US3726745A - Apparatus for making garments from sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

Finished, form-fitting garments, having limb openings conforming to the shape of the human torso, are automatically and continuously made at high speed by means of torso contoured forms moving along a path. The sheet material is printed with an adhesive seam pattern, if desired, formed into a tube, cut into tubular garment blanks and crotch patches adhered when the garments are panties. The blanks are individually and successively fed onto the forms, accurate limb openings cut at one station, elastic bands added, if desired, and enclosed in tubular edge seams at other stations and the finished garments inverted and stripped from the forms.

Description

April 10, 1973 L. GIDGE ET AL APPARATUS FOR MAKING GARMENTS FROM SHEET MATEPIAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 30, 1970 wwm April 10, 1973 1.. GIDGE ETAL APPARATUS FUR MAKING GARMENTS FROM SHEET MATEPIAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 30, 1970 INVENTOR. LESTER GIDGE VALMOR R. POULIN JR.

ATTORNEYS iimi zopdkm April 10, 1973 L. GIDGE ET AL APPARATUS FOR MAKLNG GARMENTS FROM SHEET MATEPTAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 50, 1970 INVENTOR. LESTER GI DGE VALMOR R. POULIN JR.

ATTORNEYS April 10, 1973 L. GIDGE ETAL APPARATUS FOR MAKING GARMENTS FROM SHEET MATEPIAL 4 SheetsSheet 4 Filed July 50, 1970 INVENTOR. LESTER GIDGE VALMOR R. POULIN JR.

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ATTORNEYS United States Patent O Filed July 30, 1970, Ser. No. 59,434 Int. Cl. B32b 31/02; B65c 9/06 US. Cl. 156-510 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Finished, form-fitting garments, having limb openings conforming to the shape of the human torso, are automatically and continuously made at high speed by means of torso contoured forms moving along a path. The sheet material is printed with an adhesive seam pattern, if de sired, formed into a tube, cut into tubular garment blanks and crotch patches adhered when the garments are panties. The blanks are individually and successively fed onto the forms, accurate limb openings cut at one station, elastic bands added, if desired, and enclosed in tubular edge seams at other stations, and the finished garments inverted and stripped from the forms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has long been proposed to automatically manufacture finished garments directly from elongated webs of sheet material, usually for the purpose of providing disposable paper or plastic hospital gowns, childrens bibs or the like, which loosely cover but are not close fitting.

For example, in US. Pat. 3,156,927 to Grimm of Nov. 17, 1964 a pattern of adhesive is printed on a web of sheet material and the web either folded over, or doubled with another web, so that a series of fiat, dispo'sable hospital gowns are produced when the adhesive is heat sealed and the web cut in the desired pattern. This same system has been much used to make symmetrical, non-form-fitting garments for example: plastic bibs in U.S. Pat. 3,146,465 to Hummel of Sept. 1, 1964; gloves as in US. Pat. 2,993,528 to Plant of July 25, 1961; baby pants as in US. Pat. 3,225,918 to Mines of Dec. 28, 1965; or even covers for coat hangers as in U.S. Pat. 3,236,713 to Taff of Feb. 22, 1966.

The art has long recognized that such fiat, symmetrical, rather boxy looking garments of disposable material while capable of high speed production at low cost, leave much to be desired when it comes to appearance and very few discriminating person's are willing to wear such garments except in emergencies and temporarily. To obtain an attractive, form-fitting appearance in torso covering garments, including, but not limited to, ladies panties or ladies upper wear, it is still necessary in the art, at present, to manually cut, sew and fit textile fabrics, whether woven, knit or otherwise, for the reason that the human form is not entirely symmetrical, that leg openings in panties,'and arm openings in sweaters, must be properly angled and that disposable clothing which is homely is not very acceptable commercially.

As exemplified in US. Pats. 2,768,107, 2,957,792 and 2,985,221 to Magid of 1956, 1960 and 1961, respectively, the making of ladies panties from sheet material, even when accomplished as a manual, picce-by-piece operation, presents numerous problems such as the proper cutting of the leg holes in the front panel so that there will be room in the rear panel for the seat of the wearer, the edge-seaming of the non-symmetrically placed leg holes without permanently wrinkling the material, the provision of an elastic band to encircle the waist and leg holes, and the need to cut excess material after the edge seaming.

3,726,745 Patented Apr. 10, 1973 ice SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In this invention, the principal object is to achieve a continuous, automatic production of finished garments, such as panties, from a web of disposable sheet material such as reinforced paper, without intervention of human hands and without merely producing the flat boxy bag type products of the prior art. The object is accomplished mainly by the use of a plurality of torso contoured, three dimensional forms, identical in shape with the corresponding parts of the human body, so that the panties made on the forms must necessarily be smooth, formfitting and aesthetically pleasing to a customer.

The web of disposable sheet material is first printed with a pattern of heat scalable adhesive to outline the seams, and crotch patch areas, and formed into a longitudinally seamed tube which is then transversely cut into tubular garment length blanks. A crotch patch is adhered to the top and bottom panel of each blank as the blanks are advanced up to a feed station on the form path and slid onto the forms.

As the forms move from station to station each supported on a torso contoured form, they are converted from a flat, boxy configuration to a form-fitting garment shape by having the limb openings cut out accurately in a flat plane angled to the plane of the waist openings. Elastic bands are applied around the leg and Waist openings, the edges are turned over to seal the bands in tubular seams, the leg bands are preferably tucked into perfect position by a wire loop device and the finished garments then inverted and stripped from the forms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan diagrammatic view of the apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the conversion of a flat web of sheet material into a garment blank ready for feeding onto a form.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic end elevation in section on line 44 of FIG. 3 showing the tube severing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a similar view of the tube advancing mechanism on line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of a leg hole plate.

FIG. 7 is a perspective diagrammatic view of the patch applying apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary elevation of the elastic band apparatus.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevation of the rotatable pressure rolls for cutting the leg holes.

FIG. 10 is an end elevation showing the wire loop tucking mechanism.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section of one of the three dimensional, torso contoured garment forms of the invention showing the groove, clamp and heat seal mechanism thereof.

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 7, showing the crotch patch application means, retracted out of the path of the blanks, and

FIG. 13 is a view of the product.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings the apparatus 20 of the invention includes a zone 21 in which the tubular garment blanks 22 are formed while advancing along a straight path 23 and a zone 24 in which the garment blanks 22 are conveyed in a closed loop path 25 While treated at successive stations for conversion into finished, seamed garments, such as the panties 26.

3 TUBE FORMING In zone 21 an elongated guide 27 is supported in frame 28 to extend horizontally from proximate a supply zone 29 for flat, low cost sheet material 32 to intermediate of garment blank forming zone 21 where it is bifurcated at 33 and 34 to continue up to feed station 35. The sheet material 32 is preferably of a relatively low cost, disposable type such as reinforced paper, or any of the woven or non-woven, soft, meshed products now well known and available for use in disposable garments.

The elongated web 32 extends from supply roll 36 through a nip 37 of an upper backing, and resilient pattern roll 38 and a lower hard faced gravure roll 39, the latter rotating in a tank 40 of heat scalable adhesive 42 and being doctored by a resilient blade 43. The adhesive 42 may be a liquid polyurethane, which dries on the web but adheres to itself when heated, or any other suitable adhesive. Adhesive 42 is applied in minute, spaced-apart, spots with the deposited spots obliquely staggered so that when overfolded at a seam, one spot will overlie an opposite spot with an unadhered web therebetween to avoid the stiffness of a uniform layer of hardened adhesive. A herringbone groove pattern on the gravured adhesive coating roll may also be used to assure that one line of a fold will cross another line on another fold for firm adhesion. The predetermined pattern 44, of spots of adhesive defines a longitudinal seam area 45, waist opening seam area 46, crotch patch area 47 and leg opening seam areas 48 and 49. The spots are shown much exaggerated in scale.

Depending on the length of the web 32, the speed of advance of the web, and the air drying characteristics of the particular adhesive 42 selected, it is preferred that heating means 52 be mounted along the path 23 in rear of the printnig nip 37 to dry the liquid adhesive 42 prior to travel of the tubular web 32 and blanks 22 through the various operations along paths 23 and 25. Preferably, means 52 is a gas heated oven 53 of any suitable commercially available type adapted to dry a coating on a moving web passing thereby, or therethrough or infra red bulbs, electric resistance heat or the like can be used for the purpose.

The elongated flat Web 32, or a pair of such webs if doubled single fabrics are preferred, is draped over the cylindrical guide 27 and supported thereby, as its selvedges 54 and 55 are drawn into an annular guide member 56 toward each other at the bottom of the guide 27 and superposed to form an overlapped longitudinally extending seam 57. A hot plate 58 presses the seam 57 against the guide, or mandrel, 27, while applying sufiicient heat to the adhesive layer 45 to convert the fiat web 32 into an advancing tube, as at 59. Plate 58 is advanced by piston and cylinder mechanism 62, during each halt of the reciprocating carriage 63.

The substrate 32 may be of heat scalable material such as tea-bag paper, and activated by heat, ultrasonic, or R.F. energy. To form a fly for mens briefs, the seam 57 may be centrally located and have an unadhered portion, or each crotch patch may include a preformed fly slit.

TUBULAR BLANK FORMING The longitudinally sea-med tubular web 59, then is advanced on guide 27 through severing means 64, (FIG. 4) mounted on frame 28 along path 23, means 64 preferably comprising an annular cutting blade 65 fixed on guide 27, within the tube '59 and a plurality of pressure rolls 66 carried on pivoted arms 67 in annular frame '68, the arms 67 causing the rolls to press the fabric 32 against the blade during a 90 arcuate path to complete one of the four arcs of a 360 cut transversely of the tubular web. Thus the continuous web 59 is severed into individual and successive tubular garment blanks '22, equal in length to the length of the garment to be made, such as panties 26. The rollers 66 sever the next blank 22 from the tube 59 on their retraction arc of 90, and the rollers are poised out of the tube path between cuts by cam tracks 69, and spring biased by springs 70 toward cutting position as shown more clearly in FIG. 4.

SEAM TURNING It has been found preferable to drape the web over the form 27 so that its selvedges '54 and 55 fall equally on each opposite side to thereby avoiding wrinkles when the Web, and tube, are progressively drawn forward by the reciprocating carriage 63 to be described hereinafter. On the other hand, it is preferred that there be only one longi* tudinal body seam 57 in each garment and that that seam be at the side. Therefore, the next operation, or step, on straight path 23, is preferably to apply the turning mechanism 72 to each successive tubular blank 22 to rotate the blank so that seam 57 is at the side rather than at the bottom. Turning mechanism 72 is mounted within guide 27, and comprises a drum segment 73 forming part of the tubular, cylindrical guide 27, the segment being mounted to rotate 90 by means of a shaft 74 extending axially within guide 27 and turned by gear rack and piston cylinder mechanism 75 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

CROTCH PATCH APPLYING In rear of the turning mechanism 72, on straight feed path 23, the hollow tubular cylindrical guide 27, is bifurcated into the two parallel cylindrical guides 33 and 34, which lead to feed station 35. The guides 33 and 34 are of greatly reduced diameter, and separated by a space 77, to spread the tubular blanks 22 to a more fiat configuration and to permit the trailing edges 78 and 79 of front panel 82 and rear panel 83 of the blanks to be superposed flatwise against each other at patch applying station 84. The patch applying mechanism 85, at station 84 resembles the apparatus used in applying gummed tape to a moving carton in a random box taping machine such as disclosed in the co-pending patent application of Lester Gidge, 'Ser. No. 677,404, filed Oct. 23, 1967, now US. Pat. No. 3,505,774, dated Apr. 14, 1970. Patch applying mechanism 85 includes a supply roll 86, of suitable crotch patch sheet material, such as paper, or fabric, 87, power mechanism 88 for rotating the roll to feed a predetermined length 89 of the material down into the space 77, cuttin g mechanism '91, and steam application means 92 to activate the adhesive 42 in crotch area 47 of the blank. A pair of pivoted pressure pads 93 and 94 are operably mounted at station 84 to press the upper and lower portions of each cut, preformed crotch patch onto the front and rear panels 82 and 83 to convert each tube 22 into a panty blank 95, still of a rather crude, boxy appearance but having leg openings 96 and 97, on opposite sides of the crotch closure 100 and each encircling a guide 33 or 34.

The pivoted pads 93 and 94 are carried by linkage 98, actuated by sliding block and fluid cylinder piston means 99, the latter being raised and lowered by sliding frame and fluid cylinder, piston means 101, as best shown in FIGS. 7 and 12.

RECIPROCATING CARRIAGE The web of material 32, tubular longitudinally seamed 23b, 59, individual garment blanks '22 and individual panty blanks are all advanced simultaneously but intermittently along feed path 23, through feed zone 21, by the reciprocating carriage 63. Carriage 63 comprises a frame having a pair of substantially parallel bars 102 and 103 extending on each side of the path 21, from feed station 35 back to proximate the annular guide '56, the bars 102 and 103, at the successive stations for severing means 64, turning means 72, and patch applying means 85 are oppositely disposed piston and cylinders such as 104 and 105, each carrying a friction pad 106 or 107 arranged to move inwardly, frictionally engage the tube or blank, advance the same one increment with carriage 63 and then retract ready for the next advancing movement. The smooth metal face 108 of the guides 27, 3-3 and 34 act in the manner of a bearing to permit the sliding advance of the tubes thereon. Suitable cambered rolls 109 (FIGS. 3 and 4) are mounted along path 21 to maintain the tubes in correct position, without wrinkling and each web 32 is printed with registration spots 112 spaced therealong to be sensed by a photo cell 113 (FIG. 3) which is adapted to stop the machine, or rotate suitable helically ribbed rolls 114 to correct any misregistration.

The individual tubes 22 and panty blanks 95, are relatively easy to slide along from station to station in synchronization, but a pair of special pad members 115 and 116 are provided to engage the leading end of the seamed tube 59 to draw it through the longitudinal seaming station, adhesive drying station and adhesive printing station. As shown in FIG. 5, each pad 115 comprises a pair of toggle mounted arms 117 and 118 each arranged so that when the central pad 119 engages the tube, the pads 121 and 122 at the ends of the pivoted arms 117 and 118 will be firmly pressed on the fabric to achieve a positive non-slip grip. Piston and cylinder mechanism 104 and 105, actuate the pad members 115 and 11 6.

Reciprocating carriage 63, also carries a pair of clamp members -123 and 124 at its forward end, each consisting of an inner arcuate jaw 125 paralleled with an outer arcuate jaw 126, between which the opposite sides of the waist portion of each panty blank 95 are gripped by actuation of a piston and cylinder mechanism not shown, but similar to mechanism 104 or 105. With the waist portion so gripped, the advance of the carriage 63 causes the clamp members to slide the blank 95, waist end opening 127 first, off the guides 33 and 34 and onto the torso contoured garment form 128 halted at feed station 35. Carriage 63 is reciprocated by the piston and cylinder mechanism 130 on frame 28 (FIG. 3).

GARMENT FINISHING MEANS The garment finishing means 140 of the invention includes a plurality of torso contoured forms 128, each shaped identically with the portion of the human body the garment is intended to fit. Therefore, to make the formfitting panties 26, the forms 128 are three dimensional with curved faces 129, to distend the blanks to the desired predetermined configuration as they are conveyed continuously through the successive stations on path 25. There are six forms 128, each supported horizontally on the turret 132 of the garment form conveyor means 131, the turret being rotatable from feed station 35, to waist elastic applying station 133, leg elastic applying station 134, leg opening severing station 135, wire leg tucking station 136 and garment stripping station 137.

Each form is supplied with steam by a conduit 138, electricity by a cable 139 and compressed air by a flexible conduit 142, and each includes an air actuated waist clamp 143 normally forming a Waist groove 144 and a pair of air actuated leg clamps 145 and 146 each normally forming a leg groove 147 or 148.

The waist clamp and groove are symmetrical and oval but it should be noted that each leg clamp and groove as shown in FIG. 6 is not symmetrical and is configured as through a plane were passed through the leg at the angle to the plane of the waist that briefs, or panties, assume when worn. It should also be noted that the flat, planar, leg clamp plates 145 and 146 are not positioned on the centre line of the panties but are mainly in the front panel of the panties 26 so that the rear panel will provide room for the seat of the wearer.

It is for this structural reason that one cannot make panties acceptable to the ladies, from low cost, non-stretchable material, by merely die cutting some leg holes in a tubular blank, since the leg holes would be central and uncomfortable. The waist clamp of each form is faced toward the centre of turret 132 and the leg clamps face outwardly and slightly upwardly, the central axis of each form at station 35 being in extension of the straight horizontal path 23.

The turret 132 of garment form conveyor means 131 is preferably rotated by a piston and cylinder mechanism 149, which includes a suitable ratchet and pawl device 151 for holding the turret halted with a form at each station. The piston of mechanism 149 is arranged to pull the turret through an arc of 60 as it retracts into the cylinder. A Geneva motion could be used if desired for turning the turret.

WAIST BANDING AND SEAMING At station 133, the blank 95, invested, or clothed, onto a form 128 at feed station 35, has its Waist edge portion bridging the waist groove 144 formed by the opening waist clamp 143, and the leg edge portions are bridging the leg grooves, 147 and 148. Preferably, the waist banding and seaming is accomplished first at station 133 and the station therefore includes waist band application means 152 which includes the annular upstanding plate 153, mounted to move into and out of the closed loop path 25 of the forms 128 by means of piston and cylinder mechanism 154.

As shown in FIG. 8, plate 153 includes a pair of oppositely disposed waist tuck plates and 156 operable on the front and rear panels to depress the material 32 down into the groove in cooperation with the elasticity of the endless elastic bands 157. The sides of the waist do not need tuck plates. Plate 153 also pivotally supports a cluster of hooked fingers 158, each provided with a guide plate 159 and movable from the closed position shown in FIG. 8, which permits the hooks 162 to enter the loop of the relaxed band 157 to an open position in which the band is stretched ready for release to become seated in the waist groove. With the tuck plates and fingers retracted, and a band stretched in an open loop supported on hooks 162, the plate 153 is advanced over the form 128, the tuck plates advanced inwardly to seat the material in the groove and the hooks then released to deposit the elastic band 157 in the groove formed in the material. The waist clamp 143 then closes and steam is applied to activate the adhesive 42 and enclose the band 157 in a tubular, or tunnel type seam 163 integrally formed of the material encircling the waist. The shutterlike cluster of fingers 158 are spring pivoted and actuated by pistons and cylinders 164, there being a similar mechanism 165 for actuating the tuck plates. The elastic bands 157 are successively positioned on a bristle-like platform 166, which moves from a drum type hopper 167 up to the centre of the cluster of hooks 162 to feed bands from the hopper to the holding fingers.

LEG BANDING At the next station 134 a pair of leg elastic band application mechanisms 170 and 171 are provided, each substantially identical with waist band application apparatus 152 but having six spaced tuck plates 172 spaced around the leg openings because of the greater difficulty in seating the edge of material 32 in the smaller leg clamp grooves 147 and 148. Otherwise, the feeding of smaller elastic bands 173 to the mechanisms 170 and 171, the movement in and out of path 25 to tuck the edge material into the groove and release the elastic into the groove is similar to the waist band operation. However, the leg openings 174 and 175 are still not in condition for seaming, so that the leg clamps 145 and 146 do not close at this station 134 and no heat is applied to activate the adhesive 42.

SEVERING LEG OPENINGS At station 135, the important operation of accurately cutting, or otherwise severing the leg openings 174 and 175 in the panties 26 takes place, the plane of the openings 174 and 175 being inclined to the plane of waist opening 127 and the excess material being removed so that a neat, unwrinkled, tubular, seam enclosing a leg elastic 173 is achieved. The severing mechanism 176 at severing station 135 includes a carriage 177 mounted to move into and out of closed loop path 25 by piston and cylinder mechanism 178. A set of pressure rolls 179 are spring biased inwardly and rotatable with a shaft 182' the shaft being rotatable by a gear rack 183 moved by a piston and cylinder mechanism 184 on carriage 177. Thus each severing mechanism moves inwardly at station 135 to cause the rolls 179 to rest on the edge 185 of a leg opening clamp plate 145 or 146, the elastic band 173 having been tucked into a groove in the material 32 and both band 173 and material 32 being seated in a leg opening groove 147 or 148. The rolls 179 then are rotated around the non-symmetrical plate edge 185 to press the excess material against the cutting edge formed by the plate edge and cause the excess material to be removed while an accurate leg opening 174 or 175 conforming to a predetermined pattern is achieved. The severing mechanisms then retract out of path 25.

LOOP TUCK AND SEAM LEG OPENINGS The accurately formed leg openings 174 and 175 are next moved to tuck and seam station 136, where a final tucking operation assures a neat seam. Each tuck apparatus 186 includes an upstanding dished plate, or wire holder, 187 mounted to move into and out of looped path 25, the plate 187 supporting a thin wire 188 in a channel 189 forming the periphery of the dished portion 192. When advanced over a leg clamp plate 145 or 146, the clamp plate fits in the dished portion 192 so that the open wire loop 188 encircles the clamp plate groove 147 or 148. The opposite terminal ends 193 and 194 of loop 188 are then pulled away from each other in guide slots 195 and 196 by a piston and cylinder mechanism 197 to cause the loop to tighten and seat itself in the fabric 32 in the groove and create a smooth, uniform channel for the band 173, which creates a permanent crease in the material 32.

The loop 188 is then opened, to move out of the crease, the tuck mechanism retracted out of the path 25 and simultaneously, the clamp plates 145 and 146 close, and heat in the form of steam applied, to turn or overfold the edge material back upon itself and heat seal the elastic band 173 in a neat tubular leg opening seam such as 198 in the now finished panties 26.

STRIPPING MECHANISM At stripping station 137, the finished garments 26 have their elastic waist seams 163 and their elastic leg seams 198 seated in the respective open waist clamp and leg clamp grooves, so that they cannot be merely slid off the forms 128. Stripping mechanism 199 is provided, including a pair of oppositely disposed sets of hooked fingers 202 and 203 mounted on a carriage 204 and arranged to move into path 25, slip under the top and bottom panel portions of the waist seam, which is more yieldable than the sides of the waist, and retract out of path 25 while inverting the panies 26 and stripping them from the form to fall into a hopper 205.

It will be understood that if an upper garment such as a sweater, ladies blouse, or the like, it is be made on machine 20, it would be adjusted to form accurate limb openings for the arm holes at the desired angle and the blanks would be cut to sweater length rather than to panty length.

Instead of heat sealing an elastic band in the arm holes, a short or long sleeve can be applied by the band supporting fingers and heat sealed to the waist portion.

It will be understood that piston and cylinder mechanism 154, 178 or the equivalent, is provided at each station on path 25 to simultaneously advance the various finishing mechanisms into the path, for performance of their respective functions and to then retract the mechanisms out of the path 25, all synchronized with the reciprocation of carriage 63 and controlled by apparatus 20 to provide a suificient dwell at each station such as one to seven seconds as required or desired.

The panties 26 differ from sewn seamed, sewn crotch patch conventional power net, panties in being preferably formed of a low cost, disposable sheet material of the nonwoven substrate type for example material formed of entangled, random fibres held together by an acrylic binder and capable of withstanding up to about there washings, or any equivalent material, it being understood that woven fabric, knit fabric, paper, sheet plastic could all be formed into completed garments by the apparatus and method of the invention. In addition to being automatically formed, without the touch of human hands, at relatively high speed and low cost, the panties 26 have adhesively connected side seams and an adhesively attached crotch patch, the latter preferably being overall coated, or impregnated with an adhesive which is also a moisture barrier. In addition, unlike any conventional panty garment, the leg aperture, leg seams and elastic in the tubular leg seams are all preformed on a three dimensional torso shaped form, rather than merely sewn or adhered while flat, so that the panties 26 have a relatively perfect fit on the legs of the wearer, While also having a preformed rear panel shape, rather than being made symmetrical and having to stretch to attempt to assume the actual shape of the seat of the wearer.

The term elastic band is used herein to mean an annular member of flexible resilient material such as rubber, or to mean any elastic equivalent thereof whether an annulus, or a loop with overlapped terminal ends, or a plurality of convolutions and whether of stretchable-retractive yarns or filaments, or formed by a strip of polyurethane foam, or by any other similar means. The crotch patch is shown diagrammatically herein but in practice it preferably is supplied to the machine in continuous ribbon form, with lateral protuberances 206 at the end of each patch, called dogears, to cover the opposite areas of the crotch portion which may tend to be weakest. It has been found desirable to deposit the crotch patches onto the blanks, and temporarily affix the same thereon, at a station in advance of the station at which the hot pads actually apply pressure and heat for permanently afiixing each patch. A portion 207 of the dogears 206 is kept free of heat, so that the portion may later be heat adhered after the leg hole cutting operation as the elastic seam is being heat closed. It will be understood that the product of the invention may be mens shorts, mens trousers or pants for dogs or other pets, and that the crotch patches may be impregnated on the supply roll with medicaments or the like.

In FIG. 12, the preferred shape of crotch patch 100 is shown with its dogear projections 206 and unadhered portions 207. The herringbone pattern of heat actuated adhesive is also illustrated at 208 on the seam. In FIG. 13, the dogears 206 are entirely adhered to smoothly cover the underlying tunnel seam of the cutout leg opening.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for making finished form fitting garments from disposable sheet material, said apparatus comprismg:

garment form conveyor means, including a plurality of torso-contoured garment forms and mechanism for moving said forms along a path through a series of stations, including a feed station;

garment blank forming means including:

garment tube forming means for longitudinally seaming at least one web of said material into a tube and transversely severing said Web tube into individual garment tubes;

garment blank forming means for applying a crotch patch to each said garment tube to define a waist opening at one end and a pair of limb openings at the other end thereof, and

mechanism for advancing said elongated, seamed web and said individual garment tubes and blanks along a path leading to said feed station and feeding each successive endmost garment bladnk onto a form halted at said feed station; an garment finishing means operable on said garment blanks, supported on said forms at said stations said finishing means including:

severing means at one said station for severing excess sheet material from around said limb openings to conform to a predetermined garment pattern; seaming means, operable on said garment openings, subsequent to any said required severance operation, for forming a finished, tubular seam around each said opening, and stripping means, operable thereafter at a station, for stripping each finished garment from its form.

2. Apparatus for automatically making finished form fitting, garments from sheet material said apparatus comprising:

garment form conveyor means including a plurality of garment forms moving in an endless path through successive stations, including a feed station, a limb opening severance station, an edge seaming station and a garment stripping station;

garment blank forming means, associated with said apparatus, for forming a plurality of individual garment blanks from said sheet material, each garment blank having a generally tubular body and a Waist opening at one end;

feeding means at said feed station operating to invest each successive form at said station with one of said grament blanks;

severing means at said severance station along said path for severing the material of each blank, at the end thereof opposite said Waist opening, thereby outlining a pair of limb openings in said blank, separated by a crotch portion;

edge seaming means at said edge seam station for forming a tubular seam around each opening in said garment, and

stripping means at said stripping station for stripping each garment from its form.

3. Apparatus as specified in claim 2 wherein:

each said garment form is three-dimensional, torsocontoured and includes a waist opening groove in a predetermined plane and a pair of limb opening grooves each in a plane angled to said predetermined plane, said grooves underlying the edge portions of said garment blanks encircling said waist and limb 1 openings, and

said edge seaming means includes mechanism for atfixing an endless elastic band on each said edge portion in said grooves and clamp mechanism for then reducing the width of said groove to cause the garment edge to turn back upon itself and enclose said band in a tubular edge seam.

4. Apparatus as specified in claim 3 plus:

tucking mechanism operable on each severed leg open- 10 ing of each form at a station, said mechanism including a wire loop adapted to be advanced and drawn tight in a limb opening groove to smooth the material therein prior to closing over the edge seam and then to be released and retracted out of the path of said forms.

5. Apparatus as specified in claim 3 plus:

a pattern of heat sealable adhesive on each said garment blank, defining the edge opening seams thereof, and

clamp mechanism associated with the portion of said forms forming the grooves encircling said openings for applying heat and pressure to said adhesive to heat seal said tubular edge seams.

6. Apparatus as specified in claim 2 wherein:

said severance means comprises a set of circular cutters normally poised out of the path of said forms but movable into said path, at said severance station, to cut off the excess material around said limb openings and then retract out of said path.

7. Apparatus as specified in claim 2 wherein:

said garment blank forming means includes mechanism for advancing at least one elongated web of said sheet material while adhering the longitudinal edges thereof into a tube,

transversely cutting said tube into individual tubular garment blanks;

adhering a crotch patch to each blank to define a pair of leg openings on each opposite side thereof; and

advancing said blanks individually and successively up to said feed station for investment on a garment form by said feeding means.

8. Apparatus as specified in claim 2 wherein:

said garment blank forming means includes mechanism for advancing an endless Web of said sheet material, printing a repeat pattern of garment seams thereon in heat sealable adhesive, longitudinally seaming said advancing web into a tube, cutting said tube into individual tubular garment blanks, adhering a crotch patch to each said blank and delivering said tubular garment blanks individually and successively to said feeding means for investment on a garment form at said feeding station.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,702,014 2/1955 Brownstein 112-l2l.15 3,156,927 11/1964 Grimm et al 2-243 R 3,604,015 9/1971 Dove 2224 A H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XtR.

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