Improvements in and relating to template sewing machines

1,115,599. Sewing machines. INSTITUT FUR TEXTILMASCHINEN. 17 Oct., 1966, No. 46343/66. Heading DIG. In a sewing machine comprising a carriage movable in two directions at right angles to one another by longitudinal and transverse transport means respectively and guided by engagement with a stationary template, the carriage is resiliently connected to a workholder, and the latter is disconnected at the end of a sewing operation by abutment wilth a fixed stop, the carriage thereby being returned to its starting position by the longitudinal transport means, and the workholder then being transferred by further tranverse transport means to further longitudinal transport means effecting the return of the workholder to its starting position. A workholder 18 has a vertical bar 15 movable between a row of upright studs 14 on a bar 1 to 'be held therein by a ball catch 16. Bar 1 is supported by a rod 2 which slidably engages a template slot (5) in a fixed plate, and which is rigid with a carriage (4) slidable transversely on a carriage (8), the latter being movable longitudinally by driven endless chains (6) (7) on rails (10) (11), and carriage (4) being moved transversely by means not described. At the end of a sewing operation, workholder 18 is halted by engagement with a needle-guiding boss 20, and is disengaged from bar 1 on further movement of the chains (6) (7). A bar 25, which journals a rod 26 rigid with fingers 27 biassed to the horizontal position by a spring 28, is then driven by an endless chain transversely towards the stationary workholder. The fingers 27 are moved to the upright position by engagement with a fixed abutment, and are held upright in engagement with bar 15 by a spring catch carried by bar 25. The latter is then driven to shift work holder 18 forwardly, the left hand end of the workholder being supported by the sewing machine table and the right hand end being supported by a rod 41 slidably mounted in bar 25 and spring-biased outwardly. Near the end of the forward travel of bar 25, bar 15 rides up a cam surface on a fixed bar 37 to lodge in a groove 38 therein; the fingers 27 passing into recesses 40 provided in bar 37, and the spring catch holding the fingers 27 upright being released by co-operation with a fixed abutment 34. An endless longitudinal chain 33 is then driven to engage a pin (35) thereon with a hook 36 on workholder 18 for shifting the latter to an unloading position.