US 4,428,315 A · Automatic sleeve making

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for acting upon cloth in a particular manner, most particularly for automatically forming a shirt sleeve from a sleeve blank. The blank is conveyed by a conveyor in a first direction and a hem is automatically formed along a first edge thereof. The hem is ironed, and then the hemmed sleeve blank is automatically picked up off the conveyor and folded about an axis substantially transverse to the first direction. The folded hemmed blank is dropped on a second conveyor which conveys the blank in a second direction substantially transverse to the first direction. A seam is automatically formed along a second edge of the blank as it is being conveyed by the second conveyor, to form a shirt sleeve. A roller moving at a speed different than the speed of the second conveyor preferably engages the blank as it is being conveyed by the second conveyor and effects movement of it so that the seam along the second edge includes at least a portion which is arcuate.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method of automatically forming a shirt sleeve from a sleeve blank, comprising the steps of sequentially:

(a) conveying the blank in a first direction so that a first edge thereof moves substantially parallel to said first direction;
(b) automatically forming a hem along said first edge;
(c) automatically picking up the hemmed sleeve blank and folding it about an axis substantially transverse to said first edge;
(d) conveying the folded, hemmed blank in a second direction substantially transverse to said first direction, so that a second edge thereof is generally parallel to said second direction;
and
(e) automatically stitching along said second edge to stitch overlapped portions of the folded blank together to form a shirt sleeve.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Automatic sleeve making

Life of this patent

Automatic sleeve making

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22