US2885774A - Methods of producing combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units - Google Patents

Description

y 12, 1959 G. WALDES METHODS OF PRODUCING COMBINED SLIDE FASTENER AND HOOK-AND-EYE CLOSURE UNITS Flled May 13 1957 INVENTOR VWALDES GEORGE ATTORNEY United States Patent METHODS OF PRODUCING COMBINED SLIDE FASTENER AND HOOK-AND-EYE CLOSURE George Waldes, Plandome, N.Y., assignor to Waldes Kohinoor, Inc., Long Island City, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application May 13, 1957, Serial No. 658,656

8 Claims. (Cl. 29-408) This invention relates to a method of producing combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units, and more particularly to a method of producing such closure units from continuous slide fastener chain and continuous hook-and-eye tapes.

Combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units are extensively used in garments exposed to severe side pulls, such as corsets, girdles, etc., the hook-and-eye fastener component of the closure unit serving torelieve the slide fastener component when the side pulls or strains are quickly and forcefully applied. Therefore, to meet the requirements of present-day fast and low-cost production schedules, a simplified and economical method for producing such closure units is a matter of some importance to suppliers and users thereof.

Accordingly, a major object of the invention is the provision of a fast, simple and highly practical methodof producing in a smooth and uninterrupted operation combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units of any length desired from continuous slide fastener chain, i.e. long lengths of companion interengaged stringers, and from correspondingly longlengths of hook-and-eye tapes.

Another important object of the, invention is the provision of a" method of producing a succession of combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units of any length desired from continuous lengths of slide fastener chain and hook-and-eye tapes assembled thereon in superimposed relation.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a method as aforesaid which further results in the slide fastener component of each closure unit produced having an element-freeextension at one end, usually the bottom end thereof, and an element-free needle gap near its other or top end.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a method satisfying any. one of the foregoing objects and which is further such that the closure units produced thereby are provided with end edges which are specially contoured to serve predetermined functional purposes.

The above and other objects and advantages of a method of producing combined slide fastener and hookand-eye closure units as specified will appear from the following detailed description thereof, reference being also had'to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. lis a perspective view illustrating in schematic fashion the various steps and their sequence of the hereinproposed method and a preferred arrangement of apparatus by which said method may be practiced;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a preferred form of combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure unit produced by the practice of the present method; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective detail view illustrating a form of cutter employed to specially contour the end edges of individual closure units of the type shown in Fig. 2 as they are severed from the advancing end of the assembled 2 continuous slide fastener and hook-and-eye tape structure. I

Referring to Fig. 1, reference numeral 10 designates a drum or spool on which is coiled or reeled a long length of continuous slide fastener chain SF comprising companion fastener stringers secured to one another by interengagement of the coupling heads of their oppositely disposed fastener elements; reference numeral 11 designates a generally similar drum or spool on which a long length of hook tape HT is wound, such comprising a fabric tape having conventional hook-type fasteners disposed at regularly spaced intervals therealong; and reference numeral 12 designates yet another and generally similar drum or spool on which is coiled or wound a long length of continuous eye tape ET, comprising a fabric tape mounting conventional fastening eyes disposed at regularly spaced intervals therealong. Preferably, the aforesaidspool 11 carrying the-hook tape 11 is arranged above and slightly forwardly of the spool 10 carrying the slide fastener chain SF, and spool 12 may be disposed at thesame level as the spool 11 but considerably forwardly, i.e. in the direction of fastener chain and hookand-eye tape travel, from said spool 11 and hence an even greater distance forwardly from the spool 10. As is usual, the hook tape HT has width somewhat less than the width of one of the slide fastener stringers and it is faced so that its hooks are disposed outwardly (upwardly) when said hook tape is assembled on a slide fastener stringer tape as will be described, and the eye tape 'ET has width substantially equalling that of the slide fastener chain and it is faced so that its fastener eyes are disposed inwardly (downwardly) when said eye tapeis similarly assembled on the slide fastener chain.

The hook tape HT is assembled on the slide fastener chain SF by being drawn downwardly thereonto from the spool 11 through a guide 15 which serves to superimpose said tape directly on a stringer of said slide fastener chain and to position it laterally so that its longitudinal outer edge exactly coincides with the outer longitudinal edge of the fastener stringer on which it is superimposed. The so assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape are thereupon drawn in unison across the bed of a first sewing machine 16 as by means of a pair or set of feed rollers 17, 17', one of which is driven through a suitable transmission from an electric motor (not shown). The driving rollers 17, 17' are duplicated by a plurality of sets of such driving rollers designated 18, 18', 19, 19' and 20, 20' disposed at spaced intervals along the length of the moving slide fastener chain and superimposed tapes, all being driven from the aforesaid electric motor which drives the first-mentioned roller set 17, 17'. Preferably, the aforesaid sewing machine is a two-needle machine whose two needles are adapted to sew the hook tape HT to the one stringer of the slide fastener chain on which it is assembled by two lines of stitching a, b, it being observed from Fig. 2 that one line of stitching a is disposed close to the outer edges of said hook tape and stringer tape, with the second line of stitching b being disposed a short distance inwardly therefrom.

The now sewn slide fastener chain and hook-tape assembly advances along its path of travel to a point somewhat forwardly of the aforesaid eye-tape spool 12, at which point eye tape ET drawn from said spool is superimposed thereon preparatory to its being sewn to said assembly. Prior to this sewing operation being eifected, the assembled chain and the two tapes HT and ET together enter a so-called aligning station designated 22 whereat, either by manual or mechanical means, the spaced eyes of the eye tape ET are 'brought into exact lateral alignment with the spaced hooks of the already sewn hook tape HT. This exact alignment is thereafter maintained by a guide channel 23 disposed on the egress side of the aligning station 22, which channel combines with the feed rollers 18, 18 to progress the sewn-together slide fastener chain and hook tapeand the superimposed but non-sewn eye tape ET (whose eyes are in exact alignment with the hooksof the hook tape) to a second sewing machine designated 24. Preferably, said second sewing machine has but a single needle and such is disposed laterally so that it sews the eye tape along its front longitudinal edge to the corresponding outer edge disposed opposite the stringer to which the hook tape is sewn. Thus, as seen in Fig. 2, the full-width eye tape ET is secured to the slide fastener chain by a line of stitching designated which extends along the longitudinal side edge of the slide fastener chain and opposite that along which the aforesaid line of stitching a passes.

It will be observed that the aforesaid set of driving rollers 18, 18 is disposed just forwardly of the second sewing machine 24, this positioning of course insuring a positive feed of the assembled slide fastener chain and superimposed hook-and-eye tapes through said second sewing machine. It is also to be observed that in progressing between sets of feed rollers 17, 17' and 18, 18', the assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape passes over an idler roller 25 spaced somewhat forwardly from the set of driving rollers 17, 17', and that in the space between said set of rollers 17, 17 and the idler roller 25 there is formed a loop which allows for any relative longitudinal movement between said assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape, on the one hand, and the assembled but not sewn eye tape, on the other, as is required to exactly align the hooks and the eyes of the companion hook-and-eye tapes.

Forwardly of the second sewing machine 24, the assembled and now finally sewn-together slide fastener and hook-and-eye tape structure passes over a forward guide roller 26, between which and the set of feed rollers 18, 18 another loop is formed, and thereupon said assembled structure advances to an unfolder 27, which functions to unfold, i.e. fold back, the eye tape ET from its superimposed fastener-chain covering relation. Upon such unfolding being completed, the fastener elements of the slide fastener chain are completely exposed as is necessary both to remove certain of the fastener elements incident to the provision of element-free extensions and/or needle gaps at or near the ends of the final closure units, and to supply a specialcontouring of the end edges of the final units as serves a desired utilitarian purpose to be explained.

With the eye tape folded back, and the slide fastener chain opened up as-described, the assembled and sewntogether slide fastener chain, hook tape HT and openedup eye tape ET are advanced by the next forward set of feed rollers 19, 19' to a ram-operated element-removing and closure unit cut-off die generally designated as 28. Preferably, said die is generally of the type disclosed and claimed'in the commonly owned Feitl application Serial No. 439,112, filed June 24, 1954, now Patent No. 2,817,403 dated December 24, 1957, and comprises two longitudinally disposed and spaced element-removing punches 30, 30a, and a transversely disposed cutting blade generally designated 32 for cutting off predetermined lengths of said assembled and sewn-together slide fastener and hook-and-eye tape structure from the advancing end thereof. As best seen in Fig. 3, said cutting blade may be formed in three sections, one section 32a having width corresponding to the full width of the slide fastener chain SF and being disposed to sever said chain (and hook tape HT as well), a second section 3217 which is parallel to and offset a slight distance forwardly from said first section 32a and has width corresponding to that of the eye tape ET and is disposed to sever said tape, and an intermediate connecting section 320 extending longitudinally between the adjacent inner ends of the aforesaid sections 32a, 32b.

As will be understood from the prior application aforesaid, the element-removing punch 30 is adapted to cut through the coupling heads of a small number, for example, two or three, of the interengaged fastener elements which are spaced rearwardly from the line of cut of the blade section 32a by a correspondingly small number of retained fastener elements, such eventually resulting in the provision of a needle gap g in the fastener chain near but spaced downwardly from the top end edge of each closure unit produced. The companion element-removing punch 39a extends longitudinally from the other or forward side of said transverse blade section 32a and is adapted to remove a larger number of those interengagedfastener elements which are disposed to the forward side of the line of cut of said cutting blade 32a, as results in the provision of an element-free extension 2 at one end (the bottom end) of each severed closure unit produced.

' Consequent to the aforesaid disposition of the sections 32a, 32b and 320 of the closure unit cutter 32, each cut-off operation results in the forward (upper) end of the eye tape ET being extended beyond the forward (upper) end of the assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape, and in said assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape being extended beyond the rearward (lower) end of the eye tape. In the final combined closure unit, the upward extension of the eye tape beyond the slide fastener chain is particularly desirable, as it permits the upper end portion of the relatively frail eye tape to be folded over so as to prevent its fraying. Similarly, the bottom end extension provided on the assembled slide fastener chain and hook tape component of the final closure unit enables said end to be folded over when being attached to the garment, thus giving a finished bottom edge to the closure unit when installed.

It will of course be understood that the powered driving rollers of the aforesaid roller sets 17, 17', 18, 18', 19, 19 and 20, 20 are intermittently driven in unison at a speed and for a time interval calculated to draw off lengths of the slide fastener chain of the hook and eye tapes from the spools 10, 11 and 12 on which they are respectively wound, which correspond to the length of the closure units being produced for any particular manufacturing run or schedule. Also to be understood is that the die 28 partakes of its working stroke in the interval between each two successive chain and tape feeding operations, and thus the assembled and sewn-together slide fastener chain and tape structure is at rest for the short time interval that the element-removing and closure unit cut-off blades are in operative engagement therewith.

Finally, it will be seen from Fig. 1 that the foremost set of feed rollers 20, 20 grips each of the individual closure units as they are severed from the advancing end of the assembled slide fastener chain and tape structure aforesaid and feeds same forwardly, whereupon they may drop to a container or the like positioned to receive same. Upon the severed closure unit clearing the set of rollers 20, 20', they become immediately effective to receive and grip the advancing end of said chain and tape structure, thereby in functioning together with the rearward feed roller sets to measure off the length of the structure feeding to the action of the element-removing and cut-01f die assembly 28.

Without further analysis, it will be appreciated that the herein described invention provides a fast yet highly practical and simple method for the production of combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units which satis fies the objectives thereof as explained in the foregoing. However, as many changes could be made in the number and order of the steps of the above method without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the present description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

l. The method of producing combined slide fastener and hook-and-eye closures which comprises the steps of progressively assembling first a length of continuous hook tape disposed with its hooks facing outwardly and thereafter a length of continuous eye tape disposed with its hooks facing inwardly on a length of continuous fastener chain moving along a predetermined path of travel, first sewing the hook tape to the slide fastener chain along corresponding longitudinal edges of each, adjusting the relative longitudinal position of said eye tape with respect to the sewn hook tape as may be required to establish substantially exact alignment of the hooks and eyes of said tapes, thereupon sewing the eye tape along an edge thereof to the slide fastener chain along a corresponding edge of the latter and which is opposite to the edge thereof to which the hook tape is sewn, and successively severing the advancing end of said combined slide fastener chain and tape structure in lengths corresponding to that of the closure units desired.

2. The method substantially as set forth in claim 1, wherein the continuous slide fastener chain and the separate continuous hook and eye tapes are each drawn from a supply thereof arranged in roll formation.

3. The method substantially as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hook tape has width less than half the width of said slide fastener chain and is superimposed on but one stringer tape thereof, and said eye tape has width substantially equal to that of the slide fastener chain and is disposed thereon in covering relation to both the hook tape and the slide fastener chain.

4. The method substantially as set forth in claim 3, and the further step of folding the eye tape back out of its covering relation with respect to the hook tape and the slide fastener chain following its being sewn to the latter as aforesaid.

5. The method of producing continuous slide fastener and hook-and-eye closure units, which comprises the steps of progressively superimposing first a continuous hook tape and thence a continuous eye tape on a length of continuous slide fastener chain advancing along a predetermined path of travel, the hook tape having width corresponding substantially to the width of one stringer of the slide fastener chain and the eye tape having width substantially equaling the full width of said chain, sewing the hook tape along one edge thereof to a corresponding longitudinal edge of the slide fastener chain prior to the eye tape being superimposed on the latter, sewing the eye tape to the assembled and sewn-together slide fastener chain and hook tape along one longitudinal edge of the edge tape and a corresponding edge of the slide fastener which is opposite that to which said hook tape is sewn, whereby said eye tape is disposed in covering relation with respect to the slide fastener chain, folding said eye tape back from said slide fastener chain so as to expose the fastener elements thereof, severing from the advancing end of said combined slide fastener chain and hookand-eye tape structure and with said eye tape disposed folded back as aforesaid, a succession of lengths thereof corresponding to the desired length of closure unit, and simultaneously with each such severing operation removing a plurality of the fastener elements from the slide fastener chain at locations thereof disposed to both sides of the line of severance.

6. The method substantially as set forth in claim 5, wherein said element-removing operation effects removal of a small number of fastener elements located near to but spaced rearwardly from said line of severance, and simultaneously effects removal of a substantially larger number of the fastener elements located immediately to the other side of said line of severance.

7. The method substantially as set forth in claim 5, wherein the severing operation effects severance along transverse lines of out which are offset from one another.

8. The method substantially as set forth in claim 7, wherein said transverse lines of cut are disposed to provide the eye tape of each closure unit produced with an upperend extension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,964,485 Seaver June 26, 1934 2,219,165 Nedal Oct. 22, 1940 2,395,869 Hendley Mar. 5, 1946 2,697,227 Prupis Dec. 21, 1954

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