628,817. Trimming garments. STEVENS, A. H. (Shefsky, S., and Rudich, P. L.). July 16, 1946, No. 21273. [Class 31 (i)] [Also in Group XXXVII] A machine for trimming the lower ends of garments such as skirts smoothly and evenly is constructed with automatic control means for stopping the action of the cutters, with guards for protecting purposes, and with a receptacle for receiving the cut-off remnants. The garment is supported on a form 3 mounted on a plate 28 which is connected by bayonetjoints to a platform 17 with flared edges 19 connected to a graduated rod 16 clamped adjustably to a vertical tube 15 supported by a base 11. The platform 17 is adjusted so that the edge of the garment which is draped over the conical part 4 of a stationary drum extends just below the cutting edge 51 of an annular knife 50 screwed to a plate 44. With the knife edge 51 coacts a driven disc knife 60 which is carried by a rotating housing 5 supported on a rotating platform arm 120 secured to a hub 122 mounted on the tube 15 and driven by a gearing 128, 129 from a motor 7. As the arm 120 rotates it carries the housing around the drum 4 in an orbital path, and the disc 60 is driven by engagement of a gear 69 with a fixed ring gear 49 secured to the drum, and gear 69 acts through gears 72, 70, 65 to drive the cutter faster than necessary to effect a shear cut so that a slicing cut also occurs thus forming a clean cut. The shaft 66 of gear 22 drives by means of sprocket gearing a series of belts 80, 81, 82, Fig. 6, which even out the edge of the skirt as it passes into engagement with the cutters, and support the edge on either side of the cutters. There are three belts 82, two 81, and two 80, and the belts 82 are arranged further from the drum than the belts 81, and the belts 80 engage the drum on either side of the cutting disc 60. The remnants cut off are received in a pan 117 open at the top, and the operating mechanism is enclosed in guards 14, 140, 132, 135. The ring gear 49 is enclosed, and the spool spindles for the belts 80, 81, 82 are enclosed in a housing 98, carried by the housing 135 which protects the sprocket gearing (Fig. 3, not shown). Electric control.-The driving motor 7 is controlled by an automatically operated switch device shown diagrammatically in Fig. 14. At the start a switch 149<SP>1</SP>, is closed by operation of a pedal 145 and this energizes the electromagnet 184 of a relay switch 172 which is closed and causes energization of the motor 7. An electromagnet 159 carried by a sliding block 158 is also energized, and the armature of magnet 159 operates a lever which clutches a supporting member 155 of the block 158 to a screw 151, Fig. 2, which is integral with the shaft 66 of gear 72. The member 155 is prevented from rotating, and when clutched to the screw it is raised until a projection 170 on the block 158 engages a switch button 152 and opens the circuit of the electromagnet 184 and causes opening of the switch 172. The motor 7 is thus de-energized and the machine stopped. Also the magnet 159 is de-energized and a spring causes the member 155 to be disconnected from the screw 151, and it returns to its low position and thus permits the switch 152 to return to closed position ready for another operation. The electrical connections are made through contacts 178 carried by an insulating block 176, Fig. 2, and stationary contact rings 179. The screw member 151 may be formed separately from the shaft 66 and geared to the motor 7 by gears independent of the drive to the cutting disc 60. In a modification the cutting disc 60 and associated drive members are mounted on a stationary platform, and the drum 4 and the garment form 3 together with the cutter 50 are rotated by mechanism similar to that for rotating the cutter 60 and associated gears, and the drive is stopped automatically by a switch mechanism as described.