Feed-off-the-arm sewing machine
United States Patent n 1 Fox [ 1 FEED-OFF-TllE-ARM SEWING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Douglas J. Fox, Leeds, England [73] Assignee: The Singer Company, New York,  
 [22] Filed: July 15, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 488,381  
 [31)] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 13, 1974 United Kingdom 11077/74 [52] US. Cl 112/63; 112/63 [51] Int. Cl D05b 23/00 [58] Field of Search 112/63, 218, 258, 260  
 [561 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,294.074 8/1942 Christensen 112/63 1 Apr. 8, 1975 2/1947 Katz et al 112/63 12/1952 Zeier 1l2/63 Primary Examiner-H. Hampton Hunter Attorney, Agenr, or Firm-Robert E. Smith; Edward L. Bell; Marshall .I. Breen [57] ABSTRACT A sewing machine with a frame base from which extends a free-ended work supporting arm from which a work fabric of tubular shape may be fed, which frame base has a concave undersurface tangent to the work supporting arm so that a cylindrical article delivery tube may be arranged parallel to and touching the underside of the work supporting arm.  
 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures 1 FEED-OFF-THE-ARM SEWING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Although feed-off-the-arm sewing machines are known in the prior art they have not been designed heretofor to facilitate accommodation thereon of delivery tubes through which loose articles might be transported into a fabric tube as the tube is being generated on the sewing machine.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide for an optimum compactness in an arrangement of an article delivery tube immediately beneath the work supporting arm ofa feed&#39;offthe-arm sewing machine. This object is attained by the provision beneath the sewing machine frame base of a concave surface having generatrix elements substantially parallel to those of the cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm and with the concave cylindrical surface of the frame base and the cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm having one generatrix element shared in common. Using this novel arrangement, a straight article delivery tube may be secured as closely as possible beneath the sewing machine work supporting arm by use of a simple fastening which directly engages the frame base thus eliminating complicated and space consuming supporting structure.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings,  
  FIG. 1 represents a front perspective view of a feedoff-the-arm sewing machine having this invention applied thereto and showing in phantom lines a work fabric strip being formed into a tube and loose articles being transported into the tube, and  
  FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of that portion of the frame base of the sewing machine of FIG. 1 to which the work supporting arm and the article delivery tube are attached.  
  Referring to the drawing, a feed-off-the-arm sewing machine is indicated generally at I1 and includes a frame base 12, a work supporting arm 13 joined to the frame base and extending to a free extremity 14, and a bracket arm 15 rising from the frame base and terminating in a sewing head 16 overhanging the work supporting arm.  
  An endwise reciprocatory needle 20 is carried in the sewing head and is adapted to cooperate with a looper 21 carried in the work supporting arm in the formation of stitches in a work fabric as the work fabric is fed off the work supporting arm. Actuating mechanism in the sewing machine for the stitch forming instrumentalities may be of conventional construction and includes an arm shaft 23 in the bracket arm connected to drive the needle, a bed shaft 24 in the frame base connected to drive the looper, and drive belts 25 interconnecting the arm and bed shaft for rotation in timed relationship.  
  Any conventional work feeding mechanism (not shown) may be used to advance the work fabric off the free extremity 14 of the work supporting arm. For instance, the work may be transported from the arm at an angle of approximately 45 to the longitudinal axis of the work supporting arm thus to advance a work fabric strip 30 helically into the form of a cylindrical tube 40 as shown in the drawing.  
  For delivering loose articles 50 into the cylindrical fabric tube 40 as the tube is being formed, an article delivery tube 60 is arranged beneath and contiguous to the work supporting arm 13 of the sewing machine. Preferably as shown in the drawing, both the work supporting arm 13 and the article delivery tube 60 are of straight cylindrical exterior shape and these cylindrical surfaces of the work supporting arm and the article delivery tube are tangent as at 70.  
  To accommodate this arrangement of the article delivery tube relatively to the work supporting bed, the underside of the sewing machine frame base 12 is formed with a concave cylindrical surface 80 having generatrix elements substantially parallel to those of the cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm l3, and the concave cylindrical surface 80 of the frame base and said cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm have one generatrix element shared in common and indicated at in FIG. 2.  
  The cylindrical shape of the surface may be formed to coincide with that of the exterior of the article delivery tube 60 for facilitating support of the article delivery tube. A simple fastening screw threaded directly into the frame base may be employed to secure the article delivery tube in place, thus providing an arrangement in which the supporting structure for the article tube does not detract in any way from the proxim ity of the article delivery tube to the sewing machine work supporting arm.  
  Having set forth the nature of this invention, what is claimed herein is:  
  I. A feed-off-the-arm sewing machine including a frame base, an exteriorly cylindrical work supporting arm joined to said frame base and extending to a free extremity, a sewing head carried by said frame base and overhanging said work supporting arm, cooperating stitch forming mechanism carried in said sewing head and work supporting arm for concatenating stitches in a work fabric which is advanced along said work supporting arm toward and off the free extremity thereof, in which the underside of said frame base is formed with a concave cylindrical surface having generatrix elements substantially parallel to those of the cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm, said concave cylindrical surface of the frame base and said cylindrical exterior of the work supporting arm having one generatrix element shared in common.