylinder 166 the picker can be withdrawn without withdrawing the tape.
:,f "'! This arrangement is capable of accommodating various widths `~ of tape.
.;, ,?;~ The knife 28 operates with a scissors action, and includes a fixed anvil 170 having a horizontal surface just beneath the lowest surface of the picker element 162 (to allow this element to slide easily over the anvil), and the :,~
knife has a movable blade 172 pivotally attached to the rear of the anvil and movable by a pneumatic cylinder 174. The knife 28, spool holder bracket 149 with spool holder 148, and the friction wheel 150 and roller 151 and their associated mounting and drivin~ means, are all mounted on a carriage ` 180 which is adjustable in lateral position on a bed 182.
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Also, knife 28 carries a rightwards extension with a stop member 184 which engages the picker carriage 155 and provides a stop for this carriage which ensures that the picker clamping elements 162, 163 are suitably spaced on the right hand side of anvil 170 when the knife operates. With this arrangement, the length of the first strap portion can readily be adjusted by shifting the position of the carriage 180 on bed 182, the picker travel corresponding to the total length of tape used in the first strap portion and being regulated by the position of stop member 184.
- Detailed Description of Section B of Machine This section of the machine will now be described with reference to Figures 3B, 4B, and 11 to 17, of which Figures 14, 16 and 17 show detailed views of the ring holding and transfer device which is a main component of this section.
The magazine assembly 38 comprises a vertical-tube ~; 200 in which the rings 16 are vertically stacked, this tube extending upwardly from member 202 which forms a fore and aft extending slideway 203 for horizontally disposed rings, and which is itself supported on a bracket 204. Within slideway 203r a blade 206 is horizontally movable by pneumatic cylinder 207, to move the rings from the bottom of the stack in tube 200 to a delivery point which is also a threading position ;~ shown in Figures 2, 3, 11 and 12. As seen in Figure 11, blade 206 has a cut away upper front portion for receiving the ring 16, this cut away portion being bounded by a V-shaped surface 206a which receives the side of the ring, and by a flat horizontal ring supporting surface 206b. As also shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13, the forward part of member 202 is provided with a vertical slot communicating with the centre of slideway 203, and in this slot is movable
3: a holding element 210 which is connected by a transverse 7: :
- 15 - :
, . . .. . . . .
pivot 210a to a sliding ~lock 211 in which element 210 is recessed. Block 211 is carried by inwardly extending forward portions 212a of two slide members 212 which are slideable along the outside of each side of the member 202, and which are connected at their rear ends by a cross member 212b.
- A lost-motion linkage is provided between the piston rod 207a of cylinder 207 and slide members 212, so that holding element 210 moves outwardly with blade 206 to retain the ring on surface 206b, and moves rearwardly with blade 206 but with shorter travel. The forward end of holding element 210 is urged down onto the ring 16 (when the ring is below this element) by a spring 210b. The holder element 210 cooperates with the blade 206 to hold a ring 16 in the recess formed by surfaces 206a and 206b while blade 206 is being -~ extended until this ring has been successfully transferred to ,~ and clamped by the ring holding and transfer device 40, which -` will now be described.
The ring holding and transfer device 40, which will ~, also be referred to as the multi-motion device and which - -incorporates further aspects of the invention, is shown in best detail in Figures 14 to 17.
The mounting means for the multi-motion device 40 ~;' (i.e. ring holding and transfer device) will firstly be ~ described with reference to Figures 3B, 4B and 14. The device '`~ is mounted on a first carriage 220 which is slideable on ' horizontally spaced guide rods 221 which extend laterally i and are parallel to the direction of movement of elastic tape 14. Also movable on guide rods 221 is a second carriage 'i 224 which carries a pneumatic cylinder 226 the piston rod ~;~ 30 of which is connected to carriage 220 for causing relative ~,~ movement between the two carriages. Carriage 224 is itself movable by a large pneumatic cylinder 228. A stop member 230 '. ' ' .
(Figure 4B) is arranged to be movable into the path of travel of the first carriage 220 by a stop member cylinder 231, and this is positioned so that stop member 230 can halt the movement of carriage 220 when the device 40 is in the sewing position, i.e. is holding the ring and elastic tape suitable for sewing of the elastic by the sewing machine 48.
The arrangement is such that with the two cylinders 226 and 228 fully retracted the device 40 occupies a first position which is shown in full lines in Figures 2, 3B 4B, 14 and 15, in which the device is suitably positioned for receiving the ring 16 from magazine assembly 38, and is also positioned in a threading station under the tape punch operated by cylinder 45. With the stop member 230 raised, cylinder 226 is then extended to move the carriage 220 against the stop member bringing the ring to the sewing position. In the sewing position the ring is at the left side of the sewing -~ machine 48, i.e. on the side of the operative part of this ., ~ .
machine opposite to the threading station. After sewing, stop member 230 can be retracted and cylinder 226 fully extended to move the device 40 to the holding position 40X
., shown in Figure 2. Final movement of the device to feed the ring onto the end of the first tape held by the clamping devices of section C is achieved by extending the cylinder 228 to move both carriages 220 and 224.
The first carriage 220 has a fixed bracket 234 which has bearings which pivotally support trunnions 235a (Fig. 15) of a tilting portion of the device shown at 235.
This tilting portion is movable through a small angle, say .
about 10 degrees, by a pneumatic tilting cylinder 237 having piston rod extension 237a (Fig. 17). This has the effect of raising and lowering the ring holding end of the device, and the raising motion is used on releasing the ring after -this has been fed onto the first tape carried by the clamping devices of section C, so that the ring clamp does not interfere with the ring when being retracted.
The tilting portion 235 carries a bearing 239 for a spindle 240 (see Figures 16 and 17) which supports a pivot-able portion of the device, indicated generally at 242, this being pivotable through about 90 degrees by a pivoting cylinder 244 (the pivoting portion also of course being tilt-able by cylinder 237). Cylinder 244 allows the device to hold the ring either horizontally as required for theading -and sewing, or vertically as required for feeding the ring onto the end of the first tape.
The pivoting portion 242 forms a sub-assembly (part- ~ -icularly shown in Figure 16) which incorporates both a main body part 242a which is movable to suitably position a ring, and a ring holding part 242b which (in accordance with one . ~ . - .
aspect of the invention) is movable relative to part 242a during the sewing operation. The main body part includes in addition to spindle 240, a plate 245 extending perpendic-ularly to the spindle, a body member 246 extending outwardly from the spindle, and a bracket 248 spaced normally above and parallel to the member 246. The member 246 includes a parallel sided recess in which is slideable, both long-itudinally and laterally, a part 250 (Fig. 16a) the outer end of which provides a lower clamping member 250a, forming part of the ring holding part 242b. An upper clamping member . ~ . .
~, 252 is pivotally mounted near the outer end of part 250, ~ and includes a rearwardly extending arm 252a which is urged ; by spring means (not shown) away from part 250 to provide - -30 a clamping action at the outer end. The clamping members 250a and 252 include curved recesses which receive the upper and ,j .
~ lower surfaces of about 1/4 of a ring inserted between these ~
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parts. By arranging for the clamping members to engage only a portion of the ring adjacent to or between mutually per-pendicular diameters of the ring, the members can receive a ring from the fore-and-aft direction, and release the ring by relative lateral motion, i.e. motion perpendicular to the fore-and-aft direction. Thus, when the clamping members hold the ring vertically in position on the first strap portion 10 (as illustrated in the broken line portion of Fig. 16) they can be released and will clear the stationary ring 10upon upward movement of the clamping members caused by extension of tilting cylinder 237.
- The upper portion of member 246 is centrally recessed to accommodate arm 252 and its movement while the part 250 slides laterally and longitudinally. As best shown in Figure ` 16a, the part 250 is provided with two vertical bores, spaced on each side of arm 252a, and arranged to be engaged by the conical end portions of pins 253 held on the outer ends of a crosshead 254 mounted on the piston rod of a pin operating cylinder 255. When cylinder 255 is extended the pins 253 ~ ~ .
are pressed into engagement with the bores in part 250 and thus provide locking means which hold this firmly in place.
When the cylinder is retracted the part 250, and with it the ring held by clamping members 250a and 252, is free to move with motions provided for by the sewing machine 48 which will be described. For opening the clamp at appropriate moments, a further pneumatic cylinder 257 is provided, having a piston rod 257a (broken line portion of Fig. 16) which can bear against the outer end of the arm 252a to open the clamp.
After the ring 16 has been transferred from the magazine to the multi-motion device 40, the elastic tape 14 is advanced by picker 44 over the top of the ring. The picker 44, receives the tape from spool 42 after this has passed ., .
through various guides, and between rollers 281 which advance the elastic automatically when slight tension occurs in the elastic as gauged by device 281a; this ensures that the elastic is supplied with little stretch. The picker 44 comprises a carriage 260 mounted on vertically spaced laterally extending guide rods 262. The guide rods 262 are held by brackets, including upper and lower brackets 264 and 265 at the left-hand end of the guide rods r of which the bracket 264 has its top portion extending rearwardly from its ; 10 main vertical portion and being such that the main part of ; carriage 260 can pass behind this vertical portion when in , . .
its extreme left hand position. The carriage 260 is movable ` by cylinder 267. Two arms 270 extend from the rear of the left-hand side of carriage 260, these including a fixed lower arm 270a and an upper arm 270b which is pivotally mounted at 271 near the front of the carriage 260 and is arranged to be pivoted downwards by the piston rod 272a of a vertically mounted cylinder 272 and to be pivoted upwards by a spring.
The outer ends of arms-270 carry clamping blades 274 which are narrow strips of metal suitable for receiving between i~ them the elastic tape 14, and being engageable with this tape ' on extension of cylinder 272. The lower clamping blade of the picker is suitably shaped so that the picker can pass :0~
~; over the fixed lower anvil of knife 46 although holding the tape 14 close to this anvil.
An elastic tape clamp 280 is provided on the right-hand side of knife 46 and comprises upper and lower leaf ;, . .
~ springs which are each recessed for receiving the clamping , i ..
blades 274 and with blades 274 on the right-hand side of knife 46. The clamp 280 prevents any return motion of the tape 14 ,~ .
due to the weight of the handling elastic. -~ -Knife 46 is the same as knife 28 and will therefore not . ~ .
~ - 20 -'.
be described further. As with section A, knife 46 is mounted on a carriage 282 which also carries the clamp 280 and a stop member 284 for the picker carriage 260. Carriage 282 is adjustable along lateral slide 283 for adjustment of the length of elastic in the second strap portion. Whatever the adjustment, stop member 284 will stop rightwards movement of picker 44 so that clamping blades 274 are one-half inch or more to the right of the knife anvil; thus when the picker advances (after operation of the knife) it carries a free end of about 1/2 inch projecting from blades 274. The travel of the picker-44 is equal to the length of elastic in the strap portion.
The travel of picker 44 is such that in its left-hand (advanced) position it moves the free projecting end of tape 14, held between clamping blades 274, over the top of the ring 16 held by the multimotion device 40 in its first, threading position, the blades 274 advancing just short of the center of the ring. For threading of the elastic, two devices are provided, which are best shown in Figure 15, -~ 20 these being a punch in the form of a flat blade 285 vertically ;; movable by cylinder 45, and a ring support member 287 vertically movable by cylinder 288. The member 287 is arranged so that when cylinder 288 is extended this member comes up to support the ring 16 against any possibility of being bent downwards or pushed out of the device 40, prior to punch ` 285 pushing the elastic tape 14 through the ring (Fig. 12) while still held by the picker.
The sewing machine 48 is again similar to that of Section A, and so will not be described in detail. Again, this has a sewing foot which can descend to grip the elastic .. . .
l tape adjacent the ring 16, and when the ring has been moved 'i to the sewing position by device 40, the outer end portion of ',f, the tape which has been folded underneath the remainder of the tape by movement of ring 16 onto the bed by device 40 is also gripped by the machine, so that after the pin operating cylinder 264 has unlocked the ring clamp a zig-zag seam can be sewn across the two thicknesses of elastic to hold the ring in place.
The detailed description of section C of the machine, which is not pertinent to the present invention, will be found in our aforesaid co-pending Patent Application No.
250,295.
OPERATION
Operation of the machine will now be described.
All the cylinders referred to above are pneumatic -~ cylinders supplied with air through valves controlled by an automatic programmer, of the type sold under the trade name Agastat by Amerace-Esma Corporation, of the U.S.A.
Operations proceed simultaneously in sections A, B
and C so that while a first strap portion is being formed in section B, section C is performing various buckling and associated operations which unite together two strapportions previously formed in sections A and B.
In Section A, a cycle starts with the buckle holder and transfer device 26 in the vertical position, with cylinder 125 extended to cause pins 120 to lock the buckle holder part 115 in position, with knife 28 open, and with picker 30 retracted to its right hand position, and with the picker clamping elements 162 and 163 held closed by the cylinder 166.
Cylinder 105 is then extended so that blade 104 pushes a buckle from the magazine 100 into the buckle holder 115, and then cylinder 112 is retracted to rotate the device 26 into the threading position ~Figures 8 and 9) in which the ~ . . . .
.. . . . .
buckle is held vertically near the sewing foot and bed o~
the sewing machine 24. Simultaneously, cylinder 168 is retracted to advance the picker 30, the clamping elements 162 and 163 of the picker pulling tape 10 from the supply spool between friction wheel 150 and roller 151, which are idle at this stage, and final movement of the picker threads the tape through the upper slot in the buckle until about one-half inch of the tape extends through this slot (see Fig 8).
-`- Fric~ion wheel 150 is then briefly driven in the reversedirection to tighten the tape 10. Cylinder 31a is then -~
extended to bring locking fork 31 into contact with the tape 10 and to hold a part of the tape against the central portion of the buckle, so that when the picker clamping elements have been released from the tape the picker can return to its initial position without pulling the tape from the buckle.
Simultaneously, a blast of air from the tube 32 turns down the end of tape which projects through the buckle, and then cylinder 34a moves the blade 34 through the lower slot in the buckle, ; and then immediately retracts this blade, to tuck the free end of the tape through the lower slot and into a position adjacent to and underneath the main portion of the tape and in suitable position for being sewn thereto by the sewing machine 2~. With locking fork 31 retracted, the sewing machine foot moves down to clamp the two layers of tape against the sewing machine bed. The cylinder 125 of the -buckle holder and transfer device is then retracted to release the holding part 115 and to allow this to slide around while ;
s the tape clamped by the sewing foot is moved by the sewing machine as this sews a zig-æag seam. After sewing cylinder ` 30 125 is again extended to lock part`115, the sewing foot is raised, and the picker clamping elements are closed. --At this stage, the first strap portion is virtually ' , ... . . . . .. . . . . . . .
complete, except that it is still connected to the supply of tape. This strap portion is severed from the tape supply by knife 28 after it has been clamped by clamping members 50 and 51, as fully described in Patent Application No. 250,295 aforesaid.
In section B, the cycle begins with the picker 44 withdrawn to its rightward position, and picker clamp blades 274 closed by cylinder 272, and blades of knife 46 open. The multi-motion device 40 is in its right hand position shown ~ -in full lines in Figures 2 and 13 and has its rotatable portion suitably orientated by cylinder 244 so that the clamping members 250a and 252 can receive the ring 16 horizontally from magazine assembly 38. The tilting cylinder 237 is retracted. Also, cylinder 255 is extended to lock the -~
clamping members relative to the main body part of device 40, and the clamping members 250a and 252 are held open by exten-sion of cylinder 257.
The magazine blade 206 is advanced by cylinder 207 and moves ring 16 between the clamping members 250a and 252, undesired tilting of the ring being prevented by the holding element 210 which advances with the blade 206 during the latter part of its movement. The clamping members are then closed by spring action on retraction of cylinder 257 (see Fig. 11), and blade 206 and element 210 withdraw leaving the ring held horizontall~ in the device 40.
Previous operations have left an end portion about ~.1 one half inch in length of the tape 14 extending in advance ; of the clamping blades 274 of picker 44. The picker is advanced under the action of cylinder 267 and moves this end portion of the tape over the top of ring 16, the picker advancing to a position in which its blades 274 are just short of the center line of the ring. The ring support member ~i : :
, . , . , . . . . ,.................... . ~ - :
: . ~ . . .. . . .. -287 is then raised by cylinder 288 into position to prevent downward movement of the ring 16, and shortly afterwards punch 285 is moved downwardly by cylinder 45 to move the end portion of tape 14, previously lying across the top of the ring, into position in which it hangs through the ring (see Figure 12). While the punch remains down~ picker blades 274 open and the picker retracts to its initial position leaving the elastic threaded. The friction between the sides of the elastic tape and the ring is sufficient to prevent rightward movement of the tape. Also, spring clamp 280 at this point prevents the weight of the elastic tape leading from the supply spool from causing reverse movement of the tape. The ring support member 287 and punch 285 then retract away from the ring. Picker blades 274 again close, and knife 46 then operates to sever a suitable length of tape about one half inch in front of blades 274, thus severing the length of tape required for the second strap portion.
With stop member 230 raised, cylinder 226 is extended -~
to move the multimotion device 40 a~ainst the stop member 230 -and into a position in which it holds the ring 16 in its sewing position just at the left hand side of the operative :
`~ portion of sewing machine 48. This movement folds the previously hanging end portion of tape 14 back underneath the main portion of the tape so that the two thicknesses of tape can be held together by the sewing foot which now descends onto the bed of the sewing machine. Cylinder 255 of the multi-motion device then retracts to unlock the holding part including clamping members 250a and 252, to allow the two tape thicknesses adjacent the ring to be sewn together with a zig zag seam while the part 250 slides around in body member -246. After sewing, the cylinder 255 again locks the clamping members in position while the sewing foot is raised. Stop ~
.jl :
; - 25 -.;1 , :.
- member 230 is then retracted and cylinder 226 fully extended to move the multi-motion device 40 to its holding position 40X (Fig. 2), and simultaneously cylinder 244 rotates the rotatable part of this device to orientate the ring in vertical position with the attached tape hanging from the lower side of the ring.
The operations described above have produced first and second strap portions, both sewn to the respective buckle or ring element by zig-zag seams in accordance with the ;~ 10 invention.
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pivot 210a to a sliding ~lock 211 in which element 210 is recessed. Block 211 is carried by inwardly extending forward portions 212a of two slide members 212 which are slideable along the outside of each side of the member 202, and which are connected at their rear ends by a cross member 212b.
- A lost-motion linkage is provided between the piston rod 207a of cylinder 207 and slide members 212, so that holding element 210 moves outwardly with blade 206 to retain the ring on surface 206b, and moves rearwardly with blade 206 but with shorter travel. The forward end of holding element 210 is urged down onto the ring 16 (when the ring is below this element) by a spring 210b. The holder element 210 cooperates with the blade 206 to hold a ring 16 in the recess formed by surfaces 206a and 206b while blade 206 is being -~ extended until this ring has been successfully transferred to ,~ and clamped by the ring holding and transfer device 40, which -` will now be described.
The ring holding and transfer device 40, which will ~, also be referred to as the multi-motion device and which - -incorporates further aspects of the invention, is shown in best detail in Figures 14 to 17.
The mounting means for the multi-motion device 40 ~;' (i.e. ring holding and transfer device) will firstly be ~ described with reference to Figures 3B, 4B and 14. The device '`~ is mounted on a first carriage 220 which is slideable on ' horizontally spaced guide rods 221 which extend laterally i and are parallel to the direction of movement of elastic tape 14. Also movable on guide rods 221 is a second carriage 'i 224 which carries a pneumatic cylinder 226 the piston rod ~;~ 30 of which is connected to carriage 220 for causing relative ~,~ movement between the two carriages. Carriage 224 is itself movable by a large pneumatic cylinder 228. A stop member 230 '. ' ' .
(Figure 4B) is arranged to be movable into the path of travel of the first carriage 220 by a stop member cylinder 231, and this is positioned so that stop member 230 can halt the movement of carriage 220 when the device 40 is in the sewing position, i.e. is holding the ring and elastic tape suitable for sewing of the elastic by the sewing machine 48.
The arrangement is such that with the two cylinders 226 and 228 fully retracted the device 40 occupies a first position which is shown in full lines in Figures 2, 3B 4B, 14 and 15, in which the device is suitably positioned for receiving the ring 16 from magazine assembly 38, and is also positioned in a threading station under the tape punch operated by cylinder 45. With the stop member 230 raised, cylinder 226 is then extended to move the carriage 220 against the stop member bringing the ring to the sewing position. In the sewing position the ring is at the left side of the sewing -~ machine 48, i.e. on the side of the operative part of this ., ~ .
machine opposite to the threading station. After sewing, stop member 230 can be retracted and cylinder 226 fully extended to move the device 40 to the holding position 40X
., shown in Figure 2. Final movement of the device to feed the ring onto the end of the first tape held by the clamping devices of section C is achieved by extending the cylinder 228 to move both carriages 220 and 224.
The first carriage 220 has a fixed bracket 234 which has bearings which pivotally support trunnions 235a (Fig. 15) of a tilting portion of the device shown at 235.
This tilting portion is movable through a small angle, say .
about 10 degrees, by a pneumatic tilting cylinder 237 having piston rod extension 237a (Fig. 17). This has the effect of raising and lowering the ring holding end of the device, and the raising motion is used on releasing the ring after -this has been fed onto the first tape carried by the clamping devices of section C, so that the ring clamp does not interfere with the ring when being retracted.
The tilting portion 235 carries a bearing 239 for a spindle 240 (see Figures 16 and 17) which supports a pivot-able portion of the device, indicated generally at 242, this being pivotable through about 90 degrees by a pivoting cylinder 244 (the pivoting portion also of course being tilt-able by cylinder 237). Cylinder 244 allows the device to hold the ring either horizontally as required for theading -and sewing, or vertically as required for feeding the ring onto the end of the first tape.
The pivoting portion 242 forms a sub-assembly (part- ~ -icularly shown in Figure 16) which incorporates both a main body part 242a which is movable to suitably position a ring, and a ring holding part 242b which (in accordance with one . ~ . - .
aspect of the invention) is movable relative to part 242a during the sewing operation. The main body part includes in addition to spindle 240, a plate 245 extending perpendic-ularly to the spindle, a body member 246 extending outwardly from the spindle, and a bracket 248 spaced normally above and parallel to the member 246. The member 246 includes a parallel sided recess in which is slideable, both long-itudinally and laterally, a part 250 (Fig. 16a) the outer end of which provides a lower clamping member 250a, forming part of the ring holding part 242b. An upper clamping member . ~ . .
~, 252 is pivotally mounted near the outer end of part 250, ~ and includes a rearwardly extending arm 252a which is urged ; by spring means (not shown) away from part 250 to provide - -30 a clamping action at the outer end. The clamping members 250a and 252 include curved recesses which receive the upper and ,j .
~ lower surfaces of about 1/4 of a ring inserted between these ~
~ .
,. -~ .
parts. By arranging for the clamping members to engage only a portion of the ring adjacent to or between mutually per-pendicular diameters of the ring, the members can receive a ring from the fore-and-aft direction, and release the ring by relative lateral motion, i.e. motion perpendicular to the fore-and-aft direction. Thus, when the clamping members hold the ring vertically in position on the first strap portion 10 (as illustrated in the broken line portion of Fig. 16) they can be released and will clear the stationary ring 10upon upward movement of the clamping members caused by extension of tilting cylinder 237.
- The upper portion of member 246 is centrally recessed to accommodate arm 252 and its movement while the part 250 slides laterally and longitudinally. As best shown in Figure ` 16a, the part 250 is provided with two vertical bores, spaced on each side of arm 252a, and arranged to be engaged by the conical end portions of pins 253 held on the outer ends of a crosshead 254 mounted on the piston rod of a pin operating cylinder 255. When cylinder 255 is extended the pins 253 ~ ~ .
are pressed into engagement with the bores in part 250 and thus provide locking means which hold this firmly in place.
When the cylinder is retracted the part 250, and with it the ring held by clamping members 250a and 252, is free to move with motions provided for by the sewing machine 48 which will be described. For opening the clamp at appropriate moments, a further pneumatic cylinder 257 is provided, having a piston rod 257a (broken line portion of Fig. 16) which can bear against the outer end of the arm 252a to open the clamp.
After the ring 16 has been transferred from the magazine to the multi-motion device 40, the elastic tape 14 is advanced by picker 44 over the top of the ring. The picker 44, receives the tape from spool 42 after this has passed ., .
through various guides, and between rollers 281 which advance the elastic automatically when slight tension occurs in the elastic as gauged by device 281a; this ensures that the elastic is supplied with little stretch. The picker 44 comprises a carriage 260 mounted on vertically spaced laterally extending guide rods 262. The guide rods 262 are held by brackets, including upper and lower brackets 264 and 265 at the left-hand end of the guide rods r of which the bracket 264 has its top portion extending rearwardly from its ; 10 main vertical portion and being such that the main part of ; carriage 260 can pass behind this vertical portion when in , . .
its extreme left hand position. The carriage 260 is movable ` by cylinder 267. Two arms 270 extend from the rear of the left-hand side of carriage 260, these including a fixed lower arm 270a and an upper arm 270b which is pivotally mounted at 271 near the front of the carriage 260 and is arranged to be pivoted downwards by the piston rod 272a of a vertically mounted cylinder 272 and to be pivoted upwards by a spring.
The outer ends of arms-270 carry clamping blades 274 which are narrow strips of metal suitable for receiving between i~ them the elastic tape 14, and being engageable with this tape ' on extension of cylinder 272. The lower clamping blade of the picker is suitably shaped so that the picker can pass :0~
~; over the fixed lower anvil of knife 46 although holding the tape 14 close to this anvil.
An elastic tape clamp 280 is provided on the right-hand side of knife 46 and comprises upper and lower leaf ;, . .
~ springs which are each recessed for receiving the clamping , i ..
blades 274 and with blades 274 on the right-hand side of knife 46. The clamp 280 prevents any return motion of the tape 14 ,~ .
due to the weight of the handling elastic. -~ -Knife 46 is the same as knife 28 and will therefore not . ~ .
~ - 20 -'.
be described further. As with section A, knife 46 is mounted on a carriage 282 which also carries the clamp 280 and a stop member 284 for the picker carriage 260. Carriage 282 is adjustable along lateral slide 283 for adjustment of the length of elastic in the second strap portion. Whatever the adjustment, stop member 284 will stop rightwards movement of picker 44 so that clamping blades 274 are one-half inch or more to the right of the knife anvil; thus when the picker advances (after operation of the knife) it carries a free end of about 1/2 inch projecting from blades 274. The travel of the picker-44 is equal to the length of elastic in the strap portion.
The travel of picker 44 is such that in its left-hand (advanced) position it moves the free projecting end of tape 14, held between clamping blades 274, over the top of the ring 16 held by the multimotion device 40 in its first, threading position, the blades 274 advancing just short of the center of the ring. For threading of the elastic, two devices are provided, which are best shown in Figure 15, -~ 20 these being a punch in the form of a flat blade 285 vertically ;; movable by cylinder 45, and a ring support member 287 vertically movable by cylinder 288. The member 287 is arranged so that when cylinder 288 is extended this member comes up to support the ring 16 against any possibility of being bent downwards or pushed out of the device 40, prior to punch ` 285 pushing the elastic tape 14 through the ring (Fig. 12) while still held by the picker.
The sewing machine 48 is again similar to that of Section A, and so will not be described in detail. Again, this has a sewing foot which can descend to grip the elastic .. . .
l tape adjacent the ring 16, and when the ring has been moved 'i to the sewing position by device 40, the outer end portion of ',f, the tape which has been folded underneath the remainder of the tape by movement of ring 16 onto the bed by device 40 is also gripped by the machine, so that after the pin operating cylinder 264 has unlocked the ring clamp a zig-zag seam can be sewn across the two thicknesses of elastic to hold the ring in place.
The detailed description of section C of the machine, which is not pertinent to the present invention, will be found in our aforesaid co-pending Patent Application No.
250,295.
OPERATION
Operation of the machine will now be described.
All the cylinders referred to above are pneumatic -~ cylinders supplied with air through valves controlled by an automatic programmer, of the type sold under the trade name Agastat by Amerace-Esma Corporation, of the U.S.A.
Operations proceed simultaneously in sections A, B
and C so that while a first strap portion is being formed in section B, section C is performing various buckling and associated operations which unite together two strapportions previously formed in sections A and B.
In Section A, a cycle starts with the buckle holder and transfer device 26 in the vertical position, with cylinder 125 extended to cause pins 120 to lock the buckle holder part 115 in position, with knife 28 open, and with picker 30 retracted to its right hand position, and with the picker clamping elements 162 and 163 held closed by the cylinder 166.
Cylinder 105 is then extended so that blade 104 pushes a buckle from the magazine 100 into the buckle holder 115, and then cylinder 112 is retracted to rotate the device 26 into the threading position ~Figures 8 and 9) in which the ~ . . . .
.. . . . .
buckle is held vertically near the sewing foot and bed o~
the sewing machine 24. Simultaneously, cylinder 168 is retracted to advance the picker 30, the clamping elements 162 and 163 of the picker pulling tape 10 from the supply spool between friction wheel 150 and roller 151, which are idle at this stage, and final movement of the picker threads the tape through the upper slot in the buckle until about one-half inch of the tape extends through this slot (see Fig 8).
-`- Fric~ion wheel 150 is then briefly driven in the reversedirection to tighten the tape 10. Cylinder 31a is then -~
extended to bring locking fork 31 into contact with the tape 10 and to hold a part of the tape against the central portion of the buckle, so that when the picker clamping elements have been released from the tape the picker can return to its initial position without pulling the tape from the buckle.
Simultaneously, a blast of air from the tube 32 turns down the end of tape which projects through the buckle, and then cylinder 34a moves the blade 34 through the lower slot in the buckle, ; and then immediately retracts this blade, to tuck the free end of the tape through the lower slot and into a position adjacent to and underneath the main portion of the tape and in suitable position for being sewn thereto by the sewing machine 2~. With locking fork 31 retracted, the sewing machine foot moves down to clamp the two layers of tape against the sewing machine bed. The cylinder 125 of the -buckle holder and transfer device is then retracted to release the holding part 115 and to allow this to slide around while ;
s the tape clamped by the sewing foot is moved by the sewing machine as this sews a zig-æag seam. After sewing cylinder ` 30 125 is again extended to lock part`115, the sewing foot is raised, and the picker clamping elements are closed. --At this stage, the first strap portion is virtually ' , ... . . . . .. . . . . . . .
complete, except that it is still connected to the supply of tape. This strap portion is severed from the tape supply by knife 28 after it has been clamped by clamping members 50 and 51, as fully described in Patent Application No. 250,295 aforesaid.
In section B, the cycle begins with the picker 44 withdrawn to its rightward position, and picker clamp blades 274 closed by cylinder 272, and blades of knife 46 open. The multi-motion device 40 is in its right hand position shown ~ -in full lines in Figures 2 and 13 and has its rotatable portion suitably orientated by cylinder 244 so that the clamping members 250a and 252 can receive the ring 16 horizontally from magazine assembly 38. The tilting cylinder 237 is retracted. Also, cylinder 255 is extended to lock the -~
clamping members relative to the main body part of device 40, and the clamping members 250a and 252 are held open by exten-sion of cylinder 257.
The magazine blade 206 is advanced by cylinder 207 and moves ring 16 between the clamping members 250a and 252, undesired tilting of the ring being prevented by the holding element 210 which advances with the blade 206 during the latter part of its movement. The clamping members are then closed by spring action on retraction of cylinder 257 (see Fig. 11), and blade 206 and element 210 withdraw leaving the ring held horizontall~ in the device 40.
Previous operations have left an end portion about ~.1 one half inch in length of the tape 14 extending in advance ; of the clamping blades 274 of picker 44. The picker is advanced under the action of cylinder 267 and moves this end portion of the tape over the top of ring 16, the picker advancing to a position in which its blades 274 are just short of the center line of the ring. The ring support member ~i : :
, . , . , . . . . ,.................... . ~ - :
: . ~ . . .. . . .. -287 is then raised by cylinder 288 into position to prevent downward movement of the ring 16, and shortly afterwards punch 285 is moved downwardly by cylinder 45 to move the end portion of tape 14, previously lying across the top of the ring, into position in which it hangs through the ring (see Figure 12). While the punch remains down~ picker blades 274 open and the picker retracts to its initial position leaving the elastic threaded. The friction between the sides of the elastic tape and the ring is sufficient to prevent rightward movement of the tape. Also, spring clamp 280 at this point prevents the weight of the elastic tape leading from the supply spool from causing reverse movement of the tape. The ring support member 287 and punch 285 then retract away from the ring. Picker blades 274 again close, and knife 46 then operates to sever a suitable length of tape about one half inch in front of blades 274, thus severing the length of tape required for the second strap portion.
With stop member 230 raised, cylinder 226 is extended -~
to move the multimotion device 40 a~ainst the stop member 230 -and into a position in which it holds the ring 16 in its sewing position just at the left hand side of the operative :
`~ portion of sewing machine 48. This movement folds the previously hanging end portion of tape 14 back underneath the main portion of the tape so that the two thicknesses of tape can be held together by the sewing foot which now descends onto the bed of the sewing machine. Cylinder 255 of the multi-motion device then retracts to unlock the holding part including clamping members 250a and 252, to allow the two tape thicknesses adjacent the ring to be sewn together with a zig zag seam while the part 250 slides around in body member -246. After sewing, the cylinder 255 again locks the clamping members in position while the sewing foot is raised. Stop ~
.jl :
; - 25 -.;1 , :.
- member 230 is then retracted and cylinder 226 fully extended to move the multi-motion device 40 to its holding position 40X (Fig. 2), and simultaneously cylinder 244 rotates the rotatable part of this device to orientate the ring in vertical position with the attached tape hanging from the lower side of the ring.
The operations described above have produced first and second strap portions, both sewn to the respective buckle or ring element by zig-zag seams in accordance with the ;~ 10 invention.
., ; ~
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Claims (4)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Apparatus for securing a ring to a tape including a joining machine, means for supplying horizontally disposed rings to a delivery point, a ring holding and transfer device arranged to receive the horizontally disposed rings when fed thereto at the delivery point, tape advancing means for advanc-ing tape in a first direction to position a free end of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, means for punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, and means for moving the ring horizontally in said first direction into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubling the free end of the tape against a main portion of the tape to position both thicknesses of tape in the operative part of the joining machine.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is provided means for temporarily supporting the ring during punching of the tape therethrough.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tape advancing means includes a horizontally movable carriage supporting clamping elements for the tape material, and wherein said carriage is movable from the retracted position to an advanced position in which advanced position the clamping elements are positioned over a portion of the ring and just short of the path of the movement of the punching means, the travel of said carriage corresponding to the length of tape required to be attached to the ring, and further comprising knife means operable when the threading means is in retracted position to sever the tape at a point sufficiently in advance of the outer end of the clamping elements to provide an end portion of the tape suitable for threading through the ring.
4. A method for securing a ring to a tape including the steps of:
supplying a horizontally disposed ring to a delivery point and inserting said ring in a ring holding and transfer device, advancing tape in a first direction to position a free end of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, moving the ring horizontally in said first direc-tion into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubl-ing the free end of tape against a main portion of the tape to position both thicknesses of tape in the operative part of the joining machine, and operating said joining machine to join the free end portion of tape to the main portion of the tape.
supplying a horizontally disposed ring to a delivery point and inserting said ring in a ring holding and transfer device, advancing tape in a first direction to position a free end of the tape in overlapping relationship with the ring, punching a free end portion of the tape through the ring, moving the ring horizontally in said first direc-tion into the operative part of a joining machine thereby doubl-ing the free end of tape against a main portion of the tape to position both thicknesses of tape in the operative part of the joining machine, and operating said joining machine to join the free end portion of tape to the main portion of the tape.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA315,366A CA1063440A (en) | 1975-05-14 | 1978-10-31 | Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tape |
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB20441/75A GB1547575A (en) | 1975-05-14 | 1975-05-14 | Apoparatus for making shoulder straps |
| CA250,239A CA1046855A (en) | 1975-05-14 | 1976-04-14 | Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tape |
| CA315,366A CA1063440A (en) | 1975-05-14 | 1978-10-31 | Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tape |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1063440A true CA1063440A (en) | 1979-10-02 |
Family
ID=27164421
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA315,366A Expired CA1063440A (en) | 1975-05-14 | 1978-10-31 | Apparatus for sewing rings, buckles and like elements onto tape |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1063440A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN110607611A (en) * | 2019-09-24 | 2019-12-24 | 强信机械科技(莱州)有限公司 | Garment lower hem ring seam device |
-
1978
- 1978-10-31 CA CA315,366A patent/CA1063440A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN110607611A (en) * | 2019-09-24 | 2019-12-24 | 强信机械科技(莱州)有限公司 | Garment lower hem ring seam device |
| CN110607611B (en) * | 2019-09-24 | 2024-04-26 | 强信机械科技(莱州)有限公司 | Clothing hem girth device |
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