Abstract: Thread-loading apparatus for loading a bobbin spool with a predetermined length of thread between sewing operations wherein there is a reciprocal loading tube arranged to receive and draw thread from a package of thread, deliver its leading end to the bobbin and project it onto the bobbin while the latter is being rotated at a high speed so as to be caught thereby and wound onto the bobbin; a slack-producing device for drawing a slack length of thread from the package of thread preparatory to a loading operation to thus eliminate the inertial resistance of the package of thread to giving up thread; a precisely-controlled thread measuring device employed to control the length of thread delivered to the bobbin; and a bobbin having peripherally-spaced flexible fingers on its hub for entraining the leading end of the thread delivered to the bobbin.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to the automatic refilling of a bobbin spool, in a lock stitch type sewing machine, in the interval between the loading of work units. After sewing of a predetermined work unit, consisting of a single workpiece, or several workpieces, a premeasured thread length on the bobbin spool is exhausted. While the machine operator places a new work unit in position for sewing, the mechanism of the invention refills the empty bobbin spool, in situ, with a precisely measured length of bobbin thread, drawn from an effectively continuous supply source. The mechanisms provided for this purpose, in and of themselves generally known, are arranged in an improved, simplified and more compact arrangement, suitable for incorporation in a variety of commercial lock stitch type sewing machines available to the trade.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to automatic bobbin rewinding for sewing machines. A two-station mechanism is provided enabling bobbins to be transferred from a winding position to a sewing position, with one bobbin being at all times in each position. When a bobbin is exhausted, that bobbin and its case are removed from the sewing machine and, simultaneously, a filled bobbin is removed from the winding position and combined with its case. The bobbin positions are then reversed, enabling the filled bobbin and its case to be inserted in the sewing machine, while the just-removed bobbin is separated from its case and inserted in the winding position. The filled bobbin remains attached to the main thread supply until it is inserted in the sewing position, enabling the thread to be guided and controlled until picked up by the sewing mechanism, thus avoiding the need for manual intervention.