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US 4,466,367 AGranted
Intermittent top shirring attachment for sewing machine
AssigneeAtlanta Attachment Company
InventorsElvin C. Price, James R. Young, Joseph A. Bottoms
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAtlanta Attachment Company
InventorsElvin C. Price, James R. Young, Joseph A. Bottoms
Estimating the term…
A shirring attachment includes a rotatable feed wheel 51 positioned over a stripper blade 60 and normally positioned in spaced relationship above the work surface of and in front of the sewing needle 45 of a sewing machine. A first ply of material 78 is extended over the work surface and beneath the stripper blade to the feed dogs 68 of the sewing machine, and a second ply of material 80 is extended over the stripper blade to the sewing needle. The rotatable feed wheel is driven with a peripheral velocity that corresponds to the speed of the sewing machine motor, usually at a higher velocity that the feed dogs, and the feed wheel is moved by an air-actuated cylinder 54 at the command of the machine operator down toward the stripper blade into engagement with the upper ply of material so as to feed the upper ply of material to the sewing needle at a faster rate than the movement of the lower ply of material. The upper ply of material is gathered at the needle of the sewing machine and sewn in its gathered condition to the lower ply of material.
A shirring attachment for a sewing machine of the type having a work surface, a drive motor, reciprocatable needle means driven by the drive motor, feed means at the needle means and driven by the drive motor for moving a work product across the work surface to the needle means, and a presser foot adjacent the needle means for urging the work product downwardly toward the feed means;
A method of shirring plies of material with a sewing machine of the type including a sewing needle and material feed means comprising arranging two plies of material in overlying relationship at the sewing needle of a sewing machine, placing the lower ply of material beneath a platform positioned in front of the sewing needle and placing the upper ply of material over the platform, engaging and pulling the lower surface of the lower ply of material with the material feed means of the sewing machine to pull the lower ply toward the sewing needle, intermittently engaging the upper surface of the upper ply of material with the peripheral portion of a drive roller urged toward the platform and rotating the drive roller at a speed sufficient to pull the upper ply toward the sewing needle at a faster rate than the movement of the lower ply of material toward the sewing needle, whereby the upper ply of material is gathered at the sewing needle, and sewing through both the upper and lower plies of material with the sewing needle as the upper ply of material is gathered at the sewing needle.
A shirring attachment for a sewing machine of the type including a work surface, a sewing needle, feed means at said sewing needle for engaging the bottom surface of a work product and moving the work product toward the sewing needle, said shirring attachment comprising:
A shirring attachment for a sewing machine of the type including a sewing needle and feed dogs for moving material to the sewing needle, said shirring attachment comprising a platform for positioning in front of the sewing needle, a drive roller positioned over said platform, means for moving said drive roller toward and away from said platform, means for rotating said drive roller, and a presser foot including a stepped bottom surface with a lower surface normally positioned below said platform and over the feed dogs and a higher surface normally extending over said platform, whereby a first ply of material is extended beneath the platfrom and beneath the lower surface of the presser foot and over the feed dogs, and a second ply of material is extended over the platform and beneath the higher surface of the presser foot and then over the first ply of material and beneath the lower surface of the presser foot, the feed dogs and sewing needle operated to sew together the plies of material, and the feed roller rotated at a peripheral velocity sufficient to move the upper ply of material to the sewing needle at a faster rate than the lower ply of material.
A shirring attachment for a sewing machine of the type having a work surface, a sewing needle that reciprocates from above and downwardly through the work surface, feed dogs at the sewing needle in the working surface for moving up from beneath the working surface to engage a work product and to move the work product to the sewing needle, the improvement comprising a platform positioned in front of the sewing needle and spaced over the work surface, a presser foot including a stepped bottom surface with a lower surface extending over the feed dogs and a higher surface extending over said platform and movable toward and away from the feed dogs and said platform, a drive roller above said platform and movable toward and away from engagement with said platform, and means for rotating said drive roller with peripheral velocity faster than the effective rate of movement of the feed dogs whereby a ply of material extending beneath the platform and over the feed dogs and beneath the lower surface of the presser foot is moved at a first rate toward the sewing needle, and another ply of material extending over the platform and beneath the drive roller and the higher surface of the presser foot and then over the first ply of material and beneath the lower surface of the presser foot is moved at a faster rate toward the sewing needle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.