Method of and apparatus for folding, sewing and conveying sheet materials

Claim 1

Apparatus for producing a textile product from textile material, comprising in combination, a work support having a work surface; first means for advancing a textile material blank along said work surface in a substantially rectilinear path while maintaining said blank at a predetermined orientation; second means arranged to receive said blank from said first means and operative for folding the blank transversely of said path, said second means comprising a stationary elongated folding element on said work surface and extending longitudinally of said path, a pair of surfaces located in said path laterally adjacent said folding element and including a first surface upwardly inclined from said work surface in direction of movement of said blank and an adjoining downstream second substantially horizontal surface located at a level above said work surface and said folding element, and a slide member movable between said second surface and said folding element transversely of said path for folding said blank transversely of the latter; third means for engaging and advancing the folded blank along said work surface in said path to a sewing station; fourth means, comprising a sewing machine at said sewing station for sewing said blank so as to convert it into a textile product; fifth means, including cam means, for engaging and turning the folded blank during sewing with reference to said sewing machine along a predetermined curved path so that the sewing machine sews a correspondingly curved seam; and sixth means for engaging the completed textile product and removing it from said sewing station along said work surface.