WO2007015082A1

WO2007015082A1 - Method of forming an article from layers of material

Info

Publication number: WO2007015082A1
Application number: PCT/GB2006/002867
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tilak Dias; William Hunter
Original assignee: Fibredevices Limited
Priority date: 2005-08-01
Filing date: 2006-08-01
Publication date: 2007-02-08

Abstract

Stock material (4) is presented to a forming station as a workpiece (8, 22) with at least two layers of material in juxtaposition. The juxtaposed layers are secured along at least one path (14, 24, 26) to define the article by juxtaposed sections of material. The workpiece is then cut adjacent the path to enable removal of material from the opposite side of the secured path relative to the juxtaposed sections. This technique can be applied to stock material in multi-layer form, and stock material can suitably be provided in folded or tubular form.

Description

METHOD OF FORMING AN ARTICLE FROM LAYERS OF MATERIAL

This invention relates to methods of forming articles such as garments and three dimensional preforms from stock material provided in sheet form. It has particular application to woven, knitted and non-woven fabrics, but can equaiiy be applied to ieather or synthetic sheet materials.

Traditionally, garments formed from stock material in sheet form have comprised separate elements first cut to shape and then sewn together. This sequence of logical steps is straightforward, but time-consuming and labour- intensive. Cutting and sewing is conducted at separate locations, and an additional trimming step to remove surplus material is also sometimes required. Continuous processes following this technique are described in International Patent Specification No: WO 2001/094 674 and United States Patent No: 5 140 919.

The present invention constitutes a departure from the traditional practise of assembling and securing pre-cut elements into complete articles. According to the invention stock material is presented to a forming station as a workpiece with at least two layers of material in juxtaposition. The juxtaposed layers are secured along at least one path to define the article by juxtaposed sections of material, and the article is completed by cutting the workpiece adjacent said at least one path to enable removal of material from the opposite side of the secured path relative to the juxtaposed sections. Of course, this last step is typically accomplished by withdrawing the formed garment from the stock material. The invention may be used to form articles, and particularly garments of many kinds, but can be particularly suited to garments having relatively complex shapes in two dimensions, such as gloves and three dimensionally wadding systems. The invention may also be used to form inflatable articles such as air bag systems for the automotive industry and parachutes for military, aerospace and leisure applications. The securing step in methods according to the invention is typically sewing, but any suitable method may be employed. Some alternatives are gluing or welding, for example with ultrasound. Others are spaced rivets or poppers. The removal step is accomplished by cutting, and numerous techniques are available. Lasers and water jets can be used. The means used to perform the securing and removal steps will of course be selected with reference to the nature of the stock material and the desired final edge effect. Cutting can be partial or intermittent, leaving critical regions. This can facilitate packaging and storage of multiple articles.

The stock material can be presented to the forming station as a folded workpiece with material on either side of the fold in juxtaposition. By presenting the stock material in this form, and securing the juxtaposed sections prior to cutting the material, the juxtaposed sections are of necessity, properly located one relative to the other. Additionally, the fold can effectively take the place of a seam or line of securement in an article such as a garment formed by a more traditional method. For example, where the article is an upper body garment, the fold can define a section of the garment located at a shoulder portion thereof. Stock material used in the present invention can be embroidered for decorative or functional purposes, and the embroidery can be used also to secure juxtaposed material sections along a garment defining path.

Stock material for use in the practice of the invention can also be manufactured in tubular form, and such material is ideally suited to the method of the present invention. The material can be delivered directly from the point of manufacture to the forming station in a method of the present invention as a substantially flat envelope bounded by two opposite folds. Where an article to be formed, such as an upper body garment, can most easily take advantage of only one fold, two articles may be formed from juxtaposed sections of material extending from opposite folds. Depending upon dimensional requirements, and other aspects of the particular design, two such garments can be aligned between the opposite folds or formed from adjacent lateral sections, or be staggered such that each interleaves with a pair from the opposite fold. It will be appreciated that the arrangement of the article sections can be selected to minimise waste material, and that the dimensions of the tubular stock material can also be selected with this consideration.

Articles made according to the invention also include lower body garments. In such garments the or each fold at either side of the stock material can define a side of the garment made.

In the method of the invention the step of securing juxtaposed sections of workpiece material can be conducted before or simultaneously with any cutting of the material from the stock. Cutting or removing material at or from the fold region is of course not precluded, and for an upper body garment with the fold located at the shoulders, an opening will of course have to be cut to form the neck.

Modern techniques in material handling enable the securing (sewing, welding etc.), cutting and finishing steps in methods of the invention to be conducted either simultaneously or in very quick succession. This enables such methods to be part of a continuous production process from the formation of the material to the finished garment. The process can include one or both of a folding and packaging process. Stock material including woven and knitted fabrics can be manufactured in flat or tubular form, and accordingly methods of the invention can be used with any form of material. It will also be appreciated that laminated materials can be used, enabling the creation of lined garments, which can be from multiple layers of material manufactured simultaneously. Where the stock material is in tubular form, multiple layers can be created by the simultaneous delivery of two "tubes" of material, one inside the other and/or tubes being superimposed one on top of the other.

Methods of the invention will normally be practised with devices conducting the securing, removal and if used a finishing step moving over the stock material in a forming station. However, there may be circumstances when at least one of these steps is performed by a stationary tool through which the stock material is moved. In such a variant the stock material would be located on a table movable under the tool in accordance with a suitable programme to enable the securing, removal or finishing step to follow the requisite path. This is particularly suited to methods in which a single tool assembly is adapted to perform more than one of the steps, and/or those in which the path or paths to be followed is or are complex, as in a glove or an air bag for example. In these circumstances it may well be more convenient to move the material on an X-Y table under a tool than move a tool over the material.

The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings which show two examples of a garment manufacturing process. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating the manufacture of sleeved garments from tubular stock material;

Figure 2 shows a plan view of folded stock material with the outline of a glove to be formed therefrom; and

Figure 3 illustrates moving table apparatus for the manufacture of a glove from the stock material of the kind shown in Figure 2.

As shown in the Figure 1 , stock material is delivered from station 2 in the form of a tube 4. The station 2 may be where the material is created, such as a circular, flat-bed and double needle bar warp knitting or weaving machine or, if the stock material is wholly synthetic it might be a plastics extruder. The tube is spread out and flattened by means of rollers 6 to form a flat envelope 8 when it reaches the forming station 10. If the stock material is created in plain sheet form, station 2 could encompass a unit for folding the sheet material to form the flat envelope 8.

At the forming station 10 sew/cut devices 12 are programmed to sew the juxtaposed sections of material along the paths 14 to define the garment and its outline shape. The devices are also programmed to cut along these lines to separate the formed garment from the stock material, and along the lines 16 to open the lower end of the garment and form a neck opening as indicated. The devices 12 can also be adapted to produce finished edges as required.

The completed garment 18 is removed from the remainder of the stock material which is itself discarded through opening 20. The completed garment may be folded and packaged directly thereafter.

In an alternative arrangement, multi-layer, tubular or folded stock material is delivered to a forming station where a length is separated to form a separate workpiece. Such an arrangement is illustrated in Figure 2. The workpiece in the form of a folded sheet 22 of fabric is disposed on a moving table under a tool which has adjacent securing and cutting mechanisms as shown in Figure 3. The table is moved under the tool in accordance with a preset programme, and the tool sews and cuts along substantially parallel paths 24 and 26 to create the garment; in this example, a glove 28.

Figure 3 shows a moving table apparatus that can be used in the method of the present invention. It comprises a table 30 upon which the folded workpiece 22 is located under a securing and cutting tool 32. The table is mounted on a boss 34 movably surpported on a base 36. The boss 34, with table 30, is rotatable and translatable in a horizontal plane, and such movement is effected by a precision servo motor 38, the motor being controlled by a computer 40.

The tool 32 has a welding arm 42, and a rotary cutter 44. In use, the computer 40 is programmed to instruct the motor 38 to drive the boss 34 and thus the table 30 to move the foided sheet 22 such that the weld arm 42 and cutter 44 follow the substantially parallel paths 24 and 26 to create the glove. The welding arm 42 and the motor 38 are activated simultaneously and the procedure is got underway. Figure 3 shows the table 30 positioned with the tool 32 at the point 46 on the glove to be formed (Figure 2) and the table will be moved in a generally anti-clockwise sense to secure and trim the stock material around first the thumb, then the four fingers and finally the opposite seam 48 of the glove. The welding arm will then be de-activated while the tool completes its return to point 46 with only the cutter operational, thereby creating the open wrist 50 of the glove.

The above description of Figure 3 refers to a welding arm 42 and a rotary cutter 44. These devices are well suited for the manufacture of articles comprising plastics materials. For some fabrics sewing would be the preferred securement mechanism, and as an alternative to cutting a precision laser or a water jet may be preferred. Whatever mechanisms are used, the cutting step will never precede the securement step, be it sewing, welding or any other technique, but they may be effected simultaneously. Normally though, the securement step will precede the cutting step, with the respective mechanisms being suitably spaced from one another to avoid interference.

Claims

1. A method of forming an article from stock material, which method comprises presenting the material to a forming station as a workpiece with at least two layers of material in juxtaposition; securing the juxtaposed layers along at ieast one path to define the article by juxtaposed sections of material extending from the fold; and cutting the workpiece adjacent said at least one path to enable removal of material from the opposite side of said at least one path relative to the juxtaposed sections, the cutting step being simultaneous with or after the securing step.

2. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the article is a garment and the juxtaposed sections form the front and the back of the garment to be formed.

3. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the article is a three dimensional preform and the juxtaposed sections form the front and the back of the preform to be formed.

4. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the article is an inflatable product and the juxtaposed sections form the front and the back of the product to be formed.

5. A method according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the juxtaposed material is secured along two paths to define the juxtaposed sections therebetween.

6. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the stock material is in the form of folded stock, and presented to the forming station as a substantially flat envelope bounded by a fold along one side.

7. A method according to Claim 6 wherein the article is an upper body garment and wherein the fold defines a section of the garment located at a shoulder portion thereof.

8. A method according to any of Claims 1 to 5 wherein the stock material is in the form of tubuiar stock, and presented to the forming station as a substantially flat envelope bounded by two opposite folds.

9. A method according to Claim 8 wherein two articles are formed from said juxtaposed sections extending from opposite folds.

10. A method according to Claim 9 wherein said two articles are aligned between the opposite folds.

11. A method according to Claim 9 wherein said two articles are formed from adjacent lateral sections of the tubular stock.

12. A method according to Claim 11 wherein the sections overlap.

13. A method according to Claim 6 or Claim 8 wherein the article is a lower body garment and wherein the or each fold defines a side section of the garment.

14. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the folded workpiece is disposed on a table at the forming station, which table is movable in a two-dimensional plane under a tool for performing at least one of the securing and removal steps, and wherein said at least one step is conducted by movement of the table according to a program to have the tool follow said at least one path.

15. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the securing step is immediately succeeded by the removal step in a continuous process.

16. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the stock material is a fabric, the securing step comprises sewing, and the removal step comprises laser cutting.

17. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the stock material is a fabric, the securing step comprises one of gluing, sewing, ultrasonic welding and laser welding; and the removal step comprises one of laser cutting and water jet cutting.

18. A method according to Claim 17 wherein the securing step comprises the application of a UV curable glue.

19. A method according to any preceding Claim wherein the stock material is a folded or a tubular knitted fabric.

20. A method according to any of Claims 1 to 18 wherein the stock material is a folded or a tubular woven fabric.

21. A method according to any of Claims 1 to 18 wherein the stock material is a folded or a tubular non-woven sheet.

22. A production process comprising a method according to any preceding Claim and at least one of a folding and a packaging step applied to the formed article.