Gerber Garment Technology, Inc.

Other

Claude W LeBlond

Kevin M Williams

Alex Zusmanovich

H Joseph Gerber

Darryl Colburn Stein

Phillip L Henderson

David J Porter

Joseph Rovito

Allan Buckle

A Bruce Plumley

A system for automatically making sample garments comprises a controller having a central process for preparing a marker based on data representing individual pattern pieces of an overall garment design and data representing selected portions of the sheet material from which the garment is to be constructed. The system further comprises an apparatus for cutting and performing other work operations on the sheet material. The apparatus includes a table having a core defining a vacuum plenum and a sheet material support surface.

Sample garment making system

A two-dimensional digitizing system comprises a plurality of overlaid digitizer tablets. Each tablet includes two wire grid circuits oriented at right angles to each other for the X and Y directions, with each circuit having conductive grid structures. In those circumstances where two panels generate position signals, a controller verifies which of the competing position signals is correct. The digitizer is also characterized by a capability to operate at large stylus-tablet separations, allowing for a multi-layered laminate tablet of substantial thickness. The present system is readily adapted for applications such as a cloth cutting in which large surface areas are required and in which the digitizer tablet circuitry must be located remote from a cutting surface.

Multipaneled digitizer

A gripper employs a hydraulic linear decelerator as a resistance device and includes first and second parts that are movable relative to one another and act against the linear decelerator when moved between a first position and a second position thereby causing the decelerator to provide resistance to such movement and create a desired exercise effect to the user.

Hand grip exerciser

The invention resides in winder for automatically winding sections of sheet material to form separate tubes. The winder comprises a base, a supply of sheet material and a material drive means on the base for advancing sheet material from the supply towards a station on the base located remotely thereof. A winding means is located at the station for winding a section of the sheet material about itself and about a rotational axis such that the involved section of sheet material is substantially wound in a tubular condition. A cutting means is provided and is located between the drive means and the second rotational axis for cutting the sheet material transversely of its length at points therealong corresponding to the end one section and the beginning of the next successive section to be advanced to the station. The winder further employs fastening means for applying a means to the tube created on the winding means to hold the sheet material in tubular form after the involved tube is released from its holding engagement with the winding means.

Coreless winder and method of use

An apparatus for drilling sheet material comprises a reciprocating subframe which rotatably supports an annular drill and pressing means. The pressing means holds the material down during drilling and strips the material from the drill when the subframe is raised.

Sheet material drilling apparatus

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.

Method and apparatus for forming pattern pieces

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.

Method and apparatus for indexing sheet material

An automatically controlled cutting machine includes a conveyor table having an endless conveyor belt for moving segments of limp sheet material onto the table for cutting. A cutting carriage and blade are mounted for controlled movement over the support surface of the table to cut pattern pieces from the limp sheet material positioned on the surface. A vacuum system holds the material in a compressed state on the support surface during cutting, and an air-impermeable overlay is spread on top of the cut material to seal the material and prevent leakage into the vacuum system. The overlay is an elongated strip with the opposite longitudinal ends wound into rolls. One roll is mounted on a self-retracting roller and connected with the cutting carriage to spread the overlay onto the cut sheet material as the carriage moves back and forth. The other roll is mounted on a motor driven roller at one end of the conveyor belt with the interconnecting portion between the rolls overlying the support surface of the table and any layup thereon. As the cut layup is moved off of the cutting table, the overlay material is retrieved by the motor driven roller. At periodic intervals, portions of the overlay strip accumulated on the motor driven roller are shifted back to the self-retracting roller mounted on the cutting carriage.

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Enfield, CT, United States of America

Claude W LeBlond