AUTOMATIC PLEATING MACHINE

摘要

This is an automatic pleating machine which is designed to automatically form a plurality of spaced pleats across the top of a piece of drapery or curtain material and to sew the pleats in place. A sewing machine is mounted on a stand and the automatic pleat forming device is mounted on an arm swung from beneath the stand in front of the sewing machine. A pair of jaws are pivoted to swing vertically into open position with a central tongue between them to form two separate sections. A C-shaped arm is designed to push the material into jaws on each side of the central tongue to form the pleat. A plurality of needles now swing upwardly through slots in the jaw to hold the pleat in position while the C-shaped device is removed. The jaws then close on the pleat and the entire jaw assembly moves forwardly to a point beneath the sewing machine needle. At this point the sewing machine clamp moves downwardly and clamps the pleat. The jaws are then withdrawn and opened up for the formation of another pleat. The second pleat is formed before the first pleat has been sewed by the machine. After the first pleat has been sewed the sewing machine clamp is raised and an arm comes downwardly to pull the material from beneath the needle of the sewing machine. The second pleat already completed in the jaws is then moved forwardly beneath the sewing machine clamp. This is repeated until the plurality of predetermined pleats in a predetermined spaced relation are formed on the material. The pleats are usually so arranged that the first and last pleats are approximately 3 inches from the edge of the material while the other pleats are approximately five inches apart. For this construction the apparatus is provided with an arm controlled by two cams. During the initial operation the first cam permits the arm to move downwardly to pull sufficient material to form the first pleat three inches from the edge. Thereafter during the operation of the device the second cam takes over and pulls more material for the formation of the pleat so that the pleats are now five inches apart. The various parts of the device the jaws and the pleat forming device are all operated by compressed air controlled by solenoid valves. The entire machine can then be programmed from a tape in the conventional manner.