GB2223243A - Cloth shearing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A cloth shearing machine for use in producing patterns in cloth comprises a horizontal fixed ledger blade, a cutting cylinder 11 having spiral cutting blades 12 and revolving against the ledger blade, and an embossed or engraved pattern roller 15 which bears the pattern to be imparted to the cloth and which rotates with the cloth and presents to blades 12 only those parts of the cloth raised up by the pattern on the roller 15 thus reproducing on the cloth by a shearing action the pattern. For the even and uniform support of roller 15, and thus also the uniform cutting of the pattern in the cloth, roller 15 is supported along its length by a vertically adjustable anti-reflection device, which may be a single roller or pairs of rollers e.g. 21, 22. The ends of the roller 15 are mounted in a respective quick-release device 18, 19 for the easy interchange of the roller. The devices 18, 19 may additionally mount a V-bed. Adjustment of deflection device is carried out remotely by electric, hydraulic or pneumatic means. <IMAGE>

Description

CLOTH SHEARING MACHINES This invention concerns cloth shearing machines.

The purpose of such machines is generally to improve the appearance of the cloth by cutting the irregular pile of surface fibres level.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 shows schematically the cutting part of a shearing machine comprising a horizontal fixed ledger blade 10 and a cutting cylinder 11, having a number of spiral cutting blades 12, which revolves against the ledger blade 10.

An adjustable bed, such as V-bed 14 shown, is disposed directly below the cutting cylinder 11. The cloth passes over the V-bed 14 and fibres projecting from its surface are subjected to the cutting or shearing action of the cutting blades 12 against the ledger blade 10.

The distance between the V-bed 14 and the blades 12 determines the amount or depth of cutting.

The shearing machine can be used to produce patterns in cloth. This is done by replacing the V-bed 14 with an embossed or engraved pattern roller 15 as shown in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings. The roller 15 is usually a cylindrical metal tube having a rubber jacket on which the pattern to be transferred to the cloth is embossed or engraved. The roller 15 rotates with the cloth 13 to the cutting blades 12 of the cutting cylinder 11 only where said cloth 13 is pushed up by the embossed or engraved pattern so that the pattern is reproduced on the surface of the cloth.

The present invention is primarily concerned with the latter type of shearing machines, that is to say machines which have a pattern roller and are used for making patterned cloth.

Cloth shearing machines typically have to accomodate cloth which is at least two metres in width.

Thus the pattern roller has to be longer than the width of the fabric. -Since the roller is solid metal or is made of tubular steel with a coating of rubber or nylon it is quite heavy. It is only supported in the machine by its respective journalled ends and therefore it tends to sag or deflect towards the middle of its length. The great disadvantage of this is that the pattern on the surface of the roller is not evenly and consistantly transferred to the fabric.

It is an object of the present invention to propose a cloth shearing machine in which the aforesaid disadvantage is eliminated.

Obviously the shearing machine can be used to produce different patterns in cloth by an interchange of pattern rollers. However, with hitherto known shearing machines an interchange of pattern rollers usually involves cutting the cloth to get at the pattern roller so that the machine is stopped for a considerable period of time leading to a loss of production.

It is a further object of the present invention to propose a cloth shearing machine in which the interchange of the pattern roller can be achieved quickly and easily and without the need to cut the cloth to get at the roller.

With the first object in view the present invention provides a cloth shearing machine comprising a cutting part arranged above the machines bed and consisting of a ledger blade, a cutting cylinder, having a number of cutting blades, which is rotatable against the ledges blade arranged horizontally with respect thereto, and a pattern roller, rotatably supported at both ends, serving to present the cloth to the blades of the cutting cylinder for cutting only those regions of the cloth pushed up by the pattern on the roller, characterised in that mounted on the machine bed directly below the pattern roller is an anti-deflection device by means of which deflection of the pattern roller can be corrected and controlled without disturbing its rotation.

The anti-deflection device may consist of a single roller which is support along its entire length and is vertically adjustable with respect to the machine bed mechanical, electrically, hydraulically or pneumatically. Advantageously though the antideflection device consists of three pairs of rollers spaced-apart along the length of the machine bed and being independently adjustable vertically with respect to the machine bed. Adjustment may be carried out remotely by electric, hydraulic or pneumatic means.

In order to achieve said further object of the invention, advantageously the ends of the patter roller are journalled in respective quick-release clamping devices mounted one adjacent each end of the machine bed in line with the single adjustable roller or the pairs of adjustable rollers.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to Figs. 3 to 5 of the accompanying drawings which show various parts of a preferred embodiment of the cloth shearing machine of the present invention, it being understood that the following is illustrative and not limitative of the scope of the invention.

Referring firstly to Fig. 3, this is a schematic elevation of the cutting part of the preferred shearing machine of the invention. The middle part of the cutting part has been omitted for the sake of clarity.

The cutting part comprises a cutting cylinder 11, having a series of spiral cutting blades 12, rotatable relative to a fixed ledger blade 10 arranged horizontally thereto.

Below the cutting cylinder 11 and the ledger blade 10 is the machine's bed 16 having a flat upper surface 17. Adjacent each end of the upper surface 17 of the machine bed 16 is a mounting 18 or 19 for a respective end of a pattern roller 15 shown in dot-dash outline only. The pattern roller 15 consists of a hollow cylindrical metal rod having a rubber or nylon jacket on which the pattern to be cut in the cloth is embossed or engraved. However, the pattern could be cut directly into the surface of the metal rod obviating the need for a rubber or nylon jacket.

The ends of the pattern roller 15 are journalled in the respective mountings 18 and 19 so that said roller 15 can freely rotate with the cloth as it runs over it.

In addition the upper surface 17 of the machine bed 16 mounts a number of setting blocks 20 (only two of which are shown) for the pattern roller 15.

More importantly the upper surface 17 of the bed 16 mounts an anti-deflection device for the pattern roller 15 for correction and control of deflection in the roller 15.

The anti-deflection device comprises three pairs of freely rotatable rollers, only two paris being shown in Fig. 3 for reasons of clarity and being designated by the reference numerals 21 and 22. As can be seen from Fig. 4 each pair of rollers (21, 22) consists of two side-by-side rollers 23, 24 connected together at their respective ends by respective cross-pieces 25, 26.

The respective cross-pieces 25, 26 are themselves each connected to the piston of a respective one of pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders 27, 28 leading to a remote control box (not shown). The cylinders 27, 28 permit the individual vertical adjustment of each pair of rollers (21, 22). The pattern roller 15 sits on and between the rollers 23, 24 and rotate with the pattern roller 15.

The correction and control of deflection of the pattern roller 15 is achieved by the individual or collective adjustment of the pair of rollers The mountings 18 and 19 for the ends of the pattern roller 15 are also novel in that they are each in the form of quick-release clamping device. As will more clearly be seen in Fig. 5 the mounting has a gate piece having a pivotal connection 30 to main body part 31.

The gate piece 29 and the main body part 31 are shaped at inner portions 32 and 33 respectively to accomodate the pattern roller's bearings (not shown).

The gate piece 29 is securable relative to the main body part 31 by means of a toggle-like clamp 34 having a lever 35, pivoted at one end 36 to the main body part 31, and a connection stirrup 37 engagable with a Ushaped portrusion 38 at the free end of the gate piece.

The interchange of pattern rollers in the mountings 18 and 19 is achieved simply by operation of the togglelike clamp 34. This does not require the use of any tools whatsoever.

Each of the mountings 18 and 19 can have a key-way (as indicated by outline 40 in Fig. 3) so that a specially adapted V-bed (not shown), which remains stationary as the cloth passes over it, can be held by the mountings 18 and 19 and used with the shearing machine of the invention in addition to the normal pattern roller. This is of great economic advantage since with the same shearing machine it will be possible to do both plain shearing and pattern shearing of cloth.

Whilst the preferred embodiment of the shearing machine has an anti-deflection device which has three pairs of rollers any reasonable number of individual rollers or pairs of rollers can be used.

Claims (9)

1. A cloth shearing machine comprising a cutting part arranged above the machines bed and consisting of a ledger blade, a cutting cylinder, having a number of cutting blades, which is rotatable against the ledger blade arranged horizontally with respect thereto, and a pattern roller, rotatably supported at both ends, serving to present the cloth to the blades of the cutting cylinder for cutting only those regions of the cloth pushed up by the pattern on the roller, characterised in that mounted on the machine bed directly below the pattern roller is an anti-deflection device by means of which deflection of the pattern roller can be corrected and controlled without disturbing its rotation.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the antideflection device consists of a single roller which is supported along its entire length and is vertically adjustable with respect to the machine bed.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the antideflection device consists of three pairs of rollers spaced-apart along the length of the machine bed and being independently adjustable vertically with respect to the machine bed.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the adjustment of the single roller or each pair of rollers is carried out remotely by electric, hydraulic or pneumatic means.

5. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the ends of the pattern roller are journalled in respective quick-release clamping devices mounted one adjacent each end of the machine bed in line with the single adjustable roller or the pairs of adjustable rollers.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 3 wherein each pair of rollers consists of two side-by-side rollers connected together at their respective ends by respective crosspieces.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 6 wherein the crosspieces are each connected to the piston of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder connected to a remote control box.

8. A machine as claimed in claim 5 wherein each clamping device comprises a gate piece having a pivotal connection to a main body part, the gate piece and the main body part being shaped at respective inner portions to accomodate the pattern roller's bearings, the gate piece being securable relative to the main body part by means of a toggle-like clamp having a lever, pivoted at one end to the main body part, and a connection stirrup engageable with a U-shaped protrusion at the free end of the gate piece.

9. A clothing shearing machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 3 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.