US2964000A - Work manipulating attachment for sewing machines - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 13, 1960 J, cs 2,964,000

WORK MANIPULATING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed April 30, 1959 INVENTOR. Joseph G. Rakacs WITNESS BY MMQWW W .M

TTORNEY Patented Dec. 13, 1350 WORK MANIPULATIN G A'ITACHll/IENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Joseph G. Rakacs, Cranford, N.J., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 809,963

3 Claims. (Cl. 112-135) This invention relates to work manipulating attachments for sewing machines such as a ruflling attachment, and more particularly, to a novel and improved micrometer adjusting device for regulating the extent or" work manipulation, as for instance, regulating the fullness of the ruflie produced by a ruflling attachment.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved means for frictioning a micrometer adjusting screw in a sewing machine attachment such that the adjustment may be accomplished readily and conveniently by the machine operator without the danger of accidental movement out of selected adjustment in response to operational vibration and the like.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view as will hereinafter appear, this invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing of a preferred embodiment in which:

Fig. 1 represents a side elevational view of a sewing machine ruffling attachment having this invention applied thereto and including a fragment of the sewing machine presser bar and needle clamp,

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the micrometer screw frictioning element, and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along line 44 of Fig. l.

The micrometer adjustment of this invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing as applied to a rufiing attachment which is conventional in the art. The attachment comprises a frame including an upturned arm 11 formed to embrace a sewing machine presser bar 12 and to be secured thereon. The frame also includes as a body portion 13 supporting a horizontal fulcrum stud 14 on which is journaled an attachment driving lever 15 formed to embrace the needle clamp 16 of the sewing machine needle bar so as to be oscillated thereby to drive the attachment. A lateral arm 17 formed on the body portion 13 of the attachment frame supports a sheet metal clip 18 which serves as a work engaging foot.

A bracket 19 secured to the body portion supports a ply separating blade 20. In the operation of the attachment those plies of fabric which are not to be iufiled are directed beneath the ply separating blade 20 and the fabric of which the rufiie is to be formed is directed over the ply separating blade and thus subject to the action of a rufiiing blade 21 secured to a rufiiing blade carrier 22 which is guided for endwise reciprocatory motion between the lateral arm 17 of the attachment frame and a guide pin 23 on the frame.

In addition to the drive lever 15, there is also journaled on :the fulcrum stud 14 a pendant link 24 formed at the upper extremity with a shoulder 25 and pivotally connected at the lower extremity to the rufiling blade carrier. The drive lever 15 may be operatively connected with the pendant link 24 to drive :the pendant link in clockwise direction, thus shifting the milling blade 21 toward the work engaging foot to form a pleat or rufiie during the upstroke of the needle bar, by means of a pawl 26 working against the shoulder 25 of the pendant link. The pawl 26 is formed on a pawl carrier 27 pivoted loosely on a rivet 28 secured on the drive lever. A finger grip portion 29 of the pawl carrier is formed with a plurality of slots 30 to accommodate a lug 31 extending from the drive lever such that the pawl carrier may be held on the drive lever in a selected one of a plurality of angular positions about the rivet 28.

In order that the ruflling blade 21 may be retracted on the downstroke of the needle bar, the drive lever carries an abutment member 32 which cooperates with a screw 33 threaded in an ear 34 struck out from the pandant link 24- to turn the pendant link in counterclockwise direction on the downstroke of the needle bar. The abutment member 32 is preferably pivoted, as at 35, to the drive lever and is formed with a finger grip 36 such that it may be turned into a throw-out position out of engagement with the screw 33 to render the milling mechanism inoperative. A stop pin 37 on the drive lever defines the operative position of the abutment memher.

The pawl carrier 27 may be adjusted angularly about the rivet 23 to position the pawl 26 for engagement with the shoulder 25 of the pendant link 24 on each upstroke of the needle bar, thus providing for the formation of a pleat or ruflle during each stitch forming cycle of the sewing machine. It is also well known in the art of rufiiing attachments to provide one or more ratchet wheels 40 journaled loosely on the fulcrum stud 14 alongside the pendant link, the ratchet wheels being formed each with a difierent number of shallow notches 41 between successive teeth which will lift the pawl 26 out of engagement with the shoulder 25 of the pendant link and with deep notches 42 which will permit the pawl to drop into engagement with the shoulder 25. As illustrated in Fig. 1, one of the ratchet wheels is formed with two diametrically opposed deep notches 42 of a total of 12 notches. When the pawl carrier is adjusted angularly such that the pawl 26 cooperates with the ratchet wheel having two deep notches, the attachment will function to produce a ruflle once during each six stitches. The other ratchet wheel is formed with only a single deep notch such that when cooperating with the pawl 26 one ruffle will be produced during each twelve stitches.

The fullness of the rufiie produced by the attachment is determined by the adjustment of the screw 33 which controls the return motion of the rufiiing blade. The screw 33 provides for an advantageous micrometer adjustment of the size of the rufies produced. However, it presents a serious problem in that the screw 33 must be frictionally restrained sufiiciently to prevent accidental turning of the screw, as for instance owing to vibration incident to operation of the attachment, yet free enough so that the screw may be turned readily and conveniently by the machine operator.

In the present invention, frictioning of the screw 33 is accomplished in a novel and highly advantageous manner. The pendant link 24 is formed with an aperture 58 across which the screw 33 extends. Inserted through the aperture 50 from the side of the pendant link opposite the screw 33 is a frictioning unit provided with a shank portion 51 which extends through the aperture St The frictioning unit preferably takes the form of a U-shaped loop defining a slot 52 open toward the side of the pendant link opposite the screw 33. The free extremity of each limb of the U-shaped loop is formed with an outwardly extending flange 53, the flanges together defining a portion of enlarged right cross sectional area which will not pass through the aperture 50. More over, the flanges 53 provide abutments which are adapted to engage the face of the pendant link 24 and thereby properly locate the frictioning unit in the aperture 50. The frictioning unit is preferably formed of a pliable material such as nylon, natural or synthetic rubber, or,

the like, such that the aperture 52 in that portion of the shank 51 extending through the aperture 50' provides a constricted Opening through which the screw 33 may be threaded, the flexible material of the frictioning unit yielding to accommodate the threads of the screw and gripping the screw to provide the requisite frictioning thereof.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the frictioning unit has uniform cross sectional configuration and, therefore, may be manufactured conveniently by an extrusion process, each frictioning unit being severed from a continuous length oi extruded material.

The frictioning unit is applied to the attachment without the use of any fastening elements, the looped portion 52 and the adjusting screw being interlocked with the flanged abutment 53 preventing separation of the tWo.

The frictioning means of this invention is also advantageous in that it provides increased support for the adjusting screw 33 to hmit the tendency of the adjusting screw to move sidewise because of clearance between the screw threads and the threaded lug 34.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. In a sewing machine rufliing attachment having an attachment frame, a driving member, means for shiftably supporting said driving member on said frame, means for operatively connecting said driving member to said sewing machine for oscillation of said driving member in timed relation to the operation of said sewing machine, a driven member, means for shiftably supporting said driven member on said frame, a rtfler blade, means operatively connecting said rufller blade to said driven member, means for operatively connecting said driven member to said driving member including an abutment carried on one of said members, a screw threadedly mounted on the other of said members in position to be engaged by said abutment, and means for imposing a frictional resistance to turning of said screw comprising, a frictioning unit of pliable material having a shank portion formed with an opening snuggly accommodating said screw and an enlarged portion at one extremity of said shank portion, the member on which said screw is threadedly mounted having an aperture formed to accommodate the shank portion of said frictioning unit therethrough, said shank portion having a total right cross sectional area of said pliable. material equal to less than the area of said aperture and being deformable into a cross sectional shape within the, boundaries of said aperture, and said enlarged portion having a right cross sectional area larger than the area of said aperture, and said frictioningunit being disposed with the shank portion extending through said aperture and embracing said screw at the opposite side of said apertured member from the enlarged portion of said frictioning unit.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which the frictioning unit is formed with a uniform transverse cross sectional configuration, said frictioning unit thus being severable from a continuous length of pliable material.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 in which the shank portion of the frictioning unit comprises a U-shaped loop having spaced limbs substantially parallel to a longit-udinal axis of said U shaped loop and insertable through said aperture to accommodate said screw in the opening defined by said U-shaped loop, and in which the enlarged portion comprises a flange formed on the free extremity of each limb of the U-shaped loop, said flanges extending outwardly from the opening substantial ly perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said U shaped loop and defining abutments adapted to locate said frictioning unit properly in said aperture.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,041,730 Boyer Oct. 22, 1912 2,381,936 Sargent Aug. 14, 1945 2,389,745 Russell Nov. 27, 1945 2,439,415 Bloomfield Apr. 13, 1948 2,691,950 Russell Oct. 19, 1954 2,836,215 Rapata May 27, 1958

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