US451814A - Frame foe holding and stretching fabrics - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. F. PLOS. FRAME FOR HOLDING AND 'STRETGHING FABRICS. No. 451,814. Patented May 5,1891.

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(No Model.) 2Sheets-Sheet 2. G. F. FLOS. FRAME FOR HOLDING AND STRETOHING FABRICS.

Patented May 5, 1891.

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CHARLES F. FLOS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FRAME FOR HOLDING AND STRETCHING FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,814, dated May 5,-1891.

Application filed May 3,1890. Renewed March 31,1891. $erial No. 387,091. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. FLOS, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Frame for Holding and Stretching Fabrics, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in frames for holding and stretching fabrics, and has for its object to provide a means whereby the material to be manipulated will be securely held in proper position by the frame without injury to the material, and without the assistance of cement or nails.

Another object of the invention is to provide aframe of simple and durable construction, capable of not only maintaining the fabric in proper position for manipulation, but wherein also the fabric may be conveniently subjected to such tension as to free it from all wrinkles.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of the frame, illustrating the fabric to be operated upon as held in position, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section through Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial front elevation, wherein the fabric is illustrated as attached to the upper section of the frame and detached from the lower section, and Figure 4. is a vertical section through Fig. 3.

In carrying out the invention, the frame consists, primarily, of an upper and a lower section A and A of like construction, the said sections being parallel and of any desired length. Each section is subdivided into abody and a series of clamp-bars 11.

front, as shown at .12.

The bodyconsiderably thinner and narrower than the body, and are adapted to contact with the outer face thereof, and any number of clampbars may be used in connection with the body of each section. The clamp-bars are also preferably rectangular in cross-section, and their inner edges may be beveled, as shown at 13, in the opposite direction to the bevel of the body. The said clamp-bars, preferably at or near each end, havea sliding hinged connection with the body, which connection is effected in the following manner: In the outer face of the body of each section of the frame transverse suitably-spaced recesses 14 are produced, each of which is covered by a plate 15, each of said plates having a slot 16 produced therein, which is of less length than the recess beneath it. Immediately over each slotted body-plate a plate 17 is attached to the contiguous faces of the clamp-bars, and integral with each plate 17 a flat button 18 is formed, essentially in the shape of an inverted T, one end of the horizontal member whereof is usually carried downward to form a head 19, the said member being considerably longer than the slot in the body-plate 15. The outer edge of the head 19 is rounded off, and in the operation of hinging the clamps to the body the end of the horizontal member opposite to that carrying the head is first introduced into the recess 14 immediately .beneath it, whereupon the head may be crowded down into the said recess also, and the clamps may contact throughout their width with the outer face of the body.

The angle at which the clamps may be thrown outward from the body is regulated by an upper faceplate 20, one of which plates is secured to each clamp-bar, and the outer ends of the face-plates are made to extend beyond the outer ends of the clamp-bars,being given a slightly outward inclination, as illustrated at 21 in Fig. 4e, and the inner end of the face-plate is carried beyond the beveled end of the clamp-bar, to which it is attached, as is also shown in the same figure at 22, forming thereby a straight lip.

Upon the outer face of each body-section a wear-plate 28 is secured, which wear-plate is carried beyond the inner beveled edges of the said body-sections and bent upon itself to form a hook-like gutter 24. At or about the center of each of the clamp-bars a link 25 is pivotally attached to the upper edges of the upper clamps and to the lower edges of the lower clamps, which links are pivotally attached to the curved ends a of the hand-levers 26, which levers at or near the central portion of their curved ends a are pivoted upon the outer face of the body-sections of the frame. The upper levers are adapted to be carried in one direction for the purpose of locking the fabric between the clamp'bars and the body, and the lower levers to accomplish the same purpose are carried in the opposite direction.

The upper section A of the,frameis adapted to be suspended from the ceiling or other overhead support through the medium of links 27 or in any suitable or approved manner. To the inner face of the body of the lower section of the frame the lower extremities of two or more tension-bars 28 are pivoted, which bars are made preferably in the shape of an angled iron, and the web of the bars near the lower end is cut away and the flat body portion of the bars is also cut away at their upper ends. The bars are of sunficient length to extend above the upper edge of the upper frame-section A, and in one side of the fiat body portion of the bar a series of inclined cavities or recesses 29 is formed. Opposite the upper end of each of the tension-bars a post 29 is secured to the outer face of the upper frame-section A, the upper ends of which posts extend beyond the upper edges of the said section and are each provided with an aperture 30 in the said extended end, and upon the inner face of the said upper section A of the frame in the vertical path of each of the tension-bars a pin 31 is secured, the said pins being adapted to enter the recesses 29 in the said tensionbars.

In operation the lock-levers 26 of the upper section A are carried to the right, for instance, whereby the clamp-bars are drawn upward upon and outward from the body 10 until the plate 20 comes in contact with the said body, and when the body and clamp-bars are in this position the gutter 24 of the upper section is exposed. The upper side edge of the cloth or fabric 32 is placed in contact with the outer edge of the gutter and outer face of the gutter-plate 23, practically as illustrated in the lower portion of Fig. 4, and when the cloth has been placed in this position upon the body the levers 26 are carried to the position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, and the clamp-bars thereby forced down to a contact with the outer face of the body and slid downward, the lips 22 of the clamp-bars entering the trough or gutter 24 of the body and binding the edge of the fabric therein. The fabric at its lower edge is attached to the lower section in similar manner, the movement of the levers, however, being the reverse of that described in connection with the upper section. The direction of the movement of the upper and lower levers is illustrated in dot-ted lines in Fig. 3. It will be observed that the fabric is by this means clamped to the frame in a firm and secure manner without the assistance of glue or of nails, and that the fabric is in nowise injured by the improved operation.

4 The fabric having been placed in the frame, it is often desirable to stretch such fabric vertically in order to remove any wrinkles therefrom, and this is accomplished by passing a reduced end 33 of a lever 34 through the apertures 30 in the posts 29, which levers are provided with an aperture to receive the projecting upper web portions of the tensionbars 23, the levers finding a fulcrum upon the upper squared body portion of the said bars. By pressing the lever downward the upper section is lifted and the lower section pushed downward until the required tension is obtained, whereupon the pin 31 is permitted to enter the nearest notch or recess 29 in the tension-bars, as illustrated in Fig. 3. As the lower ends of the tension-bars are pivoted to the lower section of the frame when not in use in exerting tension, the tension-bars act as a support for the lower beam Aby bringing the lower recess 29 in contact with the pin 31, the said recess being oppositely inclined from those above it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a frame of the character described, the combination, with a beam having a longitudinally-extending gutter or shoulder, of a clamp bar parallel with said beam and adapted at its inner edge to press the fabric into engagement with said gutter or shoulder, a lever pivoted to the beam, and a link pivoted at one end to the clamp-bar and at its other end pivoted eccentrically to the said lever, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the beam having a longitudinally-extending gutter or shoulder and transverse recesses in rear thereof, of a clamp-bar parallel with the beam, hinged thereto, and adapted at its inner edge to press the fabric into engagement with said gutter or shoulder, and transverse buttons or catches on the under side of the said clamp-bar to enter the said recesses, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the parallel beams provided with longitudinally extending clamping devices, of tension-bars secured to one beam, extending transversely across the opposite beam, and having side notches, and

pins or studs on the rear side of the latter beam to enter said notches, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the parallel beams and the notched tension-bars pivoted to the under side of one beam and engaging with their notches, of pins on the rear side of the other beam, and alever apertured to engagethe ICC free ends of said stretching-bars and having its fulcrum on the beam having the pins, sub

stantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with the upper and lower parallel body-beams, each having lon gitudinally-extending clamping devices, apertured posts attached to the front face of the upper beam and projecting beyond the upper edge thereof, and pins or projections formed on the rear face of the said upper beam, of vertical tension-bars attached to the rear side of the lower beam, notched to engage the pins or projections on the beam, and projecting at their reduced upper ends above said upper beam, and a lever having a projection at one end to enter the apertures in the posts and having an aperture to receive the reduced upper ends of said tension-bars, substantially as set forth.

6. In a frame of the character described, the combinatiomwith a body-beam provided with a trough-like projection at one edge, of a clamp-bar hinged to the beam and-capable of sliding thereon, provided with a lockinglip adapted to enter the said trough-like projection of the beam, substantially as shown and described.

7. In a frame of the character described, the combination, with a body-beam provided with a trough-like projection at one edge, of a clamp-bar hinged to the beam and capable of sliding thereon, the said clamp-bar being provided with a locking-lip at one edge and adapted to enter the trough-like projection of the body-beam, and a limit-plate extending at an angle from the opposite edge, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

8. In a frame of the character described,

the combination, with a body-beam provided with a trough-like projection at oneedge, of a clamp-bar hinged to the beam and capable of sliding thereon, the said clamp-bar being provided with a locking-lip at one edge adapted to enter the trough-like projection of the body-beam, a limit-plate extending at an angle from the opposite edge, a shifting lever fulcrumed upon the beam, and a link connecting the clamp-bar and the said lever, substantially as shown and described. I

9. In a frame of the character described, the combination, with upper and lower parallel body-beams, each of said body-beams being provided with a trough-like projection at its inner edge, clamp-bars hinged to the said body-beams and capable of sliding thereon, the said clamp-bars being provided with locking-lips adapted to enter the gutter or trough-like projections of the body-beams, and shifting levers fulcrumed upon the beams and connected with the clamp-bars, of posts attached to the front face of the upper beam, extending upward beyond the same, and provided with an aperture, projections formed upon the rear face of the upper beam, tensionbars attached to the inner face of the lower beam, provided with notches or recesses in one side edge, adapted to engage with the projections upon the upper beam, and levers adapted to enter the apertures in the posts and having abearing upon the upper ends of the tension bars, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES F. FLOS.

l/Vitnesses:

WM. T. HAYWARD, O. SEnewIcK.

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