Patents by Inventor Masakazu Kuki

Masakazu Kuki 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: 7854207
    Abstract: A printing and embroidering system having a positional data appending system that is adapted to append positional data indicating positions of a first image and a second image with respect to each other to first image data representing the first image to be formed by one of printing and embroidering and second image data representing the second image to be formed by the other one of printing and embroidering, a first image forming unit with a first fabric holding member, which is adapted to form the first image based on the first image data on a fabric being held by the first fabric holding member, and a second image forming unit with a second fabric holding member, which is adapted to form the second image based on the fabric being held by the second fabric holding member, wherein the first image forming unit is provided with a mark forming system, which is adapted to form a predetermined mark represented by the positional data on the fabric, and wherein the second image forming system is provided with a mis
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Motoshi Kishi, Hirokazu Nakashima
  • Patent number: 7715939
    Abstract: An embroidery sewing machine with a printing function includes a sewing machine body having a bed, a foot, an arm, and capable of sewing a workpiece cloth by a sewing unit; a cloth holding frame holding the workpiece cloth; a frame drive unit moving the cloth holding frame independently in two mutually perpendicular directions in a horizontal plane; an ink-jet printer having a print head printing the workpiece cloth. The print head of the printer includes nozzle arrays with each nozzle array having a plurality of ink-jet nozzles aligned parallel in the first direction, and the printer prints the workpiece cloth while moving the cloth holding frame in the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Patent number: 7559616
    Abstract: A printer for printing a pattern, design, etc. on fabric comprises a vertical driving unit and a fabric thickness detecting mechanism. The vertical driving unit moves a printing unit including a print head in the vertical direction to let the print head move toward and away from the fabric held by a fabric holding frame. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism includes an idle roller which is attached to the printing unit to be on the preceding side of the printing unit in the printing direction of the print head to rotate freely while contacting the print surface of the fabric. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism detects the height of the print surface of the fabric based on the position of the idle roller. The vertical driving unit is controlled to drive the printing unit vertically according to the height of the print surface detected by the fabric thickness detecting mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Yasuhiko Kawaguchi, Noriko Kawabe
  • Patent number: 7484466
    Abstract: A cloth holding device including a support frame (11) made of magnetic material and a presser frame (12), clamping a workpiece cloth therebetween, including an attachment unit (13, 14) that attaches the presser frame (12) to the support frame (11) by magnetic attraction; and a positioning unit (12c) that positions the attachment unit (13, 14) to the presser frame (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Patent number: 7458670
    Abstract: An inkjet cloth printing apparatus includes a head moving mechanism moving the print head in a first direction, a cloth holder holding a periphery of a printing area of cloth on which the apparatus prints and including a first holding member and a second holding member fitted with an outer portion of the first holding member, a holder moving mechanism feeding the cloth holder in a second direction below the print head, the holder moving mechanism including a rack, a pinion brought into mesh engagement with the rack, and a drive motor rotating the pinion, and a cloth passage defined below a movement space through which the cloth holder is moved in the second direction by the holder moving mechanism so as to allow movement of part of the cloth located outside the printing area and running out of the cloth holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2008
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Patent number: 7427131
    Abstract: An ink-jet printer is provided with a belt conveying mechanism which includes two rollers and a conveyor belt that is wrapped around the two rollers for carrying paper. The surface of the conveyor belt is formed with a recessed portion into which ink is ejected during flushing. The recessed portion has a non-water-repellent region upstream in a traveling direction of the conveyor belt. The non-repellent region functions as an ink retaining portion retaining. On a rear surface of the conveyor belt is disposed an ink absorber for absorbing ink retained in the non-water-repellent region from the rear surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2008
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsugio Okamoto, Masakazu Kuki, Osamu Takagi
  • Publication number: 20080098940
    Abstract: A cloth holding device including a support frame (11) made of magnetic material and a presser frame (12), clamping a workpiece cloth therebetween, including an attachment unit (13, 14) that attaches the presser frame (12) to the support frame (11) by magnetic attraction; and a positioning unit (12c) that positions the attachment unit (13, 14) to the presser frame (12).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2005
    Publication date: May 1, 2008
    Applicant: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Publication number: 20080011212
    Abstract: An embroidery sewing machine with printing function (1) including a sewing machine body (2) having a bed (10), a foot (11), an arm (12), and capable of sewing a workpiece cloth (W) by a sewing unit (99); a cloth holding frame (3) holding the workpiece cloth (W) to be sewn; a frame drive unit (4) moving the cloth holding frame 3 independently in two mutually perpendicular directions in a horizontal plane; an ink-jet printer (5) having a print head (61) printing the workpiece cloth (W) held by the cloth holding frame (3); the embroidery sewing machine with printing function (1) characterized in that the frame drive unit (4) includes a first drive mechanism (45) that moves the cloth holding frame (3) in a first direction parallel with a lengthwise direction of the bed (10); and a second drive mechanism (30) that moves the cloth holding frame (3) in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and the print head (61) of the printer (5) includes nozzle arrays (61c to 61f) aligning a plurality of ink-jet
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2005
    Publication date: January 17, 2008
    Applicant: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Patent number: 7302308
    Abstract: There is provided a embroidery data processing device, which includes an extracting system that extracts at least one embroidery region from embroidery data that has a stitch attribute corresponding to at least one predetermined setting, and a print data generating system that generates print data for the at least one embroidery region extracted by the extracting system based on the embroidery data of the at least one embroidery region extracted by the extracting system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Haruna Kato, Atsuya Hayakawa, Masakazu Kuki, Masaki Shimizu, Yasuhiko Kawaguchi
  • Publication number: 20070200907
    Abstract: A cloth printing apparatus (1), having a head moving mechanism (20) moving in the X direction (horizontal direction) an inkjet print head (11) capable of printing on workpiece cloth (W), a cloth holder (5) holding a periphery of printing area of the workpiece cloth (W), a cloth holder moving mechanism (30) feeding the cloth holder (5) below the print head (11) in the Y direction (crosswise direction), a cloth passage (3) defined below a movement space through which the cloth holder (5) is moved in the crosswise direction by the holder moving mechanism (30) so as to allow movement of part (Wa) of the cloth (W) located outside the printing area and running out of the cloth holder (5).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2005
    Publication date: August 30, 2007
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Hiroshi Kitazawa
  • Publication number: 20060192798
    Abstract: A printer for printing a pattern, design, etc. on fabric comprises a vertical driving unit and a fabric thickness detecting mechanism. The vertical driving unit moves a printing unit including a print head in the vertical direction to let the print head move toward and away from the fabric held by a fabric holding frame. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism includes an idle roller which is attached to the printing unit to be on the preceding side of the printing unit in the printing direction of the print head to rotate freely while contacting the print surface of the fabric. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism detects the height of the print surface of the fabric based on the position of the idle roller. The vertical driving unit is controlled to drive the printing unit vertically according to the height of the print surface detected by the fabric thickness detecting mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2006
    Publication date: August 31, 2006
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Yasuhiko Kawaguchi, Noriko Kawabe
  • Publication number: 20060137583
    Abstract: There is provided a embroidery data processing device, which includes an extracting system that extracts at least one embroidery region from embroidery data that has a stitch attribute corresponding to at least one predetermined setting, and a print data generating system that generates print data for the at least one embroidery region extracted by the extracting system based on the embroidery data of the at least one embroidery region extracted by the extracting system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Publication date: June 29, 2006
    Applicant: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Haruna Kato, Atsuya Hayakawa, Masakazu Kuki, Masaki Shimizu, Yasuhiko Kawaguchi
  • Publication number: 20060096510
    Abstract: A printing and embroidering system having a positional data appending system that is adapted to append positional data indicating positions of a first image and a second image with respect to each other to first image data representing the first image to be formed by one of printing and embroidering and second image data representing the second image to be formed by the other one of printing and embroidering, a first image forming unit with a first fabric holding member, which is adapted to form the first image based on the first image data on a fabric being held by the first fabric holding member, and a second image forming unit with a second fabric holding member, which is adapted to form the second image based on the fabric being held by the second fabric holding member, wherein the first image forming unit is provided with a mark forming system, which is adapted to form a predetermined mark represented by the positional data on the fabric, and wherein the second image forming system is provided with a mis
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2005
    Publication date: May 11, 2006
    Applicant: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Motoshi Kishi, Hirokazu Nakashima
  • Patent number: 6866361
    Abstract: An ink-jet printer includes a belt conveyor mechanism, an ink-jet head having at its lower face a nozzle face where many nozzles are formed, and a maintenance unit that maintains the ink-jet head. Within the maintenance unit arranged are a blade, a wiping roller, an ink receiving member, and a purge cap, in this order from the near side to the head. The maintenance unit is first moved to a purge position at which the purge cap confronts the nozzle face of the ink-jet head, where a purge operation is performed. After the purge operation, attendant upon movement of the maintenance unit to get apart from the head, the ink receiving member, the wiping roller, and the blade successively confront the nozzle face in this order. With the movement of the maintenance unit, receiving ink with the ink receiving member and wiping ink up with the wiping roller and the blade are performed in order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2005
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Tsugio Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20040125189
    Abstract: An ink-jet printer includes a belt conveyor mechanism, an ink-jet head having at its lower face a nozzle face where many nozzles are formed, and a maintenance unit that maintains the ink-jet head. Within the maintenance unit arranged are a blade, a wiping roller, an ink receiving member, and a purge cap, in this order from the near side to the head. The maintenance unit is first moved to a purge position at which the purge cap confronts the nozzle face of the ink-jet head, where a purge operation is performed. After the purge operation, attendant upon movement of the maintenance unit to get apart from the head, the ink receiving member, the wiping roller, and the blade successively confront the nozzle face in this order. With the movement of the maintenance unit, receiving ink with the ink receiving member and wiping ink up with the wiping roller and the blade are performed in order.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2003
    Publication date: July 1, 2004
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masakazu Kuki, Tsugio Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20040100544
    Abstract: An ink-jet printer is provided with a belt conveying mechanism which includes two rollers and a conveyor belt that is wrapped around the two rollers for carrying paper. The surface of the conveyor belt is formed with a recessed portion into which ink is ejected during flushing. The recessed portion has a non-water-repellent region upstream in a traveling direction of the conveyor belt. The non-repellent region functions as an ink retaining portion retaining. On a rear surface of the conveyor belt is disposed an ink absorber for absorbing ink retained in the non-water-repellent region from the rear surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2003
    Publication date: May 27, 2004
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tsugio Okamoto, Masakazu Kuki, Osamu Takagi
  • Patent number: 6523592
    Abstract: A reference-side longitudinal cutting unit and an other side longitudinal cutting unit are disposed to move separately to the left and right sides of a laminate to be cut. A cutter 62a of the reference-side longitudinal cutting unit and a rotary knob 80 for turning on, for example, a power switch 82 are connected to a link mechanism 84 for linking pivotal movement of the rotary knob 80. According to the mode selection position of the rotary knob 80, the cutters 62a , 62b are moved into a retracted position when the rotary knob 80 is in the power OFF or no-mode selection positions and move to a longitudinal cutting position when the rotary knob 80 is in the margin or NO-MARGIN mode selection position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masakazu Kuki
  • Publication number: 20010004915
    Abstract: A reference-side longitudinal cutting unit and an other side longitudinal cutting unit are disposed to move separately to the left and right sides of a laminate to be cut. A cutter 62a of the reference-side longitudinal cutting unit and a rotary knob 80 for turning on, for example, a power switch 82 are connected to a link mechanism 84 for linking pivotal movement of the rotary knob 80. According to the mode selection position of the rotary knob 80 the cutters 62a, 62b are moved into a retracted position when the rotary knob 80 is in the power OFF or no-mode selection positions and move to a longitudinal cutting position when the rotary knob 80 is in the margin or NO-MARGIN mode selection position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2000
    Publication date: June 28, 2001
    Applicant: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masakazu Kuki
  • Patent number: 5308174
    Abstract: A text processing system includes a text processing device having an outer surface treated with coating, plating, printing, etc., a display device movably supported on the text processing device, a circular rotating member rotatably supported on the display device so as to rotationally contact the outer surface of the text processing device, a device for continuously moving the display device relative to the text processing device, and a device for holding the display device in a desired position relative to the text processing device. it is accordingly possible to prevent the peeling-off of the surface treatment layer such as a coating, plating or printing layer formed on the outer surface of the text processing device due to the contact between the lower end portion of the display device and the outer surface of the text processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 3, 1994
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masakazu Kuki