Patent Application
20240068143
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the production of fabric or leather articles, particularly articles to be padded, for example with goose down.
Automatic quilting methods are known in which a continuous padded cloth is made to advance first at a sewing head and then at a cutting head, using a perforated conveyor belt with which, by means of air suction, the cloth is retained without any sliding. A method of this type is described in Patent Application DE3801820A1.
A drawback of the methods in which the seams are closed lines around which the cut must be then performed is the precision with which the cutting line must be kept spaced from the sewing line provided previously.
Another drawback is that the semi-finished products obtained at the end of the cutting may be indistinguishable to an operator and, consequently, difficult to catalog without a general slowdown of the production line.
The use of known sewing and cutting methods may also entail some problems in a production line, particularly in lines in which continuous manual intervention is necessary in order to perform certain steps.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a method for the production of fabric or leather articles and a corresponding apparatus which are capable of improving the background art in one or more of the aspects mentioned above.
Within the scope of this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a method for the production of fabric or leather articles and a corresponding apparatus which allow to obtain semi-finished products which are sewn and cut precisely along the seams.
Another object is to provide a method for the production of fabric or leather articles and a corresponding apparatus which can be used with a plurality of mutually different templates.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for the production of fabric or leather articles and a corresponding apparatus for obtaining semi-finished products that can be identified easily and quickly, for a subsequent process such as padding and/or the tailoring of garments.
Another object is to provide an apparatus for the production of fabric or leather articles which can be also used within a manufacturing line for garments.
Moreover, an object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art in a manner that is alternative to any existing solutions.
Not least object of the invention is to provide a method and an apparatus which are highly reliable, relatively easy to provide and at competitive costs.
This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a method for the production of fabric or leather articles, particularly articles to be padded, comprising the steps of:
Optionally, the above method may be provided with one or more of the characteristics of the dependent claims.
The aim and the objects of the invention are also achieved by an apparatus for the production of fabric or leather articles, particularly of padded articles, adapted to perform the above method, said apparatus comprising:
Optionally, such apparatus may be provided with the characteristics of the dependent claims.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference to the cited figures, an apparatus according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a feeder 2 of a plurality of cloths in roll form. The feeder 2 is provided with a plurality of unwinding units 2a, 2b, 2c with horizontal unwinding axes, which are arranged so that the cloths 20a, 20b, 20c can be unwound from the respective rolls 21a, 21b, 21c and be fed, in a mutually superimposed manner and along a substantially rectilinear advancement direction D, to the downstream machines, in order to form a multilayer sheet 20d with a number of layers that corresponds to the number of cloths 20a, 20b, 20c in input.
The cloths 20a, 20b, 20c can have, optionally but not necessarily, substantially the same width, with respect to the direction perpendicular to the advancement direction D, so that they can be superimposed substantially in register at the outlet of the feeder 2.
In the illustrated embodiment, the superimposed cloths are three and are formed by two cloths 20a-20b, adapted to form a sack for down in a subsequent filling step, and by a third cloth 20c adapted to form an external layer of a garment padded with down and tailored downstream of the apparatus 1.
At the feeder 2 it is possible, as an alternative, to provide for the interposition, between at least two cloths during the superimposing step, of previously formed sacks for down, as described for example in Italian Patent Application no. 102016000111981, incorporated herein by reference, and according to a predefined placement.
The materials used for the cloths of the invention are those normally used in the textile and/or upholstery industry, in particular for the production of padded articles such as for example garments padded with goose down.
In particular, the cloths used can be made of fabric (this term being intended to mean knitted fabric, meshes, non-woven fabric, wadding sheets or polyester sheets for padding, synthetic sheets in general) and/or leather (including imitation leather), but plastic films or sheets of other material, always preferably unwound from a roll, can be added, to be associated with the fabric and/or leather cloths.
Downstream of the feeder 2, the apparatus 1 comprises an embroidery machine 3 which comprises at least one sewing head and, more preferably, a plurality of sewing heads 31a . . . 31f which are aligned along the advancement direction D, for example six sewing heads (not all shown in the figure for the sake of space). The sewing heads 31a-31f may be mounted on a common longitudinal member 30 which is parallel to the advancement direction D.
Furthermore, the embroidery machine 3 comprises at least one embroidery frame 32 adapted to tension and temporarily retain the superimposed cloths 20d during sewing, in a per se known manner, and to move according to stored embroidering program.
Embroidering machines with fixed sewing heads and a cloth embroidery frame that moves according to an embroidering program are per se known, for example, from Patent Application DE19722616.
In the illustrated embodiment, the embroidery frame 32 comprises longitudinal and transverse jaws 33-34, which can be activated on command during the step for sewing the superimposed cloths 20d fed in input to the embroidery machine 3 in order to retain and tension, along two mutually perpendicular directions, the superimposed cloths 20d.
The apparatus 1 comprises moreover memory means, for example in the embroidery machine 3 itself, which contain and store at least one template which contains a drawing or pattern of reference sewing lines S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and a plurality of reference markings M1, M2, M3, M4 distributed, with respect to said pattern, according to a reference arrangement.
The stored template corresponds to a digital pattern, for example in the form of a vector file, and comprises a plurality of substantially closed reference lines S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 which correspond to actual sewing lines of a specific layout inside a rectangular area A that must be provided by one of the sewing heads 31a-31f. In the example shown, the layout is formed by a plurality of semi-finished products (or items) P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 to be obtained by cutting and to be manufactured subsequently in order to form, for example, a padded coat or jacket.
The embroidery machine 3 is associated with control means, for example, a computerized numeric control (CNC) of the entire apparatus 1, which are configured to actuate relative movements between the sewing heads 31a-31f and the embroidery frame 32 based on said stored template, in order to obtain an automatic sewing of the superimposed cloths 20d along sewing lines that correspond to the pattern of the stored template and, according to a particular aspect of the invention, additional seams according to the reference arrangement of the markings, so that the markings M1-M4 of the stored pattern are replicated, advantageously in the form of corresponding additional seams, on the superimposed cloths 20d.
One advantage of the invention is that the markings consist of respective seams, for example in the form of circles, obtained with the same sewing head 31a-31f that reproduces in the form of seams the pattern S1-S5 stored in the template. Therefore, with the sewing step the markings are also simultaneously applied, in the form of additional seams on the superimposed cloths 20d, which markings are arranged, with respect to the sewing lines applied to the cloths 20d, in the same manner as the stored template.
Since the sewing heads of known embroidery machines allow to apply threads of different colors, it is possible to associate with the markings a thread that is different from those used for the sewing lines S1-S5, for example with a high contrast with respect to the color of the exposed face of the superimposed cloths 20d, in order to facilitate its automatic recognition in the subsequent stations.
The embroidery machine 3 is adapted to move the frame 32 with respect to the sewing heads 31a-31f and to actuate said sewing heads so as to provide on the superimposed cloths 20d seams that correspond (with a 1:1 ratio or according to a known scale factor) to the reference lines S1-S5 and to the reference arrangement of the markings M1-M4.
Since the superimposed cloths 20d are kept tensioned by the embroidery frame 32, the work area of each sewing head 31a-31f is a planar rectangular area which corresponds, with a 1:1 ratio or with a known scale factor, to the rectangular area A of the stored template or digital pattern. Thus, each actual sewing line provided by each sewing head 31a-31f corresponds exactly (except for a known scale factor) to the respective stored reference sewing line S1-S5.
The reference sewing lines S1-S5 are optionally such that they have interruptions along one or more portions O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, so that the sewing head 31a-31f does not perform any sewing of the superimposed cloths 20d at these portions O1-O5. In this manner, at the end of the sewing step, at these portions O1-O5 corresponding inlets are obtained for access to a respective inner pocket formed between the cloths 20-20b-20c and delimited by seams, through which inlet a padding material (for example, goose down) can be inserted in a filling station (not shown) located downstream of the embroidery machine 3 with respect to the advancement direction D. In the illustrated embodiment, the filling station is located downstream of the entire apparatus 1 with respect to the direction D.
In order to obtain multiple pockets within a given closed sewing line S1-S5, the reference sewing lines S1-S5 may further comprise one or more chords T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 which join two respective points of a respective closed line S1-S5. Sewing is performed along said chords T1-T5 by the same sewing head 31a-31f that performs the sewing that corresponds to the lines S1-S5. Advantageously, the portions O1-O5 without seams and arranged side by side along the closed line are separated by one end of one of said chords T1-T5, so that each one of the pockets to be subsequently filled is delimited by at least one of said chords T1-T5.
The reference arrangement of the markings M1-M4 in the stored template is two-dimensional (i.e., on the entire X-Y Cartesian plane and not only along one axis) and is such that the reference markings M1-M4 are preferably arranged outside the closed lines S1-S5 of the pattern. In particular, a plurality of peripheral reference markings M1, M2 are arranged along the peripheral region of the rectangular area A, for example proximate to all the vertices of the rectangle A, while at least one other reference marking M3-M4 is placed more inside said area A than the peripheral markings M1-M2, more precisely alongside a respective curved portion (such as S1′ and S2′) of the sewing lines S1-S5 of the pattern and preferably in the direction of a radius of curvature of said curved portion.
Downstream of the embroidery machine 3, the apparatus 1 can comprise a drawing station 4 for pulling the sewn cloths (which correspond to the superimposed cloths 20d after they have undergone sewing), which allows the unwinding of the individual cloths 20a-20c from the respective upstream rolls 21a-21c, the stepwise advancement of the superimposed cloths 20d along the advancement direction D, and the feeding of the sewn portion of the cloths 20d toward the downstream stations, which are described hereinafter.
The advancement step of the superimposed cloths 20d between the feeder 2 and the drawing station 4 is substantially equal to the length of the embroidery frame 32 in the direction D, so as to feed to the embroidery machine 3 a portion of superimposed cloths 20d of such a length that the stored template can be replicated simultaneously on multiple adjacent rectangular areas of the superimposed cloths 20d by actuating the sewing heads 31a-31f in parallel. The length of the embroidery frame 32 in the direction D is substantially a multiple of the length of the side of one of said rectangular areas in the advancement direction D.
Throughout the sewing step, the advancement of the superimposed cloths upstream of the drawing station 4 is stopped.
Advantageously, the drawing station 4 includes a buffer unit for temporarily accumulating the sewn portion of the superimposed sewn cloths 20d that exits from the embroidery machine 3.
The buffer unit includes sets of deflector rollers 42-43, which have a horizontal axis and are movable toward/away from each other (for example, in a direction substantially perpendicular to the advancement direction D) and between which the sewn portion of the superimposed cloths 20d (which is also referenced herein as “sewn cloths”) is guided in a winding path. One set of deflector rollers 42 may be arranged on a movable support 41 while the other set of deflector rollers 43, for example offset with respect to the deflector rollers 42, may be provided in a fixed position.
By means of the mutual spacing/approach of the roller sets 42-43, the buffer unit of the drawing station 4 can respectively accumulate more/less amount of sewn cloth produced upstream by the embroidery machine 3 without jamming the downstream processing stations.
Said downstream stations comprise a machine 53 for the automatic cutting of the sewn cloths which is associated with means 5 for the optical capture of the cloths 20d sewn by the embroidery machine according to the stored template. The optical capture means 5 may comprise one or more video cameras 52 arranged on a mounting frame 51 located above the automatic cutting machine 53, towards which machine the video cameras are directed. In this manner it is possible to capture an entire rectangular area (substantially corresponding to the area A of the stored template) containing all the markings applied on that area by the embroidery machine 3, in particular by the sewing head 31a-31f which performed sewing on that area.
According to an alternative embodiment, not shown, the optical capture means may be positioned upstream of the cutting machine 53 and downstream of the embroidery machine 3 and/or of the drawing station 4.
The automatic cutting machine 53 may be provided with a conveyor belt 56 on which a segment of the sewn portion of the superimposed cloths 20d is laid and made to advance intermittently so that the belt 56 is stopped only during the cutting step.
Above the belt there is a support, for example of the Cartesian type, with a cutting head 54, mounted so that it can move along a beam 55 which is, in turn, movable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the beam 55. The cutting tool may be of any type, for example a laser or a blade.
The means for controlling the apparatus 1 are programmed so as to move the movable beam 55 of the cutting machine 53 to a position that does not obstruct the step of optical capture by the video cameras 52.
In the illustrated embodiment, the cutting machine 53 is configured to perform, within a predetermined time T1, the cutting of one layout P1-P5 at a time, along the sewing lines of a portion of the sewn cloths that corresponds to a single rectangular area A of the stored template.
The preset cutting time T1 is related to a preset embroidering time T2 used by the embroidery machine 3 to fully reproduce the stored template, in parallel on multiple adjacent rectangular areas of the superimposed cloths 20d, by means of respective sewing heads 31a-31f. In this case, T2=n*T1, where “n” is the number of sewing heads of the embroidery machine. The buffer unit of the drawing station 4 is adapted to compensate for this speed difference between the embroidery machine 3 and the automatic cutting machine 53.
With the disengagement of the embroidery frame 32 at the end of the sewing step, the sewn portions of the superimposed cloths 20d that are fed downstream are no longer tensioned in the two perpendicular directions and they are accordingly subject to relaxations and wrinkles which may deform, or reduce in size, the sewing lines and the arrangement of the sewn markings with respect to the stored template.
The invention therefore provides that the means for controlling the apparatus 1 comprise and store also instructions for:
The automatic cutting machine 53 is thus suitable for performing an automatic cutting of the sewn portion of the superimposed cloths 20d, in particular around the sewing lines formed by the embroidery machine 3 and at a substantially constant distance from said lines (for example, less than 1 cm) according to the actual pattern obtained with said interpolation, so as to obtain semi-finished products P1-P5 of the original layouts. These semi-finished products, which as a consequence of the cutting are completely separated from each other, can be subsequently padded with down and/or joined subsequently to form a finished article, for example a garment.
Downstream of the cutting machine 53 it is possible to provide a labeling station 6 which, with a Cartesian applicator 61, is suitable for applying respective automatically readable labels (for example labels with QR codes or bar codes) on the respective semi-finished products P1-P5 obtained in the automatic cutting step.
The labeling station 6 also is configured to complete its work within a preset time which is preferably equal to the time T1 of the cutting station 53.
Downstream of the apparatus 1 it is possible to provide a further table (not shown in the drawings) for receiving a batch of semi-finished products P1-P5, for the associated pick-up and feeding to subsequent processing stations, such as for example stations for filling (with down) and/or stations for manufacturing garments. In the case of manual pick-up of the semi-finished products at said receiving table, it is possible to provide, at said receiving table, a confirmation button connected to the means for controlling the apparatus 1 and to be pressed manually each time an operator has completed the pick-up of all the semi-finished products P1-P5 from the receiving table. If the button is not pressed within a predetermined time which corresponds to T1 (i.e., the working time of the cutting machine 53), the control means stop the apparatus 1.
The operation and correspondingly the method according to the invention are evident from the structure of the apparatus described above.
In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the intended aim and objects.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept; all the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.
In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.
The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102021000000398 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102021000000398 | Jan 2021 | IT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/080201 | 10/29/2021 | WO |
