Claims
- 1. Apparatus for producing an athletic supporter, said supporter comprising a waistband, a pouch and two leg straps, said apparatus comprising
- a work table over which a waistband strip may be moved in a machine direction,
- a spacer chain oriented to cooperate with said waistband strip as it moves over said work table, said spacer chain being operable to permit a machine operator to locate the free ends of said supporter's leg straps and the top edge of said supporter's pouch on said waistband strip in the desired locations relative one to the other, and relative to the length of said waistband strip, prior to attachment of said leg straps and pouch to said waistband; and
- attaching equipment for securing said waistband, pouch and leg straps together in said desired locations.
- 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, said apparatus comprising
- at least one guide finger adapted to cooperate with one edge of each of said leg straps, and at least one guide finger adapted to cooperate with one edge of said pouch, said guide fingers being connected to said spacer chain.
- 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said apparatus comprising
- at least two guide fingers adapted to cooperate with said pouch, said guide fingers comprising a leading guide finger that cooperates with the leading edge of said pouch and a trailing guide finger that cooperates with the trailing edge of said pouch.
- 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said waistband strip being of an endless length, said apparatus comprising
- a cutoff mechanism having a knife adapted to cut said endless length waistband strip to a discrete length.
- 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 said attaching equipment comprising
- a sewing mechanism located to sew the free ends of said supporter's leg straps and the top edge of said supporter's pouch to said endless waistband strip.
- 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 comprising
- a trip finger connected to said spacer chain, said trip finger being operable to activate said cutoff mechanism.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 835,963 filed Mar. 4, 1986.
This invention relates to athletic supporters. More particularly, this invention relates to a new athletic supporter product, a novel method for fabricating that product, and improved apparatus by which the supporter can be manufactured.
Athletic supporters are, of course, very well known to the prior art. They have been worn for many years by male athletes during competition in athletic contests and games. An athletic supporter is basically comprised of a closed loop waistband, a pouch that extends downwardly from the waist band's front section, and right and left leg straps each affixed at one end to the bottom of the pouch and at the other end at spaced locations on the waistband on opposite sides of the pouch.
The prior art methods of producing prior art athletic supporters, and the prior art equipment therefor, have been relatively labor intensive. This for the reason that an athletic supporter, even though it is comprised of only a few basic pieces, i.e., a waistband, two leg straps, and a pouch piece, requires sewing of those pieces in definite locations relative one to the other, and this requires proper orientation of those pieces by a sewing machine operator before the sewing steps can take place. In this regard, the sewing machine operator must properly locate the position of the pouch piece's upper edge relative to the waistband, and must properly locate the waist band ends of the leg straps relative to the pouch piece on the waistband, prior to sewing together those components into the completed athletic supporter product. These locations are determined manually by the sewing machine operator. In the first place this is a time consuming approach, and in the second place it is an approach which is potentially error prone in light of reliance on human labor for the critical placement step of the pouch piece and leg strap free ends in proper position relative to the waistband prior to sewing those components together. These two aspects of production tend to increase the finished cost of the final athletic supporter product.
Accordingly, it has been the objective of this invention to provide an improved athletic supporter product, a novel method for fabricating that product, and improved apparatus by which the supporter can be manufactured, in an effort to reduce the labor intensity in the manufacture of an athletic supporter which, in turn, may reduce the cost of manufacture and, therefor, the end cost of the product. In accord with this objective, this invention contemplates, in preferred form, an athletic supporter formed from a method in which a pouch and leg strap subassembly is attached to an endless length waistband by means of a continuous stitch line that is sewn along that waistband. The location of the subassembly's leg strap ends and the pouch piece, relative one to the other, on the endless waistband is established by an endless spacer chain that continuously moves along a work table over which the waistband also continuously moves, that spacer chain having a series of guide fingers against which the leg strap and pouch piece end edges are positioned by the sewing machine operator. The waistband is cut to length after the subassembly is stitched thereto by the continuous length stitch line, and the waist band's edges are then sewn together, to provide the final athletic supporter product with closed loop waistband, and with leg straps and pouch attached.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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835963 |
Mar 1986 |
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Patent Grant
4685405
