Shirt pressing apparatus with movable cuff clamps

A cuff clamp for use in a shirt pressing apparatus comprising:

• a clamp housing adapted to be attached to a sleeve extending rod of a shirt pressing apparatus;
• first and second pinch bars mounted in said clamp housing, each of said pinch bars having upper and lower ends, said lower ends being openable to receive a shirt cuff upwardly between said pinch bars;
• and
• a biasing device, acting between said pinch bars and said clamp housing arranged to resiliently urge said pinch bars toward each other.

A method of pressing a long-sleeve shirt in shirt pressing apparatus comprising:

• loading a body portion of an unfinished shirt onto a buck of the apparatus;
• inserting cuff portions of the unfinished shirt within cuff clamps attached to sleeve extending rods of the apparatus while the sleeve extending rods are in a retracted position adjacent to the buck, said inserting being carried out in an upward direction from below the clamps;
• shifting the sleeve extending rods to an extended position away from the buck such that sleeve portions of the unfinished shirt are extended relative to the body portion of the unfinished shirt and placed in tension;
• transferring the buck, the sleeve extending rods and the unfinished shirt into a pressing cabinet of the apparatus;
• finishing the shirt in the pressing cabinet;
• transferring the buck, the sleeve extending rods and the finished shirt out of the pressing cabinet;
• and
• unloading the finished shirt by removing the cuff portions thereof in a downward direction from the cuff clamps while the sleeve extending rods are maintained in the extended position and removing the body portion of the finished shirt from the buck.