GB2242204A

GB2242204A - Material gathering device

Info

Publication number: GB2242204A
Application number: GB9006309A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lyndsay Owen; Robert Arnold Freese
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-03-21
Filing date: 1990-03-21
Publication date: 1991-09-25
Also published as: GB9006309D0

Abstract

A device is for gathering (rucking, shirring, fulling, reducing or shrinking) of sewable material 1 (cloth, fabric) by using a non-stretch/elastic medium ie. tape (string, piping, binding, lace or trimming) 4 which is metered out through a pair of roller wheels 5 controlled by an electric motor whose rotational movement is variable in ratio to the amount of the sewing machines feed movement 2A (length of feeder stroke). The "tape" non-elastic medium 4, is simultaneously sewn to the "material" 1, whilst the "material" 1, is being fed under the sewing foot 6, that is the tape and material are joined whilst both are flat. Since the tape feed is less than the material feed, then as the two leave the sewing needle, the material is rucked up. <IMAGE>

Description

MATERIAL GATHERING DEVICE.

This invention relates to a system to sew and gather material simultaneously.

Sewing and gathering machines are well known and are sometimes referred to as differential feed" machines. Where there are two material feed transport systems, one before the needle and one behind, by varying the amount of feed length of the feed before the needle to that of the feed behind the needle it can gather the material together then this gather is sewn in.

There is a special variant of this basic formula in which a tape is sewn on the material when the gather is formed to hold the gather more reliably.

This special variant type has limitations in sewing speed under 2,500 stitches per minute and by its nature of forming the gather has a limit on the maximum ratio it can acheive due to mechanical constraints. Also on stiff non-compliant material it cannot acheive a gather ratio greater than 2:1.

Our present invention has only the feed mechanism before the needle to create the gather. A tape is introduced just prior to the needle and is sewn to thematerial whilst the material is still flat.

Then by means of an electronic motor which has an infinitely variable speed in relation to the machine speed, the already sewn on tape is fed out on a ratio to the machine speed and feed amount, only allowing movement of the material after the needle at the same speed and amount as the tape.

It now can be seen that:1) The material No. 1 in the diagram is fed or transported by the feed dog, No. 2 by an amount set on the machine by a normal type stitch length mechanism as found on most standard lockstitch machines; say this length is 6mm. The needle No.3 then sews the tape No. 4 to the material. The driven motor roller No.5 rotates during this phase of the cycle by 2mm. Hence giving a gathering ratio of 3 to 1.

The feed system No. 2 can be varied in the region of Omm to lOmm.

The tape feed motor roller No. 5 is infinitely variable from Omm - lOOmm.

The essential technical feature is the tape is sewn to the material before gathering takes place.

The sewing foot No. 6 serves as a pressure object on the material for feed No. 2 to act against, it also acts as a guide for the tape No. 4.

The feed No. 2 moves in a normal sewing feed manner (up, forward, down, backward) motion as shown by 2A.

For particularly stiff or hard to feed materials, we incorporate a 'tape feed mechanism' (see fig 2 No. 7) which has the same movement as 2A.

Claims

CLAIMS.

1) Variable gathering of material by sewing a tape to the material, then feeding out less tape than material being fed in.

2) Variable gathering as in Claim 1 but the sewing of the tape to the material is done immediately prior to the gathering taking place but as part of the same overall operation, ie. The tape is sewn to the material whilst the material is flat and ungathered.