Apparatus for manufacturing and stacking hemmed fabric pieces

Apparatus for folding sequentially one side margin of a plurality of fabric pieces conveyed along a path defined by a continuously moving conveyor 99 engaging the upper surface of said fabric pieces to form a hem in each of said pieces, each said piece being positioned with said margin projecting to one side of said path;

• characterized by
• a. a horizontal folder plate 101 for engaging the bottom surfaces of said sequentially fed fabric pieces, said folder plate having a folder plate edge 102 defining the first fold position of said hem;
• b. a first vertical folder member 103 disposed spaced from and adjacent said folder plate edge, the edge 103(a) of said first vertical folder member for engaging the advancing leading edge of each side margin of said fabric pieces to form between said folder plate edge and said first vertical folder member a margin flap 49;
• c. a second folder member 104 in said path downstream of said vertical folder member, said second folder member having a vertical portion 104(b) and a horizontal portion 104(a) for engaging the leading edge of said advancing margin flap 49 for folding said margin flap 49 toward the bottom surface of said folder plate 101;
• d. a first die plate 106 for engaging the upper surface of said folded advancing margin flap 49;
• e. a second die plate 107 spaced horizontally from said first die plate in said path for engaging the lower surface of said advancing margin flap 49, said first 106 and second 107 die plates being disposed downstream of said second folder member in said path;
• f. said first 106 and second 107 die plates being spaced vertically from each other to accommodate the thickness of said folded margin flap 49 when first engaging said margin flap;
• g. the lower engaging surface 114 of said first die plate 106 extending continuously in a single horizontal plane;
• h. the upper engaging surfaces 113 of said second die plate 107 gradually inclined 108 along said path of travel from a first horizontal plane 109 below the plane of the engaging surface 114 of said first die plate 106 to a plane 111 above the engaging surface 114 of said first die plate 106 for folding the edge of said margin flap 49 inwardly of itself to form a second edge hem 51;
• and
• i. a shaped bar 121 for holding said folded hems in position under each fabric piece prior to sewing.