Garment Pattern Weight

Abstract

This is a weight for firmly and demountably positioning one sheet member, such as a pattern or other reference shape, in contact with a second sheet member, such as cloth or other material, to be formed like the reference shape. The weight includes easily positioned, removable gripping supports.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a weight member for maintaining two or more objects in firm contact, and more particularly to a weight adapted to maintain a pattern in contact with one or more pieces or sheets of material wherein the weight is adapted to also include specific removable gripping supports in the event that a more firm contact is desired between the pattern and the sheets of material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Presently there is a renewed interest in "do-it-yourself" projects. As part of this interest, many women, and even some men, are making their own clothing and other accessories. Most of the sewing necessary to produce such clothing and accessories will be performed in the home where professional devices and other objects used in the garment industry are not available. Therefore, it has become desirable to develop an improved, reliable, and simple device to be used in the home to maintain contact between a pattern and the material to be cut into a garment. This is particularly important since the miscutting or misshaping of the segments of a garment will materially affect the finished product.

Heretofore seamstresses have used straight pins or other sharp objects to attach the pattern to the material. Such pins frequently result in damage to the material or in frustration to the seamstress, since they are sharp and can be easily lost or misplaced. To overcome this problem, a seamstress frequently uses any weighted object at hand, such as a pair of scissors or a book. Such use of substitute objects has obvious disadvantages. Recently a product was introduced which permits the seamstress to spray a coating of light adhesive on the pattern. This too has disadvantages because the adhesive may be transferred to the surface of the material while the pattern is in contact with the material. As noted above, each of the devices or techniques presently used to maintain contact between a pattern and material has certain disadvantages. To overcome such disadvantages, the presently improved garment pattern weight has been developed.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved garment pattern weight which is easy to position but which, after being positioned, will maintain a pattern in firm contact with one or more sheets or pieces of material.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved pattern weight which can be adapted to include gripping feet to facilitate the maintenance of contact between a pattern and one or more sheets or pieces of material.

A still further object of this invention is to provie an improved pattern weight which has a shape that does not hinder the cutting of the material at the edge of the pattern.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a pattern weight which can be easily stored when not in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects are accomplished according to the present invention in a garment pattern weight which has a weighted member and a flexible casing for the weighted member. The casing includes a plurality of detents into which gripping feet in the form of a conventional thumbtack can be demountably inserted if increased gripping is desired. To facilitate the insertion of the gripping feet, in one embodiment. a plurality of slots and guide surfaces are associated with each of the detents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters denote the same parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention showing the application of the invention to maintain contact between a pattern and pieces or sheets of material.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an improved pattern weight constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and illustrating one embodiment of these principles, and in which a portion of the weight is cut away to show the slot and bore adapted to receive a gripping foot.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a section of the casing, illustrating the slot and bore for the gripping feet and showing a gripping foot being guided toward the slot by the outer edge of the casing.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an improved pattern weight constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and illustrating a second embodiment and in which a portion of the weighted member is cut away to show the detent and bore.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a typical application of the improved pattern weight of the present invention is its use to maintain a pattern 12 of a very thin material such as paper in contact with one or more pieces or sheets of material 14 such as cloth. As can be seen in this Figure, a plurality of pattern weights 10, 11 are placed on top of the pattern 12 so that the pattern can maintain contact with the pieces of material 14. Also illustrated in this Figure is the use of pattern weights of different sizes, each constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention. Typically, smaller weights 11 are used to hold the pattern near the center or away from the edge to be cut, while the larger weights 10 are used near the edge.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 2 and 3, the improved pattern weight 10 of the present invention comprises a weighted member 16, such as a ring of iron, and a casing 18 of a relatively smooth, resilient material, such as flexible plastic, which covers at least a portion of the weighted member. Since one surface of the weight in most applications will be in contact with the pattern, at least that one surface of the weight is flat. However, for some applications, it may be desirable for the surface of the casing opposite the one flat surface to also be flat. This use will be explained later.

To attach the casing 18 to the weighted member 16, a plurality of flanges 20, 21 extend upward from both the outer and the inner edge of the casing 18. The flanges each have a first leg 22 of a height slightly greater than the thickness of the weighted member 16 and a second leg 24 of a width sufficient to maintain the weighted member in contact with the casing 18. In this preferred embodiment, the flanges 20, 21 are not continuous and, as clearly shown in FIG. 2, comprise discontinuous portions. For maximum integrity of the casing 18 and the weighted member 16 when they are pressed together, the discontinuous portion of the flange 21 at the inner edge of the casing 18 should each oppose a discontinuous portion of the flange 22 at the outer edge.

A plurality of tapered slots 26 extend inwardly from the outer edge of the casing. Each slot 26 is located between adjacent discontinuous portions of the outer flange 20, and terminates in a detent 27 having a central bore 28. Each slot 26 has a width nearest the outer edge of the casing which is greater than the width of the slot 26 nearest the bore 28. The diameter of the bore is substantially similar to the diameter of a gripping support member or foot 34, such as a conventional thumbtack, which may be positioned in the bore 28 and is slightly greater than the width of the slot 26 adjacent to the bore.

The outer edge of the casing 18 near the opposing sides of each slot projects outwardly so that it may be shaped into a guide surfaces 30, 32 which terminates at the edge of the slot. Thus, as clearly seen in FIG. 4, a gripping support 34, shown diagrammatically as a thumbtack, will be guided by the guide surface 30 into the slot 26. Once the gripping support 34 is in the slot 26, it can be laterally advanced in the slot, resulting in a deflection of the flexible material of the casing to permit the gripping support 34 to be secured in the detent 27 and bore 28. Because the width of the slot 26 near the bore 28 is slightly less than the diameter of the bore 28, once the gripping support 34 has been inserted into the bore 28, it will be retained therein against lateral movement.

Typically, the gripping support 34 will comprise a conventional thumbtack which has a relatively flat head 33 and an elongated shaft 34 terminating in a sharp point. It has been found that the gripping support particularly is used to hold a pattern in contact with several pieces of material since it is common practice to cut at the same time two pieces of a garment from a single pattern. To receive the head 33, the detent 27 in the casing 18 surrounding each of the bores 28 has a diameter and a depth substantially similar to the diameter and thickness of the tack head 33. This permits the tack head 33 to be retained in the detent 27 generally flush with the adjacent surface of the casing 18.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the improved pattern weight constructed in accordance with the invention in which the outer flange 36 and the inner flange 38 of the casing 39 are continuous and the slots and guide surfaces of the first embodiment have been eliminated. Thus, each of the gripping supports 34 is inserted in the bore 42 and seated in the detent 40 before the weighted member 16 is snapped into engagement with the casing 39.

As previously mentioned, it may be desirable for both major surfaces of the pattern weight to be relatively flat and such a configuration is shown in both the illustrated embodiments. This configuration is particularly desirable when the gripping supports are in position and the casing has been snapped into engagement with the weighted member. If the surface of the weight opposite the surface from which the support extends is flat, the seamstress can simply turn the weight over when she desires to use the weight without the gripping supports.

Claims

We claim:

1. A garment pattern weight comprising:

a weighted member having at least one relatively flat surface;

a flexible casing for said weighted member adapted to be demountably attached to said member to cover at least said flat surface, said casing including a plurality of bores;

a flexible flange on said casing extending from said flat surface along each of the edges thereof, said flange having a first leg portion perpendicular to said flat surface and of a width slightly greater than the thickness of said weighted member and a second leg portion parallel to said flat surface and of a width sufficient to retain said casing in engagement with said weighted member;

a plurality of slots in said casing, each extending form one of the edges of the casing and terminating in one of said bores, each of said slots having a first width at the edge of said flat surface greater than a second width near said bore and said second width having a dimension less than the diameter of said bore; and

a support member demountably positioned in each of said bores and extending therefrom into a pattern-engaging tip.

2. The garment pattern weight of claim 1 wherein each of said bores is surrounded by a detent adapted to contain said support member.

3. The garment pattern weight of claim 1 wherein said casing includes a plurality of guide surfaces along one of the edges of said flat surface, each of which is adjacent to and terminating at one of said slots.

4. The garment pattern weight of claim 1 wherein the weighted member has a ring-like shape and each of said flexible flanges of said casing includes a plurality of portions, each of which opposes one of the portions of the other flexible flange.