CN112771223A - Sewing machine capable of sewing thread material, thread material supplying device and thread guiding body - Google Patents

Abstract

The sewing machine is provided with a thread guide body (20) which is installed at the lower end of a lifting component capable of moving up and down synchronously with the sewing action of the sewing machine and is used for guiding a thread material (C) to a needle drop position. The thread guide body includes a cylindrical portion (20e) extending forward, and a main body portion (20b) for guiding a thread material introduced from the front end of the cylindrical portion and led out from the rear end of the cylindrical portion to a needle drop position. The thread supply system (22) supplies the thread material (C) drawn from the supply source on the front surface of the sewing machine by a path (via a tube (31) extending in the vertical direction) crossing from the upper part to the lower part and guides the thread material to the front end of the cylindrical part of the thread guide body. The thread guide body has a hole (20b) at the bottom of the body portion for passing a needle and a thread material therethrough, and the hole (20b) includes an opening portion having a regulating structure provided near the cylindrical portion and other opening portions. The opening portion having the restricting structure is constituted by a tip end thin opening portion having a tip end thin shape close to the cylindrical portion. Thus, the wire rod can be smoothly supplied and guided.

Description

Sewing machine capable of sewing thread material, thread material supplying device and thread guiding body

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a device used for supplying and guiding a thread material to a sewing position in a sewing machine capable of sewing the thread material to a material to be sewn, a sewing machine having such a device, and a thread guide for guiding the thread material to the sewing position.

Background

Conventionally, various embroidery sewing machines capable of sewing a decorative thread material to a material to be sewn (a workpiece such as a cloth) have been known. For example, an embroidery sewing machine disclosed in patent document 1 below includes a needle bar cassette having a plurality of needle bars, and is configured such that any one of the plurality of needle bars is selected to an operating position in accordance with a sliding movement of the needle bar cassette in the left-right direction, and lift rods that are raised and lowered by a drive source different from the drive source of the needle bar are provided corresponding to one or more of the needle bars, respectively, and a thread guide body for guiding a thread material to a needle drop position is attached to a lower end of each lift rod.

In the embroidery sewing machine disclosed in patent document 1, when sewing a desired thread material, a needle bar provided with a lift lever for guiding the desired thread material is selected and set at an operating position, and the corresponding lift lever is lifted and lowered in synchronization with the sewing operation of the needle bar and a sewing needle set at the operating position, thereby feeding the thread material and sewing the thread material guided to a needle drop position to a material (cloth) to be sewn. By changing the lifting stroke of the lifting rod, the amount (length) of the thread fed in one sewing operation is adjusted, so that the thread with the optimal amount (length) corresponding to the sewing completion style of the thread for the material to be sewn (cloth) can be fed. For example, by setting the lift stroke length of the lift lever to zero, "sewing" in which the thread material is sewn along the material to be sewn flat can be performed, and by setting the lift lever to a stroke length larger than zero, "circular sewing" in which the thread material is looped and sewn to the material to be sewn can be performed.

In the embroidery sewing machine disclosed in patent document 1, a bobbin (wire material housing section) around which a wire material is wound is disposed at a rear lower portion of a sewing machine frame, and the wire material drawn out from the bobbin is supplied from a rear surface side of a sewing machine head to the wire guide provided in the sewing machine head. Further, the thread material drawn from the bobbin is temporarily extended upward from below to above the sewing machine table, and then is redirected forward (laterally) to the head of the sewing machine above the sewing machine table and introduced into the thread guide body. As described above, in patent document 1, since the bent portion is present in the wire feeding path, tension due to bending resistance is applied to the wire, and the loop height may be unstable and irregular in the "loop seam".

In addition, since the thread material is supplied from the back surface side of the sewing machine head to the thread guide as described above, an introduction hole for introducing the thread material into the interior thereof is formed in the rear wall portion of the thread guide. Fig. 19 shows the wire guide disclosed in patent document 1, where (a) is a sectional view and (b) is an enlarged plan view. In fig. 19, the left direction is the front of the sewing machine, and the right direction is the rear of the sewing machine. The thread guide 200 has a cup-shaped pressing portion 201 with an open upper portion, an outlet hole 202 through which a sewing needle S that moves up and down for sewing is passed is formed in the bottom of the pressing portion 201, and an inlet hole 203 is formed in the rear wall portion. The thread material C is introduced into the thread guide 200 through the introduction hole 203, is pulled out through the lead-out hole 202 at the bottom, and is guided to the material to be sewn (fabric) W. The sewing needle S moving up and down passes through the guide-out hole 202, and sews the thread material C to the material W at the needle drop position. As shown in fig. 19(b), the guide-out hole 202 through which both the sewing needle S and the wire C pass is a perfect circular opening having a corresponding opening area so that the wire C having a thickness or width can easily pass.

Fig. 19 shows an example of "seam" in which an embroidery frame (i.e., a material W to be sewn) is sewn by moving the embroidery frame rearward of a sewing machine. In the sewing operation of the thread material moved backward by the embroidery frame, as shown in fig. 19(a), the thread material C above and below the guide hole 202 is bent at the position of the guide hole 202 in the same direction as the direction toward the upper side of the guide hole 203 and the direction toward the lower side connected to the sewn thread material portion. In this case, the sewing needle S is a part indicated by a reference numeral for a sewing part of the thread material C, and is located on the back side of the thread material C (the side contacting the material W to be sewn) at the time of sewing, and the top thread after sewing is hidden, so that a finished product with good appearance is obtained. However, when the sewing needle S moves upward, the portion of the top thread U connected to the final sewing point of the thread material C on the material W to be sewn from the needle hole of the sewing needle S is stretched, and the bent portion of the thread material C in the guide hole 202 is pressed by the stretching of the top thread U, which may cause a deviation of the sewing position of the thread material C from the needle drop position of the sewing needle S. That is, since the guide hole 202 is a perfect circular opening, the wire is likely to move left and right along the arc of the guide hole 202, and if the wire C is pressed by the stretching portion of the upper thread U, the wire C may be relatively likely to be displaced from the needle drop position. Such a deviation from the needle fall position of the thread material C may cause a sewing error (a miss).

In the conventional thread guide 200 shown in fig. 19, since the distance between the supply-side thread portion near the introduction hole 203 and the thread portion sewn at the needle drop position is relatively short, the thread portion on the supply side entering the introduction hole 203 comes into contact with the thread portion sewn on the cloth, and thereby the fluff is supplied to the introduction hole 203 while being entangled, an annular fluff passing through the introduction hole 203 and the discharge hole 202 is formed during sewing, and adheres to the pressing portion 201 of the thread guide 200, and if the fluff becomes large, there is a possibility that the discharge hole 202 is blocked.

Patent documents 2 and 3 disclose that a thread material supply path is disposed on the front surface side of a sewing machine head, and the thread material is introduced into a thread guide from a position closer to the front. However, even if the thread is disposed on the front surface of the sewing machine head, since the thread supply path is formed by a curved path, tension due to bending resistance is applied to the thread, and the height of the loop in the "loop seam" is unstable, as in the above-described patent document 1.

Patent document 1: international publication WO2015/147118

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open No. 2000-

Patent document 3: japanese patent laid-open No. 2007 & 1159829

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a device for smoothly supplying and guiding a thread material, and also aims to provide a sewing machine with the device, and a thread guiding body for guiding the thread material to a sewing position.

The present invention relates to a device for supplying a thread material in a sewing machine for sewing the thread material to a sewing material, the device comprises: a thread guide body which is mounted on the lower end of a lifting member capable of moving up and down synchronously with the sewing action of the sewing machine and is used for guiding a thread material to a needle drop position, wherein the thread guide body comprises a cylindrical part extending forwards and a main body part guiding the thread material guided in from the front end of the cylindrical part and guided out from the rear end of the cylindrical part to the needle drop position;

and a thread supply system for supplying the thread drawn from the supply source to the front surface of the sewing machine through a path traversing from the upper side to the lower side, and guiding the thread to the front end of the cylindrical part of the thread guide body.

According to the present invention, the thread supplying system is configured to supply the thread drawn from the supply source to the front surface of the sewing machine in a path crossing from above to below and guide the thread to the front end of the cylindrical portion of the thread guide, and therefore, the thread is smoothly supplied to the thread guide from above to below in a substantially linear shape without changing the direction, and as a whole, the thread is not subjected to extreme direction change and bending. Therefore, the thread material is smoothly supplied from the supply source to the needle drop position through the front surface of the sewing machine from above to below without being greatly bent, and the load applied to the thread material in the supply path is reduced. Thus, the device for supplying a thread according to the present invention contributes to providing a high-quality thread sewing such as a uniform "loop sewing" of a stable size (height) in a sewing machine using the device.

Further, the thread guide body includes a cylindrical portion extending forward, and guides the thread material introduced from the front end of the cylindrical portion and led out from the rear end of the cylindrical portion to the needle drop position, so that the introduction port of the thread material (the front end of the cylindrical portion) is distant from the needle drop position. Thus, the introduction port (the distal end of the cylindrical portion) of the thread guide is appropriately separated from the moving thread that moves up and down the sewing needle, and the portion of the thread material above the introduction port (the distal end of the cylindrical portion) of the thread guide does not interfere with the thread material sewing operation or the like. For example, in the case of performing a thread material sewing operation, a portion of the thread material on the supply side (the thread material before entering the thread guide) swings as the thread guide moves up and down, but since the portion of the thread material on the supply side that swings does not cross the moving thread in which the sewing needle moves up and down, a problem that the portion of the thread material on the supply side that swings is erroneously sewn by the sewing needle does not occur. Further, by separating the thread introduction port (the distal end of the cylindrical portion) from the needle drop position, the part of the thread entering the supply side of the thread introduction port (the distal end of the cylindrical portion) does not come into contact with the part of the thread sewn to the material to be sewn at the needle drop position, and therefore, the occurrence of the fuzz is prevented.

The sewing machine according to the present invention includes a sewing machine head for performing a sewing operation, and a device for supplying the thread material, wherein the thread material guided to the needle drop position by the thread guide body is sewn to the material to be sewn by the sewing operation of the sewing machine head. This also provides the same effects as described above.

The thread guide according to the present invention is a thread guide attached to a lower end of a lifting member that can move up and down in synchronization with a sewing operation of a sewing machine, for guiding a thread material to a needle drop position, the thread guide including: a main body part which is opened at the upper part for passing the sewing needle and is provided with a hole for passing the sewing needle and the thread material at the bottom part; and a cylindrical portion extending forward from a side surface of the main body portion, wherein the wire is introduced from a front end of the cylindrical portion and is led out from a hole in a bottom portion of the main body portion through the cylindrical portion. With such a specific structure of the thread guide, a structure in which the introduction port (the distal end of the cylindrical portion) of the thread material is separated from the needle drop position (the hole in the bottom portion of the main body portion) is realized, and the same effects as described above are obtained.

A thread guide according to another aspect of the present invention is a thread guide attached to a lower end of a lifting member that is vertically movable in synchronization with a sewing operation of a sewing machine, for guiding a thread material to a needle drop position, the thread guide including: a main body part which is opened at the upper part for passing the sewing needle and is provided with a hole for passing the sewing needle and the thread material at the bottom part; and a supply port provided in a side surface of the main body, wherein the hole of the main body includes an opening portion having a regulation structure provided near the supply port and other opening portions, and the wire is introduced through the supply port and is led out from a hole in a bottom portion of the main body. In a preferred embodiment, the opening portion having the restricting structure may be constituted by a front end thin opening portion having a front end thin shape near the supply port.

This prevents a sewing error (a seam leakage) depending on a specific sewing direction of the thread material (the direction of the thread material supply port). That is, in the case of performing the sewing of the thread material in which the material to be sewn is moved in the direction of the thread material supply port, the upper and lower directions of the hole (the guide hole) of the bottom portion of the main body portion of the thread material are the same as the upper direction toward the supply port and the lower direction continuous to the thread material portion which has been sewn, and the thread material is bent at the position of the guide hole. Thus, the sewing of the thread material with good appearance is performed, wherein the sewing part is hidden in the back side. Here, even if it is assumed that the bent portion of the wire is pushed by the stretching portion of the upper thread, since the hole (the lead-out hole) in the bottom portion of the main body includes the opening portion having the regulating structure provided near the supply port, a part of the bent wire is regulated by the regulating structure and is not easily moved. Therefore, a sewing error (a miss) depending on a specific sewing direction (a direction of the supply port of the thread material) can be prevented, and the thread material can be reliably guided to the needle drop position regardless of the thread material sewing direction.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view of an embroidery head of a multi-head embroidery sewing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a right side view of the embroidery head of fig. 1.

Fig. 3(a) and (b) are enlarged oblique views showing the state of attachment of the wire guide, (c) is an oblique cross-sectional view of the wire guide, and (d) is a plan view of the wire guide.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the wire guide body.

Fig. 5 is an exploded oblique view showing the main structural components of the wire cutting apparatus in an enlarged manner.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the wire cutting apparatus.

Fig. 7 is a left side view of the cutting unit at the retreat position.

Fig. 8 is a left side view of the cutting unit at the cutting-off preparation position.

Fig. 9 is an oblique view showing the tool post extracted.

Fig. 10 is a schematic side view illustrating a difference in height between cutting positions of the cutter unit variably set according to the height (size) of a sewn stitch, (a) is a view illustrating an example in which the height (size) of the sewn stitch is minimum, and (b) is a view illustrating an example in which the height (size) of the stitch is increased by a circular seam.

Fig. 11 is a right side view of the cutting unit at the retreat position.

Fig. 12 is a right side view of the cutting unit at the cutting-off preparation position.

Fig. 13 is a right side view of the cutting unit at the cutting position.

Fig. 14 is a right side view of the cutting unit in the cutting action.

Fig. 15 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic control system provided in the embroidery sewing machine.

Fig. 16 is an enlarged side view showing a standby position of the wire guide when the wire is cut.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the full automation process of the thread embroidery related operation.

Fig. 18 is a perspective view showing a modification of the 1 st moving body, the 2 nd moving body, and the cutting device in the cutting unit.

Fig. 19 is a sectional view and an enlarged plan view showing a conventional example of the wire guide body.

Detailed Description

Next, as an example of the sewing machine according to the present invention, an example in which the present invention is applied to a multi-head embroidery sewing machine will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to the embroidery sewing machine, and can be applied to a general sewing machine.

Fig. 1 is a front view of 1 embroidery head (sewing machine head) 1 of a multi-head embroidery sewing machine, and fig. 2 is a right side view of the embroidery head 1. The needle bar cassette 4 is supported slidably in the right-left direction on the front surface of the sewing machine arm 3 attached to the front surface of the main body frame 2. The plurality of needle bars 5 (see fig. 3 a) are provided in the needle bar case 4 so as to be movable up and down. Each needle bar 5 is disposed so that the axial direction extends in the vertical direction (vertical direction), and a sewing needle 6 is attached to the lower end of each needle bar. A slide shaft 7 is inserted into the needle bar case 4, and the needle bar case 4 slides in the lateral direction (the lateral direction when viewed from the front) by sliding the slide shaft 7 in the lateral direction by driving of a motor. In accordance with the slide position of the needle bar cassette 4, any one of the plurality of needle bars 5 is located at a predetermined operating position, and thereby one needle bar 5 to be operated is selected. A known take-off kettle (not shown) is provided below the predetermined operating position. The lower thread kettle is arranged below the sewing machine workbench 10, and the needle plate 11 covers the upper part of the kettle. The needle plate 11 is provided with a needle hole through which the sewing needle 6 of the selected needle bar 5 can be inserted.

A main shaft 8 is inserted into the sewing machine arm 3, and if the main shaft 8 is rotated by a main shaft motor (1 st driving source) not shown, the needle bar driving body 9 is moved up and down by the rotation via a cam mechanism not shown in the sewing machine arm 3. The needle bar 5 selected to the operating position is caught by the needle bar drive body 9, and moves up and down in the axial direction thereof by the up-and-down movement of the needle bar drive body 9. The needle bar 5 (the sewing needle 6 at the tip thereof) selected to the operating position is moved up and down to perform a known sewing operation.

As shown in fig. 2, in the needle bar cassette 4, an elevating rod (elevating member) 12 is provided behind each needle bar 5 so as to be vertically movable. The lift lever 12 is disposed so that its axial direction extends in the vertical direction (vertical direction) similarly to the needle bar 5. The lifter 12 is driven by a motor 13 (2 nd driving source) fixed to the sewing machine arm 3. A link mechanism, not shown, is connected to the motor 13, and if the motor 13 is driven to rotate in a reciprocating manner, a cloth pressing drive body 14 provided to be rotatable with respect to the sewing machine arm 3 is lifted and lowered via the link mechanism. Among the plurality of lift rods 12 provided in the needle bar cassette 4, the lift rod (lift member) 12 corresponding to the needle bar 5 selected to the operating position is caught by the cloth pressing drive body 14, and moves up and down in the axial direction thereof by the lifting motion of the cloth pressing drive body 14. As is well known, a sensor for detecting the drive position of the motor 13 is provided in association therewith, and the output of the sensor is used for motor drive control.

A cloth pressing body 15 or a thread guide body 20 is attached to the lower end of each of the plurality of lift pins 12. The cloth presser 15 may have a known structure for pressing a material to be sewn from above at the time of normal embroidery sewing, and is attached to the lower end of the lift lever 12 corresponding to the needle bar 5 used for normal embroidery sewing. On the other hand, when sewing the thread material C, the thread guide body 20 guides the thread material C to the material to be sewn and presses the thread material C on the material to be sewn from above, and the thread guide body 20 is attached to the lower end of the lift lever 12 corresponding to the needle bar 5 used for the thread material sewing operation. As a simple example, in fig. 1, 12 needle bars 5 are provided in one needle bar cassette 4, wherein a wire guide 20 is attached to the lower end of each of the lift rods 12 corresponding to 6 needle bars 5 in the center portion, and a cloth pressing member 15 is attached to the lower end of each of the lift rods 12 corresponding to 3 needle bars 5 in the left and right portions. This means that selective thread sewing operation based on 6 different types of threads C or selective normal sewing operation based on 6 different types (colors) of top thread can be performed in 1 embroidery head 1. As shown in fig. 2, an upper thread hook 16 for hooking the cut upper thread and an upper thread holder 17 for holding the upper thread hooked by the upper thread hook 16 are provided on the back side of the vertical movement path of the sewing needle 6 below the sewing arm 3.

The combination of the respective members and/or devices and/or mechanisms for the sewing operation provided in the embroidery head 1 configured as described above corresponds to a sewing mechanism configured to drive the sewing needle 6 for sewing the material to be sewn. The combination of the lifter 12 and the thread guide 20 corresponds to a thread guide 21 for guiding the thread material C to the needle drop position, and the thread material C guided to the needle drop position is sewn to the material to be sewn by the sewing operation of the sewing needle 6 in the sewing mechanism.

[ wire guide ]

Next, a detailed example of the wire guide 20 will be described with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3(a) is an enlarged oblique view of the wire guide 20 as viewed from obliquely right front. As shown in the figure, the wire guide 20 is attached to the lower end portion of the lifter 12 via the attachment member 18. The mounting member 18 has a mounting portion 18a projecting forward at a lower end thereof, and a main body of the wire guide 20 is detachably fixed to the mounting portion 18a by a screw 19. The lower end of the mounting member 18 has a downward pressing portion 18b that projects leftward and extends downward. The pressing portion 18b functions to press down a cutter unit 50 described later to a cutting position. Fig. 3(b) is an enlarged oblique view of the wire guide 20 viewed obliquely from the left front in order to clearly show the push-down portion 18 b.

The main body of the thread guide body 20 has a cup-shaped pressing portion 20a disposed at a position below the needle bar 5. As shown in the oblique cross-sectional view of fig. 3(C) and the plan view of fig. 3(d), a guide hole 20b is formed in the bottom surface of the pressing portion (main body portion) 20a, and this guide hole 20b serves as an opening for allowing the needle 6 to pass therethrough and guiding the thread material C to the material to be sewn. A supply port 20C for guiding the wire rod C to the lead-out hole 20b is formed in a wall portion substantially at the center of the front surface of the pressing portion 20 a. As shown in fig. 3(d), the outlet hole 20b is formed in a substantially droplet shape having a narrow tip toward the supply port 20 c. That is, the lead-out hole 20b is formed by a tip end thin opening portion (a periphery of a base portion in a droplet shape) and other opening portions. The needle drop position (position where the sewing needle 6 passes) of the guide hole 20b corresponds to the substantial center of the bottom surface of the pressing portion 20a, and is located in the tip end narrow opening portion (the periphery of the root of the water droplet). With such a tapered shape, a regulating structure for regulating the movement of the wire rod C in the left-right direction is integrally formed at the needle drop position of the guide hole 20 b. A cylindrical portion 20e for guiding the thread C into the pressing portion 20a is provided in the supply port 20C of the wall portion so as to extend horizontally forward (in the direction of the front surface of the sewing machine), and an introduction port 20d for the thread C is provided at the front end of the cylindrical portion 20 e. Thus, each wire guide 20 has: a pressing part 20a attached to the lower end of the corresponding lift lever 12 and pressing the material to be sewn; and an opening (an exit hole 20b) that allows the sewing needle 6 to pass through and serves to guide the thread material C onto the material to be sewn. The wire guide 20 is not limited to the form in which the main body thereof can be separated from the mounting member 18 as shown in the drawing, and the main body thereof may be formed integrally with the mounting member 18. Therefore, in the present invention, the "wire guide 20" is a concept including the mounting member 18 (particularly, the pressing portion 18 b). In other words, the pressing portion 18b that functions to press down the cutting unit 50 to the cutting position may be included on the main body side of the wire guide 20.

As described above, the lead-out hole 20b of the thread guide 20 according to the present embodiment is constituted by the tip-narrowed opening portion (the periphery of the base of the droplet shape) having a narrowed tip near the cylindrical portion 20e (i.e., the introduction port 20d or the supply port 20c) and the other opening portions. By such a tapered shape toward the front end of the cylindrical portion 20e (i.e., the inlet port 20d or the supply port 20c), a sewing error (a seam leak) depending on a specific thread sewing direction (in the case of the present embodiment, the direction of the cylindrical portion 20e, i.e., the front direction) can be prevented.

This is explained with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the thread guide 20, showing an example of "seam" that is sewn by moving the embroidery frame (i.e., the material W to be sewn) forward of the sewing machine. When performing sewing in which the embroidery frame moves forward in the direction of the cylindrical portion 20e, the direction of the thread material C at the upper and lower portions of the lead-out hole 20b is the same as the direction toward the upper side of the cylindrical portion 20e (i.e., the introduction port 20d or the supply port 20C) and the direction toward the lower side connected to the sewn thread material portion, and the thread material C is bent at the portion of the lead-out hole 20 b. As shown by the chain line, the outer portion of the curved portion of the thread C corresponds to the needle drop position, and here is a sewn portion. Thus, the thread C sewn on the material W to be sewn is sewn with good appearance by hiding the sewn part at the back side. Further, when the sewing needle 6 moves upward, the portion from the needle hole of the sewing needle 6 to the upper thread U connected to the final sewing point of the thread material C on the material W to be sewn is stretched, but even if the bent portion of the thread material C is pressed by the stretched portion of the upper thread U, the hole (the guide hole 20b) in the bottom portion of the main body portion includes an opening portion having a regulating structure provided near the supply port 20C, and therefore the bent portion of the thread material C is regulated by the regulating structure, and is not easily moved. In the example shown in fig. 4, the portion of the upper thread U where the stretching occurs is displaced from the needle drop position, and therefore, the sewn portion (the portion on the outer side of the bent portion) of the thread material C is not adversely affected.

Here, if the guide hole 20b of the thread guide 20 is a perfect circle, when the bent portion (outer side) of the thread C is pressed by the stretched portion of the upper thread, the thread C is likely to move left and right along the arc of the guide hole, and is deviated from the needle drop position, which causes a sewing error (a seam leakage). In contrast, as long as the lead-out hole 20b has a substantially droplet-like shape with a narrow tip toward the cylindrical portion 20e as in the present embodiment, a portion of the wire C that enters the lead-out hole 20b from the supply port 20C at the rear end of the cylindrical portion 20e and is bent is regulated from both sides at the narrow-tip opening portion (the periphery of the base of the droplet-like shape), and the wire C does not move in the lead-out hole 20b and does not deviate from the needle drop position. Further, since the needle dropping position comes within the tip end narrow opening portion of the lead-out hole 20b, the thread material C restricted to the tip end narrow opening portion is always located at the needle dropping position, and a sewing error (miss) does not occur.

In the thread guide 20 that functions to guide the thread material C to the needle drop position, in order to facilitate passage of the thread material C that is relatively thicker than the needle 6, it is necessary to provide the opening area of the guide hole 20b sufficiently at all times, but this causes the position of the thread guide 20 in the guide hole 20b to become unstable, which causes the problem of causing a sewing error (miss) as described above. However, as shown in the present embodiment, such a problem can be solved by designing the opening shape of the lead-out hole 20b, that is, by forming the opening shape of the lead-out hole 20b into a tapered shape toward the introduction port 20d (the cylindrical portion 20e) (that is, by disposing a restriction structure, that is, a tapered opening portion, close to the cylindrical portion 20 e).

The opening shape of the lead-out hole 20b is not limited to a tip-narrowed shape such as a substantially drop shape, and may be another tip-narrowed shape, or may be a shape in which an appropriate restriction structure (small-sized opening portion) is formed around the needle drop position and the restriction structure (small-sized opening portion) is set closer to the supply port 20C or the introduction port 20d (i.e., the cylindrical portion 20e) than the other opening portion, as long as the entire opening area is sufficiently wide enough to allow the wire rod C to easily pass therethrough, without being limited to a strict tip-narrowed shape. For example, the opening shape of the lead-out hole 20b may be a curvular or gourd shape composed of a combination of a small opening portion (e.g., a small diameter circle) and a large opening portion (e.g., a large diameter circle), and the small opening portion may be a needle drop position and may be a shape closer to the supply port 20c or the introduction port 20d (i.e., the cylindrical portion 20e), whereby the same effects as those described above can be obtained. As a modification of the wire guide 20, the wire guide may be configured to have the feature of the lead-out hole 20b formed in the unique opening shape as described above, instead of having the feature of the cylindrical portion 20 e. In this case, the wire material C supplied from above can be directly introduced through the supply port 20C provided in the side wall surface of the main body 20 a.

[ thread supply System ]

Next, a wire supply system 22 for supplying the wire material C to the wire guide body 20 as the wire guide device 21 will be described. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, mounting brackets having a substantially inverted L-shape in side view are fixed to the left and right of the adjustment table 30 provided above the needle bar cassette 4. Each mounting bracket is composed of a 1 st elongated bracket 23a, 23b facing upward and a 2 nd bracket 24a, 24b projecting obliquely forward. The 2 nd brackets 24a and 24b are rotatably supported by a screw 24c shaft, and the mounting angle with respect to the corresponding 1 st brackets 23a and 23b can be adjusted by changing the fixing position of the screw 24 d. The 2 nd brackets 24a, 24b have a shape in which the upper side is largely projected forward and the lower side is slightly projected forward, and support plates (upper/lower layers) 25, 26 are provided between the upper and lower front end portions of the left and right 2 nd brackets 24a, 24 b. A bobbin (wire housing section) 27 around which the wire C is wound is rotatably supported by pins 28 standing on the support plates 25 and 26.

A holding plate 29 is provided at a lower end between the left and right 1 st brackets 23a, 23b, and a flexible tube 31 (e.g., a spiral tube) through which the wire C passes is attached to the holding plate 29. A support bar 33 is provided between the brackets 32a and 32b fixed to the left and right side surfaces of the needle bar case 4 at the front lower portion of the needle bar case 4, and a holding plate 34 is fixed to the support bar 33. The upper and lower holding plates 29 and 34 have a plurality of tube connection ports 35 and 36 corresponding to the needle bars 5 having the thread guide body 20. The upper end and the lower end of the tube 31 for preventing the wires C from interfering with each other are connected to the tube connection ports 35 and 36 of the holding plates 29 and 34, respectively. Thus, as shown in fig. 1, the pipes 31 are provided to extend in the vertical direction on the front surface of the embroidery head (sewing machine head) 1, and the pipes 31 are arranged in parallel on the front surface of the embroidery head (sewing machine head) 1.

A flexible resistance member 37 is disposed in the upper holding plate 29 near (directly above) the pipe connection port 35. The resistance member 37 is used to loosen a portion of the resistance member 37 located at a position before the wire C, so that the wire C excessively drawn out when the wire C is strongly drawn out does not loosen near the needle point at the end. The soft resistance member 37 has pile-like fibers (or a soft brush or the like), and causes the supplied thread material C to come into contact with the pile-like fibers, thereby imparting a slight resistance to the thread material C. Therefore, when the thread material C is strongly pulled out, the thread material C is excessively pulled out from the bobbin 27 due to the momentum thereof, but the movement of the thread material C is weakened at the position of the resistance member 37 where the resistance is applied, and therefore the excessively pulled thread material C becomes slack in the vicinity directly above the resistance member 37. This prevents the wire C from slackening near the tip of the tip.

Further, 1 guide frame 38 is provided corresponding to the plurality of bobbins 27 on the upper layer side, and a plurality of guide frames 39 are provided corresponding to the plurality of bobbins 27 on the lower layer side. One small loop 39a is formed in each guide frame 39 on the lower layer side, and a larger large loop 39b is formed in the remaining portion. The thread material C pulled out from the bobbin 27 on the upper layer side passes through the inside of the guide frame 38 on the upper layer side, then passes through the small loop 39a of the guide frame 39 on the lower layer side, and passes through the corresponding tube 31, and passes through the inlet 20d of the corresponding thread guide 20 (fig. 3). On the other hand, the thread material C pulled out from the bobbin 27 on the lower layer side passes through the large loop 39b of the guide frame 39 on the lower layer side, and passes through the corresponding tube 31 and the inlet 20d of the corresponding thread guide 20 (fig. 3). Thus, the thread material C pulled out from the bobbin 27 hangs down almost without being bent and is smoothly introduced into the thread guide body 20. In the wire guide 20 shown in fig. 3, the wire C introduced from the introduction port 20d passes through the cylindrical portion 20e, enters the cup-shaped pressing portion 20a from the supply port 20C, is pulled out downward from the lead-out hole 20b at the bottom of the pressing portion 20a, and is pulled out to the outside of the wire guide 20.

The small ring 39a and the large ring 39b provided in the guide frame 39 on the lower layer side serve to guide the thread material C drawn from the bobbin 27 on the upper layer side and the thread material C drawn from the bobbin 27 on the lower layer side so as not to interfere with each other. In fig. 1, for the sake of easy observation, only one wire C drawn from one bobbin 27 is illustrated, and the illustration of the other wires C drawn from the other bobbins 27 is omitted. In an actual working state of the sewing machine, one or more thread materials C drawn out from the required one or more bobbins 27 are respectively guided to the corresponding thread guide bodies 20 through the corresponding tubes 31. The upper-layer-side guide frame 38 and the lower-layer-side guide frames 39 each having the small loop 39a and the large loop 39b function as guide frames for guiding the respective wires C drawn out from the respective bobbins (wire housing portions) 27 so that the wires do not interfere with each other in a state where the wires C are introduced to the upper ends of the corresponding tubes 31.

According to the thread supplying system 22 as described above, as shown in fig. 2, the supply source (bobbin 27) of the thread material C is disposed above the embroidery head (sewing machine head) 1, and the thread material C from the supply source (bobbin 27) is supplied to the thread guide 20 in a substantially straight line shape without changing the direction in a path that passes from above to below on the front surface of the embroidery head (sewing machine head) 1. Further, in the wire guide 20, the wire C introduced from the front end (the introduction port 20d) of the cylindrical portion 20e extending forward and led out from the rear end (the supply port 20C) thereof is guided to the needle drop position of the lead-out hole 20b, and therefore, the wire C is not largely changed in direction or bent. Therefore, the thread material C is smoothly supplied from the supply source to the needlepoint position without being greatly bent from the front, so that the load related to the thread material C can be eliminated, and the thread material C can be reliably guided to the guide hole (needle drop position) regardless of the sewing direction. Thus, for example, in the case of "circular sewing" of the wire rod C described later, uniform "circular sewing" of a stable size (height) can be performed.

Further, since the thread guide 20 includes the cylindrical portion 20e extending forward, and the thread C is introduced from the front end (the introduction port 20d) of the cylindrical portion 20e, is led out from the rear end (the supply port 20C) thereof, and reaches the lead-out hole 20b (the needle drop position), the introduction port 20d of the thread C is separated from the lead-out hole 20b (the needle drop position). Thus, the introduction port 20d of the thread guide 20 is appropriately separated from the moving thread of the vertical movement of the sewing needle 6, and the portion of the thread material C above the introduction port 20d of the thread guide 20 does not interfere with the sewing operation of the thread material, and various problems described below are eliminated.

During the sewing operation of the thread material, the part of the thread material C on the supply side (the thread material C which descends from the tube 31 before entering the thread guide 20) swings as the thread guide 20 ascends and descends, but the part of the thread material C on the supply side which swings does not cross the moving thread of the vertical movement of the sewing needle 6. Therefore, a defect that the portion of the thread material C on the supply side which swings is erroneously sewn by the sewing needle 6 does not occur.

Since the portion of the thread material C on the supply side near the introduction port 20d of the thread guide body 20 is appropriately separated from the portion of the thread material C sewn at the needle drop position, the thread material C does not generate fuzz even when the thread material C is made of a fluffy material. If the tubular portion 20e is not provided in the thread guide 20 and the distance between the supply-side thread portion near the introduction port of the thread guide 20 and the thread portion sewn at the needle drop position is relatively short, the thread portion on the supply side entering the introduction port comes into contact with the thread portion sewn to the cloth, whereby the naps are supplied to the introduction port while being wound and entangled, and an annular ball passing through the introduction port and the guide hole is formed during continuous sewing, adheres to the pressing portion of the thread guide, and if the ball becomes large, there is a possibility of blocking the guide hole. However, by providing the cylindrical portion 20e extending forward in the wire guide 20 as in the present embodiment, the portion of the thread material C entering the supply side of the introduction port 20d does not come into contact with the portion of the thread material C protruding from the lead-out hole 20b and sewn to the fabric, and therefore, no lint is generated.

[ outline of sewing operation of thread Material ]

A specific method for performing a sewing (thread embroidering) operation of a thread material by operating the thread guide device 21 according to the present embodiment can be appropriately applied to a known thread embroidering technique. For example, the thread embroidering method shown in the above patent document 1 can be preferably applied also in the present embodiment. For example, when sewing a desired thread material C, the slide position of the needle bar cassette 4 is selected so that the needle bar 5 corresponding to the lift lever 12 to which the thread guide body 20 for guiding the desired thread material C is attached is set at the operating position. Then, the corresponding lift lever 12 is lifted and lowered in synchronization with the sewing operation of the needle bar 5 and the sewing needle 6 set at the operating position, and the thread material C is fed out and the thread material C guided to the needle drop position is sewn to the material (cloth) to be sewn. The amount (length) of the thread material C fed out in 1 sewing operation is adjusted by changing the lifting stroke of the lifting rod 12, thereby feeding out the thread material C in an optimum amount (length) corresponding to the sewing completion style of the thread material C for the material to be sewn (fabric). The adjustment of the lift stroke of the lift lever 12 is performed by the control of the motor 13 (2 nd drive source). The thread sewing operation (thread embroidering operation) can be performed by selecting an arbitrary thread sewing pattern (thread embroidering pattern), performing X-Y driving of the embroidery frame per 1 stitch in accordance with the selected thread sewing pattern (thread embroidering pattern) as known, and performing thread sewing system control based on variable control of the lifting stroke of the lift lever 12 according to the present embodiment (the above-described "thread sewing" or "loop sewing" or the like).

In the case of performing the thread embroidery, the bottom dead center position of the thread guide 20 and the lift stroke amount of the lift lever 12 are set in advance for each embroidery step on the operation panel. The bottom dead center can be set at a position within a predetermined range according to the thickness of the thread material C to be sewn, the thickness of the material to be sewn (fabric), and the like. The lift stroke amount can also be set within a predetermined range. For example, when the lift stroke amount is set to zero, since the thread guide 20, that is, the lift rod 12 does not perform stroke motion, the thread material C is pressed against the material to be sewn by the bottom surface of the pressing portion 20a of the thread guide 20 in a state where the thread guide 20 is at the bottom dead center, and in this state, a well-known "seam" is performed. If the lift stroke amount is set to an arbitrary value (arbitrary height from the bottom dead center is referred to as the top dead center), the thread guide 20 makes a stroke from the bottom dead center to the set top dead center in synchronization with each stroke of the needle bar 5, and performs a well-known "circumferential stitch". Further, by sewing the thread materials C in a superposed manner while changing the lifting stroke amount of the lifting rod 12, a three-dimensional thread pattern can be formed. In the present embodiment, when the sewing of the thread material is completed, the thread material C is automatically cut near the sewing completion position by the operation of the thread cutting device 40 described below.

[ wire cutting device ]

As shown in fig. 2, a wire cutter 40 is provided below the sewing machine arm 3, and the wire cutter 40 is detachably attached to the sewing machine arm 3. The wire cutting device 40 has a cutting unit 50 for cutting the wire material C, and is configured to be disposed at a predetermined retreat position during the sewing operation and to be moved to a position for cutting the wire material C after the sewing of the wire material C is completed. Fig. 2 shows a state in which the wire cutting device 40 is disposed at the retracted position. The retreat position is a position that is separated rearward from the movement trajectory (vertical movement path) of the needle 6, and is a position at which the thread cutting device 40 does not interfere with the sewing operation of the needle 6. Preferably, the wire cutting device 40 further includes a moving mechanism for moving the cutting unit 50 between the retreat position and a cutting preparation position entering a movement trajectory of the needle 6.

First, a supporting (mounting) structure of the wire cutting device 40 in the sewing machine arm 3 will be described with reference to fig. 1, 2, and 5. Fig. 5 is an exploded oblique view showing the main structural components of the wire cutting device 40 in an enlarged manner. The wire cutting device 40 has a flat plate-like support (mounting) base 41 at the uppermost portion. The support base 41 has left and right ends at the front edge thereof formed as projections 41a, 41b, and an L-shaped bracket 42 (see fig. 2) is fixed to the lower side of each of the projections 41a, 41b via a spacer. A connecting bracket 42a is fixed to an inner side surface of each L-shaped bracket 42, and the wire cutting device 40 is attached to the sewing machine arm 3 via the support base 41 by fixing the connecting bracket 42a to each bracket 42b on the sewing machine side attached to the left and right side surfaces of the sewing machine arm 3 by screws.

Below the respective projections 41a, 41b of the support base 41, front and rear 2 guide rods 43, 44 are arranged at predetermined intervals, and guided by linear bushings 45, 46 so as to be vertically slidably inserted therethrough. A coil spring 47 is fitted to the front guide rod 43, and a spring seat 48 is screwed to the upper end. A lifting base 49 is provided on the lower ends of the left and right guide rods 43 and 44, and is fixed by screws from the lower surface. Thus, the support base 41 is fixed to the sewing machine arm 3, and the lifting base 49 is supported by the support base 41 so as to be movable up and down along the guide rods 43 and 44, and is biased upward by the coil spring 47. That is, the elevating base 49 descends if a downward force is applied against the urging force of the coil spring 47, and ascends by the restoring force of the coil spring 47 if the downward force is released.

[ moving mechanism ]

Next, the moving mechanism will be described with reference to fig. 5 and 6. The moving mechanism is constituted by a combination of a drive device 60 for conveying the cutter unit 50 and necessary portions of the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 provided on the cutter unit 50 side in order to transmit the conveying motion by the drive device 60 to the cutter unit 50. The driving device 60 is fixed to the lower surface of the support base 41 via a mounting bracket 61. A part of the mounting bracket 61 is formed as a bent portion that hangs down, and a drive motor 62 is fixed to a vertical surface of the bent portion. The drive motor 62 functions as a drive source for reciprocating the cutter unit 50 in the horizontal direction, and preferably also functions as a drive source for operating the movable blade in the cutter unit 50. A drive pulley 63a is provided on the rotary shaft of the drive motor 62, a driven pulley 63b is supported by the front end shaft of the mounting bracket 61, and a timing belt 64 is stretched between the drive pulley 63a and the driven pulley 63 b. A guide rail 61A is fixed to the inside of the mounting bracket 61 in the longitudinal direction (the moving direction of the timing belt 64). A movable body 65 is fixed to a predetermined portion of the timing belt 64, and the movable body 65 is slidably fitted to the guide rail 61A inside the mounting bracket 61. Therefore, if the drive motor 62 is operated, the moving body 65 linearly reciprocates in the horizontal direction along the guide rail 61A with the reciprocating motion of the timing belt 64.

A driving piece 66 is integrally formed on the moving body 65. The driving piece 66 is vertically long and engages with four upper, lower, front, and rear rollers of the cutter unit 50, which will be described later. An object to be detected 67 for detecting the position of the moving body 65 is fixed to the moving body 65, and the position of the moving body 65 is detected by an optical sensor 68 fixed to the mounting bracket 61. For example, when the optical sensor 68 is not blocked by one or more slits provided in the object 67, it is detected that the wire cutting device 40 is located at the predetermined retreat position or the cutting preparation position.

[ cutting Unit ]

Next, the cutting unit 50 will be described with reference to fig. 5 to 9. The cutter unit 50 includes substantially the 1 st movable body 70, the 2 nd movable body 80, and the cutter device 90, and is supported by the elevating base 49 so as to be slidable in the horizontal direction with respect to the elevating base 49 and integrally elevated in the vertical direction. As shown in fig. 5, a mounting member 51 is fixed to a predetermined position on the elevating base 49, and a horizontal slide guide 52 is fixed to the mounting member 51. On the other hand, in the 1 st moving body 70 on the cutting unit 50 side, the cam base 72 and the guide rail 73 are fixed to the moving base 71 in a predetermined arrangement. The guide rail 73 is fitted to the slide guide 52 on the side of the lifting base 49 so as to be slidable in the horizontal direction (the front-rear direction with respect to the front surface of the sewing machine). Furthermore, at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the member to which the guide rail 73 is attached, bent portions 73a are formed which abut on the ends of the slide guide 5 and regulate the sliding movement.

Fig. 7 and 8 are left side views of the cutter unit 50, and the guide rail 73 is omitted for convenience in order to clearly show the cam base 72 of the 1 st moving body 70. Further, fig. 7 shows the cutting unit 50 placed at the retreat position, and fig. 8 shows the cutting unit 50 placed at the cutting preparation position. In the figure, hatched portions represent cross sections. The cam base 72 is provided with a cam groove 74, and the cam roller 54 (see fig. 2) supported by the holder 53 fixed to the lower surface of the support base 41 is fitted in the cam groove 74. Note that, in fig. 7 and 8, the bracket 53 and the cam roller 54 are also shown for convenience. The cam groove 74 is constituted by an inclined portion 74a inclined upward rearward, a curved portion 74b curved perpendicularly from a rear end of the inclined portion 74a, and a vertical portion 74c extending perpendicularly from the curved portion 74 b. Since the position of the cam roller 54 is fixed to the support base 41, if the 1 st moving body 70 moves in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction), the cam base 72 of the 1 st moving body 70 moves in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction) and the up-down direction along the cam groove 74, whereby the 1 st moving body 70 can move not only in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction) but also in the up-down direction. Further, by fitting the slide guide 52 of the elevating base 49 to the guide rail 73 of the 1 st moving body 70, the 1 st moving body 70 moves up and down in conjunction with the elevating base 49, but the elevating base 49 does not move in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction).

Returning to fig. 5 and 6, a guide groove 75 is formed in the motion base 71 of the 1 st moving body 70, and an engagement pin 81a provided on the left side surface of the motion base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80 engages with the guide groove 75. A guide shaft 76 is fixed to the upper surface of the movement base 71 in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction). The movement base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80 is inserted and attached to the guide shaft 76, and the 2 nd moving body 80 is supported slidably along the guide shaft 76. The 2 nd moving body 80 maintains the posture when it moves horizontally (moves forward and backward) along the guide shaft 76 by the engagement (guide) of the guide groove 75 and the guide shaft 76 at two points. That is, the 2 nd moving body 80 moves horizontally (moves forward and backward) along the guide shaft 76 while its rotation is regulated by the engaging pin 81a fitted in the guide groove 75.

A pair of rollers 82 that engage with the driving pieces 66 of the moving body 65 of the driving device 60 are provided in a lateral arrangement on the right side surface of the moving base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80. The 1 st moving body 70 also has a pair of rollers 77 arranged in a lateral direction on the right side surface of the moving base 71, and engaged with the driving pieces 66 of the moving bodies 65 of the driving device 60. As shown in fig. 5, the pair of rollers 82 on the 2 nd moving body 80 side is disposed above the pair of rollers 77 on the 1 st moving body 70 side. In the assembled state (or the retracted state), as shown in fig. 5, the upper pair of rollers 82 and the lower pair of rollers 77 are aligned in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction), and the driving piece 66 of the moving body 65 of the driving device 60 enters between each pair of rollers. Therefore, when the moving body 65 of the driving device 60 reciprocates in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction), the driving piece 66 presses the front rollers 77 and 82, so that the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 move forward, and the driving piece 66 presses the rear rollers 77 and 82, so that the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 move backward. When the rollers 77 and 82 of the 1 st and 2 nd moving bodies 70 and 80 are engaged with the driving piece 66 in this manner, the 1 st and 2 nd moving bodies 70 and 80 move together, and in this state, the cutter unit 50 moves between the retracted position and the cutting preparation position in accordance with the driving of the driving motor 63, as described later. Therefore, the combination of the drive device 60 and the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 on the side of the cutter unit 50 functions as a moving mechanism that moves the cutter unit 50 between the retracted position and the cutting preparation position. As will be described later, when only the roller 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 is engaged with the driving piece 66 by the lowering of the cutter unit 50, only the 2 nd moving body 80 can be moved by the driving device 60.

As shown in fig. 5, the mounting arm 78 extends diagonally forward and downward from the moving base 71 of the 1 st moving body 70, and similarly, the mounting arm 83 extends diagonally forward and downward from the moving base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80, and the cutting device 90 is attached to the distal ends of these mounting arms 78, 83. The cutting device 90 includes: a horizontal knife rest 91; a fixed knife (1 st cutting member) 92 fixed to the upper surface of the knife table 91; a movable blade (2 nd cutting member) 93 supported via a pin 94 so as to be relatively rotatable with respect to the fixed blade 92 on the blade table 91; an abutment member 95 provided slightly above the rear portion of the tool post 91; and a link mechanism for moving the movable blade 93. The tool post 91 is attached to the tip of the attachment arm 78 of the 1 st moving body 70, and moves in the horizontal direction (front-rear direction) together with the 1 st moving body 70 and moves up and down. The abutment member 95 is a portion with which the pressing portion 18b of the wire guide 20 abuts, and the entire cutting device 90 is lowered by lowering the knife rest 91 by the pressing portion 18b of the lowered wire guide 20 abutting against the abutment member 95 and pressing down. The contact member 95 is fixed to the knife rest 91 so as to be disposed slightly above the movable knife 93 without interfering with the movable knife 93.

The link mechanism for moving the movable knife 93 includes a swing link 96 and a pivot link 97, and one end of the swing link 96 is swingably coupled to the tip end of the mounting arm 83 of the 2 nd moving body 80 via a shaft (connecting pin) 98. A torsion spring 100 (see fig. 7, for example) is fitted to the connecting pin 98, and one end of the spring 100 is hung on the mounting arm 83 and the other end is hung on the swing link 96. The swing link 96 is urged in the downward surface direction by the torsion spring 100. The other end of the swing link 96 is rotatably coupled to one end of a pivot link 97 via a shaft (connecting pin) 99. The other end of the pivot link 97 is pivotally connected to a free end of the movable knife 93. Accordingly, if the 2 nd moving body 80 moves forward when the 1 st moving body 70 is stopped, the free end of the movable knife 93 moves forward by the link mechanism coupled to the 2 nd moving body 80, and the movable knife 93 rotates clockwise about the pin 94, so that the movable knife 93 intersects with the fixed knife 92, and the cutting operation is performed. Next, if the 2 nd moving body 80 retreats, the movable blade 93 rotates counterclockwise about the pin 94, and returns to the initial position.

On the other hand, the tool post 91 is provided with a catching structure (catching means) 101, and the catching structure 101 catches and guides the wire rod C to be cut to an appropriate holding position (holding space) and holds the wire rod C. Fig. 9 is an enlarged oblique view showing the tool post 91 extracted to clearly show the configuration of the capturing structure 101. The capturing structure 101 includes: a guide portion 103 that abuts against the wire rod C and guides the wire rod C to the insertion opening 102; an insertion path 104 connected from the guide part 103 to an internal holding position (holding space); and a restricting portion 105 for preventing the wire C from leaving from the holding position (holding space). The guide portion 103 forms a contour line gradually receding (i.e., inclining) rearward from the front end edge of the tool post 91. As described later, while the cutting unit 50 (cutting device 90) moves to the cutting preparation position, the wire rod C extending upward (as a cutting target) in a state of substantially following the vertical movement trajectory of the sewing needle 6 comes into contact with the front end edge of the knife rest 91, and at this time, the portion where the wire rod C first comes into contact with the front end edge of the knife rest 91 is disposed so as to be the portion where the guide portion 103 is formed (or is controlled as by additional control described later).

It is needless to say that the cutting unit 50 (cutting device 90) is configured to raise the sewing needle 6 to a predetermined position when the sewing of the thread material is completed, and to raise the thread guide body 20 to a predetermined upper position higher than the preparatory cutting position through the lifter 12 by the control of the motor 13, so that the movement to the preparatory cutting position is not hindered. Therefore, while the cutter unit 50 (cutting device 90) moves from the retracted position to the cutting preparation position, the thread material C to be cut extends upward from the sewing end position of the thread material C on the material to be sewn to the thread guide 20 at a predetermined upper position in a state of substantially following the vertical movement trajectory of the sewing needle 6.

According to the configuration of the catching structure 101, when the cutter unit 50 almost reaches the cutting preparation position, the knife rest 91 (particularly, the portion of the guide portion 103) comes into contact with the intermediate portion of the wire rod C to be cut (extending upward), and the wire rod C smoothly enters the insertion opening 102 while being guided by the inclined contour line formed by the guide portion 103, and is smoothly guided to the holding position (the space in the catching structure 101) through the insertion path 104. Thereafter, even if the stretched wire rod C is bent or the like and moved (separated) from the holding position as the cutting unit 50 (cutting device 90) is lowered, the movement (separation) of the wire rod C can be regulated by the regulating portion 105. Thus, when the automatic cutting operation is performed by the cutting unit 50 (cutting device 90), the wire rod C can be appropriately cut without an error. As shown in fig. 5, the movable knife 93 has a blade provided below the portion 93a, and a holding portion for holding the wire C at the holding position when cutting the wire C is formed at a portion 93b different from the portion 93 a. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the wire C is appropriately held at the holding position (the space in the catching structure 101) at the time of cutting by not only the regulating portion 105 of the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91 but also the cooperative operation with the holding portion 93b of the movable knife 93.

[ height adjusting device ]

In the present invention, a height adjusting device is provided for variably adjusting the height of the cutting unit 50 when the wire rod C is cut. In a preferred embodiment, the height adjustment means is constituted by at least a lifting member (e.g. said lifting bar 12). That is, the height of the elevating member (e.g., the elevating rod 12) is adjusted according to a desired height (cutting position) of the cutting unit 50, and the cutting unit 50 is moved to a position (cutting position) defined by the elevating member (e.g., the elevating rod 12) by lowering the cutting unit 50 in accordance with the lowering of the elevating member (e.g., the elevating rod 12).

In a more preferred embodiment (i.e., the illustrated embodiment), the height adjustment means is constituted by a combination of the lifting member (lifting lever 12) and the wire guide body 20. That is, the height adjusting means is realized by causing the elevation member (the elevation rod 12) and the thread guide 20 to perform a height adjusting function of the cutting unit 50 different from a function at the time of the sewing (thread embroidering) operation of the thread material. The height adjusting device in this embodiment is configured to lower the lifter 12 to a predetermined height (cutting position) after the sewing of the thread material C is completed, and the height of the cutting unit 50 is adjusted by pressing down the cutting unit 50 by the thread guide 20 (specifically, the pressing portion 18b) attached to the lower end of the lowered lifter 12. More specifically, the pressing portion 18b of the wire guide 20 is pressed downward by abutting against the abutment member 95 (fig. 5) fixed to the knife rest 91 of the cutting device 90 in the cutting unit 50, and the cutting unit 50 is thereby lowered to the cutting position. In the illustrated embodiment, the lifter 12 and the thread guide 20 are not used for sewing (embroidering) the thread material when cutting the thread material C, and therefore, the lifter 12 and the thread guide 20 can be used as a lifter (and a presser) for cutting the thread material.

It is preferable that the height adjusting means adjusts the height of the cutting unit 20 corresponding to the height (size) of the thread C sewn on the material to be sewn. That is, when the lift lever 12 functions as a lift member for cutting the thread, the height of the lift lever 12 (i.e., the lower limit position of the thread guide 20) is variably set in accordance with the height (size) of the thread material C sewn on the material to be sewn. Specifically, the height of the lifter 12 (i.e., the lower limit position of the wire guide 20) is adjusted by setting the height to a stop target position of the motor 13 (the 2 nd drive source), and stopping the motor 13 when the stop target position is reached.

As an example, if a pattern of "seams" where the height (dimension) of the thread material C sewn on the material W is the smallest is shown in a side view, as shown in fig. 10(a), a two-dot chain line with a reference numeral 91 in the figure indicates a height position of the knife rest 91 of the cutting device 90 set at a lower limit position for cutting (cutting position) corresponding to such a sewn pattern. Such a "seam" thread pattern is obtained when the lift stroke amount of the lift lever 12 is set to zero in the above-described sewing operation of the thread material. As another example, if the pattern of the thread material C is "loop-stitched" to the material W to be sewn as shown in a side view, the two-dot chain line with reference numeral 91 in the figure indicates the height position of the knife rest 91 of the cutting device 90 set at the lower limit position for cutting (cutting position) corresponding to the pattern of the loop-stitch as shown in fig. 10 (b). Such a thread pattern of the "loop seam" is obtained when the lift stroke amount of the lift lever 12 is set to an appropriate value other than zero for the desired "loop seam" in the above-described thread sewing operation.

As can be seen from a comparison of fig. 10 a and 10 b, the height of the cutting position of the cutting unit 50 (i.e., the height of the knife rest 91) is variably adjusted in accordance with the height (dimension) of the sewn thread pattern. Of course, in the circular seam shown in fig. 10(b), the height of the cutting position of the cutting unit 50 (i.e., the height of the knife rest 91) can be variably adjusted in various ways according to the difference in the height (size) of the sewn circular seam. Although not shown, when a three-dimensional pattern other than a circular seam is formed, the height of the cutting position of the cutting unit 50 (i.e., the height of the knife rest 91) can be variably adjusted in various ways according to the difference in the size (height) of the sewn pattern.

The height of the cutting position of the cutting unit 50 (i.e., the height of the knife rest 91) can be set for each needle bar of each sewing machine head by the operator manually operating the operation panel of the embroidery sewing machine according to the thickness of the thread material C, the size (height) of the thread pattern to be sewn, and the like. As another example, the cutting position height data may be programmed in advance in pattern data (sewing pattern data) for automatically sewing a thread pattern, and when the automatic thread sewing operation is performed, the cutting position height data relating to the thread pattern after completion of sewing may be retrieved and the motor 13 may be controlled in accordance with the cutting position height data.

As is apparent from the above, in the above-described embodiment, the function of the height adjusting means is realized by a combination of the pressing mechanism constituted by the above-described lifting and lowering member (lifting and lowering rod 12), the motor 13, the wire guide 20, and the like, and the transfer mechanism on the wire cutting device 40 side which appropriately transfers the cutting unit 50 downward via the contact member 95 (fig. 5) in accordance with the pressing. The transfer mechanism on the side of the wire cutting apparatus 40 will be further described with reference to fig. 2, 5, 8, and the like. If a downward pressure is applied to the abutting member 95 by the descending wire guide body 20, the 1 st moving body 70 of the cutting unit 50 is in a state of being allowed to move up and down with respect to the support plate 41 via the vertical portion 74c (fig. 8) of the cam groove 74 thereof, and thus is shifted downward. At this time, the elevating base 49 is also moved downward together with the rail 73 (fig. 5) of the first moving body 70 and the slide guide 52 of the elevating base 49 by fitting them. The up-and-down movement of the elevating base 49 is guided by the linear bushes 45, 46 (fig. 2) of the support base 41 via the guide rods 43, 44 (fig. 2). In this way, the combination of the abutment member 95, the 1 st moving body 70, the elevating base 49, the guide bars 43, 44, and the like provided in the wire cutting device 40 functions as a transfer mechanism for transferring the cutter unit 50 from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position. Specifically, the elevating base 49 that supports the cutting unit 50 is configured to be movable up and down via the guide rods 43 and 44, and functions as a transfer guide that guides the cutting unit 50 from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position. The structure in which the cutting unit 50 is pressed down by the lifting member (lifting lever 12) via the wire guide 20 functions as a unit for pressing down the cutting unit 50. The contact member 95 (fig. 5) provided on the knife rest 91 of the cutter unit 50 functions as a receiving portion that receives a pressing force applied from the outside. Further, a coil spring 47 (fig. 2) that biases the elevating base 49 upward functions as a spring for returning the cutter unit 50 upward.

[ series of actions of the wire cutting device 40 ]

Next, a series of operations of the wire cutting apparatus 40 configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to fig. 11 to 14. Fig. 11 to 14 illustrate some main states during the operation of the wire cutting device 40, and are diagrams showing the right side surface of the cutting unit 50 and the like. In the figure, hatched portions represent cross sections. The series of operations are performed under the control of an electronic control system provided in the embroidery sewing machine, similarly to the sewing operation (thread embroidering operation) of the thread material.

Fig. 15 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic control system provided in the embroidery sewing machine. The electronic control system controls various sewing operations including a sewing operation of a thread material (a thread embroidering operation) and the above-described series of operations (operations associated with thread cutting) by processing of a computer (i.e., a control device) including a CPU (processor) 110 and a storage device 111. As is well known, the storage device 111 is a semiconductor memory such as a ROM, a RAM, and a flash memory, a hard disk, a removable storage medium, or the like, and is shown as being included therein. The operation panel 112 receives user operations for performing various settings related to the operation of the embroidery sewing machine, such as various sewing operations including the sewing operation of the thread material. The X-Y driving device 113 performs X-Y driving of an embroidery frame (not shown) according to an embroidery pattern to be sewn. The spindle motor 114 is a motor that drives the spindle 8. The needle bar selection motor 115 is a motor that drives the slide shaft 7, and the slide shaft 7 slides the needle bar cassette 4 for needle bar selection. The sensor group 116 includes the optical sensor 68 and various sensors provided in association with the motors and the like, and represents the sensors. The motors 13 and 62 are also assembled in the electronic control system via a bus. The storage device 111 stores a program for executing a series of operations (particularly, operations related to cutting of the thread material C) described in this specification in a predetermined order, and a program for controlling the sewing operation of the thread material and various other operations, and these programs can be executed by the CPU 110 (processor).

When the embroidery head 1 performs the sewing operation (including the sewing operation of the thread material), the cutting unit 50 of the thread cutting device 40 is set to the retreat position shown in fig. 2 or 7, and the thread cutting operation is not performed at the retreat position. Fig. 11 is a right side view showing the cutter unit 50 and the like also placed in the retracted position. As described above, when the sewing of the thread material is completed, the sewing needle 6 is raised to a predetermined position, and the thread guide 20 is raised to a predetermined upper position higher than the cutting preparation position through the raising/lowering lever 12 by the control of the motor 13. At the same time, control for moving the cutter unit 50 from the retracted position to the cutting preparation position is performed as in the following procedure 1. Then, the following procedures 2 to 6 are performed.

Sequence 1: the motor 62 of the drive device 60 is rotated in the normal direction, and the moving member 65 attached to the timing belt 64 is moved forward (advanced). At this time, as shown in fig. 11, since the driving piece 66 of the moving body 65 engages with both the pair of rollers 77 of the 1 st moving body 70 and the pair of rollers 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80, both the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 advance by pressing the two pairs of front rollers 77 and 82. As the cam roller 54 fixed advances, the position of the cam groove 74 of the 1 st moving body 70 shifts along the inclination of the cam groove 74, and therefore the 1 st moving body 70, the 2 nd moving body 80, and the cutting device 90 (and therefore the entire cutter unit 50) gradually descend, and the elevating base 49 also descends together (see fig. 7).

Sequence 2: if the cutter unit 50 finally reaches the cutting preparation position, as shown in fig. 8, the fixed cam roller 54 engages with the curved portion 74b of the cam groove 74, and the advance of the cutter unit 50 such as the 1 st movable body 70 is mechanically stopped by this engagement. As described above, when the cutting unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, as described with reference to fig. 9, the intermediate portion of the wire rod C guided by the wire guide 20 is appropriately held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91 of the cutting device 90 at the front end of the cutting unit 50, and the held intermediate portion of the wire rod C comes between the fixed knife (1 st cutting member) 92 and the movable knife (2 nd cutting member) 93 of the cutting device 90 (see fig. 5).

The drive device 60 in the sequence 1 and the sequence 2 and the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 on the cutting unit 50 side function as a moving mechanism for moving the cutting unit 50 between the retracted position and the cutting preparation position.

Sequence 3: if the cutting unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, the rotation of the motor 62 is stopped, and the driving of the motor 13 is started to lower the lift lever 12. Fig. 12 is a right side view of the cutter unit 50 and the like in a state of being placed at the cutting preparation position, and shows a state in which the wire guide body 20 is descending along with the descending of the lifter 12. In fig. 12 to 14, the wire C is not shown for simplicity of illustration.

When the pressing portion 18b of the wire guide 20 that has been lowered by the lifter 12 finally comes into contact with the contact member 95 of the cutting device 90, the contact member 95 is pressed down, and the cutting device 90, and hence the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80, that is, the entire cutting unit 50, are lowered via the knife rest 91. At this time, since the fixed cam roller 54 is engaged with the vertical portion 74c (see fig. 7 or 8) of the cam groove 74 of the 1 st moving body 70, the cutter unit 50 does not move in the horizontal direction but moves freely up and down in the vertical direction. Further, since the height of the driving piece 66 on the driving device 60 side does not change, and the entire cutter unit 50 is lowered, the engagement relationship between the driving piece 66 and the roller 77 of the 1 st moving body 70 and the roller 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 changes, and finally, at the following cut-off position, only the roller 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 is engaged with the driving piece 66. That is, as shown in fig. 5, since the roller 77 of the 1 st moving body 70 is disposed below the roller 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 and the driving piece 66 has a predetermined limited vertical dimension, if the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 move downward relative to the driving piece 66, the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 82 of the upper 2 nd moving body 80 is maintained, but the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 77 of the lower 1 st moving body 70 is released. In this way, the position in which the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the driving roller 77 of the lower 1 st moving body 70 is released may be when the cutter unit 50 reaches the preparatory cutting position (the state of fig. 12), may be when the cutter unit 50 reaches the cutting position (the state of fig. 13), or may be when the cutter unit 50 is located between the preparatory cutting position and the cutting position. In short, the 1 st moving body 70 and the 2 nd moving body 80 move horizontally together with the driving of the driving piece 66 at least between the retracted position and the cutting preparation position, and only the 2 nd moving body 80 may move with the driving of the driving piece 66 at least at the cutting position.

Sequence 4: if the lifter 12 reaches a height variably set according to the size of the sewn thread pattern (i.e., a lower limit position of the thread guide body 20), the driving of the motor 13 is stopped. This indicates that the cutting unit 50 has reached a height of a cutting position variably set in correspondence with the size of the sewn thread pattern. Fig. 13 is a right side view of the cutter unit 50 and the like after reaching the cutting position. In the preferred embodiment, the function of the height adjusting means is realized by the control of the height of such lifter 12 (i.e., the lower limit position of the wire guide body 20) in this order 4.

As described above, the transfer of the cutter unit 50 from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position in the sequences 3 and 4 is realized by a combination of the pressing mechanism constituted by the elevating member (elevating rod 12) and the wire guide 20 and the transfer mechanism constituted by the abutment member 95, the 1 st moving body 70, the elevating base 49, the guide rods 43 and 44 and the like in the wire cutting device 40.

Sequence 5: in a state where the cutting unit 50 is placed at the cutting position, the motor 62 of the driving device 60 is rotated forward by an amount necessary for the cutting operation, and the movable knife (the 2 nd cutting member) 93 of the cutting device 90 is moved, thereby cutting the wire rod C held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101 of the knife stand 91. That is, as shown in fig. 13, in a state where the cutter unit 50 has reached the cutting position, the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 82 of the upper 2 nd moving body 80 is maintained, but the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 77 of the lower 1 st moving body 70 is released. Therefore, if the driving piece 66 moves forward by a predetermined distance by the normal rotation of the motor 62, the 1 st moving body 70 does not move and only the 2 nd moving body 80 moves forward. As a result, as described with reference to fig. 5, in the cutting device 90, the movable knife 93 is rotated clockwise by the link mechanism including the swing link 96 and the pivot link 97, and the wire material C is cut. Fig. 14 is a right side view showing the cutter unit 50 and the like immediately after the cutting operation at the cutting position. Further, since the thread guide 20 presses the cutter unit 50 during the cutting operation, there is an additional effect that the thread C on the material to be sewn can be pressed by the lower surface of the knife stand 91, and separation of the thread C can be suppressed at the time of cutting. After the wire C is cut, the motor 62 of the driving device 60 is reversed by a predetermined amount, and the 2 nd moving body 80 is retreated to, for example, the position shown in fig. 13, and the movable knife 93 is returned to the initial position. Thus, the cutting operation is completed.

Sequence 6: after the cutting operation is completed, the motor 13 is reversed to raise the lifter 12, thereby moving the wire guide 20 upward (e.g., returning to the predetermined upper position). As the wire guide 20 is raised, the pressing force against the cutter unit 50 is released, and the cutter unit 50 is raised together with the lift base 49 by the restoring force of the coil spring 47. Thereby, the cutting unit 50 is raised to the position shown in fig. 12. At the same time, the motor 62 of the driving device 60 is reversed to retract the driving piece 66. At the position shown in fig. 12, both the roller 77 of the 1 st moving body 70 and the roller 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 engage with the driving piece 66, and therefore the cutter unit 50 also retreats in accordance with the retreat of the driving piece 66, and returns to the retreat position shown in fig. 11. When the vehicle returns to the retracted position, the motor 62 is stopped, and the series of operations is completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the thread material C can be automatically cut at an arbitrary height that is appropriately set when the sewing of the thread material is completed. Therefore, by changing the height of the cutting portion in accordance with the thickness of the thread material C, the thickness of the material W (cloth), the size (overall thickness) of the sewn pattern, and the like, the thread material C can be always cut at a height position suitable for the sewing completion state of the thread material C, and thus the remaining length of the cut thread material C on the material W (cloth) side can be set to an appropriate length without a margin, and the process of cutting the end portion of the thread material C by the manual work after sewing is not necessary. For example, fig. 10 shows the difference in the height of the cut portion of the wire rod C according to the present embodiment, which corresponds to the difference in the size (overall thickness) of the linear pattern. That is, when the pattern size (overall thickness) is made low as shown in fig. 10(a), the height of the cut portion Ce1 of the wire rod C is made low, and when the pattern size (overall thickness) is made high as shown in fig. 10(b), the height of the cut portion Ce2 of the wire rod C is made high.

[ relationship with cutting of wire ]

In the above-described embodiment, the relationship between the cutting of the top thread by the sewing needle 6 and the cutting of the thread material C is not particularly described. That is, the present invention can be implemented regardless of the wire cutting technique. However, in the preferred embodiment, when the cutting of the wire material C is automated, it is preferable to cut the upper wire (and the lower wire) before cutting the wire material C. The reason is that if the cutting operation of the thread material C is performed in a state where the top thread is continuous from the needle hole of the sewing needle 6 to the material (cloth) to be sewn, the top thread is cut together with the thread material C, and the remaining length of the top thread on the sewing needle 6 side becomes short. If the remaining length of the top thread on the side of the sewing needle 6 becomes short as described above, it becomes difficult to directly perform the next sewing. Therefore, as a method for avoiding such a problem, it is preferable to perform cutting of the upper thread (and the lower thread) before performing cutting of the thread material C according to the present invention at the end of sewing of the thread material. As is generally known, in a sewing machine, a thread cutting device is provided below a table 10, thereby cutting an upper thread and a lower thread. The upper thread hook 16 and the upper thread holder 17 shown in fig. 2 are held by the upper thread holder 17 by hooking the upper thread hook 16 to the upper thread before or after cutting the thread by the thread cutting device, as is well known. In this way, if the upper thread is held by the upper thread holder 17, the upper thread is not cut together when the thread material C is cut.

[ Standby position (wire cutting position) of wire guide ]

In the above embodiment, the description has been given of the case where the thread guide body 20 is raised to a predetermined upper position higher than the cutting preparation position at the time of completion of sewing the thread material. The predetermined upper position is a rest position (or a retracted position) when the sewing operation is not performed, and is usually the highest height. However, since the thread cutting operation is performed before the cutting operation of the thread material C as described above, if the thread guide 20 is placed at the highest rest position (or the retracted position), the thread material C connected to the material to be sewn is caught from the thread guide 20 into the thread hooking operation by the thread hooking hook 16, which is not preferable. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the wire is cut, the wire guide 20 is positioned at the standby position (wire cutting position) having a predetermined height. The standby position (thread cutting position) of the thread guide 20 is a position below the advancing position (moving trajectory) of the upper thread hook 16.

Fig. 16 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a preferable standby position (wire cutting position) of the wire guide 20 at the time of wire cutting. The standby position (thread cutting position) is determined by the position of the thread guide 20 shown in fig. 16, and the reference numeral 16' indicates a state where the upper thread hook 16 is moved in and out of the vertical movement thread of the sewing needle 6 in order to catch an upper thread (not shown) extending from the sewing needle 6 to the material to be sewn by a two-dot chain line. That is, the standby position (thread cutting position) of the thread guide 20 is a position where the thread material C connected to the material to be sewn from the thread guide 20 does not interfere with the hook operation of the upper thread hook 16, and is below the advancing/retreating position (two-dot chain line 16') of the upper thread hook 16. By setting the standby position of the thread guide 20 in this way, as shown in the drawing, the thread material C connected to the material to be sewn from the thread guide 20 is separated from the advancing position (the two-dot chain line 16') of the upper hook 16, and therefore the thread material C is not hooked by the upper hook 16. After the wire cutting is completed, the wire guide 20 is raised again to the rest position (or the retracted position) which is the predetermined upper position, and then the wire cutting operation by the wire cutting device 40 is performed in the above-described order.

The thread guide 20 has been described as having the advantage of the cylindrical portion 20e, but has a further advantage in association with the thread hooking operation of the thread hook 16, and thus this point will be described. As shown in fig. 16, when the standby position of the thread guide 20 is set below the entry/exit position (two-dot chain line 16 ') of the upper thread hook 16, if the cylindrical portion 20e is not provided, the portion of the thread material C on the supply side above the thread guide 20 is arranged so as to interfere with the upper thread hooking operation of the upper thread hook 16 as shown by the broken line C'. However, since the introduction port 20d of the thread guide 20 is separated from the lead-out hole 20b (needle drop position) due to the presence of the cylindrical portion 20e as described above, the portion of the thread material C on the supply side above the introduction port 20d does not enter the entry and exit position (the two-dot chain line 16') of the upper hook 16. Therefore, the portion of the wire C on the supply side above the introduction port 20d of the wire guide 20 does not interfere with the operation of hooking the upper wire by the upper wire hook 16.

[ additional control associated with wire cutting action ]

The series of operations performed by the wire cutting device 40 in order to cut the wire has been described. As an additional control associated with such a wire cutting operation, as a preferred embodiment, it is possible to perform control such that the middle portion of the wire rod C as a cutting object is reliably caught by the catching structure 101 (fig. 9) provided in the knife table 91 of the cutting device 90 of the cutting unit 50.

First, immediately before the thread cutting operation of the thread cutting device 40 is started, that is, immediately before the normal rotation of the motor 62 of the driving device 60 is started in the above-described order 1, the embroidery frame is moved a predetermined distance in the right direction (X direction) as viewed from the front from the sewing end position of the thread material. The predetermined distance is a distance that allows the thread material C extending upward from the sewing end position of the thread material to the thread guide 20 to face the guide portion 103 (fig. 9) of the catching structure 101 in the front-rear direction (Y direction). The predetermined distance is determined approximately in accordance with the X-direction offset amount between the needle drop position in the thread guide 20 and the position of the guide portion 103 in the knife rest 91. By moving the embroidery frame by a predetermined distance in the X direction in this way, the thread material C connected from the thread guide 20 to the material to be sewn is positioned on the front surface of the guide portion 103 of the knife rest 91.

In this state, the sequence 1 and the sequence 2 are executed. Thus, if the thread material C extending upward from the sewing end position of the thread material comes into contact with the knife rest 91 as the cutting unit 50 moves forward, the thread material C is guided by the inclined contour line formed by the guide portion 103 of the capturing structure 101 and smoothly enters the insertion hole 102.

Then, before the sequence 3 is executed or simultaneously with the sequence 3, the embroidery frame is returned by a prescribed distance in the left direction (X direction). Thus, the thread material C is guided to the holding position (space in the catching structure 101) through the insertion path 104, returns to the original sewing completion position, and is appropriately held at the holding position in the catching structure 101. Thereafter, the sequence 4 to the sequence 6 are executed, and the wire cutting operation is performed as described above.

[ full Automation of thread embroidery-related actions ]

Next, an example of the full automation processing of the thread embroidery related operation performed by the embroidery sewing machine shown in the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 17. Fig. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the full automation process of the thread embroidery related operation, and is executed by controlling the operations of the respective devices in the embroidery sewing machine shown in the above example in accordance with a command or the like from the control device (the CPU 110, the storage device 111, and the like) included in the electronic control system shown in fig. 15.

Fig. 17(a) shows the entire process flow. In step S1, the sewing control is performed. As a premise for performing the thread sewing control (S1), the thread guide body 20 is attached to the lower end of the lifter 12 corresponding to the needle bar 5 selected for sewing, and the thread C is introduced into the thread guide body 20 through the cylindrical portion 20e, and the tip end portion of the thread C comes out of the guide hole 20b of the thread guide body 20 and hangs down with an appropriate length. When the sewing of the thread material is started first, the thread material C is hung from the guide hole 20b of the thread guide 20 by hand as described above. However, when sewing of the same thread material C is started (restarted) after the thread material C is cut as described above, the leading end portion (the remaining sewing length portion) of the cut thread material C is suspended from the lead-out hole 20b of the thread guide body 20, and therefore, it is not necessary to perform a special manual operation for setting such a precondition state. The thread sewing control performed in step S1 is a control for automatically sewing and fixing the tip end portion of the thread C hanging down from the guide hole 20b of the thread guide 20 to the material W to be sewn as described above.

Fig. 17(b) shows a specific example of the thread sewing control performed in step S1. First, in step S11, the main shaft motor 114 and the motor 13 are controlled to lower the needle 6 and the thread guide 20 at the upper predetermined rest positions, respectively. The lowering control of both is appropriately synchronized so that the lowered sewing needle 6 pierces the portion of the thread material C passing through the guide hole 20b of the thread guide 20 and drops the thread material onto the material W to be sewn. Accordingly, even if the remaining length of the thread material C hanging down from the thread guide 20 (i.e., the length from the position directly below the thread guide 20 to the tip end of the thread material C) is short, the thread material C is stuck by the descending sewing needle 6 and descends together, and therefore, a trouble that the thread material C falls off from the thread guide does not occur during the descent of the thread guide C, and the tip end portion of the thread guide C can be reliably dropped onto the material W to be sewn.

Next, in step S12, the spindle motor 114 and the motor 13 are controlled to cause the sewing needle 6 to perform a plurality of sewing operations while holding the lowered thread guide 20 at the lower limit position, thereby sewing and fixing the portion of the thread material C dropped onto the material W to be sewn to the material W by a plurality of stitches. Therefore, the sewing of the plurality of stitches is performed in a state where the portion of the thread C dropped on the material W to be sewn is firmly held by the thread guide 20, and the portion of the thread C (i.e., the sewn end portion) is reliably sewn and fixed.

Further, since the above-described wire cutting is performed in a state where a certain degree of tension is applied to the wire C, in the wire C made of a material having a contractibility, the length of the wire C in the vicinity of the cut portion becomes considerably short (i.e., returns from the extended state to a normal length) by releasing the tension after the cutting. Therefore, the length (the length left by stitching) from the wire guide 20 to the leading end portion of the cut wire rod C extending downward is shortened. However, even in such a case, according to the above-described stitch-out control according to the present embodiment, since the thread material C is inserted by the lowered stitch 6 and lowered together, the distal end portion of the thread guide body C can be surely dropped onto the material W to be sewn and fixed.

As described above, according to the stitch control of the present embodiment, the stitch end of the thread can be automatically sewn and fixed without requiring manual work, and no stitch error occurs in any thread (particularly, a thread having high shrinkage properties).

Returning to fig. 17A, after step S1, in step S2, the main process, that is, the sewing control of the thread material (thread embroidery control) is performed. That is, in step S2, the X-Y drive of the embroidery frame is performed for each 1 stitch as is well known according to the selected thread sewing pattern (thread embroidery pattern), and the thread sewing operation (thread embroidery operation) is performed in an arbitrary thread sewing pattern (the above-mentioned "seam", "loop seam", or "three-dimensional thread pattern formation", or the like) based on the variable control of the lift stroke of the lift lever 12 according to the present embodiment.

If the series of pattern sewing related to one thread is finished, the flow proceeds from step S2 to step S3. In step S3, the control of the threading operation of the threading hook 16 including the control of the thread guide 20 to the standby position described in the above embodiment and the control of the cutting operation of the threading and the threading of the known thread cutting device are performed.

After step S3, wire cutting control is performed in step S4. As described in the above embodiment, the wire cutting control is to cut the wire material C by the wire cutting device 40 after the sewing of the wire material C is finished. In step S4, for example, wire cutting control is performed according to the above-described procedure 1 to 6.

After the wire cut control is completed, when sewing of another thread material C is started or when sewing of the same thread material C is restarted, the process returns to step S1, and the same processing procedure as described above is repeated. In this way, all the steps of the thread embroidery related operation can be fully automated.

[ modification of cutting Unit ]

Fig. 18 is a perspective view showing a modification of the cutting unit 50, particularly, with parts of the 1 st moving body 70, the 2 nd moving body 80, and the cutting device 90 extracted. Differences between the 1 st moving body 70, the 2 nd moving body 80, and the cutting device 90 shown in the modification of fig. 18 and the 1 st moving body 70, the 2 nd moving body 80, and the cutting device 90 shown in the above embodiment (in particular, fig. 5) and having the same reference numerals are as follows. In fig. 18, first, the compression spring 117 is provided on the guide shaft 76 of the 1 st moving body 70, and the 2 nd moving body 80 is configured to be movable in the front-rear direction along the guide shaft 76 by applying a biasing force in a direction in which the gap between the moving base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80 and the forward fixed end portion of the guide shaft 76 is widened. Next, the front roller (indicated by reference numeral 77a in fig. 18) of the pair of rollers 77 on the 1 st moving body 70 side is disposed at a position displaced forward by an appropriate amount from the arrangement shown in fig. 5. Further, the arrangement of the rear roller of the pair of rollers 77 is not changed, and the arrangement of the pair of rollers 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80 is also not changed. That is, the distance between the front roller (77a) and the rear roller of the pair of rollers 77 is larger than that shown in fig. 5. In the modification of fig. 18, the shape of the holding portion 93c of the movable blade 93 provided in the cutting device 90 is slightly convex compared to the shape of the holding portion 93b of the movable blade 93 shown in fig. 5. The other structures in fig. 18 are the same as those denoted by the same reference numerals in the above-described embodiment (particularly fig. 5) without change.

Next, the operation of the modification shown in fig. 18 will be described. First, the operation when the cutter unit 50 is moved from the retracted position to the cutting preparation position will be described. In the retracted position of the cutter unit 50, the driving piece 66 (see fig. 5 and the like) of the moving body 65 is engaged between the pair of rollers 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80, but only the rear roller of the pair of rollers 77 of the 1 st moving body 70 is in contact with the rear roller. If the driving piece 66 of the moving body 65 moves forward in accordance with the normal rotation of the motor 62 (see fig. 5 and the like) of the driving device 60, the 2 nd moving body 80 moves forward by engagement with the pair of rollers 82 of the 2 nd moving body 80, the moving base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80 acts on the compression spring 117, and accordingly, the forward fixed end portion of the guide shaft 76 moves forward, and as a result, the 1 st moving body 70 moves forward, and the entire cutter unit 50 moves forward.

If the cutter unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, as shown in fig. 8, the cam roller 54 abuts against the curved portion 74b of the cam groove 74, whereby the advance of the 1 st moving body 70 is stopped. On the other hand, even if the cutter unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, the normal rotation of the motor 62 is not immediately stopped, and the 2 nd moving body 80 moves slightly further forward. By further forward movement of the 2 nd moving body 80, the holding portion 93c of the movable blade 93 disposed at the front end of the 2 nd moving body 80 is slightly moved forward. At this time, the movement of the moving base 81 of the 2 nd moving body 80 in the forward direction is absorbed by the compression spring 117, and therefore the 1 st moving body 70 does not move. Therefore, the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91 disposed at the front end of the 1 st moving body 70 does not move, and the holding portion 93c of the movable knife 93 slightly moves forward relative to the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91. As described above, when the cutting unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, the intermediate portion of the wire rod C guided by the wire guide 20 is held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91 of the cutting device 90, and the held intermediate portion of the wire rod C comes between the fixed knife 92 and the movable knife 93 of the cutting device 90. Therefore, in response to the 2 nd moving body 80 at the cutting preparation position moving forward further, the holding portion 93C of the movable knife 93 moves slightly forward relative to the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91, and thereby the insertion opening 102 (fig. 9) of the catching structure 101 is closed by the holding portion 93C of the movable knife 93, and the middle portion of the wire rod C held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101 is surrounded by the holding portion 93C of the movable knife 93. That is, even after the cutter unit 50 reaches the cutting preparation position, the further forward rotation amount of the motor 62 is a small amount to the extent that the holding portion 93c of the movable knife 93 blocks the insertion opening 102 (fig. 9) of the catching structure 101, and the cutting operation is not performed. As a result, the intermediate portion of the wire rod C is reliably held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101, and the wire rod C is not exposed to the outside from the insertion opening 102 (fig. 9). The amount of such a slight movement of the holding portion 93c of the movable knife 93 after reaching the cutting preparation position may be limited by the arrangement of the front roller (77a in fig. 18) of the 1 st pair of rollers 77 on the 1 st moving body 70 side.

Then, the rotation of the motor 62 is stopped, and the driving of the motor 13 is started to lower the lift lever 12. Thereby, the cutter unit 50 is lowered from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position, as in the embodiment. Similarly to the above embodiment, if the cutting unit 50 is lowered to the cutting position, the motor 13 is stopped, the motor 62 of the driving device 60 is rotated in the normal direction by an amount necessary for the cutting operation, and the movable knife (2 nd cutting member) 93 of the cutting device 90 is moved, thereby cutting the wire rod C held at the holding position (space) in the catching structure 101 of the knife rest 91. That is, in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, in the state where the cutter unit 50 has reached the cutting position, the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 82 of the upper 2 nd moving body 80 is maintained, but the engagement between the driving piece 66 and the roller 77 of the lower 1 st moving body 70 is released, and therefore, if the driving piece 66 is advanced by a predetermined distance by the normal rotation of the motor 62, the 1 st moving body 70 is not moved, and only the 2 nd moving body 80 is advanced to cut the wire rod C. As described above, in the process of lowering the cutting unit 50 from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position, since the intermediate portion of the wire rod C is reliably held at the holding position (space) within the catching structure 101 and is not exposed to the outside from the insertion opening 102 (fig. 9), an error that the wire rod C does not exist at the cutting position is not caused, and therefore, an error that the wire rod C is successfully cut is not caused.

[ other modifications ]

In the above embodiment, in order to adjust the height of the cutting unit 50 in accordance with the height (size) of the thread material C sewn on the material to be sewn, the height adjusting device sets a target position in accordance with the height (size) of the thread material C by manual work of an operator or based on data predetermined in a sewing program, and stops the motor 13 at the target position. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other control methods may be employed. For example, after the sewing of the thread material is completed and before the thread cutting is performed, the motor 13 is driven at low power to lower the lift lever 12, the abutment of the thread guide body 20 with the thread material C is detected based on a change in load of the motor 13 when the thread guide body 20 abuts against the thread material C, and the height (size) of the thread material C can be automatically detected (estimated) based on the driving position of the motor 13 at that time read by the sensor. Then, the height (size) of the wire rod C detected (estimated) automatically in this way may be set as a cutting position (target position), and the motor 13 for wire cutting may be controlled. Of course, the method for automatically detecting (estimating) the height (size) of the wire rod C is not limited to the above method, and may be other methods.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the height adjusting means for variably adjusting the height of the cutting unit 50 is constituted by a combination of the elevating member (elevating rod 12) for elevating the wire guide 20 and the motor 13, and shares the means of the wire-stitch braking action. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the height adjusting device may be configured by a lifting member and/or a driving device dedicated to height adjustment. Alternatively, a drive source (for example, the motor 62 or a dedicated drive source) on the side of the wire cutting device 40 may be commonly used as a drive source for adjusting the height of the cutter unit 50.

Similarly, in the above-described embodiment, the combination of the elevating member (elevating lever 12) for elevating and lowering the wire guide 20 and the motor 13 functions as a transfer mechanism for transferring the cutter unit 50 from the preparatory cutting position to the cutting position, and particularly functions as a unit for pressing down the cutter unit 50 from the preparatory cutting position to the cutting position, but the specific configuration of the transfer mechanism is not limited thereto. For example, the cutter unit 50 may be configured to be moved from the cutting preparation position to the cutting position by using a drive source (e.g., the motor 62 or a dedicated drive source) on the side of the wire cutting device 40.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been given of the multi-head sewing machine (multi-head embroidery sewing machine) having the plurality of sewing machine heads 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a sewing machine (single-head embroidery sewing machine) having one sewing machine head 1. In addition, in the above-described embodiment, 1 sewing machine head 1 has a plurality of needle bars 5, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied also to a sewing machine (embroidery sewing machine) in which 1 sewing machine head 1 has one needle bar 5. The present invention is applicable not only to an embroidery sewing machine that sews decorative thread material, but also to a sewing device that performs sewing fixation while supplying a string-like material to a material to be sewn, regardless of the material, such as a sewing machine that performs sewing fixation of hot wires.

In the above embodiment, the thread material accommodating portion (bobbin 27) for accommodating the thread material is disposed on the upper portion of the sewing machine head 1, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be disposed at any place such as the rear of the sewing machine head 1. For example, in the case where the thread storage portion (bobbin 27) is disposed behind the sewing machine head 1, an appropriate supply path may be formed so that the thread drawn out from the thread storage portion passes above the sewing machine head 1 to reach the front surface, and then the thread may be supplied to the front surface of the sewing machine head 1 through a path (a path passing through the tube 31) that passes from above to below. The wire storage section is not limited to the winding form of the bobbin 27, and may store the wire in any other storage form.

Claims (14)

1. An apparatus for supplying a thread material in a sewing machine for sewing the thread material to a material to be sewn, the apparatus comprising:

a thread guide body which is mounted on the lower end of a lifting member capable of moving up and down synchronously with the sewing action of the sewing machine and is used for guiding a thread material to a needle drop position, wherein the thread guide body comprises a cylindrical part extending forwards and a main body part guiding the thread material led in from the front end of the cylindrical part and led out from the rear end of the cylindrical part to the needle drop position; and

and a thread supply system for supplying the thread drawn from the supply source to the front surface of the sewing machine through a path traversing from the upper side to the lower side, and guiding the thread to the front end of the cylindrical portion of the thread guide.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein,

the thread guide body has an opening above the body portion for passing a needle therethrough, a hole for passing the needle and a thread material therethrough is formed in a bottom portion of the body portion, and the thread material led out from the rear end of the cylindrical portion is led out from the hole in the bottom portion of the body portion.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein,

the hole of the main body portion of the wire guide body includes an opening portion having a restriction structure provided near the cylindrical portion and other opening portions.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein,

the opening portion having the restricting structure is constituted by a tip end thin opening portion having a tip end thin shape close to the cylindrical portion.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4,

the thread supply system includes:

a wire storage section that stores a wire; and

a tube extending in the vertical direction on the front surface of the sewing machine head,

the wire drawn out from the wire housing portion is drawn out from the upper end of the tube through the tube to the lower end of the tube, and the wire drawn out from the lower end is introduced to the distal end of the cylindrical portion of the wire guide body.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein,

the thread supply system includes:

a plurality of the wire accommodating portions;

a plurality of the tubes provided corresponding to the plurality of thread accommodating portions and arranged in parallel on the front surface of 1 sewing machine head; and

a guide frame for guiding the wires drawn out from the wire storage parts so that the wires do not interfere with each other when the wires are introduced to the upper ends of the corresponding tubes,

a plurality of thread guides are provided corresponding to the 1 sewing machine head, and thread materials drawn out from the lower ends of the plurality of tubes are respectively introduced to the front ends of the cylindrical portions of the thread guides,

selecting 1 of the plurality of thread guides, moving the selected thread guide up and down in synchronization with the sewing operation of the sewing machine, and guiding the thread material introduced into the selected thread guide to the needle drop position.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 or 6,

the thread material accommodating part is arranged on the upper part of the sewing machine head.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 5 to 7,

the wire supply system further includes a flexible resistance member disposed near an upper end of the tube so as to be in contact with the wire material entering the tube.

9. A sewing machine having:

a sewing machine head which performs a sewing operation; and

the device of any one of claims 1 to 8,

the sewing machine sews the thread material guided to the needle drop position by the thread guide body to the material to be sewn by a sewing operation of the sewing machine head.

10. A thread guide body is mounted on the lower end of a lifting component which can move up and down synchronously with the sewing action of a sewing machine and is used for guiding a thread material to a needle-dropping position,

the wire guide body has:

a main body part which is opened at the upper part for passing the sewing needle and is provided with a hole for passing the sewing needle and the thread material at the bottom part; and

a cylindrical portion extending forward from a side surface of the main body portion,

the wire is introduced from the distal end of the cylindrical portion and is led out from a hole in the bottom of the main body through the cylindrical portion.

11. The wire guide of claim 10,

the hole of the body includes an opening portion having a restriction structure provided near the cylindrical portion and other opening portions.

12. The wire guide of claim 11,

the opening portion having the restricting structure is constituted by a tip end thin opening portion having a tip end thin shape close to the cylindrical portion.

13. A thread guide body is mounted on the lower end of a lifting component which can move up and down synchronously with the sewing action of a sewing machine and is used for guiding a thread material to a needle-dropping position,

the wire guide body has:

a main body part which is opened at the upper part for passing the sewing needle and is provided with a hole for passing the sewing needle and the thread material at the bottom part; and

a supply port provided in a side surface of the main body,

the hole of the main body includes an opening portion having a regulating structure provided near the supply port and other opening portions, and the wire is introduced through the supply port and led out from the hole at the bottom of the main body.

14. The wire guide of claim 13,

the opening portion having the restricting structure is constituted by a tip end thin opening portion having a tip end thin shape near the supply port.

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