US3051104A - Cutter attachment for looping machines - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 28, 1962 R. M. GRAVES 3,051,104

CUTTER ATTACHMENT 1 6R LOOPING MACHINES Filed Feb. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTOR. RALPH M.6I2AvEs ATT QUEY Aug. 28, 1962*- R. M'. GRAVES CUTTER ATTACHMENT FOR LOOPING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 9, 1959 JNVENTOR. PALD H M. Gem/Es W AT TO EH53 Patented Aug. 28, 1962 3,051,104 CUTTER ATTACHMENT FOR LOOPING MACHINES Ralph M. Graves, Harriman, Tenn., assignor of one-half to Roane Hosiery, Inc., Harriman, Tenn., a corporation of Tennessee Filed Feb. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 792,036 6 Claims. (Cl. 11225) This invention relates to a cutter attachment for use in connection with dial looping machines of the type employed in uniting or sewing together the edges of stockings or other knitted articles by a continuous chain of stitching.

In machines now employed, a cutter is provided for severing the chain of stitching between one stocking and another but due to non-uniformity in operation the severed chain leaves ends of stitching attached to the stocking of varying lengths which are objectionable. At present the long ends of stitching are shortened by a manual operation employing scissors and frequently this results in the ends being cut too short so that the toe seam of the stocking is likely to rip out during subsequent processing or while being worn.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an auxiliary cutter for dial looping machines which operates in conjunction with the conventional cutter to cut the severed ends of the chain stitching to a uniform length.

A further object of the invention resides in providing a cutter having its blades disposed in a horizontal plane above the chain of stitching and means associated with the cutter blades for drawing the severed ends of the chain stitching to a posiiton between the co-acting cutter blades whereby they are cut off to a uniform length.

A still further object of the invention resides in providing suction means associated with the cutter for drawing the severed ends of the chain stitching to a cutting position which also serves to remove and dispose of the clipped ends.

Another object of the invention resides in providing a cutter attachment which is simple and durable in construction, reliable and efiicient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a looping machine showing my invention incorporated therein,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary cutter applied to a looping machine,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the cutter,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cutter, as viewed from the bottom,

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, the numeral 5 denotes generally a dial looping machine of conventional construction. The machine comprises a stationary dial 6 supported by an arm 7 attached to and extending from a bed plate 8. The dial 6 is surrounded by the usual rotatable ring 9 having a series of spaced impaling pins 10 projecting from its outer periphery upon which the loops of the hosiery fabric are threaded. The ring is rotated around the dial by suitable mechanism and the movement is continuous and uniform.

The machine is driven by a suitable source of power through belting passing over a driving pulley 11 mounted upon a driving shaft 12 journaled in a bearing head 13 of the bed plate 8. The driving shaft passes through a bearing opening in the arm 7 and is provided with a crank 14 for manual operation which is thrown into gear with the driving pulley 11 by means of a slidably mounted clutch member 15 operated by means of a clutch lever 16, in a well known manner.

A drive shaft 17 extends at right angles to the driving shaft 12 and is supported by an arm 18 journaled on the driving shaft. A bevel gear 19 on the end of drive shaft 17 meshes with a bevel gear 20 fixed on the driving shaft 12. An eccentric 20 is mounted on the opposite end of the drive shaft 17 which actuates the lever 21 for operating the conventional cutter 22 for severing the connecting chain of stitching 23 between the pairs of hosiery 24. The cutter 22 comprises an outwardly extending arm 64 attached to the stationary dial 6 which terminates in a downwardly extending leg 61 for supporting a fixed knife blade 62. A pair of fingers 63 are pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the arm 60, as at 64, and are movable by the lever 21 actuated by eccentric 20 to lift the chain of stitching 23 into cutting engagement with the blade 62. The foregoing mechanism is conventional in looping machines and it is to be understood various types of driving mechanism may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring more particularly to the present invention, the auxiliary cutter comprises a support 25 fixedly mounted on the stationary dial of the looping machine having an arm 26 adjustably connected thereto by bolt 26' and extending horizontally therefrom in overhanging relation to the rotatable ring 9. A leg 27 depending from the arm 26 terminates in a lateral support 28 for mounting a stationary knife blade 29 which is adjustably held on the support by a clamping block 30. The arm 26 also serves to mount a pair of vertical spaced apertured ears 31 and 32 which support a rotatable and reciprocating shaft 33. Fixedly mounted on the shaft 33 between the ears is a swinging lever 34 which extends laterally and downwardly from shaft 33 and terminates in a lateral plate 35 which co-acts with a clamping block 36 for adjustably supporting a movable knife blade 37. The blade 37 moves in a horizontal plane towards the fixed blade 29 and both blades are provided with co-acting cutting edges adapted to sever the ends 38 of the chain stitching positioned between the "blades. The end of the blade 37 is provided with a narrow forward extension 39 which overlaps the blade 29 and the extension is held in bearing engagement with the blade 29 by the tension of spring 40 mounted on the lower end of shaft 33 between the ear 32 and collar 41. A nut 42 threaded on the upper end of shaft 33 in bearing engagement with a washer 43 seated above the ear 31 serves to reciprocate shaft 33 to adjust the tension of spring 40. Movement is imparted to the swinging lever 34 by a reciprocating rod 44 pivotally connected, as at 45, to the lateral arm 46 extending from the lever 34. The opposite end of.

rod 44 is connected by a ball and socket joint 47 to a coupling 48 connected to the eccentric 20 which imparts a reciprocating movement to the rod.

A suction tube 49 connected to a suitable source of suction power is provided with a flared nozzle 50 positioned above the cutting edge of the stationary knife blade 29 which serves to draw the severed ends 38 of the chain stitching to a vertical position whereby the ends may be cut to a uniform length. The tube 49 is held in position by a clamp 51 which engages the leg 52 of the support for the ear 31.

In operation, the looping machine performs its usual functions in the following sequence. First, the edges of the hosiery are trimmed by the usual cutter A; then the scraps of selvage are brushed away; then the edges are sewed together by a stitching machine B which forms a continuous chain of stitching with adjacent hosiery connected together by a length of stitching therebetwecn; then the connecting chain of stitching is severed by the conventional cutter all of which steps are old and Well known in the art. The present invention adds to the above steps a further step of cutting off the severed ends of the chain stitching to a uniform length thereby eliminating the necessity of cutting the severed ends after the stockings are removed from the machine as required with machines of present construction.

The auxiliary cutter is mounted on the machine adj acent the conventional cutter and after the connecting lengths of chain stitching are severed the free ends are brought beneath the nozzle 50 of suction tube. 49 thus causing the free ends to be drawn upwardly to a position between the cutting edges of the blades 29, 37, whereupon the blade 37 is swung by reciprocation of rod 44 to bring the cutting edges of the blades into co-tacting cutting relation to cut off the free ends to uniform lengths. The clippings from the free ends are drawn by the suction into tube 49 and conveyed to a suitable waste receptacle.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a machine including means for sewing together a series of looped fabrics by a continuous chain of stitching, means for severing the chain of stitching between the looped fabrics, a cutter mounted on the machine above the chain of stitching having horizontally disposed co-acting cutter blades, one of said blades being movable towards theother blade and having an extension in hearing engagement with the other blade, air suction means above said cutter blades for raising and holding the severed ends of the chain stitching to a position between said cutter blades, and means for. actuating the movable cutter blade to clip off the severed ends to a maximum predetermined length.

2. In a machine including means for sewing together a series of looped fabrics by a continuous chain of stitching, means for severing the chain of stitching between the looped fabrics, a cutter mounted on the machine above the chain of stitching having a pair of horizontally disposed cutter blades provided with co-acting cutting edges, one of said blades having an extension overlapping the other blade, tensioning means for holding said extension in bearing engagement with the other blade, an air suction tube mounted above said cutter blades having a flared end disposed above the cutting edges of the blades for raising the severed ends of the chain stitching to a position between :the cutting edges of said blades, and means for actuating one of said blades to clip off the raised severed ends to a maximum predetermined length.

3. In a machine for sewing looped fabrics comprising a rotatable ring, impaling pins projecting from said ring, stitch forming mechanism for sewing togethed the impaled loop fabrics by forming a continuous chain of stitching above the impaling pins, a cutter mounted above the impaling pins operable to sever the chain of stitching between the fabrics, a second cutter including a fixed blade horizontally mounted above said impaling pins, a movable blade slidably mounted on said fixed blade, said blades having co-acting cutting edges, means for reciprocating said movable blade, tension means for holding said movable blade in bearing engagement with said fixed blade, and an air suction tube having a nozzle disposed above the blades of said second cutter for raising and holding the severed ends of the chain of stitching in a cutting position between the blades while the ends are cut off and carried into said tube.

4. In a machine as described in claim 3 including an adjustable mounting for said second cutter to raise and lower the cutter with respect to the chain of stitching.

5. In a looping machine having a rotatable dial provided with a plurality of impaling pins for receiving successive fabric articles, means for sewing together the successive fabric articles by a continuous chain of stitching, means for severing the chain of stitching between the fabric articles, a pair of co-acting cutter blades disposed above the path of movement of the chain of stitching, a suction tube mounted above said cutter blades having an elongated open end extending across said cutter blades and in alinement with the chain of stitching, said tube being connected to a source of suction for creating a suction in said tube to raise the severed ends of the chain of stitching to a vertical position between the co-acting cutter blades and means for actuating said cutter blades.

6. In a looping machine having a rotatable dial provided with a plurality of impaling pins for receiving successive fabric articles, means for sewing together the sucessive fabric articles by a continuous chain of stitching, a first cutter including a vertically disposed fixed shearing blade disposed above the chain of stitching and pivoted fingers for lifting the chain of stitching between the articles into shearing engagement with said blade to sever the chain between said articles, a second cutter including a fixed horizontal shearing blade disposed above said chain of stitching and a reciprocating shearing blade co-acting with said fixed blade, a suction tube having a flared end disposed above and transversely of the blades of said second cutter for raising the free ends of the severed chain of stitching to a vertical position between the blades of the second cutter whereby the free ends are cut to a uniform length.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,214,170 Kiewicz Jan. 30, 1917 1,292,527 Steere Jan. 28, 1919 1,374,940 Martin et al Apr. 19, 1921 1,853,377 Randall Apr. 12, 1932 2,149,886 Hadley Mar. 7, 1939 2,191,288 Pons Feb. 20, 1940 2,356,378 Capolupo Aug. 22, 1944 2,607,101 Stout Aug. 19, 1952 2,712,805 Peterson et al. July 12, 1955 2,824,436 Stack et a1. Feb. 25, 1958 2,908,154 Butler Oct. 13, 1959 2,989,935 Butler June 27, 1961 UNITED STATES PATENTS 772,913 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1957

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