Abstract: The present invention is a positioning work stop for use with a machine tool for and having a signaling means that operates as a placement indicator effective for providing a signal if the work piece to be machined is in its proper position for machining or for signaling if the work piece has shifted out of position for machining. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the positioning work stop comprises a stop member having a stop surface, a switch element, a signaling means, and a power supply that are electrically coupled such that the signaling means activates when the work piece is in its proper position for manufacturing and for signaling if the work piece has shifted out of position for machining.

Abstract: A sewing machine operating device includes a connection unit which is connectable to a sewing machine body, an output unit which generates and delivers an operation signal according to an action of user's foot, a placement pedestal on which user's foot is placed, a support unit which supports the placement pedestal so that the placement pedestal is movable in any direction, and a detection unit which detects that the placement pedestal or user's foot occupies any one of different predetermined positions when the user has moved the placement pedestal with user's foot being placed on the placement pedestal.

Abstract: A mouth and/or hand-held finger-actuated remote control unit is disclosed which is operable to permit selective variation of a pneumatic-operated controller (38, 42) having a proportional electrical control output to the electric motor (46) of a sewing machine (48). The unit comprises a hollow, elastic compressible bladder element (10, 110, 210) closed at one end and which is pneumatically connected to the controller. The bladder element is of length, width and height dimensions selected and proportioned to permit insertion of the bladder element in a person's mouth between the upper and lower teeth, or between the last fingers of a person's hand between the innermost knuckles and the person's palm. The bladder element is compressible by closing of a person's teeth thereon or movement of the fingers engaging the bladder toward the individual's palm to force air to the controller, thus controlling operation of the sewing machine.

Abstract: An air control switch set for a switching machine, including a base frame, an air control valve fixedly mounted on the base frame to guide air from an air source to an air nozzle and thread suction device, a switch controlled to close/open the air control valve, a control bar vertically slidably coupled to the base frame and reciprocated by a pedal, a pull rod having a bottom end fixedly fastened to the base frame and a top end coupled to a motor through a link, a stop member fixedly mounted on the control bar, and a rocker arm turned about a pivot at the base frame and forced by the stop member to press on the switch in opening the air control valve upon a down stroke of the control bar before the base frame is lowered with the control bar to move the link in turning on the motor.

Abstract: A compressed air operated ergonomic system used with a tape edge machine carriage employed in mattress manufacturing. The operator's arm, leg, knee, or foot can be used to stop the sewing operation and stop the carriage from moving around the table. The compressed air system can also provide an operator air source, engage the gear mechanisms which permit the carriage to move around the table, provide needle cooling, and permit the sewing machine presser foot to be raised.

Abstract: A pneumatic sewing machine having a housing mounting a presser foot and needle bar for reciprocatory movement and a bobbin for rotary movement, a rocker arm pivotably mounted on the housing having one end attached to the needle bar and the other attached to a pneumatically actuated piston, a rack and pinion operatively connected to the rocker arm for rotating the bobbin, and valve means for controlling delivery of pressurized air from a source to the piston to bring the needle bar proximate the bobbin to perform a stitching operation.

Abstract: An accessory pneumatically operated holding device is disclosed, specifically for industrial sewing machines which device comprises a profiled blade accessory holding element which can be moved by a pneumatic piston along a backward and forward travel with extreme and adjustable precision.The above device can be readily removed from the working plane of the sewing machine.

Abstract: A sewing system is proposed, which has a sewing head with thread tightener, a presser foot, a lower thread roll with a shuttle for guiding the lower thread and transport or transfer means for the further transporting of the workpiece to be processed. Separate drives are associated with these individual elements and these drives are synchronously controlled by a control device.

Abstract: An attachment for a semi-automatic sewing machine ensures that any excess thread chain extending from the leading or trailing edge of a garment during an operation on the garment with the sewing machine, is stitched directly to the garment so that no loose or free ends of thread chain are provided. The completion of stitching by the sewing machine of a first garment is sensed with an electric eye, and the first garment is engaged in response to the sensing by a rubber wheel which moves the garment away from the stitching needle more quickly than the sewing machine stitches the stitch chain. The excess thread chain is automatically severed by a movable plate rotating with respect to a stationary plate, and the excess severed thread chain is automatically positioned (by a blower, a catcher and a block of rubber) so that excess thread chain is stitched to the second garment by the sewing machine.

Abstract: A drive device for positioning a sewing machine main shaft and driven by a positioning motor into a needle-up position when it is stopped for example, after the thread is cut comprises a removable drive lever member which has a tappet portion which engages wtih the shoulder of a cam which is mounted on the main shaft for rotation therewith. The drive lever is driven by a device such as a fluid pressure operated piston cylinder combination and when it moves the tappet engages the cam face and rotates the cam with the main shaft to a second position which is predetermined. The mechanism also includes a stop which is effected between a face of the cam and a lever member which is shifted by the drive lever to stop the backward movement of the cam with the main shaft at a precise second position.

Abstract: A drive mechanism for connecting a drive shaft of a sewing machine to a plurality of reciprocatable needle bars which are advantageously mounted in a single guide frame for reciprocation in the machine includes a link connection for each bar. The link connection includes an oscillatable two armed lever for each bar. It has an input arm driven by a shaft mounted in the machine for oscillation about a fixed axis and an output arm connected to a first link of a cooperative pivotally interconnected first and second link pair. An actuator shaft for each bar carries a respective actuator crank which in turn is connected through a link of relatively short length to the upper ends of the needle bars by a pivotal connection.

Abstract: In a sewing machine for performing twin overedging and seaming in one high-speed operation, specially designed top and bottom variable feed dogs pull the two plies through a three needle stitching area with improved, simplified elements for diverting one ply edge while the other is being overcast. The upright overcast edge of the top ply passes through a tunnel formed through the top feed dog. A guide wall attached to the throat plate guides the top edge away from the bottom overedging station. A guard wall can be attached to the presser foot to keep the turned-up top edge away from the seaming needle. A fiber optic/pneumatic system controls automatic stop, presser foot/top feed retraction and between-work thread cutter functions. Alternative front edge guides facilitate feeding the two plies in registration.

Abstract: A device for driving a sewing machine which includes a main shaft driven by a positioning motor that can be stopped in at least one predetermined position and then returned back to a second predetermined position, comprises a coupling disc which can be moved into engagement with a drive disc associated with the motor and a main shaft to drive the main shaft in a direction opposite to its normal direction of operation as determined by the positioning motor. The coupling disc is provided with cam surfaces with a cam engaging surface provided on a supporting member which is biased toward the disc by a predetermined tension. An actuator is connected to the support for rotating the actuator. The initial rotation moves the coupling disc into engagement with the driver disc which is connected to the main shaft, and the further rotation of the support rotates both the coupling and main shaft by a predetermined amount.

Abstract: A device for feeding a strip of material into a sewing machine so that it can be sewed onto a cut fabric which is fed over a base plate includes a stop which is positionable in the feed path of the strip of material and which control the operation of the sewing machine so that the strip will not be fed unless it is aligned with the associated workpiece and guided past a reciprocating needle.

Abstract: A combination stitching system including a pneumatic sensing apparatus which operates to assure the presence of a material to be stitched is in a proper location before machine operation is possible is disclosed. The combination system comprises a machine (10) for stitching or sewing a material (30) with thread (26). At least one reciprocating needle (12) receives thread (26) through an aperture (28) for stitching the material (30). A power source (20) is connected by a drive linkage (18) which includes a clutch (21) and which provides reciprocating motion to needle (12). The clutch (21) operates to selectively connect and disconnect the power source from the reciprocating needle (12) by means of an activating means (22). To assure that the reciprocating needle operates only when a work piece (30) is in a position to be stitched, there is also included a pneumatic sensing apparatus (32).

Abstract: A device for sewing tubular material workpieces comprises a sewing machine mounted in a fixed location adjacent a workpiece holder which, for example is shaped to hold a cylindrical workpiece such as a skirt. The holder is engageable in a rotation drive which rotates the holder at a selected speed. A first setting device is connected to the holder so as to move it upwardly and downwardly in respect to the sewing machine. A second setting device is connected to the first setting device and moves it together with the holder toward and away from the sewing machine as desired. The construction includes a pedal control for regulating the speed of rotation of the workpiece and also the operational speed of the sewing machine.

Abstract: A sewing machine having two needles supported in a needle holder, which needle holder is horizontally displacable, to present one needle to an active workstation in a prethreaded manner and simultaneously shift the other needle which has a different thread therein, into an adjacent inactive position. As the needles are being shifted, the needle moving to inactive status has its thread clamped against the needle holder by a wheel, to secure the thread from being pulled therefrom or straying. A vacuum tube arranged at each respective inactive position or station sucks the tail of the thread therein. A pair of thread guides, one for each thread, are arranged for vertical movement, to pullback on the dangling thread of the inactive needle, to prevent the thread from whipping during its inactive status. Each thread passes around a thread engaging wheel comprising a dual bobbin monitor arranged on a single axis.

Abstract: A suturing instrument for a surgical operation includes a suturing portion having a base, a vertically reciprocating needle holder carrying a needle with an upper thread, a device for supplying a predetermined amount of the upper thread to the needle and a loop taker supported in the base for turnable movement relative thereto and operative for catching a thread loop formed on the needle. The device for supplying the upper thread, the loop taker and the needle holder are activated for sequential operation by a control portion of the instrument which includes a fluid drive device connected to the suturing portion and including a plurality of hydraulic cylinders. The control portion is activated by a manually operated switch which actuates an electric circuit and a switching device operating a plurality of the cylinders for sequentially imparting the reciprocating movements to the needle, the loop taker and the thread supplying device.

Abstract: A pneumatic needle positioner for positioning a needle of sewing and stitching machines in a predetermined position in the sewing or stitching cycle is provided by utilizing a handwheel sensing device in cooperation with a pneumatically powered positioning motor engageably disposed relative to a drive V-belt which engages the V-belt with a V-belt pulley of the pneumatic needle positioning motor at the end of the sewing cycle, by the actuation of a biasing piston having a roller to tension the V-belt toward the pulley disposed on the pneumatically powered positioning motor. Preferably the biasing piston and roller for the pneumatically powered positioning motor is disposed slightly above or below an axially adjacent position to the air motor pulley to provide a sinesoidal shaped bias against the pnematically powered positioning motor pulley to more effectively cooperate with the positioning device to achieve a more reliable and accurate positioning of the needle.

Abstract: A needle positioner for a sewing machine having a shaft connected to a main drive motor to move a sewing machine needle reciprocally by a stitching operation which includes a crank rotatably supported on a frame drivably connected to the sewing machine shaft with a plurality of pneumatically actuated cylinder/piston assemblies, the pistons of which are engagable with the crank to move the crank and therefore the shaft through predetermined rotary angles together with a plurality of conduits having valves including control valves therein which are adapted to communicate the cylinder/piston assemblies with a source of pneumatic pressure so that selective actuation of the control valves produces rotary movements of the crank through the appropriate cylinder/piston assembly to move the needle into either a top or bottom position.

Abstract: A system for positioning the needle of a high speed stitching machine includes a pitman assembly connected to a foot pedal and extending upwardly therefrom. A piston-cylinder device is interposed between the pitman assembly and a brake actuating mechanism for a main drive motor. A valve is secured to the pitman assembly in proximity to a stationary member. The valve is connected in fluid communication with the piston-cylinder device and a needle positioning mechanism.

Abstract: A needle positioner for a stitching machine for positioning of such needle selectively in an up or down position. The positioner is pneumatically powered and adapted to be installed on existing machines. The needle positioner functions to selectively position the needle in an up position or a down position. The stitching mechanism includes an air motor for reciprocating the drive shaft of the stitching mechanism. Two pneumatic cylinders are disposed proximate the drive shaft so that when the piston rods of the cylinders are extended, they contact the drive shaft and interrupt rotation of the drive shaft stopping the needle in an up position or a down position. The needle positioner also includes valves in the pneumatic circuit between a source of pressurized fluid and the pneumatic cylinders for directing the flow of air to a desired one of the two cylinders.

Abstract: The control device controls the sewing speed of a sewing needle automatically in a manner such that the temperature of the sewing needle, subjected to the influence of heat generated by friction with the material being sewn, does not exceed an adjustable predetermined value. Respective measuring members determine the temperature of the sewing needle and the temperature of a reference needle mounted at a location spaced from the sewing needle, and are connected to the input of a differential comparator circuit providing the differential voltage of the measuring members. A signal generator is operatively associated with the sewing needle and produces output pulses responsive to reciprocation of the sewing needle, to control connection of the output of the differential comparator circuit to the input of the sewing machine motor control. The reference needle is substantially identical with the sewing needle.