1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a shirt finishing machine for use in press finishing a shirt such as a washed white shirt and the like, and more particularly a shirt finishing machine formed to enable wrinkles to be eliminated under a state in which the shirt is put on a torso.
2. Description of Related Art
As this type of prior art shirt finishing machine, there has been provided the machine described in the gazette of U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,377, for example. This type of prior art shirt finishing machine comprises a torso for putting on a shirt, a pair of right and left supporting arms arranged at both sides of the torso and inclined toward the sides of the torso to pull the sleeves of the shirt. Then, the upper portions of the supporting arms are provided with a lower iron to which the extremity end of the sleeve is set, clamp devices for use in fixing the cuffs of the sleeves to the lower iron and an upper iron for use in pressing against the upper surface of the lower iron to press finish the extremity ends of the sleeves.
Thus, in this type of finishing machine, the extremity ends of the sleeves are inserted into the lower iron and set in their flat state. Then, the upper iron presses against the upper surface of the lower iron to press finish the upper surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves and concurrently the supporting arms incline to pull the sleeves, both steam and hot air are supplied from the center of the torso into the sleeves to expand the sleeves and finish them in tension. That is, this type of prior art finishing machine had a structure operated such that the sleeves are pulled while the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves striking against the lower side of the lower iron are not pressed.
Accordingly, this type of prior art finishing machine had a problem that the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves are pulled apart, some wrinkles are generated at these locations and the sleeves cannot be finished clean.
This invention has been invented in reference to the prior art problems.
Accordingly, a technical problem to be resolved by this invention is to provide a shirt finishing machine formed to enable the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves to be pressed, to prevent some pulled wrinkles from being generated at the cloth at this location under a sleeve pulling operation or a sleeve expansion act and to finish the shirt clean.
As illustrated in
Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention, since the sleeves can be pulled under a state in which the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves are being pressed with the movable irons and the shirt can be finished in tension by hot air and the like, it is possible to prevent some wrinkles from being applied to the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves and finish the sleeves clean.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the movable irons are formed in such a way that steam and the like can be supplied into the sleeves to enable the wrinkles at the extremity ends of the sleeves to be removed neatly and the sleeves to be heated similar to the upper iron. Although the finishing machine of the present invention is normally provided with a pair of press irons at the front and rear positions of the torso, it may also be applicable that this type of press iron is eliminated.
Thus, it is preferable that the present invention is made such that a width of the lower iron in its forward and rearward direction is formed narrow as seen from above and the movable iron is arranged at the rear side of the lower iron when the upper iron performs a press action and the portion where the extremity ends of the sleeves are expelled out at the rear side of the lower iron is supported by the movable irons.
Because, in accordance with the present invention, fine formation of the lower iron facilitates insertion of the extremity ends of the sleeves into the lower iron and enables the lower surfaces of the extremity ends of the sleeves to be pressed.
In addition, it is preferable that the present invention is constructed such that the cuff portions fixed to the lower iron with fixing instruments are expelled at the front side as seen from above and there is provided a tension member for tensioning the extremity ends of the sleeves forward.
Because this arrangement enables a looseness at the extremity ends of the sleeves to be removed and a finished state of the extremity ends of the sleeves to be improved.
Additionally, as shown in
Because, in accordance with the present invention, motion and arrangement of the movable irons can be attained rapidly and efficiently within a small space.
In this case, as shown in
Because in accordance with the present invention, the movable irons can be moved under utilization of ascending or descending action of the upper irons, an exclusive driving means only for the movable irons can be eliminated, and a less-expensive, light-weight and small-sized product of the present invention can be attained.
In addition, as shown in
Because in accordance with the present invention, it is possible to prevent the extremity end of the lower iron from pushing up the upper side of the inner surface of the sleeve or from contacting with the inner surface and to make a neat finish of the sleeve without damaging the cloth and making any wrinkles.
In addition, as shown in
Because, in accordance with the present invention, as compared with that of a case in which the sleeves are pulled up to their limits and expanded with hot air, it is possible to prevent the cloth from being damaged. In this case, the limit of the pulled state of the sleeves is meant by a limited interface when the supporting arms are inclined more than a certain value to pull the sleeves, the cloth and the sawn location at the roots of sleeves are damaged. Whether or not the limited state of the pulled work reaches is detected and judged by a sensor for detecting a variation in gas pressure within an air cylinder when the driving device is an air cylinder, for example. Additionally, it is also applicable to judge whether or not the limited state of the pulled work reaches a certain value under setting of an extending distance of rod in advance in response to a sleeve length. In addition, a wording of “slightly” is meant by a length in which the sleeves are expanded and can be finished in tension without damaging the cloth of the sleeve and more practically, its range is several mm to several ten mm and the like. As the controller, for example, a micro-computer or a sequence can be applied.
In addition, as shown in
When the sides of a shirt are applied with tension in this type of finishing machine in the prior art, a worker changed a tension applying distance of the trunk tension member in compliance with a size of the shirt. Due to this fact, when shirts of various sizes were intermingled, it was hard to determine a tension applying distance of the trunk tension member in compliance with a fit size and it was not avoided to generate occurrence of disturbance in a tension distance by a worker.
The present invention eliminates such problems as above. Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention, it is possible to eliminate completely the troublesome operation in which the tension applying distance of the trunk tension member must be selected in compliance with the size and it can be positively performed without being influenced by a worker's judgment. In this case, the front part of the shirt is adsorbed against the torso by applying front buttons or discharging inside the torso. This is applied to prevent the front bodice of the shirt from being worn out at a skin by the tension applying work of the trunk tension member. The trunk tension member is arranged to move up to a position where it is inclined by its own weight, through manual operation, and its returning-back operation is usually carried out automatically by an air cylinder and the like.
Referring now to the drawings, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.
The present invention is formed to comprise a torso 2 for covering a shirt 1 such as a white shirt (a torso similar to the upper part of a human body) and a pair of right and left supporting arms 3 arranged at both sides of the torso 2, inclined to the side of the torso 2 for tensioning a sleeve 1a of the shirt 1. Inside part of the torso 2 is evaporated and the front bodice of the shirt 1 is formed to be adsorbed against the surface of the torso 2. In addition, the shirt finishing machine of the present invention is formed to enable both steam and hot air to be supplied from inside of the torso 2 into the sleeve 1a of the shirt 1 through a shoulder 2a.
The lower ends of the supporting arms 3 are fixed to both sides of a column 4 (refer to
Reference numeral 9 (refer to
As shown in
The aforesaid link 11 comprises an upper cooperating member 11a and a lower cooperating member 11b and both of them are pivoted by a shaft pin 11c. As shown in
Reference numeral 14 denotes a fixing instrument for use in fixing a cuff 1d of the sleeve 1a to the lower iron 9. This fixing instrument 14 comprises a pressing part 14a arranged above a root portion near outside of the lower iron 9 and an air cylinder 14b for the pressing part ascending or descending the pressing part 14a. The air cylinder 14b for the pressing part is fixed to the frame 13 with its rod being faced downward. The lower end of the rod and the pressing part 14a are connected by a hook-shaped connecting member 14c, and when the rod is extended downward, the pressing part 14a descends together with the connecting member 14c and then the cuff 1d is pressed against the root part of the lower iron 9 and fixed there. The lower iron 9, upper iron 10 and fixing instrument 14 are fixed to the frame 13 and arranged at the upper part of the supporting arm 3.
Reference numeral 15 (refer to
Reference numeral 16 (refer to
In addition, the aforesaid frame 13 is arranged at the upper part of the supporting arm 3 such that it may be freely turned in a normal direction or reverse direction around the shaft 19 (refer to
In addition, the present invention in this preferred embodiment is constituted such that when the supporting arm 3 is inclined to reach the limited state of the pulled state of the sleeve 1a of the shirt 1, the air cylinder acting as the driving device 6 is provided with the controller 21 (refer to
Reference numeral 23 (refer to
Reference numeral 26 (refer to
Then, the action of the present invention in accordance with the preferred embodiment will be described as follows.
At first, an operator puts on the shirt 1 on the torso 2 and arranges the front and rear bodices of the shirt 1. In this case, the inside portion of the torso 2 is evacuated and the front and rear bodices of the shirt 1 are adsorbed against the torso 2. Under this state, the rod in the air cylinder 24 for the trunk tension member is extended by a preset short distance. Then, the supporting piece 23a is turned outwardly around the pivoted shaft 23c and inclined from its vertical position in an outward direction. With such an operation as above, the trunk tension member 23 is inclined by its own weight to cause the side of the shirt 1 to be tensioned outwardly and apply a tension to it.
Then, the operator inserts the extremity end 1b of the left sleeve 1a as seen from the front side of the torso 2 into the lower iron 9 at the left side of the supporting arm 3 arranged near the torso 2. In this case, the operator attaches the inner surface of the extremity end 1b of the sleeve 1a against the front side surface of the lower iron 9, pulls the extremity end 1b toward a rearward of the lower iron 9 and sets it. Under this state, the operator fixes the cuff 1d to the root part of the lower iron 9 with the pressing part 14a of the fixing instrument 14. Then, the tension member 15 advances forward of the lower iron 9 to push the extremity end 1b of the sleeve 1a forwardly and apply a tension to it. As shown in
The shirt finishing machine of the present invention in accordance with this preferred embodiment presses the extremity end 1b of the left sleeve 1a in this way, then both shoulders of the shirt 1 are pressed with a shoulder press machine (not shown). Then, a pair of press irons 7 are arranged to be oppositely faced against the torso 2 so as to press both front bodice and rear bodice of the shirt 1.
Then, the operator inserts the right sleeve 1a as seen from the front side of the torso 2 into the right lower iron 9 and fixes the extremity end 1b with the fixing instrument 14. Then, the operator applies a tension to the extremity end 1b with the tension member 15. After this operation, the upper iron 10 descends in the same manner as that of the aforesaid example, the movable iron 9a is arranged at the rear side of the lower iron 9 so as to support the part 1c of the sleeve 1a expelled at the rear side of the lower iron 9. Then, under this state, the upper iron 10 press finishes the extremity end 1b of the right sleeve 1a.
Then, the rod in the air cylinder acting as the driving device 6 extends and the supporting arm 3 inclines. Then, when the sleeve 1a reaches up to the limit of the pulled state, the rod in the air cylinder is slightly retracted with a signal got from the controller 21. With such an arrangement as above, the supporting arm 3 is slightly pulled back to the torso 2. Then, under this state, both steam and hot air are supplied into the sleeve 1a at the inner side of the torso 2 through the shoulder 2a, the sleeve 1a is expanded and finished in tension.
Thus, in case of the present invention, when the supporting arm 3 is inclined or raised up, the extremity end of the lower iron 9 is always faced toward the shoulder 2a of the torso 2 under an action of the bar acting as means 20 for adjusting a locus of the lower iron 9. That is, in
With the foregoing arrangement, although the width of the lower iron 9 in its forward and rearward direction is formed narrow in the above example and the movable iron 9a is arranged at the rear side of the lower iron 9, the present invention is not limited to this arrangement. That is, it may also be applicable in the present invention that a width of the lower iron in its forward and rearward direction is formed wide in the same manner as that of the prior art machine and the movable iron 9a is formed in a substantial same size as that of the lower surface of the lower iron 9 so as to press the entire lower surface of the extremity end 1b of the sleeve 1a. Further, in case of the present invention, the aforesaid fixing instrument 14 may also be applicable as a holding type for holding the cuff 1d from above and below and fixing it.
In addition, the aforesaid movable iron 9a may also be applicable that it is descended directly from the rear side position of the lower iron 9 or slid just after the lower iron 9 and retracted. Although the movable iron 9a in the aforesaid example is formed to be cooperated with the upper iron 10 through the link 11, it may also be controlled by an operating means separate from the upper iron 10. Further, it may also be applicable that the movable iron 9a is supplied with steam, for example, in its inside part and it can be heated with steam.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3568900 | Paris | Mar 1971 | A |
3613969 | Forse | Oct 1971 | A |
4634030 | Uchikoshi | Jan 1987 | A |
5692326 | Mohan et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
5758437 | Tamamoto | Jun 1998 | A |
6186377 | McCormick et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6401992 | Harrod et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6758377 | Uchikoshi | Jul 2004 | B2 |
7040516 | Devrick et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080035684 A1 | Feb 2008 | US |