Automated grommet station

#The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for setting grommets onto large textile sheets at high speed.

#Conventionally, grommets are set around the perimeter of a tarp, tent, or the like sheet material with the use of a grommet setter. A grommet setter is a machine that punches a hole in a textile, and sets a grommet into the hole in one operation. The grommet setter may be of the sort in which grommets are fed into the setting apparatus one at a time by hand, by an operator, or it may be auto-loading, wherein a number of grommets are inserted into a magazine and feed one at a time into the grommet setting apparatus as it is used. The grommet setting machine, be it manual loading or auto loading, is conventionally firmly bolted to a work bench and substantially immovable. Therefore, when an operator is setting grommets around the perimeter of a large tarp (for instance) most of the time and effort of the operator is devoted to manually shifting the bulk of the tarp in a single rotational movement so that its perimeter edge can be brought into engagement with the grommet setter. The entire tarp must then be flattened out in a large space, and rolled or folded for further processing or shipping.

#It will be appreciated, therefore, that the production capability of an experienced operator with a conventional grommet setting machine will be about three tarps a day. Using the present invention production is substantially facilitated, and production rates increase to about 20 units per day.

#In drawings that illustrate the present invention by way of example:

#FIG. 1 is a front view of the work station of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a side view of the work station of the present invention;

#Referring now to the drawings, the present invention provides a work station including a grommet setter 1 that is preferably of the auto-loading type.

#Grommet setter 1 is mounted in a frame 2 that is rotatable on a turntable 3 that is located above frame 2 on a superstructure 4.

#The superstructure 4, which is a supporting framework for the entire workstation, includes a table area 5 which may if desired be provided with rollers (not illustrated) for ease of pulling material over it. The table is fairly wide from side to side, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 5, to accommodate wide tarps, but fairly shallow from front to back, so that the grommet setter 1 can be rotated for use at the back of the table, as shown in FIG. 4, at the side, as shown in FIG. 5, or at the front of the table (not illustrated).