The present invention relates to a method for producing a sewn product, especially a mattress panel, a quilt or the like, having corner areas which deviate from an orthogonal pattern, preferably consisting of several layers of sewn product material which are to be stitched together, as a segment of a sewn product material, in which method the sewn product material is provided with at least two stitched seams between two sewn products that are arranged adjacent to each other in the sewn product material, by means of a sewing device which is movable transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material, and in which the sewn product material is subsequently cut between the two stitched seams, wherein the sewing device includes a sewing unit with needles and an oscillating shuttle box including shuttles which are assigned to the needles. The invention further relates to an apparatus, especially a multiple needle sewing machine, preferably a multiple needle chain stitch sewing machine or a multiple needle backstitch sewing machine, for the production of a sewn product, especially a mattress panel, a quilt or the like, having corner areas that deviate from an orthogonal pattern, preferably from several layers of sewn product material which are to be stitched together, as a segment of a sewn product material, comprising a sewing device which is movable transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material and which includes a sewing unit with needles and with a shuttle box having shuttles which are assigned to the needles.
From prior art methods for producing a sewn product are known. The term sewn product is understood to mean for instance mattress cloth, especially mattress cover and/or side panels, quilts or the like. Mattress cloth is used for covering mattress cores, and this sewn product consists especially of a face fabric and a filler, e.g. of a foamed material, which materials are stitched together. Between adjacently arranged sewn products the beginnings or the ends of the sewn products are sewn up with at least two, preferably four or more stitched seams transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. Thereafter, the sewn product material is cut between the stitched seams.
Moreover, from the document EP 1 120 486 B1 a device for the production of a sewn product is known, in which the sewn product material is withdrawn from a supply device and is fixed in a clamping frame. The clamping frame is provided with a traverse above the clamping frame, which traverse extends transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material and is movable relative to the clamping frame in the conveying direction of the sewn product material, with a sewing unit being movable on said traverse. With this device for producing a sewn product backstitches are performed, by means of which the sewn product material is stitched together while stitching various patterns which are stored for instance in a computer system and which may be fetched for controlling the sewing unit.
The sewn product material may be continuously withdrawn from the supply device and fed to the clamping frame. The clamping frame consists of two clamping devices that extend transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material and two clamping elements that are arranged on the longitudinal rims of the sewn product material and extend in the conveying direction and are movable transversely to the conveying direction.
After loose sewn product material is supplied to the clamping frame and clamped therein, the clamped part of the sewn product material may be provided with the desired backstitches, while a substantially straight stitched seam is produced respectively along the clamping device or the clamping elements.
After the stitching operation is concluded, trimming of the rims of the sewn product is required. For this purpose, the apparatus for producing a sewn product includes a cross cutter in the region of the end which is directed away from the supply device. The longitudinal rims of the sewn product material are cut by means of longitudinal cutters.
The cross cutter is arranged on a further sewing device that is movable on guide rails transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. The sewing device consists of a sewing unit including two, preferably four needles and an oscillating shuttle box which is arranged below the sewing unit and includes shuttles which are assigned to the needles. On the shuttle box a cutting device in the form of a rotary knife is provided, by means of which the sewn product material is cut. The sewing unit, the cutting device and the shuttle box are arranged in a C-shaped housing which is movable along the guide rails.
Based on this prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of the type as mentioned and an apparatus of the type as mentioned, by means of which sewn products with corner areas deviating from an orthogonal pattern may be formed in an easy and inexpensive way.
On part of the method according to the invention the solution provides that with a device at least one sub-area of a transition area of adjacent sewn products which is arranged in the conveying direction of the sewn product material is removed, this removal of the sub-area covering both sewn products which are adjacently arranged in the sewn product material and being performed prior to or during the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction. On part of the apparatus according to the invention, the solution of the above-mentioned object provides that the apparatus additionally includes an arrangement, by which at least one sub-area of at least two sewn products that are adjacently arranged in the conveying direction of a sewn product material is removed.
Accordingly, in the method of the invention it is provided that the sewn product material in the transition area of adjacent sewn products is processed by removing a sub-area. Removing a sub-area covers both sewn products that are adjacently arranged in the sewn product material and is performed prior to or during the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction. Consequently, it is provided that at least one sub-area is removed from the sewn product material during the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. Here, the time of this sewing operation is determined by a step of the method which begins with the positioning of the sewing device in the region of a lateral edge of the sewn product material running in the conveying direction and ends with the termination of the return of the sewing device to the initial position. Therefore, during this step of the method at least two stitched seams are made in the sewn product material at right angles to the conveying direction of the sewn product material between which the sewn product material is cut by means of a cutting device, so that a sewn product which is arranged on the end side in the sewn product material is separated from the sewn product material and passed on for further processing.
Alternatively, it may be provided that the sub-area is removed spatially and/or temporally before the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. For the event that several sub-areas have to be removed, it may be provided that the removal of the sub-areas is performed both during the stitching of the seams transversely to the sewn product material and prior to the stitching of the seams transversely to the sewn product material. Further, there is an option to remove the sub-areas prior to stitching the seams transversely to the conveying direction, if the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction is effected bi-axially, meaning that the sewing device needs not be returned again to the initial position before stitching the seams transversely to the conveying direction.
According to a feature of a further development of the invention it is provided that the sub-area is removed in a cutting operation. Scissors or knives proved satisfactory for this purpose. An alternative further development of the method according to the invention provides that the sub-area is removed by punching. The removal of the sub-area by punching is possible with a high degree of accuracy and above all with a high punching speed. Of course, there is also an option of removing sub-areas by punching and cutting.
Preferably, two sub-areas which are spaced from each other in the conveying direction of the sewn product material are removed at the same time. Therefore, the possibility exists for example that two sub-areas in the region of one longitudinal edge are removed simultaneously, while in the region of the opposite longitudinal edge of the sewn product material sub-areas to be removed are removed during the sewing operation. This makes sure, that during the sewing operation in the region where the seams are stitched transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material only one sub-area must be removed, so that the time interval for the removal of the sub-area may be easily matched with the period which is required for the sewing operation. Consequently, the removal of the sub-areas may be effected within a period which is shorter compared to the period required for the sewing operation. Any reduction of the processing speed of the sewn product material is not caused thereby.
According to a further feature of the invention it is provided that two sub-areas on opposite lateral rims in the region of the stitched seams are removed transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. In this embodiment it is provided that the subareas are arranged in such a way that each sewn product deviates from an orthogonal pattern in the corner regions.
Preferably, the two sub-areas on the opposite lateral rims are spatially and/or temporally removed substantially simultaneously. This technique turned out to be advantageous particularly in a case where the sub-areas are removed temporally prior to the stitching of the seams transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. Controlling the removal of the sub-areas takes place in this case by the determination of the conveying distance of the sewn product material, so that the removed sub-areas are arranged in a region of the sewn product material in which thereafter the seams are stitched transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material.
Furthermore, it turned out to be advantageous to remove substantially simultaneously with the sewing operation at least one sub-area which is arranged at a distance from for instance at least one sewn product in the sewn product material, especially by the distance of a whole-number pattern repeat. This technique results in that the sewn product material is fed to the sewing device with the sub-areas already separated, so that the time flow of the production of the sewn products will not be slowed down by this fact either. Here, the distance is preferably set to the pattern repeat from one or several sewn products.
An alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that one sub-area on a first lateral rim is removed during the stitching of the seams which run transversely to the conveying direction and that a second sub-area on a second lateral rim is removed during the return of the sewing unit to the initial position.
Accordingly, it is provided in this embodiment that for instance the sub-area in the region of the initial position of the sewing unit is removed directly after the beginning of the sewing operation transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material. The removal of this sub-area takes place at the moment in which the sewing unit has advanced up to a position which allows the removal of the sub-area in the region of the first lateral rim.
After the sewing unit has completely stitched the seams which run transversely to the conveying direction, the sewing is returned to its initial position. The period of return of the sewing unit is then utilized for removing the sub-area in the region of the second lateral rim of the sewn product material. To be able to perform the removal of the sub-areas with the required cutting or punching accuracy, it is provided that the sewn product material is maintained in a clamped condition transversely to the conveying direction not only during the sewing operation and the associated cutting operation transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material in the region of the two seams to be stitched transversely to the conveying direction of the sewn product material but also during the return of the sewing unit to the initial position.
According to a further feature of the invention it is provided that the sub-area is formed substantially as a triangle, preferably as an isosceles triangle. With this configuration, all of the four corner areas of the sewn product are processed in such a way that the lateral rims which run in the conveying direction and at right angles to the conveying direction of the sewn product material are formed with short diagonal lateral rims that connect the lateral rims of the sewn product which extend in the conveying direction and at right angles to the conveying direction under an angle which is formed to be identical with respect to the lateral rims.
Preferably, said sub-area includes two limbs which are oriented under an angle of <90° in the conveying direction, which limbs are formed in a convex pattern with respect to the sewn product. If for instance mattress panels are produced in this way, mattresses with rounded corners may be produced from such panels.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of the inventive method it is provided that that the sub-area is formed of two quadrant-shaped sections. This embodiment, too offers the advantage that with correspondingly formed sub-areas sewn products with rounded corners can be produced which may be used in the case of mattress panels for the production of mattresses having rounded corners.
For fixing the mattress panels for instance to an inner spring system it is provided that at least on the lateral rims of the sewn product material extending in the conveying direction a band-shaped sewing element is stitched to the sewn product material, which band-shaped sewing element is formed discontinuous in the region of the sub-areas. This interruption of the band-shaped sewing element may be achieved for instance by the fact that during the removal of the sub-area also the band-shaped sewing element is removed, especially by cutting or punching.
According to a further feature of the invention it turned out to be advantageous that the lateral rims of the sewn product material running in the conveying direction of the sewn product material are formed with a stitched seam before or after removing the sub-area. This stitched seam is an advantage especially in a case where the sewn product material consists of several layers, so that these several layers are sewn up with each other in the region of the lateral rims running in the conveying direction, whereby additional processing steps in the production of mattresses for instance are avoided.
According to a further feature of the invention it is provided that the sewn product material is withdrawn from a multiple needle sewing machine, especially a multiple needle chain stitch sewing machine or a multiple needle backstitch sewing machine and advanced to a sewing device.
The apparatus according to the invention is advantageously further developed by the fact that the sewing device includes at least two, especially four rows of needles and associated shuttles, by means of which at least two stitched seams can be made between two sewn products arranged adjacent to each other in the sewn product material, and by the fact that a cutting device is provided, by means of which the sewn product material is cut between said two stitched seams. Preferably, the cutting device and the sewing device include a common drive, so that the sewing operation can be leading compared to the cutting operation by a short time interval.
According to a further feature of the invention it is provided that the device is formed as a punch, scissors and/or knife, especially as a circular knife. With these devices the sub-areas may be removed from the sewn product material easily and especially within a short time.
In a preferred embodiment, the device includes two circular knives, of which the axes are oriented at right angles to each other. Preferably, the circular knives are adjustable concerning their mutual orientation, in order to be able to set different angles. According to a further feature, the axes of the circular knives are arranged in planes which are horizontally differently oriented. This offers the possibility that the circular knives are mutually oriented or aligned in a manner such that a first circular knife is arranged at a radial distance to the axis of the second circular knife which is slightly smaller than the radius of the second circular knife, whereby the advantage is obtained that the circular knives may be arranged in such a way that a reliable separation of the sub-area is possible.
According to a further feature of the invention it is provided that the device is formed as a punch including two substantially quadrant-shaped cutting lines, said cutting lines having a point of intersection. This device is particularly suited for the simultaneous removal of sub-areas of adjacent sewn products, said punching of the sewn product material allowing high-speed processing.
According to a further feature the device is adjustable of its distance to the sewing device, so that the device can be used for sewn products of different dimensions. In addition to that, due to the adjustability of the device, the device may be used in dependence of the conveying speed of the sewn product material.
An alternative to this is given by the fact that the sewing device includes an upstream supply device for the sewn product material. In this case, the device may be arranged in fixed fashion because different dimensions of the sewn products to be processed can be compensated by the supply device. According to a further feature of the invention this supply device is formed as a dancer roll.
Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of one embodiment with reference to the drawing. In the drawing it is shown by:
In
Further the drive 22 of the sewing unit 3 can be seen which drives the needles 18. In
The clamping device 12 consists of two clamping elements 26, 27 which clamp the sewn product material 11 in a stretched condition during the sewing and cutting operation, so that the sewing and cutting may be performed reliably and at a high speed.
In
In
The method according to the invention of producing a sewn product begins with the step that sewn product material 11 is advanced to the sewing and cuffing zone and, in the process thereof, is withdrawn from a multiple needle sewing machine, while the longitudinal sides of the sewn product material that run parallel to the conveying direction are simultaneously sewn up. Additionally, a band-shaped sewing element 14 may be sewn to the longitudinal sides which is not sewn up over the whole area thereof, so that a free section 25 runs along one longitudinal side 25 of the sewn product material 11. At this point of time the sewing unit 3 and the cuffing device 4 are in their raised position.
To avoid that the sewn product material 11 falls into a gap or is redirected to this gap which is formed in the conveyor device; a support element is moved over the gap by means of a lever device during the conveyance of the sewn product material 11. Positioned on the upper side of the supporting element is a signal element which signals to the sewing device 1 a rim portion of the sewn product material 11 at which the sewing operation and the subsequent cutting operation should be started. After this signalisation the gap is exposed again by withdrawing the supporting element. The sewing device 1 simultaneously moves to its initial position (
To this end, the sewing unit 3 and the cutting device 4 are lowered by means of a drive 5 until contacting the sewn product material 11. In a next step the sewing device 1 is moved along the traverses 7, 10 in the sewing direction according to arrow 15, whereby the layers of the sewn product material are sewn up. At the same time the band-shaped sewing element 14 is pulled off from a supply device 13 and is sewn up with the sewn product material 11 from below. During its movement along the traverse 7 the sewing unit 3 is followed by the cutting device 4 which cuts the sewn product material 11 between the stitched seams 19, so that individual sewn products are formed. The band-shaped sewing element 14 has such a width that it is not sewn up over the full area thereof, so that free sections 25 are arranged also on the transverse rims of the sewn product material 11. During this sewing and cutting operation the sewing unit 3 and the shuffle box 8 are mutually synchronized with respect to their movement along the corresponding traverses 7, 10 in such a way that the needles 18 and shuttle 8 will reliably cooperate, with the cutting device 4 being moved jointly with the sewing unit 3. If the sewing device 1 has arrived at its final position, the sewing unit 3 and thereafter the cutting device 4 will be moved to a raised position, so that a next piece of sewn product material 11 may be advanced to the working zone, after the previously finished sewn product 20, 21 is removed from the sewing and cutting zone. Thereafter, the sewing device 1 moves back to its initial position, so that a next piece of the sewn product material 11 may be processed, namely a next sewn product 20, 21 be produced.
In
As an alternative to the removal of the sub-areas by cutting, also a removal of the sub-areas by punching may be provided.
With the device 30 two sub-areas on opposite lateral rims 32 of the sewn product material 11 are removed at the same time, with the lateral rims 32 running parallel to the conveying direction according to arrow 34. The removed sub-areas additionally cover the sections 25 which extend parallel to the lateral rims 32.
Differently from this embodiment the second embodiment according to
Here, the configuration of the device 30 according to
Therefore, in the embodiment according to
After a part of these seams 19 is stitched and after especially the region of the second lateral rim 32 is released, the second sub-area on the second lateral rim 32 is removed. In this way of proceeding, both oppositely formed sub-areas are removed in a time-shifted fashion, but the removal of both sub-areas in the region of both lateral rims 32 will be completed by the time of the completion of the stitched seams 19 in the sewn product material 11 under simultaneous separation of a sewn product 20.
In the
The apparatus 2 has arranged an upstream supply device 35 which includes a dancer roll 36 over which the sewn product material 11 is passed. Before the supply device 36 two devices are disposed in the region of the lateral rims 32 of the sewn product material 11, of which only one of their respective casings 37 is illustrated and which are shown in detail in
In
The above-described embodiments are merely for illustrating the invention and are not in any sense limiting.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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DE 102007007146.0 | Feb 2007 | DE | national |
DE 102007012621.4 | Mar 2007 | DE | national |