Tenter apparatus for fabric web tenter machines

Claim 1

In tenter apparatus having a support provided with a surface at a level to support one edge of a fabric web, a body having one end thereof confronting said support surface and pivotally mounted between its ends for movement of said one end toward and away from said surface, a first clamp fixed to said body adjacent said one end of said body and comprising a rotary roller having relatively large diameter flanges joined by a relatively small diameter hub, a second clamp fixed to said body adjacent said one end and in fixed spaced relation to said first clamp, the relative positions of said first and second clamps being such that movement of said one end of said body toward said support is operable to effect positioning of said flanges at the level of said surface while said hub and said second clamp are spaced from such level, and said support having openings into which said flanges are movable to pass through the level of said surface in response to continued movement of said one end of said body toward said support, the improvement wherein said hub of said first clamp is engageable with said support to terminate movement of said one end of said body toward said support following movement of said flanges into said openings and through the level of said surface, and wherein the diameter of said hub is so related to the spacing between said first and second clamps that when movement of said one end of said body toward said support is terminated by engagement between said hub and said support surface said second clamp is adjacent but spaced from the level of said surface a minimum distance which is less than the thickness of said fabric web, thereby to limit the clamping force said second clamp may apply on said web.