Patents by Inventor Kohichi Akahane

Kohichi Akahane has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5794554
    Abstract: A sewing machine including a head portion including a needle bar, the needle bar being for mounting a needle threaded with a needle thread; a principal shaft; a sewing machine motor for driving the needle bar via the principal shaft; a bed portion including a loop taker for taking a thread loop of the needle thread in cooperative operation with the needle; a loop taker drive shaft connected to move in association with the loop taker; a drive motor for driving the loop taker drive shaft independently of the principal shaft; a first detection unit for detecting a rotation condition of the principal shaft and outputting a first detection signal accordingly; a second detection unit for detecting a rotation condition of the loop taker drive shaft and outputting a second detection signal accordingly; and a synchronization control unit for controlling at least one of the drive motor and the sewing machine motor based on the first detection signal from the first detection unit and the second detection signal from the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1998
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Akahane, Takashi Kondo, Masaki Shimizu, Yoshikazu Kurono, Fumiaki Asano
  • Patent number: 5791272
    Abstract: A sewing machine including a head portion for mounting a needle with a needle thread; a needle drive motor for driving the needle; a bed portion; and a loop taker module detachably fixed to the bed portion and including: a loop taker for catching a thread loop of the needle thread of the needle; and a loop taker drive motor for driving the loop taker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Akahane, Takashi Kondo, Masaki Shimizu, Yoshikazu Kurono, Fumiaki Asano
  • Patent number: 5791274
    Abstract: A sewing machine including a head portion including a needle bar, the needle bar being for mounting a needle threaded with a needle thread; a principal shaft; a sewing machine motor for driving the needle bar via the principal shaft; a bed portion including a loop taker for taking a thread loop of the needle thread in cooperative operation with the needle; a loop taker drive shaft connected to move in association with the loop taker; a loop taker drive unit including a loop taker drive motor for driving the loop taker drive shaft independently of the principal shaft; a synchronization control unit for controlling at least one of the loop taker drive motor and the sewing machine drive motor so that the loop taker and the principal shaft rotate in synchronization; and an offset adjustment unit provided to the synchronization control unit and for adjusting an amount that the phase of the loop taker is offset from a reference phase offset amount preset for the loop taker with respect to the principal shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Akahane, Takashi Kondo, Masaki Shimizu, Yoshikazu Kurono, Fumiaki Asano
  • Patent number: 5765493
    Abstract: A sewing machine including a needle bar for mounting two needles separated by a distance in a principal shaft direction; a principal drive shaft for driving the needle bar and extending in the principal shaft direction; a bed portion; a first loop taker disposed in the bed portion; a transmission system for connecting movement between the first loop taker and the principal drive shaft; a loop taker module detachably provided to the bed portion; a second loop taker provided to the loop taker module; and servomotor provided in the loop taker module and for driving the second loop taker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Akahane, Takashi Kondo, Masaki Shimizu, Yoshikazu Kurono, Fumiaki Asano
  • Patent number: 5222451
    Abstract: A fabric position correcting device detects the position of at least one of an outer profile line and a pattern of a fabric portion corresponding to one of pressers, corrects the position of the fabric portion while holding the same whose position has been detected, and presses the fabric portion with the presser after the position thereof has been corrected. The aligning process composed of the above three steps is carried out four times successively with respect to fabric portions corresponding to the respective pressers from the leading end of the fabric in the direction in which it is fed. Then, the positionally corrected fabrics are fed to the sewing start position. Therefore, the positional correction of the fabrics relative to at least one of the outer profile line and the pattern thereof can be accurately, reliably, and automatically carried out from the leading end to trailing end of the fabrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 29, 1993
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Akahane, Etsuzo Nomura, Hirosumi Ito, Hirokazu Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 5189969
    Abstract: A processing device for processing a sheet material with a pattern of the present invention is such as a sewing machine with pattern matching operation. The processing device has a detecting unit for detecting a color state of the pattern of the sheet material and producing a color state signal indicative of the color state. The processing device processes the sheet material on the basis of the color state signal produced by said detecting means. According to the present invention, the processing device is provided with an automatic adjusting unit for adjusting the detecting unit to allow the detecting unit to produce a desired color state signal with respect to a reference color state. Therefore, the white balance or the dynamic range is properly adjusted simply and reliably for the processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1993
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hirosumi Ito, Etsuzo Nomura, Kohichi Akahane, Hirokazu Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 5178080
    Abstract: A fabric position correcting device for correcting relative position of two fabrics in terms of alignment in at least one of outer profile lines and patterns of the fabrics. A pair of fabric holders are provided which respectively hold first and second fabrics. The holders are movable in X, Y directions, and angularly rotatable about a vertical axis for moving the respective fabrics. A pair of image sensors are provided for picking up at least one of outer profiles and patterns of the respective fabrics. Data from the image sensors are utilized for computation of moving distance and angular rotation angle of the holders in order to eliminate misalignment between two fabrics in terms of at least one of the profiles and patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1992
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1993
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Etsuzo Nomura, Kohichi Akahane, Hirosumi Ito, Hirokazu Takeuchi