US3834331A - Machine for automatic assembly of knitted articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A machine for automatically assembling knitted articles has a guideway to direct the selvedges of articles towards a sewing machine where they will be connected. A selvedge unrolling device upstream of the sewing machine comprises a disc having notches which receive ''''tailor-tacks'''' of the selvedge edges and are swung aside by rotation of the disc to lift the tailor tacks upwardly well clear of the sewing machine needle whereupon the tack escapes from the notch and the disc rotates until a fresh notch is presented to the selvedges to be stitched together.

Description

[451 Sept. 10, 1974 United States Patent [191 Raisin et al.

8/1960 Burd et al. 9/1967 Rosso et al.

1/1970 Peloggio.............::::....

Bernardot, both of Troyes, France [73] Assignee: Centre Technique Industriel dite:

Primary Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Institut Textile De France Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert Osann Hauts-de-Seine-Boulogne, France Oct. 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 404,759

ABSTRACT [22] Filed:

A machine for automatically assembling knitted articles has a guideway to direct the selvedges of articles towards a sewing machine where they will be connected. A selvedge unrolling device upstream of the sewing machine comprises a disc having notches which receive tailor-tacks of the selvedge edges and are swung aside by rotation of the disc to lift the tailor tacks upwardly well clear of the sewing machine needle whereupon the tack escapesfrom the notch and the disc rotates until a fresh notch is presented to the selvedges to be stitched together.

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UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,669,952 2/1954 112/27 23 Claims, 20 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEPI 01914 sum 01 or 12 PATENIEU SEPI 01914 SHEET 02 0F 12 PATENTEU SEPI 012m sum On or 12 THE. 7

PATENIED SEP] 01974 ,sum 'osor12 PAIENTED SEP 1 01974 sum 12 ur m MACHINE FOR AUTOMATIC ASSEMBLY OF KNITTED ARTICLES The present invention relates to a machine for assembling knitted articles which are provided, along at least one of their borders, with a selvedge forming a roll or curl, and more particularly to a machine intended to effect the assembling automatically.

When it is desired to assemble two knitted articles it is known to provide each of them with a selvedge equipped with a reinforcement forming a guidance roll and placed parallel and close to the line along which it is desired to make the seam intended to assemble the two articles. After having manually fitted the two articles together, it is then possible to introduce the thus formed assembly into a guideway consisting of two flat, coplanar, horizontal plates defining therebetween a rectangular gap the width of which approximately equals the thickness of the assembly of knitted articles to be joined. The articles can then be placed in mutual relationship in the position desired for seaming by pulling them down until the two bulges contact the edges of said gap, and finally they can be propelled in that configuration along the guideway to a sewing machine of known kind.

Nevertheless, this method and the corresponding devices have serious disadvantages.

Firstly, the method has a major drawback in that it is essentially manual from the introduction into the guideway until the arrival at the sewing machine. Movement, and above all positioning, of the articles relative to the machine are manual with the resulting disadvantages of wastage of time, the necessity for experienced personnel, and possible irregularities of assembling.

Secondly, the devices have the disadvantages that the mode of producing the guideways makes introduction and above all positioning of the articles into such guideways difficult as soon as at least one of the articles is itself composed of two knitted pieces which have previously been assembled and thus have an additional localised transverse bulge resulting from the seam of the two pieces.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic machine for assembling knitted articles provided near at least one of their selvedges with a roll or curl extending along the direction of movement of said articles without involving the abovementioned disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided an automatic machine for assembling knitted articles which are provided nearat least one of their selvedges with a roll extending along the direction of movement of said articles, such machine comprising an introduction guideway consisting of two coplanar horizontal blades which define a gap of adjustable spacing; a conveyor associated with the introduction guideway for ensuring movement of said articles along the guideway; means for unrolling the selvedges of articles moved along said guideway, said unrolling means including means for placing the articles under tension; a sewing machine for joining the selvedges of such tensioned ar-Y ticles, thread cutting means; and transfer means for temporarily ensuring advance of articles from said guideway to the sewing machine. while guiding said articles through said selvedge unrolling device.

Thus, by virtue of this machine the positioning of the articles to be assembled is entirely mechanical and will repeat itself from one pair of selvedges to the next with enhanced regularity and rhythm. The activity of the operator will then be restricted to merely the introduction of the articles into the guideway and this requires both less time and less skill.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, the following description is given of several embodiments, merely by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view of a machine according to the invention and adapted for assembling articles having an artificial roll incorporated in a selvedge of each article;

FIG. 2 shows a top plan view of the machine of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows in section one embodiment of the positioning guideway in one of its positions corresponding to a view on the line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but shows the guideway in a further position;

FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the positioning guideway;

FIG. 6 shows a partially schematic, perspective view of a machine according to the invention intended for assembling articles whose selvedges have natural bulges;

FIG. 7 shows a side elevational view of the selvedge roll unwinding device in the machine of FIG. 6;

FIGS. 8 to 11 show vertical sections of the selvedge roll unwinding device viewed along the lines VIII- --VIII, IX-IX, XX and XI-XI, respectively of FIG.

FIGS. 12 to 14 show schematically the logic control circuits of the various elements of a machine according to the invention;

FIG. 15 shows an assembled knitted article such as a pullover;

FIG. 16 shows the knitted article of FIG. 15 in one position during the assembly operation; and

FIGS. 17 to 20 are elevational views of a component of the selvedge roll unwinding device, and show the component in various successive working positions.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the machine comprises an introduction guideway 1 consisting of two coplanar horizontal blades la and lb mounted on supporting angle irons only one, 1d, of which can be seen in FIG. 1. Between the blades la, 1b is a rectangular groove 1c intended to receive two knitted articles 2 and 3 to be assembled. One of the major sides of the blade 1a is parallel to one of the major sides of the blades 1b to define a constant width to the groove. The articles 2 and 3 must be provided at their selvedge edges with longitudinal retaining rolls in this case artificial rolls 2a and 3a.

The two blades la and lb are each mounted on their supporting angle iron, e.g. 1d, by fixing means which permit the spacing of the said blades and the width of the gap which separates them to be adjusted as afunction of the thickness of the articles 2 and 3 to be assembled.

An endless chain 4 passes around two sprockets 5 and 6, one of which, 5, is positioned above the upstream end of the gap 1c of the introduction guideway and the other, 6, of which is placed above the portion of the gap 10 which is just upstream of both an unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22, and the downstream end of said gap 10. In this context, upstream and downstream are referred to in the sense of feed movement of the articles to be assembled.

The chain sprockets 5 and 6 are each mounted on a horizontal shaft so as to ensure parallelism, and in the same vertical plane as the chain 4 and the longitudinal axis of the gap of the guideway 1.

The outer side of the chain 4 has attached thereto, for example adhesively, at least one shoe 7 intended to come into contact with'those selvedges of the articles 2 and 3 at which the artificial retaining rolls 2a and 3a are formed.

The selvedge unwinding device which is positioned directly downstream of the introduction guideway 1 comprises a pair of unrolling shoes 8 and 9 of known kind, such as that currently employed in dished sewing machines for manual assembly of knitted articles, and of a vertical disc 14 of generally circular shape placed partially between the shoes 8, 9. Additionally two brush discs 21 and 22 are provided as will be described in detail below.

Each of the shoes 8, 9 is hinged with respect to the chassis, not shown, of the machine on a spindle 10, 11 extending parallel to the edges of the gap 10 of the guideway 1 and at a higher level than the horizontal plane of the guideway. The two shoes are positioned, symmetrically with respect to the vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the gap 10, in such manner as to each have their tips of a shape suitable for unwinding the selvedges of knitted fabric in the downstream extensions of the blades 1a and lb of the introduction guideway. At their inner surfaces the shoes 8 and 9 are each provided with a horizontal groove 8a and 9a which is open upwardly and towards the other shoe and is intended to facilitate the guidance of the reinforced selvedge forming the bulges 2a, 3a of the corresponding article 2, 3 between its shoe 8 or 9 and the disc 14 disposed between the two shoes and partially penetrating the downstream end of the gap 1c of the guideway 1. The lower surface of each groove 8a or 9a issituated substantially in the same plane as the upper surface of the blade la or 1b. A horizontal pin 12 directed perpendicularly of the longitudinal axis of the gap 10 passes through the shoe 8, slightly above its groove 80, while a further similar pin traverses the other shoe 9 symmetrically with respect to the vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the gap 1c.

The disc 14, partially positioned between the said shoes 8 and 9, is rotatable about a horizontal shaft 15 placed at a higher level than that of the gap 10 and is adjustable vertically, for example by a lever16 articulated to the frame, not shown, of the machine by means of a shaft 17. The lever 16 may be pivoted by any suitable means not shown, for example a pneumatic jack, to enable the lever 16 to perform an angular oscillation such that the vertical spacing between the horizontal shaft 15 and the horizontal plane of the gap 1c can vary from a value which corresponds to the operating position and is clearly smaller than the radius of the disc 14 (i.e., wherethe disc 14 is partially engaged in the gap 1c), to a value somewhat greater than this radius and corresponding to the at rest position where the disc 14 is totally disengaged from the gapv 1c.

is somewhat greater than the difference between the radius of the disc 14 and the vertical spacings of the shaft 15 from the plane of the blades-1a, 1b when the disc 14 is in the abovementioned operating position (see FIG. 1).

The disc 14 can be locked in a position such that one of its notches 18 is in the zone of the downstream end of the gap 1c and at a level corresponding to that of the blades 1a, lb by, for example, a spring leaf 19 which engages in a detent 20 disposed in or near thcnext successive notch 18, one such detent being associated with each of the notches 18.

Finally, the two brush discs 21 and'22 are mounted in the same inclined plane so that each is able to rotate on an inclined spindle 21a and 22a coincident with its axes of rotation. These brush discs are disposed symmetrically with respect to the vertical plane of the disc 14, under each of the shoes 8 and 9, in such manner as to be approximately tangent to this vertical plane and that their shafts are parallel to the latter and they are each inclined at an angle of from 30 to 60 with the vertical. The upstream portion of each brush disc 21 and 22 is situated at a level higher than that of the downstream portion of the brush disc.

A further, or positioning, guideway 23 is disposed at the exit of the selvedge unrolling device 8, 9, 14, downstream and in the immediate vicinity of the latter, and comprises two substantially rectangular flexible blades 23a and 23b as shown in more detail in the sectional representations of FIGS. 3 and 4. One of the major sides of one of each blade is parallel to that of the other blade and e las mis st ssss es ast 23 and 23lidefine therebetween a rectilinear gap 23g and they are planar when no article is present in the gap 23g.

The upper major edges of the two flexible blades 23a and 23b each extend parallel to the axis of the gaps 1c and 23g, and the blades 23a and 23b themselves extend downwardly from those edges to define the semi-planes of a dihedral whose bisector plane is vertical and coincident with the plane of the disc 14. The dihedral included angle is from 60 to Each of the flexible blades 23a and 23b is fixed at its lower part between two rigid plates 23c and 23d or 23e and 23f (FIG. 3). The two lowermost rigid plates 23c and 23e extend over almost all of the width of the respective rectangular blades 23a or 23b and brace the blades 23a and 23b so that the gap 233 is approximately equal to the thickness of the joined together articles 2 and 3, while the horizontal spacing between the upper edges of the lowermost rigid plates 23c and 23e at least equals the thickness increased by twice that between two articles. When articles are passing along the gap 23g, the spacing between the flexible blades 23a, 23b will of course be increased as the blades deflect apart.

Finally, conveying and transferring grippers 24 and 25 situated below the level defined by the blades 10 and 1b at either side of the gaps 1c and 23g of the machine are rectilinearly movable along these gaps by the action of means, not shown, from thedownstream end of the introduction guideway 1 to that of the positioning guideway 23, and ensure that the articles are driven to the sewing machine. In the present case the sewing machine is for example a whip-stitch machine having notched dishes, schematically indicated by its two dishes 26 and 27, and the assembly operation is completed by a chain-stitch severing device consisting of two pneumatically controlled articulated cutting blades 28 forming scissors positioned at the exit of the sewing machine.

The mode of operation of the above described machine is as follows. The two articles 2 and 3 to be assembled, having selvedges which each comprise a guiding and retaining roll 2a and 3a, are manually offered at the upstream end of the introduction guideway 1 and are then introduced over a few centimetres between the blades la and lb so that the rolls 2a and 3a rest on the upper plane of these blades. In order to facilitate introduction of the articles 2, 3 into the guideway 1 and to maintain their relative positioning during all of the movement, the selvedges 2a, 3a of the two articles are provided with tacking stitches 29, for example a tailor tack made on a known sewing machine of the stop stitch type. These tacking stitches 29 join the selvedges 2a, 3a of the two articles at the ends of the intended seam and optionally also between the ends of the seam at points where the articles themselves are formed by interconnection of two sub units, for example where the bust portion andthe sleeve portion are joined together and also closed along one composite seam.

The chain 4 is started manually so that the shoe 7 comes into contact with the selvedges 2a, 3a and entrains the articles 2, 3 to the downstream end of the introduction guideway where the shoe 7 abandons the articles and returns along the upper run of the chain to its starting position. The conveying and transferring claws or grippers 24 and 25 engage the articles 2 and 3 and now drive them from the introduction guideway through the selvedge unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22, as far as the dishes 26 and 27 of the sewing machine.

During this movement the following operations are successively carried out Before the articles enter between the two shoes 8 and 9 the shoes as well as the brush discs 21 and 22 are caused to move aside away from the vertical plane defined by the gaps 1c and 23g, and the disc 14 caused to rise, by actuating means, for example pneumatic jacks and linkage not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which cause (a) each of the said shoes 8 and 9 to pivot about its horizontal spindle or 11, (b) the lever 16 to pivot about its shaft 17 and finally (c) the brush discs 21 and 22 to move apart.

At the beginning of their movement the articles 2 and 3 trigger a sensor (not shown) which through the intermediary of this actuating means, initiates (d) the closing together of the shoes 8 and 9, (e) closing together of the brushes 21 and 22 and (f) downward movement of the disc 14 between the two articles each of which will now be lightly squeezed or pinched between a shoe 8 or 9 and the disc 14.

During the downward movment of the articles 2 and 3 caused by descent of the disc 14 and downward traction from contact with the'brush discs 21 and 22, the selvedges which have been brought to the tips of the shoes 8 and 9 are unwound by virtue of the shape given to that tip, and the edge-to-edge positioning of the selvedges 2a and 3a of the articles 2 and 3 is obtained as these selvedges pass under the pins 12, or more precisely, under that portion of each pin 12 which penetrates into the available space between the disc and a shoe.

More particularly, when the two articles 2 and 3 are at the level of the unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22 they are also squeezed between the two idling brush discs 21, 22 which are entrained to rotate by the advance of articles 2 and 3 which are themselves in the first instance entrained by the claws 24, 25 and thereafter by the sewing machine dishes 26 and 27. These brush discs 21 and 22, by virtue of their inclined disposition, simultaneously urge the articles downwardly. This downward movement of the articles 2 and 3 lasts until the rolls of the selvedges 2a, 3a fall into the grooves 8a, 9a of the shoes 8 and 9. Thereafter the friction forces exerted by the brush discs 21, 22 on the articles 2, 3 are too weak to cause the rolls to move out of the grooves 8a, 9a.

In order to obtain a precise positioning on which the correct assembling of the articles 2, 3 will depend, it is necessary for the articles to be able to move slidably vertically with respect to each other. In the selvedge unrolling devices of known kind this sliding is facilitated by the presence of a stationary smooth blade between the articles which are nipped by the shoes. Since tacking stitches 29 are disposed at certain points along the selvedges such a fixed blade would obstruct these stitches to impede the progress of the articles between the shoes. It would thus be necessary for this blade to be withdrawn ahead of a tacking stitch. For this reason such a conventional stationary blade has been replaced by the disc 14 whose normal position is maintained by the spring leaf 19 engaged in the latching detent 20 to hold one of the release notches 18 at the level of the blades 1a and 1b with its open side facing the downstream end of the introduction guideway 1.

When a tacking stitch 29 comes up to the disc 14 it is received in the lowermost notch 18 and, by virtue of the feed movement of the articles, drives the disc 14 to rotate. After a certain rotation of the disc 14 the tacking stitch 29 disengages from the notch 18 and the disc is again immobilised by the blade 19 which enters a fresh upper notch 18.

At the exit from the unwinding device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22, the articles 2 and 3 enter into the positioning guideway 23 where the guidance rolls 2a and 3a apply themselves to the upper edges of the flexible blades 23a and 23b. They are delivered to and held in this position by the action of the brush discs 21 and 22 which, being driven to rotate by the movement of the articles 2 and 3, exert a vertically downward pull on the two articles. The positioning guideway 23 is positioned such that the upper edges of the blades 23a and 23b are at the same level as the upper rim 26a and 27a of the sewing machine dishes 26 and 27 so that the selvedges of the articles 2 and 3 should be correctly positioned relative to these dishes as the needle 30 works above these dishes.

At the end of the movement of the claws 24, 25 towards the sewing machine, one of the claws actuates a sensor, not shown, which sets the sewing machine in motion thus rotating the dishes and returning the claws 24 and 25 to their starting position. Assembling is then performed by the sewing machine in a known manner. When the assembled articles leave the dishes a sensor commands stopping of the machine, actuating of the chain-stitch cutter 28 to separate the articles from the thread in the needle and shuttle of the sewing machine, raising of the disc 14 and moving apart of the unrolling shoes 8 and 9 and of the brush discs 21 and 22.

FIG. shows a different embodiment of the positioning guideway 23 in which the expected function of the guideway is to support the articles 2 and 3 while resiliently coping with a localised widening of its gap caused by the presence of a transverse seam 2b on at least one of the articles, without however narrowing the width of the gap through the action of the vertically downward traction exerted on the said articles by the brush discs 21 and 22. This function, which was fulfilled in the first described article by the flexible blades each of which rested on a rigid plate 23c, 23e and was thus flexible in the sense of gap widening while being braced by the plates 230, 232 in the sense of said gap contracting, is now performed only by the shape given to two flexible blades 23a, 231). In the present case the guideway consists of two resilient blades each of which normally has the cross-sectional shape of a surface generated by a horizontal generatrix moving laterally along an arc of curve which lies in a plane perpendicular to said generatrix, the curve being upwardly concave and having a slope tending to the vertical in the vicinity of its upper end and forming an angle of 30 to 60 with the vertical in the vicinity of its lower end. The gap in the guideway is formed between the upper edges'of the blades and the two blades are placed symmetrically with respect to a vertical plane parallel to their generatrices.

It is clear to the skilled person that, on the one hand, the separation of the blades will in the FIG. 5 embodiment now proceed with a better distributed friction of said articles on the blades as a result of the increased contact surface between said articles and said blades and that, on the other hand, for the same reason the additional pressure of the blades on the articles exerted by the brush disc pull on the articles can be neglected. To this advantage is added that of optionally being able to ensure a mutual tightening of the two articles 2 and 3 in the zone of the seam without damaging the articles.

A further variant of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4 consists in replacingthe two conveying and transferring claws 24 and 25, which here have symmetrical positions, by a single gripper associated with a stationary vertical pressure plate placed parallel to the disc 14 and at a sufficient lateral spacing from the pressure plate for permitting one of the knitted articles to pass. In this pressure plate a notch will be provided at the location of that brush disc which is situated to the same side of the disc 14.

Thus the single gripper for conveying and transferring will press the two knitted articles against the pressure plate which extends over the entire length of its travel and will entrain them for movement to the sewing machine as has been indicated above.

FIG. 6 shows schematically and partially in perspective an assembling machine which is particularly suitable forassembling jersey knit articles or panels.

In the case of the machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the knitted articles 2 and 3 are provided near at least one of their edges with a reinforced selvedge forming an artificial guidance roll 2a, 3a. However in the present case, where articles with a natural roll are handled, this artificial roll is no longer necessary since the natural curl, especially of jersey knit articles, forms a bulge or roll which is sufficiently large for the two knitted articles 2, 3 not to slide vertically between the two horizontal blades la and lb which form part of the introduction guideway 1. Consequently the spacing between the two blades 1a, 1b will be greater than that provided in the case of the machine of FIGS. 1 and 2 and will readily permit passage of the excess thicknesses which may for example result from seams of lateral selvedges. As a result, the positioning guideway 23 formed of two resilient blades has been omitted in the present embodiment and the introduction sliderl is extended up to the dishes 26 and 27 of the sewing machine.

In order to simplify the description of this embodiment, the same reference numerals have been retained for elements which are analogous or identical with those of the machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4.

The assembly comprising the unrolling shoes 8 and 9,

the disc 14 and brush discs 21, 22 has been positioned closer to the sewing machine dishes 26, 27 and the introduction guideway 1 is now continuous, even past the disc 14 which in its working position (see FIG. 6), is closely bordered by the blades la, lb of the guideway v1. Since the artificial roll will have been eliminated, for example by using jersey knit articles, the guidance grooves 8a, 9a in the inner surfaces of the unrolling shoes 8, 9 of FIGS. 1 and 3 are no longer required and can therefore be eliminated. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the unrolling shoes 8 and 9 are now placed slightly above the upper surface of the guideway l and have been extended at their downstream ends so as to each enable the mounting of two positioning pins 12, 12a in series, the first pin 12 being situated just downstream of the tip 8b or 9b of the respective shoe and on the same level as the upper surface of the tip, while the second pin 12a is situated close to the downstream end of its shoe 8, 9 at a lower level than the pin 12 and near the upper surface of the blades la, 1b of the guideway I. The pins 12 penetrate into the space situated between each shoe and the disc 14 and the pins 12a penetrate into the space between the shoes, and in each case the pins bearing like reference numerals are uncoaxial pairs. The function of the pins 12a is toperfect the positioning, with respect to the needle 30 of the sewing machine (see FIGS. 10 and 11), of the height of thetwo edges or selvedges 2a, 3a which have previously been unrolled on the lengthened tips 8b, 9b of the shoes under the influence of the action of the brush discs 21, 22 (see FIGS. 8 and 9).

Each of the brushes has on its periphery a multitude of tufts of bristle 21b and 22b which extend radially and are capable of coming into tangential contact with the corresponding articles or knitted panels 2, 3 when the latter are situated in the zone of the unrolling devices 8, 9, 14, 21, 22. The stiffness of these bristles and/or the spacing of the brush discs 21, 22 is/are chosen such that the traction force exerted by the brush discs 21, 22 in the downward direction is sufficient to ensure unrolling of the selvedge curl and the precise positioning of the selvedges 2a, 3a of the articles 2, 3 without the selvedges being able to escape downwardly out of the guideway 1.

In order to render the lateral spacing of the shoes 8,

I 9 adjustable symmetrically with respect to the disc 14 so as to allow adjustment of the extent of the articles I 2, 3 which is squeezed between each one of the shoes For automatic control of the successive operations of control the actuating means for the various elements of the machine.

The conveying chain 4 includes, in addition to the shoes 7, a contact shoe 40 which is capable of successively cooperating with two pneumatic sensors 41 and 42. The relative positions between the shoes 7 and 40 and the sensors 41 and 42 are such that the first sensor 41 is actuated by the shoe 40 upon arrival of the shoe 7, during its movement from the sprocket 5 to the sprocket 6 on the lower run of the chain 4, in the vicinity of the downstream sprocket 6. The second sensor 42 is later actuated by the same shoe 40 when the shoe 7 has lost all contact with the articles 2 and 3 and is for example situated on the portion of chain which is in contact with the sprocket 6.

The first sensor 41 is inserted in a pneumatic control circuit for applying and advancing the grippers 24, 25 (see FIG. 14) whose inoperative or starting position is initially somewhat upstream of the sprocket 6. The second sensor 42 is incorporated in a circuit which controls the stopping and starting of the conveyor chain 4.

Upstream of the unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22, in the path of the knitted articles 2, 3 and below the guideway 1 is a third sensor 43 which is also inserted in the pneumatic circuit controlling the application and advance of the grippers 24, 25 but is not actuated until after articles 2 and 3 passing this sensor has moved on and their absence is detected at the location of the sensor 43, as will be explained hereinafter. A fourth sensor 44, called the pre-control sensor is disposed upstream and close to the selvedge unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22 but downstream of the sensor 43, such that its detection member or feeler 44a is situated at the location of the gap of the slider 1 and can there ascertain the presence or absence of articles 2, 3. This pre-control sensor 44 is mounted in the circuit which controls the setting in motion of the sewing machine 26, 27, 30.

In the region of the unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22 is a fifth sensor 45 disposed laterally of the gap 10 and below the blade 1a of the guideway 1, for example substantially vertically of the first positioning pin 12. This sensor 45 is arranged to be tripped by the conveying or transferring gripper 24 and is also mounted in the circuit which controls the setting in motion of the sewing machine 26, 27, 30.

As in the case of the machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 one of the dishes 26, 27, for example the dish 26, is mounted so as to have its axis of rotation movable relative to that of the other, stationary dish, for example dish 27, so as to move sideways away from the fixed dish 27 when the two articles 2 and 3 to be assembled are introduced between the two dishes 26, 27.

The shaft 26b of the dish 26 is mounted by means of ball bearings, not shown, on a bellcrank 50, 51 shown schematically in FIG. 6 as being articulated at the point of its knee on a support 52 through the intermediary of a shaft 53 parallel to the gap 1c of the slider 1. The horizontal arm of this bellcrank 50, 51 carries at its free end an adjustable stop screw 54 capable of triggering a sixth sensor 46, called the holding sensor, also connected in the circuit controlling the setting in motion of the sewing machine 26, 27, 30. The bellcrank 50, 51 can thus pivot in a vertical plane perpendicular to that of the disc 14, with its arms 50, 51 swinging in the direction of the arrows F F or F F The sensor 46 is additionally connected in the circuit which controls the positioning of the shoes 8, 9 of the disc 14 and the brushes 21, 22.

The rod 24a for advancing the transport claw 24 comprises, at a suitable location, an end-of-advancetravel abutment 24b positioned to contact the actuating member 47a of a seventh sensor 47 connected in the circuit controlling the jack which displaces the grippers 24, 25 and which triggers stopping of the advancing movement (arrow F and return movement (arrow F of said grippers when they reach a position in register with the dishes 26, 27, in which position the articles 2, 3 will already have become nipped between the notched portions 26a, 27a of the dishes 26, 27 and the abutment 24b simultaneously bears on the actuating member 47a of the sensor 47. The initial return travel of the grippers 24, 25 is interrupted when they reach the waiting position under the detection member 44a of the sensor 44 which is at the level of the gap 1c and just upstream of the disc 14. Application of the grippers 24, 25 at the rear end of the articles 2 and 3 and also their renewed advance towards the sewing machine 26, 27, 30 are both controlled by the third sensor 43 once it detects departure of the articles 2, 3 from its vicinity.

Two further sensors 48, 49 connected in series in the control circuit of the sewing machine each respond to one of the two seaming threads and stop the said machine when either thread breaks.

In FIGS. 12, 13 and 14, which illustrate schematically the fluid logic circuits of the control systems, a vent port is represented throughout by a hollow arrowhead A and mains pressure by a solid arrowhead A.

The term NON used for gates 61, 82 and 88 throughout this Specification denotes an exclusive OR gate which has two inputs and one output and will provide an output signal only when one alone of its input or balanced input signals will not give rise to an output signal while the term NON gate used for gates 65, 75, 80 and 86 denotes a simple NON gate with one input and one output which will not give rise to any output signal if there exists an input signal.

The term AND gate used in this Specification denotes a well-known AND gate which has two inputs and one output and gives rise to an output signal only when the two inputs are fed simultaneously.

The term OR gate used throughout this Specification denotes an inclusive OR gate which has two inputs and one output and gives rise to an output signal when at least one of its inputs if fed.

FIG. 12 shows the logic circuit controlling the jack 28a which actuates the chain-stitch cutter 28. This circuit includes the pneumatic sensor 46 which is actuated as the dish 26 swings aside and feeds on the one hand via a line 61a, a first input of a NON gate 61 and, on the other hand via a line 62a a pneumatic resistance 62 and a pneumatic condenser 63 mounted in series with said resistance, a second input of the same NON gate 61 the output of which feeds a first input 64a of a pilot valve or pneumatic distributor 64. When its first input 64a is energised the distributor 64 ensures supply of mains pressure air, from a supply 77, to the jack 28a.

The output of the NON gate 61 is additionally connected to one input of a second NON gate 65 the output of which feeds, in the absence of an input signal from the NON gate 61, the second input 64!) of the distributor 64 and thus cancels the mains supply to the jack 28a and therefore commands actuation, i.e., clos ing, of the chain-stitch cutter 28.

FIG. 13 shows the pneumatic control circuits of, on the one hand, a clutch capable of connecting a constantly rotating drive motor to both the shaft integral with the fixed dish 27 of the sewing machine 26, 27, 30, and the shaft actuating the needle 30 and, on the other hand, a number of actuating jacks associated with the disc 14, the shoe 8 and 9 and the brush discs 21, 22 and among which only one jack 70, that associated with the disc 14, has been shown in FIG. 13. I

Starting up the sewing machine, i.e., initiating rotation of the dishes 26,27 and the reciprocating movement of the needle 30 is triggered by actuation of the sensor 45 and held on ;by actuation of the sensor 46 so that the output of these sensors 45 and 46 is connected to either one or the other of the two inputs of a pneumatic OR gate 71 whose output is connected to one of the two inputs of an AND gate 72. The other input of this AND gate 72 is fed from the output of'a second AND gate 73 the two inputs of which are respectively connected to the outputs of the two sensors 48 and 49 of the thread break detector. The output of the AND gate 72 is connected on the one hand to a first input 74a of a pilot valve or distributor 74 and on the other hand, via a pilot pressure fed NON gate 75, to the second input 74b of that distributor 74. Depending on the supply at its input 740 or 74b the distributor'supplies mains pressure air .to the command jack 76 of the sewing machine clutch. The mains source of compressed air, schematically indicated at 77, can effect engagement or disengagement of the clutch. t

It will readily be understood that at least one of th two sensors 45, 46 and both of the two sensors 48, 49 have to be actuated in order for the jack 76 to be supplied with compressed air and thus to engage the clutch for setting the sewing machine 26, 27, 30 in motion.

The output of the pneumatic sensor 46 is also connected to one of the two inputs of a third AND gate 78 whose other input is fed from the output of sensor 44. The output of this AND gate 78 is on the one hand directly connected to the first control input 79a of a further pilot valve or distributor 79 and on the other hand, via a NON gate 80, to the second input 79b of the same distributor 79. This distributor 79 communicates a mains source of compressed air, again schematically shown at 77, to the jack 70 controlling the disc 14 (and the shoes 8, 9 and the brush discs 21, 22) such that: this jack 70 is energized to actuate and hold in operation the disc 14 (and the shoes and brush discs) when the input 79a is directly supplied by the AND gate 78; or that the said jack 70 is vented to atmosphere and the disc 14 raised and the shoes 8, 9 and brush discs 21, 22 moved aside under the influence of return springs, not shown, when the input 79b is supplied.

It follows that the disc 14, shoes 8, 9 and brush discs 21, 22 are placed in their operating positions only after the articles 2, 3 have been'detected by the sensor 44 and been introduced between the sewing machine dishes 26, 27 and that the de-activation of these members 8, 9, 14, 21, 22 occurs as soon as articles present" state is lost by the sensor 44.

FIG. 14 shows the pneumatic control circuit of the transfer gripper or grippers 24, 25. The forward movement of the gripper 24 (and also that of the gripper 25) in the direction of the arrow F is triggered when the shoe 40 of chain 4 actuates the sensor 41 whose output pulse is connected to one of the inputs of an OR gate 81. The output of this OR gate 81 is connected to one of the inputs of a first NON gate 82. When it receives a signal at its input fed from the OR gate 81, the NON gate directs via its output one (83a) of the two inputs 83a, 83b of a further pneumatic distributor or pilot valve 83 such that a pulse of mains compressed air from supply 77 is delivered to the rear chamber of the actuating jack 240 of the gripper 24 via, on the one hand, a holding valve or pneumatic diode 84 opening towards the rear chamber and, on the other hand, a pneumatic resistance 85 mounted in parallel with said valve 84.

The continued advance of the gripper 24 is ensured by the sensor 43 which in response to arrival of the article feeds the input of a signal inverting, second NON gate 86 the output of which is directly connected to a first input and additionally, via a pneumatic resistance 87, to the second input of a third NON gate 88 whose output is connected to the second input of the OR gate 81. The advance of the gripper 24 thus proceeds until the gripper reaches the dishes 26, 27 and is interrupted when the sensor 47 is actuated by the end-of-travel abutment 24b. The output of this sensor 47 is connected on the one hand to the second input of the NON gate 82 and also to the second input 83b of the distributor 83. Thus, when the sensor 47 is actuated the distributor 83 will be actuated to give priority to the position in which it enables the front chamber of the command jack 240 to be supplied to drive the gripper 24 in the return direction, this supply being simultaneously effected via a pneumatic diode or holding valve 89 opening toward the said front chamber and also a pneumatic resistance 90 mounted in parallel with this holding valve 89. The pneumatic resistances 85 and 90, formed for example as adjustable throttles permit the advancing and retreating speeds of the gripper 24 to be varied.

The retreating movement (arrow F FIG. 6) is interrupted for a first time when the sensor 43 senses departure of the articles upon losing contact as they enter into the selvedge unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22. At this instant the gripper 24 is situated just level with the vertical marginal zone at the rear of the- articles 2, 3. The loss of an output signal at the sensor 43 restores priority to the signal consequently applied at the input 83a of the distributor 83 so that the gripper 24 is applied to the rear end of the articles 2, 3 and accompanies them during the travel of their rear ends to the dishes 26, 27 where the sensor 47 again commands retreat of the gripper 24. This time the movement of the gripper in the return direction is not able to be interrupted by a loss of signal at the sensor 43 as the articles have already moved on into the nip between the dishes 26, 27 so the gripper 24 continues its retreating movement to its original starting position proximate the sprocket 6.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show a textile article the assembly of which involves joining together two articles or textile panels 2, 3 such as can be efiected by the machines described above. ln this case this textile article is a pullover having cuff ribbings 92, 93 and a waist ribbing 94 as well as panels which comprise the front and back of the chest 95 and also the sleeves 96, 97. The upper or shoulder ends of the sleeves have been sewn to the openings 98 provided for this purpose on the chest panel 95. The edge ribbings 92, 93, 94 are knitted in a rib interlacing, for example either in 1 and 1 rib or in 2 and 2 rib, which will not curl at the selvedge. By contrast, the chest panels 95 and the sleeves 96, 97 are knitted in thinner jersey than the rib-knit parts and curl along the selvedges 99. It is especially along these selvedges 99 that the chest 95 and the sleeves 96, 97 are to be assembled, following the broken line 100 indicated as a dotted line in FIG. 15.

When it is desired to seam the selvedge 99 following a substantially straight line defined by the guideway schematically indicated by the straight line 1 it is necessary to lift, following the arrow F the base of the hollow of the under-arm 101 so as to also ensure a join even at this hollow. To this end the two selvedges 99 are joined at the site of the under-arm 101 by means of a tailor tack joining stitch 29 obtained, for example,

with the aid of a conventional sewing machine. For this reason the nothces of the disc 14 will need to be specially shaped for lifting the tacking stitch 29 slightly above the level of the horizontal plane defined by the selvedges 99 passing over the upper surface of the guideway 1.

This shape of the notch 18 is such that its bottom 18a is slightly above the guideway 1 while downstream of and close to the vertical plane passing through the shaft 15 of the disc 14 when the notch 18 occupiesits receiving position (FIG. 17) where the nose 18b defining the mouth of the notch and the bottom of the notch are situated substantially at the same level somewhat above the guideway 1.

Since the bottom 18a of the notch is situated at a radial spacing from the axis of the disc which is approximately equal to that between the upper surface of the introduction guideway 1 and the shaft 15 of the disc 14 in the working position of the disc, it is apparent that from this receiving position of the notch onward the notch bottom 18a executes only a very slight descending movement when the disc 14 is made to rotate in clockwise direction under the influence of the tacking stitch 29 moving with the articles in the direction of the arrow F In view of the facts that the notch 18 is, at either side of the bottom 18a, defined by curves 18c, 18d which between them form an acute angle, and that the curve 18d which is situated at the same side of the notch as is the shaft 15 of the disc is comparable to a tangent of a circle having the shaft 15 as its centre and a radius at least a few millimetres smaller than the spacing of the guideway 1 from the shaft axis, the joining stitch 29 is never pushed downwards during the rotation of the disc 14. The edge 18c, situated at the side of the periphery of the disc 14 curves slightly towards the outside, and the nose 18b which rejoins said edge 180 is located on the tangent of a circle centered on the shaft 15 and having as its radius the distance between said shaft 15 and guideway 1 and having as its point of tangency with that circle that point which is situated vertically below the shaft 15 when the notch 18 occupies its receiving position such as the one indicated in FIG. 17.

In other words, the notch 18 comprises a mouth extending approximately in a radial direction of the disc and a retreating portion following the mouth and stretching approximately parallel to the periphery of the disc and defining the bottom of the notch. It is clear that as the disc 14 rotates clockwise through the FIG.

18, FIG. 19 and FIG. 20 positions the tacking stitch 29 will be lifted as soon as it passes the vertical plane through the axis of shaft 15 and cannot liberate itself from the notch 18 (FIG. 20) until after having performed an ascending movement (FIG. 19) during the course of its displacement along the direction of arrow F The tacking stitch 29 virtually maintains its raised position from the time when it leaves the notch 18 until it enters the sewing machine 26, 27, 30 where it remains well above the dishes 26, 27. It has thus been ensured that the seam at the under-arm region 101 satisfactorily holds the two selvedges despite the natural hollow normally present at this place.

The operation of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 and comprising the pneumatic circuits which have been described above is as follows:

The two articles 2 and 3 whose selvedges each form a natural roll 2a and 3a are manually presented to the upstream end of the introduction guideway 1 and are then introduced over a few centimetres between the blades 1a and 1b in such a manner that the rolled portions 2a and 3a rest on the upper plane of the blades la and lb. In order to facilitate introduction of the two articles into the guideway and to maintain their relative position throughout the displacement, tacks 29 have earlier been made with a known form of sewing machine of the stop stitch type.

These tacking stitches 29 join the selvedges 2a, 3a of the two articles both at the ends of the intended seams and between their ends at places where the articles 2, 3 should be connected to other articles.

The chain 4 is manually set in motion, so that the shoe 7 comes into contact with the rolled portions 2a, 3a of the articles 2, 3, and applies the rolls 2a, 3a against the upper surfaces of the guideway blades 1a, 1b and drives them, and thus the articles 2, 3, to a position upstream of the selvedge unrolling device comprising the disc 14 and unrolling shoes where the shoe 7 releases the articles 2, 3 and the chain 4 continues its movement to return the shoe 7 to its starting point of departure. The transfer grippers 24 and 25, which are caused to grip on the articles and are set in motion in the direction of the arrow F by the actuation of the sensor 41 responsive to the shoe 40, then entrain the articles 2 and 3 through the selvedge unrolling device 8, 9, 14, 21, 22 towards and up to the dishes 26 and 27 of the sewing machine.

Until the articles 2 and 3 penetrate into the nip between the dishes 26, 27, the two shoes 8 and 9 and the brush discs 21 and 22 are in spaced apart position and the disc 14 is in its raised position, the sensor 44 will merely be tripped by the presence of the articles to prepare for the approach of the shoes 8 and 9 and of the brush discs 21 and 22 to their operative positions and for the descent of the disc 14 between the two articles, these movements being executed only at the instant when the articles 2 and 3 penetrate between the dishes 26 and 27, to move the dish 26 in the direction of the arrow F and cause the screw 54 to trip the sensor 46 linked to the sensor 44 as shown in FIG. 13.

The chain-stitch cutter 28 will, as shown in FIG. 12, be actuated simultaneously by the sensor 44.

During advance movement of the articles the selvedges are led to the tips 8b, 9b of the shoes 8 and 9 and are unrolled by the shape given to each tip, and the edge-to-edge positioning of the selvedges is obtained by the passage under the pins 12 and 12a.

Claims (23)

1. An automatic machine for assembling knitted articles which are provided near at least one of their selvedges with a roll extending along the direction of movement of said articles, such machine comprising: a guideway consisting of two coplanar horizontal blades which have upper surfaces and define a gap of adjustable spacing; conveyor means associated with said introduction guideway for ensuring movement of said articles along said guideway; means for unrolling the selvedges of articles moved along said guideway, said unrolling means including means for placing the articles under tension; sewing machine means for joining the selvedges of such tensioned articles; thread cutting means; and transfer means for temporarily ensuring advance of articles from said guideway to the sewing machine means while guiding said articles through said selvedge unrolling means.

2. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said guideway has a downstream end terminating at said selvedge unrolling means, and said unrolling means comprises a further guideway aligned with the first-mentioned guideway and disposed between the first mentioned guideway and said sewing machine means.

3. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the selvedge unrolling means further comprises: a disc of generally circular shape; shaft means mounting said disc for rotation about a horizontal axis in a vertical plane passing through said gap of said guideway; a median plane to said disc; and a pair of shoes each of which is mutually symmetrically disposed with respect to said median plane at the level of the upper surface of the introduction guideway; and wherein said means for placing the articles under tension include two rotary brushes and means mounting said brushes tangential to one another and to the said vertical plane and disposed below said shoes and at either side of the disc in a common inclined plane which slopes downwardly in the sense of article advancing movement of said transfer means.

4. A machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said guideway terminates at said selvedge unrolling means and has a downstream end which partially embraces the periphery of said disc of the selvedge unrolling means; and wherein a further guideway is provided for guiding articles from the first mentioned guideway to said sewing machine means.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said introduction guideway extends continuously up to said sewing machine means and includes guide blades, which embrace the lower portion of said disc and means are provided for mounting said disc for movement between an inoperative position and an operative position in which it penetrates into the gap of said introduction guideway.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 4 wherein at the downstream end of the first mentioned guideway each shoe has a tip located between said disc and one of said blades of the guideway; and wherein each shoe further has at its surface facing the disc a groove which is open toward the top and toward the other shoe, said groove having its lower surface substantially in the same plane as the upper surface of the first mentioned guideway.

7. A machine as set forth in claim 5, wherein the shoes are disposed above said upper surface of the guideway; and including at least one positioning pin projecting from that face of said shoe which is adjacent said disc.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 3, wherein the shoes of the selvedge unrolling means are each hinged about a horizontal axis parallel to the edges of said gap of the guideway; and including control means connected to said shoes for moving them apart when the articles arrive.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 3 and including lifting means carrying said shaft means of the disc for enabling the disc to be lifted when articles arrive.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 3, and including actuating means connected to said brushes for moving them apart and towards one another.

11. A machine as set forth in claim 5, wherein said disc is provided with notch means for permitting passage of tacking stitches connecting two articles to each other as the articles move towards said sewing machine means when the disc occupies its operative position.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 11, and including means for immobilising said disc in a receiving position in which it presents said notch means at the level of said upper surface of the guideway.

13. A machine as set forth in claim 11, wherein said notch means comprises a plurality of notches each consisting of a mouth extending approximately radially of said disc, and a retreating portion succeeding said mouth and extending approximately parallel to the periphery of said disc and containing the bottom of the notch, said bottom being situated at a radial distance from the axis of the disc which distance is approximately equal to that between the upper surface of said guideway and the axis of said disc in its operative position.

14. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transfer means comprises at least one transfer and conveying gripper and means mounting said gripper for translational movement from said conveyor to said sewing machine means.

15. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the said conveyor comprises an endless chain, sprocket means mounting said chain above said guideway, and a shoe carried by said chain for engaging and entraining articles held in said guideway.

16. A machine as set forth in claim 15, and including control means for said transfer means, said control means including a first sensor connected for controlling application of said transfer means against the articles and advancing thereof movement toward said sewing machine, shoe means integral with the endless chain; a second sensor responsive for triggering the return movement of said transfer means to arrival of said transfer means at the sEwing machine means, and a third sensor responsive to the presence of articles and located between said endless chain and the selvedge unrolling means operative to trigger a fresh advancing movement of the transfer means.

17. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sewing machine means comprises two entraining dishes, means mounting one of said dishes for movement away from the other and a sensor connected to set said sewing machine means in motion and responsive to movement of said one dish.

18. A machine as set forth in claim 9, and including actuating means connected to said brushes for moving them towards and away from one another, and notch means on said disc for permitting the passage of tacking stitches connecting articles moving along said guideway; and wherein said actuating means for moving the disc, the shoes and the brushes comprise common control circuit means including two sensors linked by way of an AND gate, one of said sensors being adapted to be actuated in response to arrival of the articles at said sewing machine means and the second sensor being disposed upstream of the selvedge unrolling means and above said gap of the guideway.

19. A machine as set forth in claim 2, wherein said guideway comprises two flexible blades defining therebetween a rectangular horizontal gap, said blades each having an edge normally parallel to a corresponding edge of the other blade, means mounting the blades such that introduction into said gap of articles having a local thickness in the plane of said gap greater than the width of the gap causes a widening of said gap by resilient deformation of said blades whereby the edge of each of said blades then follows approximately the contour of the section of said articles through the plane of the gap, and such that a downward traction exerted on articles in said gap will not produce a substantial reduction of the normal width of said gap.

20. A machine as set forth in claim 19, wherein said two flexible blades of the guideway are normally planar and are situated in each of the semi-planes of a dihedral having a vertical bisector plane and a horizontal line of intersection between said semi-planes which forms the upper end of said dihedral, and said dihedral further having an included angle of from 60 to 120*.

21. A machine as set forth in claim 19, wherein said blade mounting means includes a rigid flat plate having an upper surface on which the blade rests, said plate having an upper edge terminating short of the horizontal upper edge of the flexible blade which rests on that plate.

22. A machine as set forth in claim 21, wherein the two blades of the positioning guideway each normally have the shape of a surface generated by a horizontal generatrix moving laterally along an arc of an upwardly concave curve in a plane perpendicular to said generatrices, with the slope of said curve tending to the vertical in the vicinity of its upper end and having an angle of from 30* to 60* with the vertical in the vicinity of its lower end, the gap of said guideway being formed between the upper edges of said blades and the two blades being placed symmetrically with respect to a vertical plane parallel to said generatrices.

23. A device for unrolling selvedges of articles which have been tacked together, comprising a selvedge unrolling station, a guideway for guiding such articles towards said selvedge unrolling station, means for advancing the tacked articles along said guideway, a disc arranged to be at least partially enclosed by said guideway, notch means on said disc for receiving a tacking stitch on said articles, and a spring detent for immobilising said disc when said notch means is in a receiving position aligned with said guideway.

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