Cloth stitching apparatus and method

Abstract

Cloth stitching apparatus and method for forming a rectangular cloth having stitched rounded corners, such as a wash cloth. Blank pieces of rectangular cloth material are aligned with an overlock sewing machine on the table of the apparatus. The sewing machine trims the cloth edges, folds over the trimmed edge and sews or stitches along one side of the cloth. Each piece of cloth is moved along X and Y axis. Thus, as the cloth is moving along an X axis at a predetermined surface speed, the sewing machine trims, and sews along one side of the cloth. When the cloth is moved along its X axis to a point where the sewing machine is adjacent a corner of the cloth, a switch is activated which starts turning the sewing machine. The cloth stops while the sewing machine turns at the same surface speed of the cloth on the actual radius of the corner of the cloth. The cloth then starts and goes in the opposite perpendicular direction Y while the sewing machine continues at the same surface speed. When the stitching around the outside edge of the cloth has been completed, the excess thread is sucked into the machine, cut off and the completed cloth is ejected.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.