GB2262268A

GB2262268A - Method of clothing manufacture.

Info

Publication number: GB2262268A
Application number: GB9126318A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ronald Doyle; John Hickey
Original assignee: CALLATRON Ltd
Current assignee: CALLATRON Ltd
Priority date: 1991-12-11
Filing date: 1991-12-11
Publication date: 1993-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2011-12-11
Also published as: BE1003617A6; GB2262268B; GB9126318D0

Abstract

In an improved method of clothing manufacture, cloth sheets are cut to a desired pattern and pattern pieces (28) are delivered around a production line having a number of work stations (29) where they are sewn together to make a garment. The pattern pieces are delivered around the work stations (29) on a conveyor comprising either baskets or chains (51) suspended from and slidable along an endless rail (50). <IMAGE>

Description

"A Method of Clothing Manufacture" This invention relates to an improved method of clothing manufacture.

To manufacture a garment a pattern of the required piece to make the garment is prepared and the pattern pieces are cut from suitable cloth material. A number of sewing operations are required to join the pattern pieces, thus forming the garment. In order to perform all the necessary sewing operations the pattern pieces may be delivered to a number of work stations in turn, a particular sewing operation being carried out at each work station. Difficulties arise in trying to achieve a smooth flow of garment pieces around the work station for garment manufacture. Any imbalances in the flow will adversely effect production, increasing costs.

Downstream of the work stations the garments may be delivered to a pressing or ironing station. A problem can arise here where a number of different garment items are received from the work stations. Workers tend to iron the easier items first which then lead to a backlog of other garments. Problems can also arise where cloth which was dyed in different batches is used for the pattern pieces. This can result in a garment being manufactured from mismatched pattern pieces, thus leading to rejection of the garment and consequent production cost increase.

The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.

According to the invention there is provided a method of clothing manufacture comprising the steps; (a) preparing a pattern containing outlines of all the pattern pieces required to manufacture a particular garment, the pattern outlines being arranged on the pattern sheet to minimise the space outside the pattern piece outlines, (b) preparing a stack of cloth sheets and adhering the pattern sheet onto a top sheet of the stack of cloth sheets, (c) cutting the cloth sheets in accordance with the pattern piece outlines on the pattern sheet to provide a number of bundles of pattern pieces, (d) sorting the pattern pieces and mounting them on suspended carriers on a conveyer for stepped delivery around a number of work stations, (e) carrying out a sewing operation on pattern pieces at each work station for gradual formation of a garment, (f) suspending finished garments on hangers and delivering the garments on the hangers to a bagging station, (g) inserting each garment into a clear plastic bag at the bagging station, and (h) packaging the bagged garments.

In one embodiment of the invention the suspended carriers comprise a number of baskets suspended from and slidable along an endless rail which extends alongside the work stations, loading a preset quantity of pattern pieces sufficient to make a preset desirable number of garments into each basket for delivery in turn to each work station for sewing at the work stations.

In an alternative arrangement the suspended carriers comprise a number of supports suspended from and slidable along an endless rail which extends alongside the work stations, each support having a number of slips, mounting all the pattern pieces required for a single garment on the clips of a support for delivery in turn to each work station for sewing at the work stations.

In a further embodiment the method includes the step of pressing completed garments downstream of the work stations prior to suspending the garments on the hangers.

In another aspect the invention provides an apparatus for carrying out the method described above, comprising a sorting station and a number of work stations, an endless roundsection conveyor rail extending around the sorting station and work stations, a number of baskets each suspended from and slidable along the conveyor rail, each basket having a frame, a base on the frame, upstanding mesh front, side and rear walls on the base, the front wall being lower than the side and rear walls, a pair of spaced-apart rollers mounted on roller support arms extending upwardly of the frame, each roller having a channel shaped circumference engageable with the rail to roll along an upper portion of the rail.

In an alternative arrangement apparatus for carrying the method of the invention comprises a sorting station and a number of work stations, an endless conveyor rail extending around the sorting station and work stations, a number of chains suspended and slidable along the rail, each chain having a number of spaced-apart branch chains attached thereto, and a clip mounted on each branch chain for releasably holding a garment piece.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a method of clothing manufacture according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of a production line lay out for producing garments according to the method, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of portion of a conveyor used for carrying out the method, showing baskets for carrying garment pieces, Fig. 4 is an end view of a basket, Fig. 5 is an elevational view of portion of another conveying system for garment pieces showing a chain with a number of clips for carrying garment pieces, Fig. 6 is an elevational view of a clip on the chain, Fig. 7 is a detail elevational view showing portion of the chain in use, and Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing a number of the chains in use delivering garment pieces to work stations.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figs. 1 to 4 thereof the method according to the invention will be described.

Firstly a pattern for a particular garment is prepared at a design station 10. All the pieces required to make up the garment are drawn out and arranged on a pattern sheet in such a way as to minimise space outside the pattern piece outlines for optimum use of cloth.

The pattern sheet is then delivered to a cutting station 15.

At the cutting station 15 a stack of cloth sheets, say thirty sheets are prepared and the pattern sheet is adhesively attached to the top cloth sheet. A cutter then cuts out the pattern pieces in accordance with the marked pattern, thus in each case preparing a batch of say thirty sets of pattern pieces.

The pattern pieces are then delivered to a sorting station 20 for loading onto a conveyor 25. The conveyor 25 comprises a continuous track formed by a tubular rail 26 from which a number of baskets 27 are suspended (see Fig. 3). Each basket 27 is sized to receive a preset quantity of pattern pieces 28, typically enough for the preparation of thirty garments. Each basket 27 has a rectangular box-section frame 30. A base 31 is provided at a lower end of the frame 30. An upstanding mesh front wall 32, side walls 33 and rear wall 34 are provided on the base 31. The front wall 32 is lower than the side walls 33 and rear wall 34 for loading. A pair of spacedapart rollers 35 are mounted on roller support arms 36 which extend upwardly of the frame 30, Each roller 35 has a channel shaped circumference 37 engageable with the rail 26 to roll along an upper portion of the rail 26.

Advantageously with the baskets 27 extended from the rail 26, the pattern pieces 28 are readily easily removed and loaded on the baskets 27 by each machinist. Furthermore, a supervisor can readily assess the flow of work along the work stations 29 and make any adjustments necessary to smooth out any irregularity in the flow.

The baskets 27 are directed along the rail 26 from the sorting station 20 around a number of work stations 29 in turn. At each work station 29 a machinist removes the pattern pieces 28 from the basket 27 and carries out a particular sewing job on a number of the pattern pieces 28. When the machinist has finished sewing, all the appropriate pattern pieces 28 are replaced in the basket 27 and passed on to the next work station 29 where the next sewing step is carried out. Thus in passing around all the work stations 29 the garments are gradually completed. It will be noted that the different tasks at each work station 29 are arranged such that they take roughly the same amount of time so there is a steady streamlined flow of baskets 27 around the work stations 27.

Downstream of the work stations 29 the completed garments may be delivered to a pressing station 40 in which the garments are pressed. Pressed garments are mounted on clothes hangers 42 and delivered to a packaging station 44. Advantageously the garments are pressed as they leave the work stations 29, thus ensuring that all the garments from a particular production line are pressed as they come off the production line, thus avoiding the delays associated with having a central pressing station for a number of production lines. At the packaging station 44 each garment has a price tag and identity tag attached. Each garment is then inserted in a clear plastics-bag and the bagged garments: are made up into an order for:delivery to a customer.

Referring now in particular to Figs. 5 to 8, another type of conveyor for carrying pattern pieces 28 between the work stations 29 is illustrated. In this case the conveyor comprises a continuous rail 50 extending around the sorting station 20 and work stations 29 from which chains 51 are slidably suspended. Each chain 51 has a number of spacedapart branch chains 52 attached thereto and clips 53 are provided on each branch chain 52 to which all the pattern pieces 28 for one garment are attached. The chains 51 are then delivered on the rail 50 to each work station 29 in turn where each machinist carries out a particular sewing task as before. It will be noted that the chains 51, 52 are sufficiently slack such that in many cases the pattern pieces 28 need not be removed from the clips 53 to carry out the particular sewing task at a work station.Figs. 7 and 8 show pattern pieces 28 suspended from the chains 50 for delivery to the work stations 29.

It will be appreciated that suspension of the pattern pieces on the chains enables the pattern pieces to be readily easily moved around the rail between work stations. Further having all the pattern pieces for each garment together on a chain saves time as the pattern pieces for each garment are always together and ready to hand for each machinist. Also as the chains 51 are suspended from the rail 50 a supervisor can readily assess the flow the chains around the production line. Any regularities or backlogs can thus be readily easily dealt with for example by inserting a portable work station adjacent the backlog to speed up the process at that point and bring the flow back to equilibrium. Furthermore by suspending all the pieces for a particular garment on a single chain one can ensure at the sorting station that the pattern pieces for a particular garment all come from the same cloth sheet thus ensuring there is no colour mismatch between pieces of a garment during manufacture of the garment.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims

CLAINS

1. A method of clothing manufacture comprising the steps; (a) preparing a pattern sheet containing outlines of all the pattern pieces required to manufacture a particular garment, the pattern outlines being arranged on the pattern sheet to minimise the space outside the pattern piece outlines, (b) preparing a stack of cloth sheets and adhering the pattern sheet onto a top sheet of the stack of cloth sheets, (c) cutting the cloth sheets in accordance with the pattern piece outlines on the pattern sheet to provide a number of bundles of pattern pieces, (d) sorting the pattern pieces and mounting them on suspended carriers on a conveyor for stepped delivery around a number of work stations, (e) carrying out a sewing operation on pattern pieces at each work station for gradual formation of a garment, (f) suspending finished garments on hangers and delivering the garments on the hangers to a bagging station, (g) inserting each garment into a clear plastic bag at the bagging station, and (h) packaging the bagged garments.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the suspended carriers comprise a number of baskets suspended from and slidable along an endless rail which extends alongside the work stations, loading a preset quantity of pattern pieces sufficient to make a preset desirable number of garments into each basket for delivery in turn to each work station for sewing at the work stations.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the suspended carriers comprise a number of supports suspended from and slidable along an endless rail which extends alongside the work stations, each support having a number of clips, mounting all the pattern pieces required for a single garment on the clips of a support for delivery in turn to each work station for sewing at the work stations.

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including.the step of pressing completed garments downstream of the work stations prior to suspending the garments on the hangers.

5. A method of clothing manufacture substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

6. A method of clothing manufacture substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 5 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A garment whenever produced by the method of any preceding claim.

8. Apparatus for carrying out the method of any of claims 1, 2, 4 and 5 comprising a sorting station and a number of work stations, an endless round-section conveyor rail extending around the sorting station and work stations, a number of baskets each suspended from and slidable along the conveyor rail, each basket having a frame, a base on the frame, upstanding mesh front, side and rear walls on the base, the front wall being lower than the side and rear walls, a pair of spaced-apart rollers mounted on roller support arms and extending upwardly of the frame, each roller having a channel shaped circumference engageable with the rail to roll along an upper portion of the rail.

9. Apparatus for carrying out the method of any of claims 1, 3, 4 and 6, comprising a sorting station and a number of work stations, an endless conveyor rail extending around the sorting station and work station, a number of chains suspended from and slidable along the rail, each chain having a number of spaced-apart branch chains attached thereto, and a clip mounted on each branch chain for releasably holding a garment piece.

10. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

11. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 5 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.