Railway sewing machine

Claim 2

A railway sewing machine comprising frame means, carriage means movably mounted on said frame means, sewing means mounted on said carriage, drive means mounted on said carriage for driving said sewing means and moving said carriage means relative to said frame means at a plurality of different speeds, fluidoperated clamping means comprised of a plurality of clamping units adjustably mounted on said frame adjacent the path of travel of said carriage for holding a workpiece in position for sewing by said sewing means and control valve means including a manually operable member associated with each of said units to control clamping and releasing of each unit individually and automatically operable means for operating said control valve means to release said clamping means simultaneously.

Claim 3

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said clamping units includes bracket means for adjustably mounting said units on said frame and having a sliding cloth-supporting plate secured thereto, power cylinder means having a piston movable therein secured to said bracket means, a clamping member secured to said piston and positioned with respect to said plate to clamp a workpiece therebetween, and control valve means for controlling the movement of said clamping member to and from clamping position.

Claim 4

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein each of said clamping members is provided with resilient pad means secured to the workpiece engaging surface and said plate is provided with a friction surface to assist in holding the workpiece between said clamping member and said plate.

Claim 5

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 2 further comprising power-operated tensioning means mounted on said frame adjacent at least one of said clamping units, means connecting said tensioning means to said one unit for moving relative to the other of said clamping units to tension the cloth workpiece clamped thereby.

Claim 6

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 2 further comprising limit valve means secured to said frame in the path of movement of said carriage means, connecting means between said limit valve means and each of said control valve means whereby upon actuation of said limit valve means fluid pressure may be applied to each of said control valve means to shift each of said control valve means to a position for enabling said clamping members to be shifted from clamping position simultaneously.

Claim 7

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said units is comprised of bracket means for adjustably mounting said units on said frame and haVing a sliding cloth-supporting plate secured thereto, solenoid controlled clamping means secured to said bracket means, power supply means, manually operable switch means for operating said solenoid controlled clamping means individually and limit switch means adapted to be operated by said movable carriage to control said solenoid-controlled clamping means simultaneously.

Claim 8

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 1 further comprising thread-cutting means secured to said sewing means, power means for actuating said cutter means and limit means adapted to be actuated by said movable carriage means to control the actuation of said power means near the beginning and end of movement of said carriage to cut off leading and trailing threads closely adjacent the edges of the workpiece.

Claim 9

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 7 wherein said power means is a solenoid having an armature adapted to engage said cutter means and said limit means is an electric switch for energizing said solenoid.

Claim 10

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 7 wherein said power means is comprised of a piston and cylinder arrangement and said limit means is a valve operated by the movement of said carriage to control the movement of said piston.

Claim 11

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said drive means includes a variable speed transmission having a rotatable speed control shaft extending therefrom and control means having a plurality of adjustable limit stop means for rotating said control shaft to vary the speed ratio of said transmission.

Claim 12

A railway sewing machine comprising frame means, carriage means movably mounted on said frame means, sewing means mounted on said AC carriage, drive means mounted on said carriage for driving said sewing means and moving said carriage means relative to said frame means at a plurality of different speeds, clamping means adjustably mounted on said frame adjacent the path of travel of said carriage, for holding a workpiece in position for sewing by said sewing means and control means manually operable to control clamping by said clamping means and automatically operable to release said clamping means, said drive means including a variable speed transmission having a rotatable speed control shaft extending therefrom and control means having a plurality of adjustable limit stop means for rotating said control shaft to vary the speed ratio of said transmission, wherein said control means is comprised of a reciprocable gear rack having abutment means thereon and disposed in meshing engagement with a gear on said control shaft, means for reciprocating said rack, first limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means to define a high speed position, second adjustable limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means to define a low speed position and movable abutment means intermediate said first and second limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means and adapted to be moved into said path to define an intermediate speed position.

Claim 13

A railway sewing machine comprising frame means, carriage means movably mounted on said frame means, sewing means mounted on said AC carriage, drive means mounted on said carriage for driving said sewing means and moving said carriage means relative to said frame means at a plurality of different speeds, clamping means adjustably mounted on said frame adjacent the path of travel of said carriage, for holding a workpiece in position for sewing by said sewing means and control means manually operable to control clamping by said clamping means and automatically operable to release said clamping means, said drive means including a variable speed transmission having a rotatable speed control shaft extending therefrom and control means having a plurality of adjustable limit stop means for rotating said control shaft to vary the speed ratio of said transmission, wherein said control means is comprised of a reciprocable gear rack having abutment means thereon and disposed in meshing engagement with a gear on said control shaft, means for reciprocating said rack, first limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means to define a high speed position, second adjustable limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means to define a low speed position and movable abutment means intermediate said first and second limit means disposed adjacent the path of reciprocation of said abutment means and adapted to be moved into said path to define an intermediate speed position.

Claim 14

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 11 wherein said means for reciprocating said rack includes a fluid-operated piston and cylinder arrangement and further comprising an additional piston cylinder arrangement for moving said movable abutment means.

Claim 15

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 12 further comprising additional control means for controlling the flow of fluid to said piston and cylinder arrangements and a plurality of operating means for said additional controls operable upon relative movement of said frame means and said carriage means whereby said carriage means will travel at a low speed near the beginning and end of each traverse, at an intermediate speed along the midportion of the forward traverse and at a high speed along the midportion of the reverse traverse.

Claim 16

A railway sewing machine as set forth in claim 1 further comprising first and secoNd vacuum means mounted on said carriage means adjacent said sewing means, a said first vacuum means being mounted and adjusted to straighten out a trailing chain of stitch to facilitate cutting and disposal thereof and said second vacuum means being mounted and adapted to remove cloth trimmings adjacent the stitching zone.