US 4,047,272 AGranted

Machine for continuous bias cutting of tubular fabric

AssigneeHanes Corporation

InventorsJ. Frank King, Donald A. Sloan

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Abstract

Automated machine for the continuous bias cutting of an elongated tube of material, such a tubular knitted fabric, into a plurality of individual strips, and winding the strips into a plurality of rolls of fabric. The machine comprises a supply section, a spreading and tensioning section and a cutting and rolling section. The tubular material or fabric is stored in the supply section in a rotatable receptacle in the form of a stack of untensioned superimposed flattened folds. The tube is advanced axially from the supply to the cutting and rolling section of the machine by a plurality of skewed rotatable cylinders. As the flattened tube is withdrawn from the supply, it passes over a spreader which opens and tensions it. The rotatable skewed cylinders cause the advancing tube to rotate about its axis as it advances to be cut into strips. Selectively operable control means are utilized for rotating the supply receptacle, to correlate its speed of rotation with the speed of rotation of the tube of material, to maintain the tube substantially untwisted, relative to its axis, and under substantially uniform tension, as it advances to the cutting and rolling section of the machine.

Claims14

Dependent claims

In a machine for continuously cutting an elongated tube of fabric into a plurality of individual helically cut strips and winding the cut strips into a plurality of fabric rolls, said machine including a support, fabric cutting and rolling means mounted on the support for cutting the fabric into strips and forming the strips into rolls, and a fabric supply spaced longitudinally from the support, the improvement comprising:

a. a plurality of skewable, longitudinally disposed, transversely spaced, rotatable cylinders mounted on the support for supporting the fabric tube in open condition and advancing the tubular fabric axially from the supply to the cutting means,
b. drive means for driving rotatably at least one of the cylinders, to cause the tubular fabric to rotate about its axis as the fabric advances to the cutting means,
c. adjustment means for skewing the cylinders selectively relative to the support, to cause the tube of fabric to advance to the cutting means at a selected rate of speed,
d. a rotatable receptacle for storing the supply of fabric,
e. drive means for rotating the receptacle,
f. speed adjustment means for correlating the speed of rotation of the receptacle with the speed of rotation of the tube of fabric as the fabric advances to the cutting means and
g. freely rotatable spreading means interposed between the receptacle and the cylinders to open and tension the fabric tube, said spreading means being rotated by the rotating and advancing tube of fabric to maintain the fabric under substantially uniform tension and to permit the fabric to remain substantially untwisted as it advances to the cylinders.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.