EMBROIDERY SEWING MACHINE
In a head group comprising two or more machine heads (3, 4) provided in proximity to each other so that each of the machine heads can perform embroidery sewing on an embroidering area of an embroidery frame on which a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece is set, at least one of the machine heads is a multi-needle machine head (3). There are also provided a color change mechanism (20) for selectively positioning a desired needle at a predetermined operating position in the multi-needle machine head, a rotary hook bed (5) provided for each of the head group for shared use between the machine heads. There is provided a horizontal movement mechanism (30) for disposing the individual machine heads and the color change mechanism for horizontal movement relative to the rotary hook beds and horizontally moving the individual machine heads and the color change mechanism together to place any one of the machine heads in each of the head groups in positional correspondence to the rotary hook bed.
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The present invention relates to embroidery sewing machines for performing sewing on cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpieces, such as bodies of sweaters and T-shirts.
BACKGROUND ARTIn embroidering the body of a T-shirt, for example, it is necessary to position a cylindrical rotary hook bed, having a rotary hook provided therein, inside the cylindrically-shaped body set on an embroidery frame. One example of such a construction is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. HEI-1-11751. When a shirt is set on the embroidery frame with the shirt's front body positioned over the upper surface of the rotary hook bed, as clear from the No. HEI-1-11751 publication, the shirt's back body hangs from the periphery of the embroidery frame down the rotary hook bed. Further, with the fashion individualization trends in recent years, there has been an increasing demand for so-called “combination embroideries” in the embroidery industry as well. Examples of the combination embroideries include a combination of an ordinary multi-color embroidery and a decorative embroidery made by sewing of a tape, string or other material, and an operation for making such combination embroideries is performed today by a dedicated combination-embroidery sewing machine provided with two different types of machine heads intended for multi-color embroidering and decorative embroidering.
Although combination embroidery can be performed by a single embroidery sewing machine as long as it is dedicated to combination-embroidery, there has so far been no combination-embroidery sewing machine capable of embroidering a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece, for the following reasons. Namely, in order to embroider a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece, it is necessary to position the rotary hook bed inside the cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece, as noted above. Thus, in order to embroider such a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece using two types of machine heads, it is necessary to position two cylindrical rotary hook beds, corresponding to the two machine heads, inside the cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece. Therefore, there would be encountered not only the inconvenience that kinds of embroidering workpieces that can be embroidered tend to be limited, but also the inconvenience that, even with an embroiderable embroidering workpiece, a sufficient embroidering area can not be secured unless the hanging-down portion of the workpiece has a sufficient margin. One possible approach for avoiding the above inconveniences is to position only one of the hook bed, corresponding to the machine head to be next used for embroidering, inside the embroidering workpiece; however, when the other machine head is to be next used for embroidering after completion of embroidery by the one machine head, it is necessary to deactivate the embroidery sewing machine to detach and re-attach the embroidery frame in order to switch the rotary hook bed that is to be positioned inside the embroidering workpiece, which would inevitably require extra labor and time. In addition, there are possibilities of part of the embroidering workpiece, hanging down the rotary hook bed, interfering with the rotary hook bed and being stained or impaired. For the foregoing reasons, none of the conventionally-known embroidery sewing machines can not perform combination embroidery by itself.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an embroidery sewing machine which can smoothly perform, without any problem, combination embroidery on a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece using a plurality of types of machine heads.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an improved embroidery sewing machine for a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece, which comprises: a head group comprising two or more machine heads disposed in proximity to each other so that each of the machine heads can perform embroidery sewing on an embroidering area of an embroidery frame on which the cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece is set, at least one of the two or more machine heads being a multi-needle machine head having a plurality of needles; a color change mechanism for selectively positioning a desired one of the needles at a predetermined operating position in the multi-needle machine head; a rotary hook bed provided for each of the head group for shared use between the machine heads in the head group and corresponding to one embroidering workpiece; and a horizontal movement mechanism for disposing individual ones of the machine heads and the color change mechanism for horizontal movement relative to the rotary hook beds and horizontally moving the individual machine heads and the color change mechanism together to place any one of the machine heads in each of the head groups in positional correspondence to the rotary hook bed.
By selectively placing either one of the plurality of machine heads in each of the head groups in positional correspondence to one rotary hook bed in the aforementioned manner, the present invention can perform different types of embroidery or sewing with the respective machine heads although only one rotary hook bed is to be positioned inside the embroidering workpiece. As a result, combination embroidery with the plurality of types of machine heads can be performed by one embroidery sewing machine smoothly without any problem. Further, with the arrangement that the color change mechanism for the multi-needle machine heads is caused to slide together with the horizontal movement mechanism for the head groups, the present invention can significantly simplify the construction of the entire horizontal movement mechanism.
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The color change mechanism 20 for positioning a desired one of the plurality of (nine) sewing needles 17 of the machine head 3 at a selected position is provided on the front surface of the machine frame 1. The color change mechanism 20 too is fixed, via a mounting plate 21, to the slider 14 slidably provided on the guide rails 13. Thus, the color change mechanism 20 too is slidable relative to the machine frame 1.
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The following paragraphs describe an example manner in which combination embroidery sewing is performed in the instant embodiment.
First, a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece is set on the embroidery frame 10, and then the embroidery frame 10 is mounted on the base sash frame 7. When decorative embroidery sewing, such as sewing of a tape, is to be performed on the embroidering workpiece, the single-needle machine head 4 in each of the head pairs is placed, via the horizontal movement mechanism 30, in positional correspondence to the associated rotary hook bed 5. Then, the main shaft motor 43 is activated so that the sewing needle 19 is moved up and down, the rotary hook 6 is rotated and the base sash frame 7 is moved on the basis of embroidery data. In this manner, decorative embroidery sewing, such as sewing of a tape, is performed by the single-needle machine head 4, during which time up-and-down movement of any one of the sewing needles 17 in the multi-needle machine head 3 that is not currently in positional correspondence to the rotary hook bed 5 is inhibited through the well-known jump control.
When multi-color embroidery is to be performed, the multi-needle machine head 3 in each of the head pairs is placed, via the horizontal movement mechanism 30, in positional correspondence to the associated rotary hook bed 5, and then the sewing needle 17 of a desired color thread is selectively positioned at a predetermined position (selected position) through driving by the color change mechanism 20.
By selectively placing, through driving by the horizontal movement mechanism 30, either one of the two types of machine heads 3 and 4 in positional correspondence to the associated single rotary hook bed 5 as noted above, the instant embodiment permits selective embroidery sewing by the two types of machine heads 3 and 4 although only one rotary hook bed 5 is to be positioned inside the embroidering workpiece. As a result, combination embroidery sewing on the cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece can be performed by the single embroidery sewing machine smoothly without any problem. Further, with the arrangement that the color change mechanism 20 is caused to slide together with the machine heads 3 and 4, the instant embodiment allows a color change operation to be readily performed in the multi-needle machine head 3 with the conventional construction and control. If a construction where the color change mechanism 20 is not caused to slide is employed, then there arise needs for an extra structure to permit sliding movement of the machine heads 3 relative to the color change mechanism 20, control to calculate a sliding movement amount of the machine head 3, etc. which would result in a considerably complicated construction of the machine. However, the present invention can eliminate such complexity and thereby achieve a simplified construction.
Whereas the slide drive mechanism of the color change mechanism 20 and the slide drive mechanism of the horizontal movement mechanism 30 in the embodiment have been described above as ball-screw-based rotary-to-linear converting structures, the present invention is not so limited, and the slide drive mechanisms may be other suitable structures, such as cam-based rotary-to-linear converting structures or linear-motor-based linear movement structures. Further, the two types of machine heads in each of the head pairs (groups) are not limited to a combination of multi-needle and single-needle machine heads, and alternatively both of the two machine heads may be multi-needle machine heads. In the case where the two machine heads are multi-needle machine heads, it is possible to increase the number of thread colors that can be used; in this case, one color change mechanism 20 can be shared between the paired multi-needle machine heads. Further, each of the head groups may comprise three different types of machine heads. Furthermore, the present invention is applicable to not only to multi-head sewing machines but also sewing machines provided with only one head pair or head group comprising two or more machine heads.
Claims
1. An embroidery sewing machine for a cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece, said embroidery sewing machine comprising:
- a head group comprising two or more machine heads disposed in proximity to each other so that each of the machine heads can perform embroidery sewing on an embroidering area of an embroidery frame on which the cylindrically-shaped embroidering workpiece is set, at least one of the two or more machine heads being a multi-needle machine head having a plurality of needles;
- a color change mechanism for selectively positioning a desired one of the needles at a predetermined operating position in the multi-needle machine head;
- a rotary hook bed provided for each of the head group for shared use between the machine heads in the head group and corresponding to one said embroidering workpiece; and
- a horizontal movement mechanism for disposing individual ones of the machine heads and said color change mechanism for horizontal movement relative to the rotary hook beds and horizontally moving the individual machine heads and said color change mechanism together to place any one of the machine heads in each of the head groups in positional correspondence to said rotary hook bed.
2. An embroidery sewing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plurality of the head groups are arranged horizontally at predetermined intervals and a plurality of the rotary hook beds are arranged horizontally at predetermined intervals in corresponding relation to the plurality of the head groups, and wherein said horizontal mechanism moves the plurality of the head groups and said color change mechanism together horizontally relative to the rotary hook beds.
3. An embroidery sewing machine as claimed in either claim 1 or 2 wherein each of the multi-needle machine heads in each of the heads groups includes a slidable needle bar case having a plurality of sewing needles arranged horizontally,
- said color change mechanism includes a slide drive member connected to the needle bar case of each of the multi-needle machine heads, a drive section for selectively positioning a desired one of the needles of each of the needle bar cases at a predetermined operating position by driving said slide drive member to slide by a predetermined amount, and a base having said drive section fixed thereto,
- the machine heads in each of the head groups are interconnected via a mounting plate, the mounting plate being mounted for horizontal movement relative to a machine frame so that each of the machine heads is movable horizontally relative to the machine frame, and
- said horizontal movement mechanism includes an interlocking member interconnecting the mounting plate and the base of said color change mechanism and a drive mechanism for horizontally moving the interlocking member, the interlocking member being horizontally moved by the drive mechanism so that each of the machine heads and said color change mechanism are horizontally moved together.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 28, 2005
Publication Date: Jul 9, 2009
Applicant: TOKAI KOGYO MISHIN KABUSHIKI KAISHA (Kasugai-shi)
Inventor: Ikuo Tajima (Nagoya-shi)
Application Number: 11/718,170
International Classification: D05C 15/34 (20060101); D05B 1/08 (20060101);