Boarding Apparatus and Method

The present invention relates to a boarding apparatus and method useful in the manufacture of hosiery, e.g. ladies stockings and mens socks.

In the course of their manufacture, hosiery articles tend to become significantly crumpled. They are accordingly "boarded" or placed on generally flat, elongated boarding forms where they may be inspected for flaws, if desired. Mounting the hosiery articles can involve stretching them and/or heat-setting (shrinking) them on the forms to accomplish the desired smoothing. The articles are subsequently carefully removed from the forms and laid out flat prior to packaging or assembly into pairs.

One present aim has been to devise apparatus and method capable of minimising the need for manual operations, and capable either of delivering paired stockings or socks laid one on the other ready for packing, or of delivering pantihose garments ready for packing, their legs being placed one upon the other. Advantageously, apparatus embodying the invention is adapted to operate in conjunction with a toe closing machine.

According to the present invention there is provided hosiery boarding apparatus comprising a pair of flat, elongated boarding forms onto which hosiery legs are to be stretched, the forms extending lengthwise parallel to one another and being interconnected through hinge means located remote from the free, hose-receiving ends thereof, and means for effecting a hinging movement about an axis which is parallel to the forms whereby the forms can be selectively brought into or out of a contiguous, superposed hose-discharge relationship.

The invention also provides hosiery toe closing and boarding machinery comprising: a toe closer which includes a plurality of hose carriers, a seamer and means for presenting toe ends of hose mounted on the carriers to the seamer for their toe ends to be closed, the hose carriers being movable to a transfer position following seaming of the hose thereon; a transfer mechanism operable to take hold of welt or body ends of hose on the carriers at the transfer position and to convey and deposit them on a boarding apparatus; and the boarding apparatus comprising a pair of flat, elongated boarding forms onto which the hose are to be stretched, the forms extending lengthwise parallel to one another towards the carriers at the transfer position, and the forms being interconnected through hinge means located remote from the free, hose-receiving ends thereof for a hinging movement whereby the forms can be selectively brought into and out of a contiguous, superposed hose-discharge relationship.

The invention further provides a method of boarding hosiery comprising the steps of stretching a pair of hose legs over two elongated, flat boarding forms which are disposed side by side in a common plane, swinging one form about a hinge axis parallel to the forms so as to place the said one form in registered superposition over the other form, and thereafter drawing the two hose legs together off the forms.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates boarding apparatus according to the invention, associated with a toe closing machine;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of a turret supporting a plurality of boarding forms according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective drawing of a pair of the boarding forms; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the boarding apparatus during a delivery phase of its operation.

Boarding apparatus 10 shown in the drawings has been arranged to operate in conjunction with an automatic toe closer machine, but could be adapted readily to operate as a separate machine. The following description details the construction presently prepared for use with a toe closer, and will terminate with a discussion of possible modifications.

The boarding apparatus 10 can be used with an automatic toe closer which operates along the lines of the Detexomat Pantimatic and Speedomatic HS machines. These machines are described in British patent specifications Nos. 1,501,869; 1,577,758 and 8,037,143, (publication No. 2,066,862), all in the name of Detexomat Machinery Limited of High Wycombe, England. In these machines, hosiery articles for toe closing are mounted on leg carriers 12 which project from indexably rotatable turrets 13. In use, hose legs are everted with the aid of suction created in the leg carriers, and are drawn lengthwise over the carriers. After accurately positioning the hose toe ends on the carriers, positioning being accomplished manually or preferably automatically, the toe ends are displaced forwardly from the carriers 12 into a movable clamp. The clamp takes hold of toe ends fed thereinto and advances them past a seamer, usually a sewing machine, which seams the toe ends closed and trims them to shape. Then, after release of the toe ends from the clamp following seaming, the toe ends are pulled back onto their carriers 12. During the cycle of operations of the toe closers, their turrets 13 index about their turning axes.

With the present equipment, a stage is reached when the turret 13 has indexed to a position in which a pair of carriers 12 bearing toe-seamed hose are aligned with two receiving boarding forms 14, 15 of the boarding apparatus 10. A transfer mechanism 16 is provided to carry the toe-seamed hose to these boarding forms 14, 15.

The transfer mechanism 16 comprises a hose transporter 18 and a drive 20 for moving the transporter to and fro between the carriers 12 and the forms 14, 15. The transporter 18 as shown consists of a carriage and two hose holding means 21, the transporter carriage being mounted for guided movement to and fro along rails 22. The hose holding means 21 can be upstanding hooks as illustrated or grippers such as pincers for positively grasping the hose.

The transporter drive 20 operates to move the carriage reciprocally in timed relation to arrival of the carriers 12 bearing toe-seamed hose into alignment with the waiting boarding forms 14, 15. The carriage could be driven continuously to and fro, although it may be preferably for it to move intermittently, resting at a convenient ready position before it is required to move to the turret 13 and then to the boarding forms. The transporter 18 can be driven by an electric motor via a transmission such as a drive chain 24 trained around sprockets 25, 26 located adjacent the turret 13 and the boarding forms 14, 15, respectively. One of the sprockets is driven by the motor, which can be of reversible type. If the motor is unidirectional, the carriage is connected to the chain 24 by a lost motion coupling 28. Chain drive transmissions are not obligatory, and lead-screw drives, hydraulic drives and so on can be substituted.

The transfer operation will be understood from the foregoing. Suffice it to say that with toe closers which close the toes of already joined legs of pantihose garments, e.g. the Pantimatic, the holding means 21 take hold of the waist band and carry the garment waist-first to the boarding forms. For stockings and mens hose, however, the holding means 21 take hold of the welt ends of respective hose legs. When the transporter 18 commences its forward movement, suction can be created in the carriers 12 to suck in the hose legs, so as to effect an eversion thereof. The transfer mechanism 16 is responsible for drawing the garment body and the garment legs (or the separate legs of stockings and mens hose) partially onto the boarding forms 14,15. The holding means 21 release the hosiery once it has passed beneath a drawing-on means, e.g. a rotationally-driven roller 30. Roller 30 is caused to engage the hosiery and, thanks to its rotation, serves to draw the hosiery fully onto the forms 14,15. The roller may, if desired, be arranged to draw the hosiery tightly onto the forms so as to stretch and straighten the toe seams.

The boarding forms 14, 15 are both substantially identical, elongated and generally flat members. The forms 14, 15 extend toward the turret 13 and are in spaced-apart, parallel side-by-side relationship in their hose-receiving position. In this position, the forms and their transverse or widthwise planes are coplanar. A hinge means 31 interconnects the forms adjacent their rearmost ends, a butt hinge being shown.

Having received hosiery thereon, the forms 14, 15 are moved to a discharge position (at A in FIG. 1). Prior to discharge of the hosiery, one form, 15, is swung about the axis of the hinge 31 to a position closely overlying the other form 14. Thereafter the hosiery is discharged, legs superposed, onto a receiving table 35. Discharge is accomplished by drawing-off means such as rotationally-driven wind-off rollers 32, 33 movable towards one another to provide a discharge nip.

Movement of the forms 14, 15 between the hose receiving and discharge positions could involve a lateral shuttling motion.

Preferably indexing movement is employed, the forms 14, 15 being mounted on a rotatable turret 36, see FIG. 2. Four pairs of forms 14, 15 are shown, though fewer or more can be provided. A is again the discharge position and B is the receiving position. The turrets 36 and 13 are driven in synchronism; once one pair of forms 14, 15 has had hosiery transferred thereto, these forms make way for the next adjacent pair--as the turret 36 indexes--to receive hosiery from the toe closer.

The superposed forms 14, 15 at position A have their transverse planes horizontal to suit discharge onto a horizontal table 35. Assuming the carriers 12 arriving in alignment with the forms for hosiery transfer are in a horizontal plane, the forms will be horizontally disposed at position B, see FIG. 2. Such horizontal attitudes may not always be convenient, however. For example, some toe closers may be so designed that the carriers 12 at the hose-transfer position can only be vertically disposed. Positions C or D, FIG. 2, will then represent the hose-receiving positions of the forms 14, 15. Clearly, in some cases the carriers 12 may be neither horizontal nor vertical at the hose-transfer position and it will be recognised that whatever their attitude, the attitude of the forms 14, 15 must match it.

The boarding forms 14, 15 and their arrangement are shown in more detail in FIG. 3. Each form is of shallow box form tapering towards each of its longitudinal edges and tapering also at its free end remote from the turret 36. Edges and corners of the forms are rounded (not shown) to guard against damaging the delicate hosiery fabric. The forms can be of solid or hollow construction and optionally can be raised to a moderately elevated temperature for heat setting. Heating means for the forms can be electrical or can involve a flowing heating medium. In the illustrated example, heating is by the latter expedient. Accordingly, the forms have internal flow ducts 38, 39 served by flow and return lines 40, 41. The heating medium can be a heated oil.

Each form 14, 15 is made fast with its respective hinge flap 42, 44 in any convenient way, and one form 14 is fast with turret 36. The hinge 31 has a hinge pin 46 which, when installed, is freely rotatable in flap 42 but is fast against rotation in flap 44. The hinge pin 46 extends via an opening in the turret 36 to means for rotating it to and fro, for swinging the form 15 through 180.degree., between its two positions relative to the other form 14. A convenient rotating means can be employed. For example, a suitably-controlled reversible motor could act on the hinge pin, or camming means could be provided with which the hinge pin coacts during rotation of the turret. The hinge pin 46 could carry a pinion engageable with a pair of stationary, arcuate racks as the turret indexes and its forms move from positions C to A and from A to D. A possible camming means for rotating the hinge pin 46 might consist of stationary strikers or ramps engageable with a crank arm on the hinge pin during passage of the forms from positions C to D via A.

To assist discharge of hosiery by the rollers 32, 33, each form 14, 15 is desirably extensible by means of axially-movable tongues 48 telescopically received within the free ends of the forms. The tongues are conveniently made of flexible sheet metal. Each tongue 48 is movable from a position located wholly within its form to an extended position entering the nip of the discharge rollers 32, 33. The tongues have their inner ends secured to push rods 50 extending lengthwise through the forms in passages 51. Any convenient means can be furnished for moving the rods 50 and tongues 48, one example being shown in schematic form in FIG. 4. Thus, the rods can pass through openings in the turret 36 for engagement with a cam 52 which is shown in developed form. The cam is stationary in a location centered on the discharge position. As each pair of forms approaches this position their respective push rods 50 contact and ride over the cam along its rise 53 to the dwell 54, and are thus shifted lengthwise to eject the tongues 48. For returning the tongues 48 to their inner or housed positions, spring means can act on the push rods.

As indicated above, heating is optional but commonly preferred; if desired, a final flattening or pressing can be accomplished by use of heated rolls 32, 33.

The turret-mounted boarding forms shown in FIG. 2 are aligned with chords of the circularly shaped turret 36. This alignment is not essential to the invention and the forms could, for instance be aligned with radii instead.

The boarding apparatus 10 particularly described has been designed for use with a toe closing machine, and is able to handle both pantihose garments and stockings or socks. Many hosiery mills may prefer to divorce the boarding apparatus from toe closers, in which case the boarding apparatus can take various forms. Firstly, the apparatus 10 can be provided with an automatic loader based on the transfer mechanism 16: all the operator has to do is to attach the hose to the loader. Actuation of the loader and the boarding apparatus can be under the operator's control, thus enabling the operator to influence operating speed. Alternatively, the equipment could be continuously run at a speed within the operator's capacity for feeding hosiery thereto.

Mounting hosiery on the boarding forms 14, 15 can be accomplished manually, so the loader can be omitted.

Though turret mounting of the forms 14, 15 has many advantages even when the boarding apparatus is divorced from the toe closer, if desired the forms could be mounted on a shuttle to move from a loading to a discharge position.

A very simple version of the apparatus can consist of just the hingedly-connected forms 14, 15 and means to discharge hose therefrom; the forms are mounted in a fixed location whereat both loading and discharging take place. Displacement of the movable form 15 can be accomplished manually.

The transfer mechanism 16 as described operates to load both forms 14, 15 simultaneously, and hence suits the handling of pantihose garments. The equipment can be readily adapted, if desired, or an associated toe closer so demands, to permit the boarding forms to be loaded sequentially.

The invention is applicable to other hosiery manufacturing equipment which has a first elongated hose carrier at one operation station confronted by a second elongated hose carrier at a second operation station. The first carrier can be an integral part of a hosiery inspection apparatus, a toe closer or a suction everter. Then, the second carrier can be inter alia a toe closer or a suction everter. In one hosiery manufacturing arrangement, the first carrier can comprise part of a toe closer on which the toes of pantihose are closed; the second carrier can be a hose carrier of a gusset inserting machine by which gussets are inserted into the crutch area of the pantihose. The first carrier can be an integral part of an everting hose loader for the gusset inserting machine. For transferring the hosiery from the first to the second operation station, the transfer mechanism can be constructed and operational as described hereinbefore. Thus, it moves to and fro between the two endwise-aligned carriers from a hosiery collecting position spaced rearwardly of the free end of the first carrier, to a hosiery-depositing position attained when the transfer mechanism has moved along its path beyond the free end of the second carrier.