Abstract: A hanger for use with a conveyor in a garment making plant or the like for holding limp sheet material includes a hanger rod for attachment to a conveyor trolley and a hanger body carrying, and forming in part, a plurality of grippers, each capable of holding a workpiece unit to the body. Each gripper is made up of a stationary gripping face on part of the hanger body and a grip elememnt supported for movement along a path giving it a wedging action on a work unit inserted in the gripper when the grip element is urged downwardly by the weight of the work unit and its engagement therewith.

Abstract: In an apparatus and method for use in cutting pattern parts from a plurality of irregularly shaped and sized pieces of sheet material, such as hides, a piece of sheet material to be cut is spread onto the cylindrical surface of a drum and is then first digitized and subsequently cut while remaining fixed to the drum. From the data obtained by the digitizing a representation of the hide periphery is visually displayed on the screen of a layout unit where an operator interactively arranges visual part representations selected from a computer memory store within the hide periphery representation to arrive at an acceptable layout of parts. Such layout is then converted to digital data used to cause the sheet material to be cut in accordance with the layout during the cutting step.

Abstract: In an automated transport system which includes a rail, a plurality of free traveling trolleys riding on the rail, and chain driven pushers for propelling the trolleys along the rail, a bracket is provided on the chain for each pusher which allows a trolley located far in advance of the pusher to move into engagement with the pusher and thereafter limits the distance it can move ahead of the pusher, as for example when the trolley rides on a downwardly sloping portion of the rail. The brackets are made of plastic and are releasably connectable with the chain, with a snap fit action, so that they can be easily added to or removed from the chain as required to adapt the chain to a given application.

Abstract: A worksheet supporting bed for a laser cutter comprises a series of thin bands arranged parallel to one another in a common plane to form an even support surface. The bands take the form of endless strips each of which being tensioned between two braces. One of the braces is fixedly secured to an end frame portion of the bed and the other brace is secured via a tensioning screw to an opposite end frame portion. By turning the screw, the tension in the associated endless band is adjusted, and by removal of the screw, the associated endless band may be removed and another one substituted for it. The bands define elongated slots which may be penetrated by an optional mechanism which engages a worksheet supported on the bed and transports it to or from the bed. The upper edges of the bands may be smooth so that fabric sheets may slide along it easily without snagging. Also, the bed is gas-permeable.

Abstract: An escapement mechanism for advancing a leading one of a row of gravity biased objects supported on a guide comprises a leading stop bracket and a trailing stop bracket pivotally mounted in fixed relation to one another and a piston and cylinder assembly, which pivots the two brackets. The brackets are angularly displaced relative to one another such that at one time, one stop bracket is in the path of the objects to back them up and the other stop is out of the path of said objects. The objects back up against the leading stop bracket and then the piston and cylinder assembly simultaneously pivots the trailing stop bracket into the path of the object immediately behind the leading object and pivots the leading stop bracket out of the path of the leading object to allow the leading object to advance by gravity beyond the escapement mechanism.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for working on sheet material utilizes a table having two spaced coplanar lips across which sheet material is stretched to be worked on by a tool supported from a movable carriage spanning the table. Clamping units attached to the table hold the sheet material in a taut condition between the coplanar lips of the table by clamping the material against the lips. A platen is suspended from the carriage on the side of the material opposite from the work tool for movement with the carriage and provides a backing for the material as the work tool performs a work operation on the material. The apparatus is particularly suited for applications in which the sheet material in an elongated strip is indexed in segments across the work area of the table.

Abstract: A conveyorized vacuum table comprises a conveyor for feeding and supporting limp sheet material and a vacuum system which applies vacuum to the sheet material while it is being fed and/or worked upon. The conveyor comprises a penetrable support bed and a plurality of vacuum chambers which move with the support bed and communicate with it. Means are also provided to apply vacuum to the vacuum chambers to cause the conveyor to hold the sheet material for cutting or other work operations.

Abstract: A conveyorized transport system which can be used to transport workpieces to a series of subsidiary loops, comprises a main rail, workpiece carrying trolleys movable on the main rail, a subsidiary loop adjacent to the main rail which leads to a work station, a special switch to transfer a trolley between the main rail and the subsidiary loop, and a computer to track and control the movement of the workpieces. The main rail and the subsidiary loop each have a gap laterally spaced from one another, and each switch includes a transfer rail section which can be moved laterally between the gap in the main rail and the gap in the subsidiary loop to transfer a trolley between the main rail and the subsidiary loop. One specific embodiment of the transport system also includes a chain-driven pusher extending downward from an overhead track which drives said trolley while it is being transferred between the main rail and the subsidiary loop.

Abstract: A hanger for use with a conveyor for transporting pieces of limp sheet-like work material from place to place in a garment making plant or the like includes a hanger rod for attaching the hanger to a conveyor trolley and a rigid body having at least one gripper, and preferably several grippers, each for releasably holding a workpiece unit to the hanger. Each gripper is of a simple construction including a fixed generally vertical gripping surface on one downwardly extending portion of the body and a cooperating spring clip attached to the lower end of a second downwardly extending body portion spaced laterally of the first downwardly extending portion.

Abstract: An automatically controlled cutting machine having a reciprocating cutting blade that is translated along a cutting path through a layup of limp sheet material under computer control includes an ultrasonic transducer that establishes standing waves along the length of the blade. The reciprocating motions of the blade shift the nodes in the standing wave to different elevations within the layup so that cutting is uniform in each ply of the limp sheet material. A drill used to produce marking holes in the material is also provided with ultrasonic means and aids the drilling in penetrating through the layup during drilling operations.

Abstract: A hanger for holding limp sheet material from a conveyor trolley in a conveyorized garment making plant or the like is fabricated almost entirely of bent wire parts and may be used to hold only one or a group or stack of workpieces. When the hanger arrives at a work station the workpieces may be removed from it, or they can remain on the hanger while they are worked. For the latter case the hanger includes a folding bar useful in separating the already worked pieces from those yet to be worked.

Abstract: A material unloading conveyor is arranged in overlapping relation to the discharge end of a bristle conveyor and includes an endless belt which has a plurality of U-shaped staples secured to its surface to pivot relative thereto. The staples move in combing relation to the bristles, which comprise the bristle conveyor, and the material supporting surface defined by the bristles to lift sheet material from the bristle conveyor and onto the unloading conveyor as the material is discharged by the bristle conveyor.

Abstract: An elongated blade has a notch in its leading edge, with parallel chisel edges adapted to chop through the oriented fibers (boron or graphite) of uncured sheet material as the blade is reciprocated vertically at a high frequency relative to its forward velocity (five cycles per blade width). The notch is about half as deep as the blade width and has a vertical extent (between the chisel edges) of about 60 percent of the blade's vertical stroke. The blade has a lower edge which forms a 135 degree angle with it's leading edge, and which lower edge is spaced below the lower notch chisel edge by approximately the width of the blade.

Abstract: A layup of sheet material clamped to a conveyor by a conveyor loading apparatus is pulled by and onto the conveyor from an adjacent supply table. The loading apparatus includes a clamping carriage assembly straddling the conveyor and supported for free rolling movement relative to the conveyor. Fluid motors mounted on the clamping carriage move a clamping bar from a released position into clamping engagement with the layup to clamp it between the conveyor surface and the clamping bar and couple the clamping carriage to the conveyor to move with the conveyor. A flexible hose wound on a pay-off reel mounted on the clamping carriage and spring biased toward wound position supplies pressure fluid to the fluid motors and biases the clamping carriage toward a retracted position near the supply table end of the conveyor when the clamping bar is in its released position.

Abstract: An automatically controlled machine for cutting a layup of limp sheet material includes a conveyorized vacuum holddown table for advancing a layup of sheet material, compressing the layup and holding it in a fixed position while it is cut by a cutting tool supported by a cutting carriage assembly and moved by the carriage assembly in cutting relation to the layup. An overlay of air-impermeable sheet material wound on a retractable roll carried by the cutting carriage assembly is spread over the layup to cover the kerf formed in the layup by the cutting tool as the carriage assembly advances. The free end of the overlay is secured to a clamping bar at the discharge end of the table. The clamping bar is vertically movable relative to the table between raised and lowered positions.

Abstract: An automatically controlled machine for cutting limp sheet material includes a vacuum bed defining a surface on which the sheet material is spread and held during cutting. A reciprocating cutting blade penetrates through the sheet material and the support surface of the vacuum bed as the blade is translated parallel to the support surface along lines of cut. A plurality of air-impermeable panels extend through the bed in spaced relationship to sectionalize the vacuum bed and permit the vacuum to be generated only in those portions of the bed where the cutting blade is operating. To prevent interference with the penetrating cutting blade, the panels are individually withdrawn from the bed when the cutting blade approaches.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for forming patterns from sheet material employs a castered cutting bit that is guided along a closed cutting path defined by the shape of the desired pattern. The bit is mounted fixedly in a presser foot and projects a predetermined amount below the surface of the foot to control the depth of cut into the material. Frangible materials are cut to depth less than the thickness of the material, and thereafter complete severance of the pattern from the sheet material is accomplished by fracturing the material along the line of cut.

Abstract: Transfer tables are selectively provided at opposite ends of one of several stationary work tables, and an automatic controller is programmed to cause a gantry to spread sheet material from a roll on one transfer table onto the work table and a cross carriage on the gantry has a label applicator to apply labels to predetermined areas of the sheet material during return movement of the gantry onto the one transfer table. Another transfer table has a conventional cutter which is programmed to cut the sheet material after it is so spread, and labeled, following which cutting step the cutter head and its carriage can be returned to said another transfer table. Both of these transfer tables can be moved on tracks from these positions adjacent the ends of the said work table to other work tables.

Abstract: In a plotter, an elongated strip of plotting paper extends between rolls at opposite ends of a plotting table to receive graphic information from a plotting instrument that is carried over the table by means of a motor controlled carriage. Different segments of the elongated strip are shifted onto the work surface of the table to receive the graphic information by coupling the strip to the plotting carriage and moving the carriage together with the strip across the table in an indexing operation. To prevent distortion of the material and associated positioning errors during the step of indexing, the material being pulled onto the table by the carriage is placed in tension and the material being discharged from the table is maintained substantially tension-free.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting sheet material as a cantilever vacuum table with a fluid permeable support surface upon which sheet material may be spread. A movable vacuum box supported below the surface of the table defines a vacuum chamber and is connected outboard of a free edge of the table to a carriage assembly which moves a blade in cutting relation to material spread on the table in response to signals received from a programmable controller. The vacuum box moves with the blade and relative to the table to apply vacuum to a limited area of the table immediately surrounding the cutting region of the blade.