Ironing and Pressing Equipment

in the garment industry, equipment for handling fabrics with damp heat to iron surfaces, fold edges, iron out seams, shape flat parts, and raise the pile during the manufacture of clothing. Ironing and pressing equipment shapes the semifinished garment by bringing the fabric fibers into a highly elastic state and then deforming and setting them. This is done by the simultaneous action of moisture, heat, and pressure on the fabric. Different types of fabric require specific combinations of moisture, pressure per surface unit, temperature, and duration of the process.

Ironing and pressing equipment includes irons, presses, steamers, steam-air dummies, assembling and shaping equipment, and auxiliary equipment. There is equipment that operates in sequence (irons, steamers), in sequence and in parallel fashion (presses, assembling and shaping equipment), and in parallel fashion (steam-air dummies). Ironing and pressing equipment can be operated manually or by a pedal; it can also be powered by pneumatic, hydraulic, or belt drive from electric motors. Presses with capacities up to 50 MN (500 kilogram-force) are considered light, up to 250 MN (2,500 kilogram-force) as medium, and above 250 MN as heavy. Presses are manufactured with electric, steam, and oil heating equipment. Auxiliary equipment includes various attachments, forms, and moisteners.

The most common but least productive ironing and pressing device is the iron, which is suitable for performing a large number of operations in processing with heat and moisture. More refined and more productive but less widespread are ironing presses, which permit a considerable degree of mechanization and some automation of processing with heat and moisture. Fabrics are steamed in order to eliminate sheen (luster), which develops when ironing and pressing equipment is used. Steaming is done either on specially designed ironing presses that combine pressing and steaming or on steaming equipment. In steam presses the steam is delivered to the article through an upper ironing cushion. The working part of steaming equipment is a brush with a nozzle mounted on a flexible, steam-resistant sleeve joined to a steam line or individual steam generator.

Work on steam-air dummies is highly efficient. A steam-air dummy consists of a metal frame on a firm rotating base, with padding in the shape of the finished product placed on the frame. Special equipment employing steam and hot air under pressure is used to shape the product placed on the dummy. Steam-air dummies are used to form dresses, suits, coats, underwear, and certain other products.

Sequential and parallel ironing and pressing equipment includes highly productive machinery and equipment for unit processing and the assembly of parts with thermoplastic glues to ensure high quality and stable production.

Extensive use is made of control and measuring equipment such as mechanical, oil, and electronic time relays; bimetallic, fluid, and semiconductor thermoregulators; pressure gauges; and moisture gauges. This equipment maintains the regimens of moisture and heat treatment within the limits recommended for a particular type of fabric. Presses with electrically heated ironing surfaces (cushions) are wide-spread, but the use of steam or of fluids that create a more even heat when mixed with hot air offers better long-range prospects as heat conductors.

Further development of ironing and pressing equipment envisages automation of the supervision and operation of press work, mechanization of auxiliary and laborious processes, intensification and improvement in the quality of processing (the use of a vacuum to remove moisture and steam permeation instead of moistening), increased productivity (multioperational and multipositional presses), and improved working conditions.