GB2058166A

GB2058166A - Glove-turning Apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2058166A
Application number: GB7931201A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-09-07
Filing date: 1979-09-07
Publication date: 1981-04-08

Abstract

Apparatus and method for turning a mitten palm-portion inside out in which the mitten is placed manually on a supporting frame (2) with its closed end over an elongate opening and a substantially flat former (3) having a rounded free end (13A) conforming to the shape of the closed end of the palm-portion is driven by a pneumatic cylinder to force the mitten through the opening, simultaneously turning and shaping the palm portion to its correct shape. One edge (32B, 32C) of the former is recessed to accommodate the mitten thumb portion between it and the support during the turning, the recess being so formed that the mitten is not withdrawn from the support with the former on the rapid return stroke but is left to be withdrawn manually from between the frame members (5, 6). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Glove-turning Apparatus The present invention relates to glove-turning apparatus and particularly to apparatus for turning the palm portion of a mitten, having a smaller thumb-portion and a larger portion for covering the palm and fingers of a hand, inside out. In this specification the term mitten includes similar gloves, such as oven gloves.

Mittens and similar articles having a closed end and an open end, which are made by sewing two or more pieces of material together, are sewn with the right sides of the material facing each other and must afterwards be turned inside out.

This turning may be carried out manually or by machines of the type having a hollow support for the article and a plunger which forces an article, located with its closed end over an open end of the support, into the support to turn it inside out.

Such known machines are not well suited to the turning of mittens since the generallycylindrical plungers employed exert an excessive force on one portion of the seam surrounding the palm, tending to rupture the seam or at least stretch the stitches. Also, an additional operation is required to extend the rest of the seam to its full extent to give the required, flattened shape to the palm. An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide improved apparatus for turning the palm of a mitten inside out which avoids the above disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for turning a palm portion of a mitten inside out, comprising a support adapted to receive the mitten with the closed end of the palm portion over an elongate opening in the support and a former which can fit within the elongate opening of the former and having a curved portion conforming in outline to the shape of the closed end of the mitten palm for forcing the closed end through the opening to turn the palm inside out and to form it to its required shape.

The curved end portion of the former which cooperates with the closed end of the mitten is preferably integral with an elongate stem by which the former is operated; the stem may, for example, be held manually, in use, and manipulated to push the curved end into a mitten mounted on the support and to withdraw the former from the turned mitten but, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the stem is connected to be driven by a reciprocating drive, such as the piston of a pneumatic cylinder. In this case the former and the support are mounted relative to each other such that operation of the drive effects a reciprocating movement of the curved end portion of the former through the opening in the support.

The former and the support may be arranged for movement of the former in any convenient direction such as horizontally, but they are preferably arranged for vertical movement of the former, downwardly into and upwardly out from the support opening.

The apparatus of the present invention may, in fact, comprise part of a machine which effects the whole sequence of operations from placing the mitten on the support to removal of the turned mitten automatically, but preferably the mitten is placed on, and removed from, the support manually, a safety device or devices being provided to prevent actuation of the drive during the manual operations. Such safety devices may include a screen which must be located between the operator and the apparatus of the invention before the drive can be actuated.

In use of the apparatus according to the invention, the former forces a mitten located on the support through the elongate opening, turning it inside out. There must, therefore, be sufficient clearance between the former and the edge of the opening to allow passage of the mitten material between them, the extent of this clearance depending on the actual thickness of the material in a particular case, but preferably being relatively small. The surfaces of the support and the former contacted by the mitten are preferably smooth to allow easy flow of the mitten material thereover, and the former may cooperate with an internal surface of the support, the mitten being pressed and shaped between them during the turning operation.

The apparatus of the invention is particularly intended for use in turning a mitten which has a thumb portion projecting from one edge of the palm portion. This thumb portion provides added thicknesses of material which must pass between the former and the support as the mitten is turned. For a mitten made of a thin material this may not constitute a problem, but for thicker materials, or mittens made from several layers of material, the former must be shaped to accommodate these thicknesses between itself and the support during the turning movement: in a preferred embodiment this is achieved by narrowing the former stem from the maximum width of the curved end portion of the former.

Thus both edges of the former stem may be inset from the edges of the widest portion of the former, such that the former is generally 'spoon shaped in plan, the stem possibly being thickened for strength, but it is found that generally better shaping of the palm is achieved if only one edge is inset, the former preferably having two substantially parallel edges extending from the curved end portion, one edge forming a continuous, substantially straight edge with the stem, the other edge having an inclined portion connecting with the stem.

The former of the apparatus of the present invention may be made from a flat, rigid sheet of a suitable material whose edges can be rounded so as not to damage the mitten, but preferably the former comprises a length of rod or tube of, for example, metal or plastics material which is formed, for example by bending or moulding, to the desired outline of the former and which may be stiffened by a supporting web which extends across the loop and is joined to the rod around its periphery. The stem may be formed by a single length of the rod extending from a preferably closed loophead but, in a preferred embodiment, is formed by two, generally parallel arms of the rod extending from the loophead which constitutes the curved end portion of the former.

The support of the apparatus of the present invention may be tubular, the mitten being withdrawn through the opening through which it is forced by the former, but preferably the said opening is defined by an annulus supported on an openwork frame such that the turned mitten may be withdrawn between members of the frame.

Preferably the annulus is supported at or adjacent each end of its longitudinal axis. Alternatively the support may be formed in two separate parts which define the elongate opening between them.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, one end of the annulus is supported by two elongate support members which extend substantially parallel to the direction of motion of the former through said opening in use of the apparatus, and which are located one on either side of the longitudinal axis of the annulus so as to allow the thumb portion of a mitten turned on the apparatus to project between them.

Particularly when the support opening is defined by an annulus, damage may be caused to the mitten by trapping of the thumb portion, for example between the inclined edge of the former and the support during the withdrawal of the former from the turned mitten. Such damage may be avoided by suitable shaping of the former and by regulation of the speed of withdrawal of the former. Thus, the inclined edge portion of the former is preferably substantially straight and inclined at a shallow angle to the longitudinal axis of the former stem to reduce friction between the glove material and the former, in use, and hence to reduce the tendency for the glove to be drawn into contact with the support annulus during the withdrawal movement.However, the inclined portion is preferably sharply inclined to the axis of the stem to allow optimum shaping of the working end of the former together with the insetting needed to accommodate the thumb material; it is found that an inclination of 450 is a very suitable compromise, although angles between about 300 and 600 can give satisfactory results. The withdrawal speed of the former should be as fast as possible for a given machine.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of turning a mitten inside out in which the thumb portion of the mitten is pushed into the mitten1 the palm portion is placed on a support with the closed end over an elongate opening therein and a former, which can fit within the elongate opening of the support and which has a curved end portion conforming in outlining to the shape of the closed end of the mitten palm, is pressed on to the said closed end to force it through the opening to turn the palm inside out and simultaneously form the palm to its required shape, the former is withdrawn and the mitten removed from the support.

The initial pushing-in of the thumb portion of the mitten may be carried out manually or automatically, possibly with the aid of a support and former according to the invention of a smaller size than those used for the palm portion of the mitten. The thumb portion may be pushed only half-way into the mitten, in which case the turning of the thumb portion is completed after the mitten has been removed from the support but preferably the thumb portion is turned completely in the initial stage.

The operation of the former may be carried out manually or by means of a machine, as described above, the mitten preferably being placed manually on and withdrawn manually from the support.

One embodiment of the invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a support and a former comprising part of apparatus according to the invention; Figure 2 is a front elevational view of apparatus according to the invention incorporating the support and former of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a front elevational view of an oven glove on the support of Figure 1 having been turned by the former of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, a support and a former for use in turning an oven glove 1 (shown in Figure 4) inside out are shown generally indicated 2 and 3 respectively.

The support 2 comprises a horizontal, elongate annulus 4, formed from a 0.6 cm diameter steel rod which is supported at the ends of its longer axis by two vertical uprights 5, 6 on a rectangular steel base 7. The annulus 4 has two longer, parallel sides 4A spaced apart by 4 cm and interconnected by two rounded end portions 4B such that its maximum internal measurement is 8.7cm.

The uprights 5, 6 each include two vertical, 0.6 cm diameter, steel rods 8, 9 respectively spaced symmetrically on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the annulus 4 and located to support a respective end portion 4B of the annulus. The left-hand upright 5, as seen in the drawings, includes a sheet-steel web 10 which extends between the two rods 8, the base 7 and outer edge of the end portion 4B of the annulus supported by the upright 5, being curved to the same curvature as the portion 4B. The right-hand upright 6 also includes a steel web 11 extending between the rods 9 and similarly curved and attached to the end portion 4B supported by the upright 6, but, unlike the web 10, the web 11 terminates approximately 5 cm beneath the annulus 4.The upright 6 also includes two triangular steel webs 12 which extend each between a respective rod 9 and the adjacent side 4A of the annulus 4.

The former 3 of the apparatus comprises a 0.6 cm diameter steel rod 13 which is formed into a loop having a rounded loophead 1 3A from which two arms 31,32 extend upwardly, the loop being supported in the vertical plane containing the longitudinal axis of the annulus 4 of the support 1 by the upper ends of the arms 31,32 (not shown in Figure 1). The left-hand arm 31 of the former is straight and vertical while the right hand arm 32 has lower and upper portions 32A, 32B respectively, each parallel to the arm 31 and joined by a portion 32C, inclined at an angle of substantially 45 to the portions 32A and 32B.

The former 3 thus has a lower, wider portion, of external width 8 cm, and length 12+ cm which conforms substantially to the shape of a palm portion 29 of the glove 1 to be turned by the apparatus and a narrower stem portion, of external width 5 cm.

The loop of the former 3 is strengthened by a steel web 1 4 which extends between, and is welded to, the arms 31,32 and the loophead 1 3A of the rod 13. The parts of the support 2 are also welded together, neither the support 2 nor the former 3 having any projections or rough portions bn which the material of an oven glove could catch in use. The support 2 and former 3 are also bright-chrome plated to reduce friction between a glove and the metal, in use.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the former 3 and support 2 of Figure 1 are shown incorporated in a semi-automatic machine, generally indicated 1 5, for turning an oven glove 1.

The machine 1 5 has a mainly-transparent casing 16, housing the support 2 and the former 3, and a pneumatic cylinder, supported above the casing 1 6 with its axis vertical in a housing 1 7.

The front of the casing 1 6 is normally open to allow access to the support 2.

The lower end of a piston rod 18 (see Figure 3) of the pneumatic cylinder is attached to a carriage 1 8A which supports the upper end of the former 3 such that operation of the pneumatic cylinder effects a working stroke of the piston rod 18, and hence of the former 3 which passes vertically through the annulus 4 of the support 2, the carriage being guided for vertical sliding movement.

In Figure 2 the machine is shown with the piston rod 1 8 in its upper end-of-stroke, rest position, the lower end of the former 3 being suspended 12-13 cm above the annulus 4 of the support 2, while in Figure 3 the machine is shown with the piston rod in its lower end-ofstroke position, close to the base 7 of the support 2. The working stroke of the cylinder is approximately 40 cm, and it is operated with a pressure of approximately 5 Kg/cm2, although operating pressures of 3.5 to 7 Kg/cm2 may be used depending on the nature of the mitten to be turned on the machine, in use.To allow checking and regulation of the operating pressure, a pressure gauge 1 9 and setting valve 20 are provided on a side wall 21 of the housing 17, together with two speed controls 22, one for the down-stroke of the cylinder and one for the upstroke. The up-stroke is, in fact effected much more quickly than the down-stroke, in about 1 second, whereas the overall time for a complete working stroke is of the order of 5-6 secs.

A master-switch 23 for the cylinder is located on the side wall 21 of the cylinder housing 17 but actuation of the cylinder, in use, is effected by the lowering of a transparent safety screen 24 to close the front opening of the casing 1 6 and prevent access to the support 2 during the working stroke. For this purpose the screen 24 is provided with a handle 25 and is connected to a switch mechanism (not shown) by a metallic strip 26 which unwinds from a reel 27, located on the front of the housing 1 7, as the screen is lowered and which is rewound on the reel 27 as the screen 24 is raised.

A further safety feature of the machine 1 6 is a sheet-steel guard 28 attached to the front of the carriage 1 8A which supports the former 3. The guard 28 is dependent in front of the former 3 and spaced from it such that, on the downward stroke of the piston rod 18, whereas the former 3 passes through the annulus 4, the guard passes in front of the support 2, the lower end of the guard being flared forwardly, as shown in Figure 3, to ensure that the guard does not catch in an oven glove 1 placed on the support 2. The guard 28 is so shaped that it prevents an operator of the machine 1 6 from placing his hand between the inset upper portion 32B of the former rod 32 and the upright 6 of the support 2 at the end of the downstroke to be trapped on the upstroke.The web 14 of the former also acts as a safety guard, preventing an operator from passing his hand through the loop 1 3 during operation of the machine.

The machine 1 5 described above is used to turn the palm portion 29 of the oven glove 1 inside out. The glove 1, shown, has been made by seaming the required layers of material together with the wrong sides of the material outermost and the sharply curved seam between the palm portion 29 and the smaller thumb portion 30 has been nicked to ease the turning. The thumb portion 30 has been fully turned by being pressed into the palm portion possibly with the aid of a machine 1 5 of a smaller size than that described, to form the glove 1 to the shape shown in Figure 2.

The glove 1 is then placed manually over the annulus 4 of the support 2 and pushed well down on to the support, the thumb portion being on the right-hand side. The pneumatic cylinder is then actuated by lowering of the screen 24.

On the downward stroke of the former 2, the loophead 1 3A engages the closed end of the glove palm 29 and forces it through the annulus 4, the glove sliding over the smooth surfaces of the support 2 until the whole of the glove 1 has been pushed through the annulus and the palm portion 29 has been turned inside out to form shown in Figure 4. Since the loophead 1 3A of the former 3 corresponds to the generally circular shape of the closed end of the glove palm, the former forces the palm seams out to their full extent shaping the palm to its desired form at the same time as turning it inside out, the curved web 10 at the left-hand side of the support assisting the shaping.The application of pressure along the whole of the curved end-seam of the palm 29 also ensures that no part of the seam is subjected to excess pressure such as to rupture it or stretch the stitches unduly.

The provision of the upper, narrowed stem of the loop ensures that there is sufficient clearance (about 4 cm) between the rod 32 of the former and the right-hand end 4B of the annulus 4 to allow the thumb portion 30 to pass therebetween during the turning operation. After turning, the thumb portion projects between the rods 9, as shown in Figure 4. The inclination of the section 32C of the rod 32 and the rapid withdrawal of the former prevent the turned glove from being drawn upwardly by friction with the former such that the thumb portion 30 might be trapped between the rod 32 and the web 11 damaging the glove.

Once the former 2 has been withdrawn upwardly from the glove 1, the glove is removed manually from between the uprights 5, 6.

It is found that, in use of the support and former described above, an oven glove can be turned inside out and formed to its required shape, from the stage at which the thumb is pressed in, in approximately 9 seconds whereas in use of apparatus having generally cylindrical formers, requiring additional shaping of the turned glove, at least twice this time is required. Also the use of the above apparatus does not stretch any part of the glove seam unduly.

Although the former 3 and support 2 may be incorporated in the machine 15, the former 3 may be operated manually to turn the oven glove or mitten. The size and exact shaping of the former 3 and support 2 would clearly depend on the size and shape of the mitten which they are designed to turn.

Claims

1. Apparatus for turning a palm portion of a mitten inside out, comprising a support adapted to receive the mitten with the closed end of the palm portion over an elongate opening in the support and a former which can fit within the elongate opening of the support and which has a curved end portion conforming in outline to the shape of the closed end of the mitten palm for forcing the closed end through the opening to turn the palm inside out and to form it to its required shape.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which the former has an integral stem by which it can be operated to push the curved, working end through the said opening and to withdraw it therefrom, the stem being of smaller dimension longitudinally of said opening than the working end portion of the former.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, in which the former has two substantially parallel edges extending from the curved end portion, one edge forming a continuous, substantially straight edge with the stem, the other edge having an inclined portion connecting with the stem.

4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, in which the said inclined edge portion is substantially straight and inclined at an angle of from 300 to 600 to the longitudinal axis of the stem.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, in which the said edge portion is inclined at an angle of substantially 450 to the longitudinal axis of the stem.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the former is substantially flat.

7. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 in which the former comprises a rod which is formed into a loop defining the outline thereof, the loophead constituting the curved end portion of the former.

8. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 7, in which a stiffening web extends across the loop and is joined to the rod around its periphery.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the support includes an annulus defining said elongate opening, the annulus being supported by an openwork frame.

10. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 9, in which the annulus is supported at or adjacent each end of its longitudinal axis.

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10, in which one end of the annulus is supported by two elongate support members which extend substantially parallel to the direction of motion of the former through said opening in use of apparatus, and which are located one on either side of the longitudinal axis of the annulus so as to allow the thumb portion of a mitten turned on the apparatus to project between them.

12. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 11, in which the support for the opposite end of the annulus from the said one end comprises or includes a web which is curved to the curvature of the said opposite end, which extends parallel to the said direction of motion of the former in use of the apparatus, and which cooperates with an edge of the former, in use, to shape a seam of a turned mitten.

1 3. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the support and the former are made from chromium-plated steel.

14. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 24 or Claims 5-13 as dependent on Claim 2, in which the stem of the former is connected to be driven by a reciprocating drive and the former and the support are mounted relative to each other such that operation of the drive effects a reciprocating movement of the curved end portion of the former through the elongate opening in the support.

15. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 14, in which the former is connected to be driven by the piston rod of a pneumatically-operated cylinder.

16. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 15, having respective means for regulating the speed of the piston rod in its opposite respective directions of motion.

17. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 14 or Claim 1 5, in which the cylinder operates at a pressure of from 3.5 to 7 Kg/cm2.

18. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 14 to 17, in which the support and the former are mounted within a housing and in which the drive is connected to be actuated by closure of an access opening to the housing to effect one reciprocating movement of the former.

1 9. Apparatus for turning a palm portion of a mitten inside out substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

20. A method of turning a mitten inside out in which the thumb portion of the mitten is pushed into the mitten, the palm portion is placed on a support with the closed end over an elongate opening therein and a former, which can fit within the elongate opening of the support and which has a curved end portion conforming in outline to the shape of the closed end of the mitten palm, is pressed on to the said closed end to force it through the opening to turn the palm inside out and simultaneously form the palm to its required shape, the former is withdrawn and the mitten removed from the support.

21. A method as claimed in Claim 20, in which a reciprocating movement of the former into the elongate opening of the support to turn a mitten placed thereon and out from the opening is driven by a pneumatically-operated cylinder.

22. A method as claimed in Claim 21, in which the former is driven at a rate of from 8 to 10 cm/sec into the opening in the support.

23. A method as claimed in Claim 21 or Claim 22, in which the former is withdrawn from the support opening at a rate of the order of 40 cm/sec.

24. A method of turning a mitten inside out and of shaping the palm portion thereof, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.