Apparatus for automatically hemming tubular garments on a sewing machine

Apparatus in combination with a sewing machine having a needle, a presser foot and a rotatable feed roller, the apparatus adapted to be driven with the sewing machine during its operation for forming and sewing a hem at the end of a tubular portion of material, and comprising:

• (a) a guide cylinder rotatably mounted upstream of the needle in the direction of the sewing, the guide cylinder having an annular shoulder adjacent to one end to act as a material stop and defining an annular groove spaced from the material stop so as to accommodate a folded over edge of the material at reduced tension;
• (b) a tension cylinder disposed substantially parallel to the feed roller and the guide cylinder, and movable between a retracted position and a material tensioning position;
• (c) a folding guide having a lateral throat disposed between the presser foot and the guide cylinder, the folding guide being movable between a retracted position and an active position wherein the lateral throat is disposed adjacent to the annular groove opposite the material stop and engages the edge of the material to form an interior fold of the hem;
• and,
• (d) means disposed between the feed roller and the guide and tension cylinders to provide an air jet in a direction transverse to the direction of sewing.