Apparel apparatus – Forming – pressing – molding – and stretching – Forms
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-25
2001-02-13
Mohanty, Bibhu (Department: 3741)
Apparel apparatus
Forming, pressing, molding, and stretching
Forms
C223S074000, C223S072000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186377
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a shirt pressing apparatus and more particularly to a machine having adjustable sleeve expanders which enable the machine to be used for pressing either long or short sleeve shirts.
Shirt pressing machines available in the marketplace have been limited to finishing long sleeve shirts. Generally those commercial machines include a buck for receiving a shirt to be pressed, the buck being movable between an exposed loading station at which an operator places a shirt on the buck, and a pressing chamber within which the shirt is exposed to steam and pressurized air during the pressing operation. Mounted at the side of the buck are clamps or grippers for gripping the cuffs of the long sleeve shirt and extension arms for extending the grippers away from the shirt during the shirt loading operation at the operator's station. When the buck is moved into the pressing chamber the grippers hold the sleeve in slight tension away from the shirt's body during the pressing operation. At the completion of the pressing operation, the buck is returned to the operator's station, the tensioning arms are relaxed and the shirt is removed from the buck. Typical prior commercial machines are the Model SBC-BV machines which have been marketed by the Assignee of this application, and also pressing machines such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,326.
Those prior art machines, however, have been limited to pressing long sleeve shirts and have not been adaptable to use with short sleeve shirts.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,900 illustrates a machine for pressing either long or short sleeve shirts, but the adjustable sleeve expander assemblies by which this is accomplished are rather complex in construction and thus are not cost effective.
Thus, a need exists in the marketplace for a machine which includes adjustable sleeve expanders which are economical and easy to manufacture and maintain, and which are readily adjustable for use with either long or short sleeve shirts. The novel invention disclosed and claimed in this application was developed to satisfy that need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the primary objective of this invention is to provide an improved shirt pressing machine having novel adjustable sleeve expanders of simple and cost effective construction which quickly and readily adapt the machine for use with long or short sleeve shirts.
The above objective is accomplished by providing the buck of a conventional shirt pressing machine such as those mentioned above with sleeve expander assemblies which include upper and lower arms connected together at adjacent ends in such a way that the upper arm may be rotated about its longitudinal axis between a first position in which the axes of the arms are in alignment with each other and a second position in which they are angularly positioned with respect to each other. Connected to the upper arm of each assembly is a three prong cuff fork which is positioned to grasp a long sleeve shirt when the upper and lower arms are aligned with each other but is positioned to grasp a short sleeve shirt when the arms are angularly related to each other. The connection between the upper and lower arms is such that the adjustment between the upper and lower arms of the arm assembly is accomplished by cutting the mating ends of the arms on the same angle, e.g. a 15° angle, and then connecting the two ends together so that, when the equal angles of the mating ends are on opposite sides, the two arms form a straight arm assembly, but when the upper arm is rotated about its longitudinal axis 180° the equal angles of the connecting ends are on the same side so that the upper arm extends angularly inwardly with respect to the lower arm, thereby moving the cuff fork assembly closer to the buck for use with short sleeve shirts. The rotational adjustment or indexing through 180° of the upper arm with respect to the lower arm is quickly and easily made by an operator so that the operator may conveniently convert the machine for use with a run of long or short sleeve shirts.
The novel and unique adjustable sleeve expanders are of simple mechanical construction which are relatively easy and economical to manufacture, which require a minimal amount of maintenance during use, and which can be quickly and conveniently adjusted by an operator for use with long or short sleeve shirts as desired.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from reading the following detailed description of the invention in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3198407 (1965-08-01), Hughes
patent: 3568900 (1971-03-01), Paris
patent: 3583610 (1971-06-01), Forse
patent: 3613969 (1971-10-01), Forse
patent: 3624795 (1971-11-01), Martin
patent: 3737080 (1973-06-01), Paris
patent: 3961733 (1976-06-01), Kannegiesser et al.
patent: 4163331 (1979-08-01), Renaut
patent: 4346826 (1982-08-01), Ehemann
patent: 4689905 (1987-09-01), Vartan
patent: 5474216 (1995-12-01), Harod et al.
patent: 5692326 (1997-12-01), Mohan et al.
Hoffman/New Yorker Brochure-CSS Series.
Hadsall Robert A.
King Michael J.
McCormick John T.
Hoffman/New Yorker, Inc.
Mohanty Bibhu
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