Portable lace clipping and shearing apparatus for synchronous operation with a lace-knitting machine

A portable and wheelable clipping and shearing machine for finishing lace sheet produced by a lace machine, said portable machine comprising:

• a housing and a plurality of wheel means mounted to the housing for supporting the housing and enabling the housing to be wheeled to a location adjacent a lace machine;
• a take up roller, supported by the housing, for taking up lace sheet as it emerges from said lace machine and a conveying means for conveying lace sheet through said clipping and shearing machine along a predetermined path;
• clipping means, supported by the housing, for clipping floats disposed on said lace sheet to cut said floats into strands, each one of said strands being connected at one end thereof to a respective motif located on said lace sheet;
• shearing means, supported by the housing, for shearing said strands from said lace sheet close to said respective motives;
• and
• coupling and synchronizing means for detachably coupling said portable machine to the lace machine in a manner enabling said portable machine to be driven from said lace machine and in a manner wherein the speed of movement of said lace sheet through said portable machine is synchronized to the speed at which said lace sheet emerges from said lace machine, said coupling and synchronizing means comprising the sole mechanical linkage between said portable machine and said lace machine whereby said machines may be easily and rapidly disattached and attached from and to one another.