JP7108388B2 - Conveying device for sewing material - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sewn article conveying device for conveying a sewn article to be sewn.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been used a cloth conveying device that picks up a top piece of cloth from a mounting table that stocks a plurality of cloths to be sewn in a stacked state, and conveys the cloth to a work table.
This fabric conveying device includes a gripping mechanism having a gripping member and claw members and a conveying mechanism that reciprocates the gripping mechanism between a placing table and a work table in order to pick up the uppermost fabric from the stacked fabrics. It has
During the sewing operation, the gripping mechanism grips the fabric on the mounting table, the conveying mechanism transports the fabric together with the gripping mechanism to the workbench, releases the fabric on the workbench, and supplies the fabric to the sewing machine (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-59-172341

When the fabric stacked on the mounting table is cut from a long state to a predetermined length, the cutting of the fabric may tend to cause curling at the leading end of the fabric.
In the fabric conveying device, when a fabric with a curled tip is conveyed and fed to the sewing machine, the curled part may be pressed from above and sewn in as it is, resulting in defective products and reducing production efficiency due to re-sewing. There was a risk of a decline.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to supply a sewing material while suppressing the curling of the leading edge of the sewing machine.

The present invention provides a sewn material conveying device,
Equipped with a flat workbench on which the material to be sewn is placed,
The workbench is connectable to the sewing machine so as to convey the sewing material to a throat plate of the sewing machine,
a relay mechanism for transporting the sewing material transported to the workbench to a throat plate of the sewing machine;
The relay mechanism includes a pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and a sweeping member that sweeps the front end of the sewing material toward the sewing machine .
The wiping member may move from the rear of the front end of the sewing material to the front of the front end of the sewing material to even out the front end of the sewing material and wipe it toward the sewing machine. .

Further , the wiping member may be configured to advance toward the sewing machine by means of an elastic body.

Further , the wiping member may be configured to advance toward the sewing machine by an actuator.

Further , the wiping member may be configured to apply pressing pressure to the sewing material from above.

Furthermore, a flat placement section capable of stacking a plurality of sewn articles,
a gripping mechanism for gripping the uppermost sewing object on the placing section;
a conveying mechanism for conveying the sewing material gripped by the gripping mechanism to the workbench;
It is good also as a structure provided with.

Furthermore, a configuration may be provided in which a weight mechanism is provided for supplying a weight to the sewing material being fed on the workbench by the sewing machine.

According to the present invention, the relay mechanism of the sewing material conveying device includes the pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and the sweeping member that sweeps the front end of the sewing material toward the sewing machine. Even if curl occurs at the front end of the fabric, it is possible to flatten the curl before supplying it to the sewing machine, and it is possible to reduce the occurrence of defective products and the occurrence of re-sewing.

1 is a perspective view of a fabric conveying device that is an embodiment of the invention; FIG. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the fabric conveying device with the frame removed; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the fabric conveying device with the frame removed, viewed from a direction different from that of FIG. 2; It is a perspective view around a gripping mechanism. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a gripping mechanism; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the gripping mechanism viewed from a direction different from that of FIG. 5; 7A is a side view of the gripping mechanism, FIG. 7A shows the state before gripping, and FIG. 7B shows the state after gripping. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the positional relationship of the configuration around the gripping mechanism; 9A is a side view of the gripping mechanism, FIG. 9A shows the state before gripping, FIG. 9B shows the state after the gripping member is lowered, and FIG. 9C is the state after the gripping member is raised. indicates 10A is a side view of the gripping mechanism, FIG. 10A shows a state after the gripping member is lifted, and FIG. 10B shows a state in which a cover member is inserted under the gripping member. 11A is a side view of the gripping mechanism, in which FIG. 11A shows the state after gripping the fabric and before transport, FIG. 11B shows the state during transport, and FIG. 11C shows the release of the fabric. Indicates status. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the weight mechanism holding the weight; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the weight mechanism holding the weight; It is a perspective view of a relay mechanism. FIG. 11 is another perspective view of the relay mechanism; It is a side view of a relay mechanism. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the material conveying device; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the cloth conveying operation of the cloth conveying device. FIGS. 19(A) to 19(C) are explanatory diagrams showing a part of operations from the placement of the weight of the material conveying device to the supply of the material to the sewing machine. FIGS. 20(A) to 20(C) are explanatory diagrams of operations from the stoppage of the weight of the dough conveying device to the start of supply of the next dough. FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of a relay mechanism; FIG. 22 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 21; FIG. 23 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 22; FIG. 24 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 23; FIG. 25 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 24; FIG. 26 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 25; FIG. 27 is an operation explanatory diagram of the relay mechanism continued from FIG. 26; FIGS. 28(A) to 28(C) show another operation example from the stop of the weight of the dough conveying device to the start of supply of the next dough in place of FIGS. 20(A) to 20(C). It is an explanatory diagram.

[Outline of the embodiment of the present invention]
A sewing system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of sewing system 1000. As shown in FIG.
A sewing system 1000 comprises a sewing machine 1 and a fabric conveying device 10 as a sewing material conveying device.
The cloth conveying device 10 stocks a plurality of cloths C, which are sewn objects to be sewn by a sewing machine or the like, in a stacked state, picks up the cloths C one by one, and conveys them to the sewing machine 1 for performing a predetermined operation. It is for

[sewing machine]
A sewing machine 1 includes a needle bar 3 (see FIG. 16) that holds a sewing needle 2, a needle vertical movement mechanism that vertically moves the needle bar 3, a hook mechanism or a looper mechanism that forms stitches, and a fabric C that is fed by a feed dog. It has a well-known configuration for a sewing machine, such as a feed mechanism that feeds intermittently. A belt supply mechanism 4 (see FIG. 24) that supplies a belt from above is arranged on the upstream side of the material C in the conveying direction with respect to the needle drop position of the sewing needle 2 of the sewing machine 1. sewing to sew the belt. In the drawing of the embodiment, three belts are supplied side by side, and the sewing machine 1 has a total of six sewing needles because the needles are inserted into both sides of each belt for sewing. , the number of belts and sewing needles is not limited.
The belt sewing is just an example, and any type of sewing machine can be used as long as it feeds the fabric C in a fixed straight direction by means of a feeding mechanism.
The sewing machine 1 is arranged at the front end of a workbench 25, which will be described later, and is so high that the fabric C conveyed from the workbench 25 can reach the throat plate of the sewing machine 1 without delay. is adjusted. Strictly speaking, the upper surface of the guide portion 254 (described later) formed on the upper surface of the workbench 25 and the upper surface of the sewing machine bed including the needle plate of the sewing machine 1 are set at the same height.
Further, the feeding direction of the material C by the feeding mechanism of the sewing machine 1 and the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism 40 of the cloth conveying device 10 to be described later match.

[Dough Conveyor]
The cloth conveying device 10 includes a frame 11 that supports the entirety, a platen plate 20 as a flat platen on which a plurality of cloths C can be stacked, and a cloth C positioned at the top on the platen plate 20. a gripping mechanism 70 for gripping, a conveying mechanism 40 for conveying the cloth C gripped by the gripping mechanism 70, a flat work table 25 on which the cloth C conveyed by the conveying mechanism 40 is placed, and a placing plate 20 A pressing mechanism 30 (see FIG. 8) that presses the end of the upper fabric C from above, a cover mechanism 50 that inserts a cover member 51 under the fabric C that is gripped and raised by the gripping mechanism 70, At the end of the workbench 25 on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the material C, a smoothing mechanism 60 that causes the end of the material C on the downstream side in the conveying direction to follow the upper surface of the workbench 25 and the feed dog of the sewing machine 1 on the workbench 25. A weight mechanism 80 that supplies a weight to the material C sent by the transport mechanism 40, a relay mechanism 90 that transports the material C transported to the work table 25 by the transport mechanism 40 to the throat plate of the sewing machine, and a control that controls the operations of each of the above components. device 100 (see FIG. 17).

In the following description, the horizontal direction parallel to the conveying direction of the fabric C is defined as the Y-axis direction, the horizontal direction orthogonal to the Y-axis direction is defined as the X-axis direction, and the vertical direction is defined as the Z-axis direction.
Further, the downstream side in the conveying direction of the material C is "front", the upstream side in the conveying direction is "rear", the left side as seen from the front is "left", and the right side as seen from the front is "right".

[flame]
The frame 11 is constructed by assembling column members having a rectangular cross section into a rectangular parallelepiped shape. The upper portion of the frame 11 is long in the Y-axis direction, and the front side of the frame 11 supports the workbench 25 horizontally and fixedly, and the rear side of the frame 11 supports the mounting plate 20 horizontally and detachably. there is
Further, the rear half of the frame 11 is not provided with a pillar along the X-axis direction, and is open upward, rearward, and downward.
The placing plate 20 is conveyed to the cloth conveying device 10 on a carriage (not shown) in a state in which a plurality of cloths C are stacked in advance. As described above, the frame 11 is open at the upper, rear, and lower halves of the rear half. 11 and only the carriage can be carried out from the rear end of the frame 11.例文帳に追加

[Placement plate]
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are perspective views of the components left after removing only the frame 11 from the material conveying device 10, viewed from different viewpoints.
The mounting plate 20 is composed of a rectangular flat plate, and is supported from below by a support mechanism 21 provided inside the rear portion of the frame 11 with the flat plate surface oriented horizontally.
The support mechanism 21 includes a mounting frame 211 for mounting and supporting the mounting plate 20 from below, support guides 212 for vertically movably supporting the mounting frame 211 , and vertical movement of the mounting frame 211 and the mounting plate 20 . and a ball screw 214 for converting torque of the vertical motion motor 213 into vertical motion.

The mounting frame 211 is formed in a gate shape when viewed from above, and is supported by two support guides 212 along the vertical direction with the opening facing rearward. Thereby, when the loading plate 20 is placed on the carriage and the loading plate 20 is carried in from the rear, interference with the carriage can be avoided.
The mounting frame 211 is provided with four pillars 215 each having a mounting plate at its upper end that contacts the lower surface of the mounting plate 20, and supports the outer edge of the lower surface of the mounting plate 20 from below at four points. be able to. When the mounting plate 20 is carried in, the mounting frame 211 is lowered so that the upper ends of the four pillars 215 are lower than the mounting plate 20. The frame 211 rises to support the mounting plate 20 in an upwardly lifted state, and only the carriage can be carried out of the frame 11. - 特許庁

In addition, when the placing plate 20 is moved up, when the uppermost fabric C of the plurality of stacked fabrics C comes into contact with the pressing member 31 of the pressing mechanism 30 to be described later, the pressing member 31 is equipped with the pressing member 31 . The closed normally closed microswitch 33 (see FIG. 17) detects the contact and becomes an open state, and the vertical movement motor 213 is controlled to stop driving.
The above control is executed not only when setting the platen plate 20 but also when the uppermost fabric C is picked up by the gripping mechanism 70 . As a result, the uppermost fabric C on the platen plate 20 can always maintain a constant height.

[Conveyance Mechanism]
4 is an enlarged perspective view of the gripping mechanism 70 and the conveying mechanism 40. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the transport mechanism 40 includes prismatic support rods 41 along the X-axis direction that support the three gripping mechanisms 70, and a pair of left and right support rods 41 that support the left and right ends of the support rods 41. side plates 42, slide rails 43 that slidably support a support rod 41 and a pair of side plates 42 along the Y-axis direction via slide blocks (not shown) provided at the lower ends of the respective side plates 42, and support rods A transport motor 44 (see FIG. 17) that serves as a driving source for moving the side plates 41 and the pair of side plates 42 in the Y-axis direction, and a timing belt 45 that applies the moving force of the transport motor 44 to the side plates 42 .

The pair of side plates 42 are connected by a long connecting plate 46 along the X-axis direction, and the support rod 41, the pair of side plates 42, and the connecting plate 46 constitute a tower-shaped movable body 47. As shown in FIG.
On the rear surface side of the support rod 41, three gripping mechanisms 70 are fixedly supported in a suspended state so as to be aligned in the X-axis direction.

Timing belts 45 stretched along the Y-axis direction are connected to the lower ends of the pair of side plates 42, respectively. A movable body 47 moves along the Y-axis direction.
An origin sensor 48 that determines the origin position of the gripping mechanism 70 is provided on the moving path of the movable body 47 . The gripping position at which the gripping mechanism 70 grips the fabric C on the platen plate 20 and the release position at which the fabric C is released on the workbench 25 can be obtained from the drive amount of the transport motor 44 from the origin position. The movable body 47 can be stopped at the position of .

[Gripping mechanism]
As described above, three gripping mechanisms 70 are provided in the conveying mechanism 40, but since they have the same configuration, only one of them will be described.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the gripping mechanism 70 as viewed obliquely from above, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the gripping mechanism as viewed obliquely from below.
As shown, the gripping mechanism 70 includes first and second gripping members 71 and 72 for gripping the fabric, and a gripping air cylinder as a driving source for the gripping operation of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72. 73, an elevating mechanism 74 for raising and lowering the first and second gripping members 71 and 72, an adjusting section 75 for adjusting the opening width before gripping of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 is started, and a transport mechanism. The support rod 41 of 40 is provided with the attachment part 76 which attaches the 1st and 2nd holding members 71 and 72 and the raising/lowering mechanism 74. As shown in FIG.

The first gripping member 71, together with the gripping air cylinder 73, is suspended from the lower end of a first support plate 741 of a lifting mechanism 74, which will be described later. supported by a piston.
The second gripping member 72 is arranged on the front side with respect to the first gripping member 71, and the front end surface 711 of the first gripping member 71 and the rear end surface 721 of the second gripping member 72 face each other closely. there is
The bottom surfaces 712 and 722 of the first gripping member 71 and the second gripping member 72 are smooth and supported at the same height. When gripping the cloth C, the bottom surfaces 712, 722 of the first and second gripping members 71, 72 are brought into contact with the top surface of the cloth C, and the first and second gripping members 71, 72 are moved relatively to each other. , and a portion of the cloth C is sandwiched between the front end surface 711 and the rear end surface 721 of each.

Therefore, friction bodies 713 and 723 are provided on the bottom surfaces 712 and 722 of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72, respectively, in order to grip the fabric C well. The friction bodies 713 and 723 may be sheet-like ones having a coefficient of friction larger than that of the smooth bottom surfaces 712 and 722, and examples thereof include rubber sheets, sandpaper, fibers such as cloth, and the like. Also, the bottom surfaces 712 and 722 of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 themselves may be provided with a friction structure for increasing the coefficient of friction, such as knurling or serrated grooves.

The gripping air cylinder 73 is supported by the first support plate 741 with the piston directed forward. When the dough C is not gripped, the piston protrudes forward. It is considered to be in a state of retreating to the side.
As a result, the second gripping member 72 retreats from the first gripping member 71 from the forwardly separated state, and the front end surface 711 of the first gripping member 71 and the rear end surface 721 of the second gripping member 72 are separated from each other. can be switched to a state in which they are in pressure contact with each other.

The adjusting portion 75 abuts on the front end surface of the second gripping member 72 and serves as a stopper for the second gripping member 72 pushed forward by the piston of the gripping air cylinder 73 in the non-gripping state. It defines the width of the opening of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 before gripping starts.
Specifically, the adjustment unit 75 uses a micrometer that does not have a frame and an anvil. The adjustment portion 75 is arranged in front of the second gripping member 72 by the first support plate 741 and is supported with the longitudinally movable spindle 751 facing rearward.
Then, the second gripping member 72 pushed forward by the gripping air cylinder 73 in the non-gripping state is stopped at the position where the distal end of the spindle facing backward comes into contact with the front end surface of the second gripping member 72 . , and defines the opening width before the gripping of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 is started.
Since the adjusting portion 75 is a micrometer, the spindle can be used to arbitrarily adjust the width of the openings of the first and second gripping members in increments of 0.01 [mm] before the start of gripping.

FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) are operation explanatory diagrams of the gripping operation of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 as seen from the right side.
The first gripping member 71 and the second gripping member 72 have friction bodies 713, 723 on their bottom surfaces 712, 722, respectively. An adjusting portion 75 for adjusting the opening width of is also provided.
If the opening width of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 before gripping is started is too wide with respect to the thickness of the fabric C, two or more fabrics C are gripped at the same time during gripping, resulting in double feeding. occur.
On the other hand, if the width of the openings of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 before the start of gripping is narrow relative to the thickness of the fabric C, the bottom surfaces 712 and 722 slip during gripping, resulting in misgripping. easier to do.
Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, friction bodies 713 and 723 are provided on the bottom surfaces 712 and 722 of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 to adjust the opening width before gripping. By making the portion 75 adjustable, it becomes possible to more reliably grip one sheet at a time with a narrow opening width suitable for gripping one sheet of fabric C.

The elevating mechanism 74 includes the above-described first support plate 741 and an elevating air cylinder 742 that elevates the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 rearward and obliquely upward via the first support plate 741. there is
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram seen from the right side showing the relationship between the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 and the surrounding configuration.
When the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 are lowered forward and obliquely downward by the lifting air cylinder 742, the bottom surfaces 712 and 722 of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 come into contact with the uppermost cloth C on the upper surface of the placing plate 20. When the lifting air cylinder 742 lifts the lifting air cylinder 742 upward and rearward, the lifting air cylinder 742 reaches a conveying height at which forward movement is possible without interfering with surrounding components.
The lifting air cylinder 742 is oriented so that the moving direction of the piston is tilted at an angle of about 45 to 60 degrees rearward and upward with respect to the rear in the Y-axis direction. This angle is suitable for peeling off only the uppermost cloth C from the lower cloth C in relation to the pressing member 31 of the pressing mechanism 30, which will be described later.

The mounting portion 76 includes a second support plate 761 that fixedly supports the lifting air cylinder 742 of the lifting mechanism 74 in the posture described above, a mounting rail 762 that is fixed to the rear surface of the support rod 41 of the transport mechanism 40, and a second and a mounting block 763 that mounts the support plate 761 to the mounting rail 762 .
The second support plate 761 supports the lift air cylinder 742 on its flat plate surface at the above-described inclination angle, and a mounting block 763 is fixed to its front end.
The mounting rail 762 is fixed to the support rod 41 along the X-axis direction, and the mounting block 763 is attached to the mounting rail 762 so as to be positionally adjustable along its longitudinal direction. That is, the positions of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 can be adjusted along the X-axis direction via the mounting block 763 . That is, when adjusting the position, an index plunger assembled to the support plate 761 is used, and the positioning holes formed in the mounting plate of the mounting rail 762 are aligned in the same direction as the longitudinal direction of the rail. can be positioned.
Note that the mounting rail 762 is shared by the three gripping mechanisms 70 .

[Pressing mechanism]
9A and 9B are side views showing the gripping operation of the cloth C using the pressing mechanism 30, and the gripping operation proceeds in the order of FIGS. 9A to 9C.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the pressing mechanism 30 includes a pressing member 31 that presses the front end portion of the cloth C stacked on the upper surface of the placing plate 20 from above, and the pressing member 31 is vertically moved with respect to the frame 11 . A support structure (not shown) for movably supporting the pressing member 31, a microswitch 33 (see FIG. 17) as a detection unit for detecting the push-up of the pressing member 31 by the cloth C, and a pressing position of the pressing member 31 on the upper surface of the placing plate 20. and a friction body 32 provided.

The pressing member 31 is a strip-shaped flat plate elongated horizontally and in the X-axis direction, and its front end and rear end are bent vertically downward along the X-axis direction. The pressing member 31 has a width approximately equal to the width of the mounting plate 20 in the X-axis direction.
A protective material 311 for protecting the fabric C such as molding material is attached to the entire width of the lower end portion of the portion bent vertically downward at the rear end portion of the pressing member 31, and the protective material 311 is provided. The lower end portion presses the front end portion of the upper surface of the uppermost cloth C over the entire width in the X-axis direction by the weight of the pressing member 31 .
The support structure of the pressing member 31 supports the pressing member 31 so that it can move up and down while maintaining the pressing member 31 horizontally.

The microswitch 33 outputs an OFF signal when the pressing member 31 reaches a predetermined height or higher.
The friction member 32 may be a planar member having a larger coefficient of friction than the smooth upper surface of the mounting plate 20, and examples thereof include rubber sheets, sandpaper, fibers such as cloth, and the like. Further, the upper surface of the mounting plate 20 itself may be provided with a friction structure for increasing the coefficient of friction, such as knurling or serrated grooves.
The significance of this friction body 32 will be described later together with the significance of the pressing member 31 .

As shown in FIG. 9, the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 grip the uppermost fabric C while the pressing member 31 applies pressure from the front end of the stacked fabrics C. Then, the lifting mechanism 74 lifts it upward and away from the pressing member 31 (rearward).
In that case, the front end of the second cloth C can maintain a fixed position by friction with the third cloth C, resisting the sliding friction with the top cloth C, and the top cloth C The cloth C and the second piece of cloth C are gripped together, and the second piece of cloth C is dragged by sliding friction with the top piece of cloth C and is in a disordered state such as slackness, wrinkles, and rolling up. It is possible to prevent and reduce the occurrence of
In particular, if the lifting mechanism 74 lifts the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 at an angle of inclination of 45 to 60°, the effect of the pressing member 31 can be obtained satisfactorily.

Further, since the friction member 32 is provided at the front end portion of the upper surface of the platen plate 20, when the remaining two cloths C are placed on the platen plate 20, the uppermost piece of cloth C is gripped. As it rises, the second piece of fabric C does not get the frictional force from the fabric C below it to hold it in place, but instead draws a similar or greater frictional force to hold it in place. Since it can be obtained from the body 32, the second piece of cloth C (the last piece of cloth C) is also gripped together with the top piece of cloth C, or the top piece of cloth C is in a disordered state. It is possible to prevent and reduce the occurrence of

[Cover mechanism]
10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the cover mechanism 50. FIG.
The cover mechanism 50 is, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 10, a cover member inserted under the uppermost fabric C gripped and raised by the first and second gripping members 71 and 72. 51, a drive rod 52 along the X-axis direction that holds the rear end of the cover member 51, two slide blocks 53 that individually support the left and right ends of the drive rod 52, and each slide block 53 is mounted on the Y-axis. It has two slide rails 54 that are slidably supported along the direction, and a cover motor 56 (see FIG. 17) as a drive source for reciprocating the drive rod 52 along the slide rails 54 .

The driving rod 52 is somewhat longer than the width of the mounting plate 20 in the X-axis direction, and holds one longitudinal end (rear end) of the cover member 51 .
As shown in FIG. 8, the driving rod 52 is moved from the top surface of the mounting plate 20 by the pair of slide blocks 53 and the pair of slide rails 54 to the bottom surfaces of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 when rising from the top surface of the mounting plate 20 . While maintaining the height between 712 and 722, the distance from a position slightly forward of the front end of the mounting plate 20 (front position) to the position of the rear end of the mounting plate 20 (rear position) It is supported so that it can reciprocate back and forth within a range.
The reciprocating motion is applied to the drive rod 52 via a belt mechanism (not shown) using the cover motor 56 as a drive source.

The cover member 51 is a flexible rectangular sheet material, and one longitudinal end thereof is supported by the drive rod 52 . The cover member 51 is directed forward from the driving rod 52 at the front position, bent downward by a support roller 55 (see FIG. 10) at a position forward of the rear end of the workbench 25, and directed downward. The other end of 51 is suspended downward.
The cover member 51 is longer than the movement length of the front and rear movable range of the driving rod 52, and is horizontally stretched over the entire length of the mounting plate 20 when the driving rod 52 is moved to the rear position. The mounting plate 20 can be covered.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10(A), the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 grip the uppermost cloth C and move up, and as shown in FIG. The cover member 51 can be interposed between the first cloth C and the second and subsequent cloths C remaining on the placing plate 20, and when the next top cloth C is conveyed to the workbench 25 , sliding contact with the second and subsequent cloths C can be prevented, and disturbance of the second and subsequent cloths C due to the sliding contact can be suppressed and reduced.

Further, when the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 grip the uppermost cloth C and move up by the control device 100, the cover motor 56 quickly moves the driving rod 52 from the front position to the rear position. At the same time, the drive rod 52 is moved from the rear position to the front position in synchronization with the start of forward movement of each gripping mechanism 70 by the transport mechanism 40 .
As a result, when each gripping mechanism 70 moves forward, the fabric C moves forward together with the cover member 51 to suppress mutual sliding, so that it is possible to reduce disturbance of the fabric C due to sliding. . In addition, since the cover member 51 is quickly retracted from above the stacked fabrics C, the next gripping operation can be quickly performed.
When the driving rod 52 is moved from the rear position to the front position, the cover member 51 returns to the suspended state via the support rollers 55 .

[Workbench]
11(A) to 11(C) are operation explanatory diagrams showing the transport operation when the fabric C is transported to the workbench 25. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 11, the workbench 25 is composed of a rectangular flat plate, and is fixedly supported on the front upper portion of the frame 11 with the flat plate surface facing horizontally. The height of the upper surface of the workbench 25 matches the height at which the supporting mechanism 21 of the loading plate 20 maintains the uppermost fabric C on the loading plate 20 constant.

An opening 252 is formed as a drop portion on the rear side of the rear end portion 251 of the workbench 25 . This opening 252 is precisely the gap between the rear end portion 251 of the workbench 25 and the portion where the cover member 51 of the cover mechanism 50 is bent downward by the support rollers 55 .
As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, when the fabric C is transported from the placing plate 20 to the workbench 25, if the transport speed is high, the trailing edge of the fabric C may be exposed to the air. The resistance may cause the sheet to roll up or bend due to disturbance. In that case, the rear end portion of the dough C is passed over the opening 252 and temporarily suspended from the rear end portion 251 of the workbench 25, and is slid at the corner of the rear end portion 251, whereby the dough C is The trailing edge can be restored from a disordered state to a flat, normal state.
It is desirable that the corner portion where the rear end portion 251 of the workbench 25 slides has an arcuate cross-section as shown in FIG. 11(B).

An opening 253 is also formed in the vicinity of the front end of the work table 25 over the entire width in the X-axis direction. The opening 253 is equipped with an extension plate 61 of a smoothing mechanism 60 to be described later in such a manner that the opening 253 can be opened and closed.
A guide portion 254 for guiding the movement of the weight 81 of the weight mechanism 80 described later is provided over the entire length in the Y-axis direction at the center portion in the X-axis direction of the upper surface of the workbench 25 .
This guide portion 254 is a rather wide rail along the Y-axis direction, and its upper surface is smooth and horizontal.
Further, the guide portion 254 is partially cut off by the opening 253 described above, but a ridge having the same width as the guide portion 254 is formed at the center of the extension plate 61 closing the opening 253 in the X-axis direction. An auxiliary guide portion 611 is formed. When the extension plate 61 closes the opening 253, the smooth top surface of the auxiliary guide portion 611 is horizontal, and the top surface of the auxiliary guide portion 611 and the top surface of the guide portion 254 are flush with each other. Also, the arrangement of the auxiliary guide portion 611 in the X-axis direction matches that of the guide portion 254 . As a result, the auxiliary guide portion 611 can completely complement the divided portion of the guide portion 254 and function to guide the movement of the weight 81 together with the guide portion 254 .

[Smoothing mechanism]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 11, the smoothing mechanism 60 includes an extension plate 61 rotatably connected to the front end of the workbench 25 around the X axis, and a drive source for rotating the extension plate 61. and a rotating air cylinder 62 (see FIG. 17).

The extension plate 61 is a flat plate elongated in the X-axis direction, and the length in the X-axis direction is approximately equal to the width of the workbench 25 in the X-axis direction. The rear end of the extension plate 61 is rotatably connected to the workbench 25 by a plurality of hinges.
When the extension plate 61 is turned horizontally, its upper surface becomes flush with the upper surface of the workbench 25 (in a horizontal state), and from this state the front end portion can be rotated downward (in a hanging state). do).
The rotating air cylinder 62 can rotate the extension plate 61 to switch between the horizontal state and the hanging state.

As shown in FIGS. 11(B) to 11(C), the cloth C is conveyed while being gripped by the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 at positions near the front end. The portion on the front side is in a state of hanging downward during transportation. Therefore, when the fabric C is conveyed to the target position, the gripped states of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 are released, and the fabric C is released, the hanging portion of the fabric C on the front side of the grip position is the fabric C. Crawl downwards or bend.
For this reason, when the material C is conveyed, the extension plate 61 is set in a hanging state in advance, and the material C is removed from the gripping state at a position in front of the front end of the workbench 25, preferably in the vicinity of the front end. release.
As a result, the part of the cloth C that is hanging down from the gripping position to the front side is in a state along the extension plate 61 in the hanging state, as shown in FIG. 11(C). In this state, by controlling the rotation air cylinder 62 so that the extension plate 61 rotates from the hanging state to the horizontal state, the front end of the cloth C does not slip into or bend, and the cloth C is placed flat. can be

[Plummet mechanism]
12 is a perspective view of the weight mechanism 80, and FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the weight mechanism 80. As shown in FIG.
The weight mechanism 80 is provided at the central portion in the X-axis direction on the front surface of the connecting plate 46 of the transport mechanism 40 that transports the gripping mechanism 70 .
The weight mechanism 80 includes a detachable weight 81 and an attachment/detachment mechanism 82 for the weight 81. The attachment/detachment mechanism 82 includes a support member 83 that supports the weight 81, and a drive source that gives the support member 83 an up-and-down motion. An air cylinder 84 for weight attachment/detachment is provided.

The weight 81 includes a weight main body 811, a connecting portion 812 provided at the rear end of the weight main body 811 for the attaching/detaching mechanism 82, and position regulating plates 813 and 814 provided at both left and right ends of the weight main body 811. there is

The weight main body 811 is a flat plate made of metal or resin having a wide opening in the center and having an appropriate weight, and has a rectangular shape elongated in the Y-axis direction in a plan view. The width of the weight body 811 in the X-axis direction is set slightly wider than the guide portion 254 of the work table 25 described above.
The position regulating plates 813 and 814 provided at the left and right ends of the weight body 811 are elongated plates that are long in the Y-axis direction and narrow in the Z-axis direction, and their lower ends are slightly wider than the lower surface of the weight body 811. protrudes downward to the
Thus, when the weight 81 is placed in the center of the workbench 25 on which the material C is placed, the guide portion 254 is fitted between the left and right position regulating plates 813 and 814, and the material conveyed along the Y-axis direction. C can be moved straight along the guide portion 254 .

A connecting portion 812 of the weight 81 is provided at the rear end portion of the weight body 811 so as to stand upward. ing. A left and right pair of pressing plates 817 extending forward are provided at the upper end of the connecting portion 812 . The front ends of these pressing plates 817 are bent upward at a right angle, and a smooth portion along the XZ plane is formed at the front ends.

The weight 81 has a weight main body 811 on the front side and a connecting portion 812 on the rear side, and the weight main body 811 occupies most of the length in the Y-axis direction. The weight main body 811 and the position regulating plates 813 and 814 are both sufficiently thin in the Z-axis direction compared to the connecting portion 812 .
Therefore, most of the weight 81 except for the connecting portion 812 can enter from behind the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 to the lower side thereof (see FIG. 16).

The support member 83 includes a rear plate 834 fixed to the piston rod of the weight attaching/detaching air cylinder 84, a pair of left and right support arms 831 and 832 extending forward from the lower end of the rear plate 834, and a pair of support arms. and a contact portion 835 provided between arms 831 and 832 .

Each of the support arms 831 and 832 has protrusions 836 and 837 projecting upward from the upper front ends thereof. The support arms 831 and 832 are recessed relatively downward on the rear side of the protrusions 836 and 837, and the recessed portions scoop up the engaged arms 815 and 816 of the weight 81 from below. can be locked.

The abutting portion 835 extends forward between the support arms 831 at the lower end of the front side of the back plate 834, and its front end is bent downward to form a flat surface along the XZ plane. have.

As described above, since the support member 83 is fixed to the piston rod of the air cylinder 84 for attaching/detaching the weight, it can be switched between the lower position and the upper position by operating the air cylinder 84 for attaching/detaching the weight. At the lower position, the upper ends of the protrusions 836 and 837 of the support arms 831 and 832 are set lower than the engaged arms 815 and 816 of the weight 81 . Therefore, each of the support arms 831 and 832 can be inserted below the locked arms 815 and 816 from behind the connecting portion 812 of the weight 81 . Then, when the support member 83 is pushed up to the upper position by the operation of the air cylinder 84 for attaching/detaching the weight from this state, the locked arms 815 and 816 are moved by the recesses on the rear side of the protrusions 836 and 837 of the support arms 831 and 832. , the weight 81 can be lifted upward.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 13, since the weight main body 811 is provided on the front side of the support member 83, the center of gravity of the weight 81 is positioned considerably forward of the support member 83, and the weight 81 is positioned by the support member 83. When the weight body 811 side is pulled up, a moment acts in the direction in which the weight body 811 side is lowered.
However, since the contact portion 835 is provided between the support arms 831 and 832 of the support member 83, the rear end surface of the connecting portion 812 of the weight 81 contacts the contact portion 835, and the weight body 811 side hangs down. It is lifted up without any difficulty and locked to the support member 83 while maintaining the horizontal state.

[Relay mechanism]
FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the relay mechanism 90 viewed obliquely from the upper right, FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the relay mechanism 90 viewed obliquely from the lower right, and FIG. 16 is a right side view.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 14 to 16, the relay mechanism 90 is arranged above the workbench 25 and near the front end thereof. The relay mechanism 90 includes a pressing member 91 that presses the fabric C transported to a predetermined position on the workbench 25 by the transport mechanism 40 from above, and a pressing member 91 that serves as a driving source for an up-and-down operation for switching between pressing and releasing the pressing member 91 . an air cylinder 921, a relay frame 93 that supports the pressing member 91, slide rails 43 that support both left and right ends of the relay frame 93 so as to be slidable along the Y-axis direction, and movement of the relay frame 93 in the Y-axis direction. A relay motor 941 that serves as a drive source and a timing belt 942 that imparts a moving force from the relay motor 941 to the relay frame 93 are provided.

Further, the relay mechanism 90 includes an elevating bracket 95 that is supported by the intermediary frame 93 so as to be able to move up and down, a wiper member 96 that is supported so as to move back and forth along the Y-axis with respect to the elevating bracket 95 , and the elevating bracket 95 . An air cylinder 922 for raising and lowering the wiping member and an air cylinder 923 for advancing the wiping member 96 for moving the wiping member 96 forward are provided.
Although the slide rail 43 is shared with the transport mechanism 40, it may be provided independently.

The relay frame 93 includes a support plate 931 extending in the left-right direction and supporting the pressing member 91 above the workbench 25 , a pair of left and right side plates 932 extending downward from both ends of the support plate 931 , and the support plate 931 . and a support bracket 933 provided in the center of the front face of the .
The support plate 931 is a flat plate parallel to the XZ plane and elongated in the X-axis direction. In addition, the support plate 931 is arranged so that its lower end is spaced upward from the upper surface of the workbench 25 over its entire length.

The relay frame 93 has a function of conveying the fabric C pressed by the pressing member 91 to the sewing machine 1 positioned in front, and can be positioned at any position in the Y-axis direction.
Since the support plate 931 of the relay frame 93 is sufficiently spaced from the upper surface of the work table 25, all components supported by the support plate 931 can be separated from the upper surface of the work table 25. Thus, as shown in FIG. 16, the weight body 811 of the weight 81 described above can be moved under the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 .
At this time, the rear surface of the support plate 931 comes into contact with the front surface of the pressing plate 817 of the weight 81, and can be used as a stopper to stop the weight 81 when moving forward.

Timing belts 942 stretched along the Y-axis direction are connected to the lower ends of a pair of side plates 932 provided at both ends of the support plate 931, and torque is applied from a relay motor 941 to the belts. The timing belt 942 is conveyed by the pulleys, and the relay frame 93 moves along the Y-axis direction.
An origin sensor 943 (see FIG. 17) that determines the origin position of the relay frame 93 is provided on the moving path of the relay frame 93 . The receiving position where the intermediate frame 93 receives the material C released from the gripping mechanism 70 and the supply position where the material C is supplied to the needle drop position of the sewing machine 1 are determined by the driving amount of the intermediate motor 941 from the origin position indicated by the origin sensor 943. The control device 100 can perform control to stop the relay frame 93 at each position.

The support bracket 933 is U-shaped in a plan view, and is fixed to the center of the front surface of the support plate 931 with the U-shaped opening facing rearward.
The support bracket 933 has an air cylinder 922 for raising and lowering the wiping member on its front surface, and supports the raising and lowering bracket 95 via the air cylinder 922 for raising and lowering the wiping member so as to be able to move up and down.
A cloth edge sensor 934 for detecting the edge of the cloth C on the workbench 25 is provided on the rear surface of the front end portion of the support bracket 933 .

A presser air cylinder 921 is provided inside the support bracket 933 at the center of the front surface of the support plate 931 , and the presser member 91 is vertically movably supported via the presser air cylinder 921 .
The pressing air cylinder 921 is attached to the support plate 931 so that the piston rod advances along the Z-axis direction, and the pressing member 91 is fixed to the piston rod.

The pressing member 91 has an upright portion 911 along the XZ plane fixed to the piston rod of the pressing air cylinder 921, and four forwardly extending portions are attached to the lower end of the upright portion 911. Holding plates 912 to 915 are provided.
Each of the pressing plates 912 to 915 is a long plate extending in the Y-axis direction. The material C is conveyed forward. As described above, each of the pressing plates 912 to 915 has a function of contacting and conveying the cloth C, so that the bottom surface thereof may be provided with a friction member made of fibers such as a rubber sheet, sandpaper, cloth, or the like, or may be knurled or saw-toothed. A friction structure such as a groove may be applied.
The holding plates 912 to 915 are arranged side by side in the X-axis direction. It is wider and extends further forward.

The wiping member lifting air cylinder 922 is attached to the front surface of the support bracket 933 so that the piston rod advances along the Z-axis direction, and the lifting bracket 95 is fixed to the piston rod.

When the fabric C is conveyed to the sewing machine 1, the front end of the lifting bracket 95 approaches the needle drop position of the sewing machine 1. Therefore, the bottom plate portion 951 of the lifting bracket 95 has a large cutout at the center of the front end. ing.
A slide plate 953 is slidably supported along the Y-axis direction via slide rails 952 on the lower surface side of the bottom plate portion 951 of the elevating bracket 95 .
A tension spring 954 as an elastic body is provided between the slide plate 953 and the bottom plate portion 951 so that the slide plate 953 is constantly urged forward with tension relative to the lifting bracket 95 .

A wiping member 96 is suspended from the lower surface of the slide plate 953 via a support shaft 955 extending in the Z-axis direction and a coil spring 956 as an elastic body. The wiping member 96 can move up and down along the spindle 955 while being pressed downward by the coil spring 956 .
When the elevating bracket 95 moves down with respect to the support bracket 933 , the wiping member 96 also moves down via the slide plate 953 . The wiping member 96 is gently pressed against the fabric C on the workbench 25 by the spring pressure of the support shaft 955 and the coil spring 956 .

The wiping member advancing air cylinder 923 is mounted on the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 951 of the lifting bracket 95 so that the piston rod moves forward and backward along the Z-axis direction. When the piston rod of the wiping member advancing air cylinder 923 advances downward, it passes through the bottom plate portion 951 and its tip is inserted into a stop hole (not shown) of the slide plate 953 provided on the lower side thereof. are placed in

The slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 supported thereon are slidably supported by the slide rail 952 along the Y-axis direction and urged to move forward by the tension spring 954, as described above.
Assuming that the front end of the sliding range of the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 is the "most forward position" and the rear end of the sliding range is the "most retracted position", the wiper can be wiped with the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 positioned at the most retracted position. The wiping member advancing air cylinder 923 is arranged such that the tip of the piston rod of the member advancing air cylinder 923 is inserted into the stop hole of the slide plate 953 .
Therefore, from the state in which the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 are held at the most retracted position against the tension spring 954 and the piston rod of the wiping member advancing air cylinder 923 is protruded and inserted into the stop hole of the slide plate 953, When the piston rod is retracted, the slide plate 953 and the wiper member 96 can be moved forward to the most advanced position by the tension spring 954 .

The power of the relay motor 941 is used to return the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 to the most retracted position and hold the wiping member advancing air cylinder 923 at the most retracted position.
That is, when the relay motor 941 moves the entire relay frame 93 forward to the sewing machine 1, the wiper member 96 comes into contact with a stopper (not shown) provided on the sewing machine 1. Further, when the relay motor 941 continues to be driven, the slide plate 953 and wiping member 96 are pushed back against tension spring 954 . Therefore, after the relay motor 941 is driven in the forward direction until the slide plate 953 and the wiper member 96 are pushed back to the most retracted position, the piston rod of the wiper advance air cylinder 923 is protruded to move the slide plate 953 and the wiper member 96 back. Member 96 can be held in the most retracted position.

The wiping member 96 is arranged between the two pressing plates 912 and 913 arranged on the left and right sides as viewed from above.
The wiping member 96 includes a flat body portion 961 and position regulating plates 962 and 963 provided at both left and right end portions of the body portion 961 .

The body portion 961 has a wedge shape with a downward slope at the front end and a thickness that gradually decreases. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 16, when the relay frame 93 moves forward most, the front end approaches the needle drop position of the sewing needle 2 of the sewing machine 1. Therefore, in order to avoid interference with the sewing needle, three Two notches are formed, forming a comb-like shape.
Further, when the elevating bracket 95 is lowered and the slide plate 953 and the wiper member 96 are at the most retracted position, the main body portion 961 is designed so as not to interfere with the front ends of the two inner holding plates 914 and 915. Two rectangular cutouts are formed in the rear end.

The width of the body portion 961 in the X-axis direction is set slightly wider than the guide portion 254 of the workbench 25 described above.
The position regulating plates 962 and 963 provided at the left and right end portions of the main body portion 961 are long plates that are long in the Y-axis direction and narrow in the Z-axis direction. protrudes downward to the
As a result, when the elevating bracket 95 is lowered and the wiping member 96 is placed in the center of the workbench 25 on which the cloth C is placed, the guide portion 254 is fitted between the left and right position regulating plates 962 and 963, thereby Together with C, it can be moved straight along the Y-axis direction.

Further, when the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 are at the most advanced position, the front end of the wiping member 96 is located in front of the front ends of the two holding plates 912, 913 arranged on both left and right sides, When the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 are at the most retracted position, they are set to be positioned behind the front ends of the two pressing plates 912 and 913 arranged on both left and right sides.

With the above configuration, the wiping member 96 descends at the most retracted position while the pressing member 91 presses the fabric C from above, and then moves forward to the most advanced position, causing the front end of the fabric C to curl upward. When a wedge-shaped tip of the scraping member 96 pushes back the curled portion of the leading edge of the fabric C to level it out.
When the fabric C is pressed down so that the front ends of the two pressing plates 912 and 913 and the front end of the fabric C are aligned, the wiping member 96 protrudes forward from the front end of the fabric C. As described above, the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 are slidable and elastically supported by the tension spring 954, so that when they are transported to the sewing machine 1, they are pushed back by the stopper on the sewing machine 1 side.
In the process of pushing back the front end of the wiping member 96, the front end of the cloth C is pressed from above by the cloth presser 5 (see FIG. 16) of the sewing machine 1, so that the sewing machine 1 does not curl again. It can be supplied to and sewn well.
Further, since the front end of the wiper member 96 is retracted from the front end of the material C during sewing, the sewing work is not affected.

[Fabric conveying device: control system]
FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the control system of the material conveying device 10. As shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the controller 100 of the fabric conveying device 10 includes a vertical movement motor 213 of the support mechanism 21, a conveying motor 44 of the conveying mechanism 40, a cover motor 56 of the cover mechanism 50, and a relay motor 941 of the relay mechanism 90. , are connected via respective drive circuits 213a, 44a, 56a and 941a.
The control device 100 also includes an electromagnetic valve 62a for operating the turning air cylinder 62 of the smoothing mechanism 60, an electromagnetic valve 73a for operating the gripping air cylinder 73 of the gripping mechanism 70, and an elevation air cylinder 742 for the elevation mechanism 74. The solenoid valve 742a to operate, the solenoid valve 84a to operate the air cylinder 84 for attaching and detaching the weight of the weight mechanism 80, the solenoid valve 921a to operate the pressing air cylinder 921 of the relay mechanism 90, and the air cylinder 922 for raising and lowering the wiping member. A valve 922a and an electromagnetic valve 923a for operating an air cylinder 923 for advancing the wiping member are connected via respective drive circuits 62b, 73b, 742b, 84b, 921b, 922b, 923b.
Although three gripping mechanisms 70 are provided, only one of the gripping air cylinder 73 and the lift air cylinder 742 is shown in FIG. 12, and the rest are omitted. On the other hand, there is only one solenoid valve 73a and its drive circuit 73b for operating the three gripping air cylinders 73, and the three air cylinders are operated simultaneously in common.
Also, there is only one solenoid valve 742a and its drive circuit 742b for operating the lifting air cylinder 742, and the three air cylinders are commonly operated at the same time.

Further, the control device 100 includes the microswitch 33 of the pressing mechanism 30, the origin sensor 48 of the conveying mechanism 40, the cloth edge sensor 934 and the origin sensor 943 of the relay mechanism 90 via respective interfaces 33a, 48a, 934a and 943a. connected.
As will be described later, the movable body 47 of the conveying mechanism 40 is provided with a cloth edge sensor 49 for detecting the trailing edge of the cloth C on the workbench 25 behind the weight mechanism 80. The cloth edge sensor 49 is also connected to the controller 100 via an interface 49a.
The control device 100 also includes a communication unit (not shown) that communicates with the control device of the sewing machine 1, and can coordinate the operation of conveying the material C and the start/end of sewing, and can transmit and receive necessary information. can.
The control device 100 includes a CPU 101 that performs predetermined control on the motors 213, 44, 56, 941 and the air cylinders 62, 73, 742, 84, 921, 922, 923, and a control unit that executes the control. and a memory 102 in which programs and setting data are written.

[Operation control of fabric conveying device]
18, operation explanatory diagrams of FIGS. 7 to 11, and operation explanatory diagrams of FIGS. 21 to 27 for explaining the operation of the relay mechanism 90. FIG. 19(A) to 20(C) show only the operation from placement of the weight 81 to recovery.
Although the throat plate of the sewing machine 1 is not shown in FIGS. 21 to 27 for explaining the operation of the relay mechanism 90, the throat plate is located below the presser foot 5. As shown in FIG.

First, when the placing plate 20 on which a plurality of fabrics C are placed in a stacked state is carried into the rear part of the frame 11 by a carriage, the CPU 101 of the control device 100 controls the vertical movement motor 213 to The plate 20 is raised (step S1).
Then, when the platen plate 20 reaches a certain height, the microswitch 33 provided on the pressing member 31 is turned off, and the CPU 101 stops the vertical movement motor 213 to move the uppermost cloth C to a certain height. The target height is maintained (step S3).

Next, the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 742a of the lifting air cylinder 742 to lower the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 waiting above the gripping position (step S5: FIG. 7A )), the electromagnetic valve 73a of the gripping air cylinder 73 is controlled to grip the uppermost cloth C (step S7: FIG. 7(B)).

Furthermore, after the CPU 101 controls the electromagnetic valve 742a of the lifting air cylinder 742 to raise the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 (step S9: FIGS. 8 and 9), the cover motor 56 to move the drive rod 52 of the cover mechanism 50 from the front position to the rear position (step S11: FIGS. 10(A) and 10(B)). As a result, the cover member 51 is interposed between the uppermost cloth C picked up and the remaining second and subsequent cloths C.例文帳に追加
Incidentally, immediately after the uppermost cloth C is picked up, the second cloth C is raised and adjusted to the uppermost height.

Then, the CPU 101 controls the transport motor 44 to start forward movement of the first and second gripping members 71 and 72 (step S13), and simultaneously controls the cover motor 56 to move the drive rod 52. It is moved from the rear position to the front position (step S15). As a result, the cover member 51 is conveyed forward so as to follow the cloth C being conveyed, and is returned to the retracted state (hanging state).

Then, when reaching the stop position is detected by the drive amount of the transport motor 44 from the origin position indicated by the origin sensor 48, the CPU 101 controls the transport motor 44 to move the first and second gripping members 71 and 72. stops its forward movement (step S17). At this time, the rear end portion of the material C conveyed just before the stop falls into the opening 252 behind the rear end portion of the work table 25, and the corner portion of the rear end portion 251 of the work table 25 slides. , the disturbance of the trailing edge of the fabric C is corrected (FIG. 11(B)).

Next, the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 73a of the gripping air cylinder 73 to release the gripped state of the fabric C (step S19). As a result, the cloth C is placed on the workbench 25, and the front end of the cloth C hangs down along the hanging extension plate 61. As shown in FIG.
Further, the CPU 101 controls the electromagnetic valve 62a of the rotating air cylinder 62 to rotate the extension plate 61 horizontally (step S21: FIG. 11(C)). As a result, the front end portion of the cloth C becomes horizontal, and the entire cloth C is corrected to a horizontal and flat state.

Then, the movable body 47 of the transport mechanism 40 starts to move backward toward the gripping position of the placing plate 20, and the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 also moves backward toward the receiving position for receiving the transported cloth C. (Step S23, FIG. 19A).
When the first fabric C is transported, the weight mechanism 80 supported by the movable body 47 holds the weight 81 from the beginning.

When the cloth end sensor 49 detects the trailing edge of the conveyed cloth C while the movable body 47 is moving backward, the CPU 101 controls the electromagnetic valve 84a of the air cylinder 84 for attaching/detaching the weight to remove the cloth C. A weight 81 is arranged on the rear end (step S25, FIG. 19(B)). At this time, the guide portion 254 is fitted between the position regulating plates 813 and 814 of the weight 81 .
When the relay mechanism 90 recognizes that the relay frame 93 has reached the receiving position by detecting the front end of the cloth C by the cloth edge sensor 934, the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 921a of the presser air cylinder 921 to The pressing member 91 is lowered to hold the front end of the fabric C (step S27: FIG. 21).

Next, the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 922a of the wiping member lifting air cylinder 922 to lower the lifting bracket 95 (FIG. 22).
As a result, the wiping member 96 also descends, and the front end of the wiping member 96 lands at a position slightly behind the front end of the material C on the workbench 25 . At this time, the guide portion 254 is fitted between the position regulating plates 962 and 963 of the wiping member 96 with the material C interposed therebetween.

When the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 923a of the air cylinder 923 for advancing the wiping member to retract the cylinder rod and pull it out of the stop hole of the slide plate 953, the slide plate 953 and the wiping member 96 are moved forward by the tension spring 954. (Step S29: FIG. 23).
As a result, the front end of the wiping member 96 can flatten the curled portion of the front end of the fabric C. As shown in FIG.

Further, the CPU 101 controls the relay motor 941 to move the relay frame 93 forward, thereby conveying the sewing start position of the material C forward toward the sewing machine 1 (step S31, FIGS. 19(C) and 24). .
Along with this forward movement, the front end of the wiping member 96 comes into contact with a stopper (not shown) provided on the sewing machine 1 side, and moves backward with the slide plate 953 with respect to the lifting bracket 95 .
When it is recognized from the amount of forward movement of the relay frame 93 that the wiping member 96 and the slide plate 953 have been pushed back to the most retracted position, the CPU 101 controls the solenoid valve 923a of the wiping member advancing air cylinder 923. and insert the cylinder rod into the stop hole of the slide plate 953 .
As a result, the wiping member 96 and the slide plate 953 are held at the most retracted position (FIG. 25).
The front end of the fabric C is flattened and inserted under the presser foot 5 of the sewing machine 1 .

Next, the CPU 101 controls the electromagnetic valve 921a of the pressing air cylinder 921 to raise the pressing member 91 (step S33, FIG. 26).
Since the elevating bracket 95 is maintained in the lowered state, the wiping member 96 presses the cloth C with a constant pressing force.
After that, the fabric C is fed forward by the feed dog of the sewing machine 1, and the fabric C is conveyed straight along the guide portion 254 by the wiping member 96 and the weight 81 while sewing is being performed. be done.

During sewing by the sewing machine 1 , the relay frame 93 is on standby at the position where the fabric C is supplied to the sewing machine 1 . On the other hand, when the rear end of the material C approaches the sewing machine 1, the weight body 811 of the weight 81 enters the lower side of the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90, and the pressing plate 817 pushes the rear surface of the support plate 931 of the relay frame 93. and stops moving (see FIGS. 20(A) and 16).
As a result, only the fabric C moves forward.

Then, when the trailing edge of the cloth C is detected by the cloth edge sensor 934 (step S35), the CPU 101 executes the control of steps S5 to S21 for the next cloth C to newly supply it to the workbench 25 ( step S37).
Further, the movable body 47 and the gripping mechanism 70 that have finished conveying the next cloth C are advanced to the rear side of the relay frame 93, and the weight 81 is recovered by operating the air cylinder 84 for attaching and detaching the weight (step S39). : FIG. 20(B)).

On the other hand, after the trailing edge of the fabric C is detected by the fabric edge sensor 934, the CPU 101 acquires information on the number of stitches from the sewing machine 1, and determines the needle drop position of the trailing edge of the fabric C based on the number of stitches and the sewing pitch. When the end of sewing of the fabric C is recognized, the air cylinder 922 for raising and lowering the wiping member is controlled to raise the raising and lowering bracket 95 (step S41: FIG. 27).
After that, the process returns to step S23, and the conveying and sewing are executed for the second and subsequent fabrics C as well.

[Effects of Embodiment]
In the fabric conveying device 10 of the sewing system 1000 , the weight body 811 of the weight 81 of the weight mechanism 80 can enter below the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 .
Therefore, when the fabric C is transported, the weight 81 can be transported further forward (to the sewing machine side) with respect to the standby position of the relay frame 93, and the space behind the relay frame 93 on the workbench 25 can be widened. , and the next cloth C can be quickly supplied to the workbench 25 after the weight 81 is moved.
Therefore, it is possible to continuously and efficiently supply the fabric C to the sewing machine 1 and speed up the continuous sewing operation.
Further, since the weight 81 is placed on the rear end portion of the cloth C while the cloth C is passing under the relay frame 93, the cloth C can be stably and straightly conveyed to the rear end portion. It becomes possible.

Further, in the fabric conveying device 10 , the control device 100 causes the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 to convey the fabric C to the sewing machine 1 until the weight body 811 of the weight 81 enters the lower side of the relay frame 93 . Since the relay mechanism 90 is controlled so that the relay frame 93 does not return to the upstream side in the conveying direction of the fabric C and waits, the forward movement of the weight 81 is not hindered during sewing, and the relay frame 93 on the workbench 25 is rearward. space can be vacated quickly.
Therefore, the fabric C can be supplied to the sewing machine 1 more continuously and efficiently, and the speed of the continuous sewing operation can be further increased.

Further, in the fabric conveying device 10, the relay mechanism 90 includes a pressing member 91 that presses the fabric C from above during transportation, and a wiping member 96 that sweeps the front end of the fabric C toward the sewing machine 1 side.
Therefore, even if the front end of the fabric C is curled, it can be flattened before being supplied to the sewing machine 1, thereby reducing the occurrence of defective products and the occurrence of re-sewing. becomes.

Further, since the wiping member 96 is urged to move forward toward the sewing machine 1 by the tension spring 954, the wiping member 96 moves backward when it comes into contact with the stopper on the sewing machine 1 side when the intermediate frame 93 moves forward. can be made Therefore, the wiping member 96 can be brought as close as possible to the sewing machine 1 side, and the front end portion of the cloth C can be passed to the sewing machine 1 side while keeping the curl of the front end portion flat.
Therefore, it is possible to more effectively reduce the occurrence of defective products due to sewing by the sewing machine 1 and the occurrence of re-sewing.

In addition, since the wiping member 96 is configured to apply pressing pressure to the cloth C from above by means of the coil spring 956, the cloth C is conveyed straight after flattening the curl of the front end portion of the cloth C. It is possible to obtain the effect of stably maintaining the

[others]
In the fabric conveying device 10, after the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 conveys the cloth C to the throat plate of the sewing machine 1, the weight body 811 of the weight 81 enters the lower side of the relay frame 93. Although exemplified, it is not limited to this.
For example, as shown in FIG. 28, the control device 100 causes the relay frame 93 of the relay mechanism 90 to move backward when the material C is conveyed to the needle plate of the sewing machine 1 (FIG. 28A), and the relay frame 93 moves to the position shown in FIG. The weight 81 is made to wait at a predetermined collection position of the weight 81 which is upstream in the conveying direction from the case of A).
Then, when the weight 81 comes into contact with the relay frame 93 and the cloth C is pulled out from under the weight 81, the pressing member 91 is lowered to hold the rear end of the cloth C, and after that, the relay frame 93 moves the cloth C. may be controlled to convey (FIG. 28(B)).
In this case also, it is possible to stably and straightly convey the fabric C until almost the sewing of the trailing edge of the fabric C is completed.
Also, in the case of the above control, by setting the recovery position of the weight further forward, the next fabric C can be quickly supplied (Fig. 28(C)), and the continuous sewing work can be speeded up. It is possible to plan

Further, in the fabric conveying apparatus 10, the wiping member 96 is advanced by the tension spring 954, but instead of this, the wiping member 96 may be advanced toward the sewing machine 1 by an actuator such as an air cylinder.
In that case, the air cylinder 923 for advancing the wiping member is not required, and the actuator can move the wiping member 96 forward and backward, thereby simplifying the support structure of the wiping member 96 and the control of the forward/backward movement. becomes possible.

In addition, in the fabric conveying device 10, the guide part 254 has an example of a convex shape, but it is not limited to this as long as it can guide the weight 81 in a certain direction. For example, the guide portion 254 may be groove-shaped, or may be rail-shaped with a narrower width.
In this case, it is desirable that the structure of the bottom portion of the wiping member 96 also correspond to the groove-shaped or narrower rail-shaped guide portion 254 .

The construction of the worktable 25 and the relay mechanism 90 in the cloth conveying device 10 can be applied to any conveying device that supplies the cloth C as the material to be sewn to the throat plate of the sewing machine 1 . For example, it can be applied to a transport device having a configuration that does not have any or all of the mounting plate 20, the transport mechanism 40, the gripping mechanism 70, and the weight mechanism 80, or as part of another device. It is also applicable to a conveying device that is incorporated and has at least a workbench 25 and a relay mechanism 90 .

1 sewing machine 10 material conveying device 20 placing plate (placing portion)
25 Worktable 30 Pressing mechanism 31 Pressing member 40 Transfer mechanism 70 Grasping mechanism 80 Weight mechanism 81 Weight 811 Weight body 812 Connecting parts 813, 814 Position regulating plates 815, 816 Locked arm 817 Pressing plate 83 Supporting member 90 Relay mechanism 91 Pressing member 93 Relay frame 95 Lifting bracket 96 Wiping member 100 Control device 912 to 915 Pressing plate 921 Pressing air cylinder 922 Wiping member lifting air cylinder 923 Wiping member advancing air cylinder 933 Support bracket 941 Relay motor 954 Tension spring 956 Coil spring 961 Body portions 962, 963 Position regulating plate 1000 Sewing system C Fabric (material to be sewn)

Claims (6)

Equipped with a flat workbench on which the material to be sewn is placed,
The workbench is connectable to the sewing machine so as to convey the sewing material to a throat plate of the sewing machine,
a relay mechanism for transporting the sewing material transported to the workbench to a throat plate of the sewing machine;
The relay mechanism includes a pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and a pressing member that moves from behind the front end of the sewing material to in front of the front end of the sewing material to move to the front end of the sewing material. and a wiping member for leveling and wiping the sewn material toward the sewing machine. Equipped with a flat workbench on which the material to be sewn is placed,
The work table is connectable to the sewing machine so as to convey the sewing material to a throat plate of the sewing machine,
a relay mechanism for transporting the sewing material transported to the workbench to a throat plate of the sewing machine;
The relay mechanism includes a pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and a sweeping member that sweeps the front end of the sewing material toward the sewing machine. ,
The wiping member applies pressing pressure to the sewing material from above. A sewing material conveying device characterized by: Equipped with a flat workbench on which the material to be sewn is placed,
The work table is connectable to the sewing machine so as to convey the sewing material to a throat plate of the sewing machine,
a relay mechanism for transporting the sewing material transported to the workbench to a throat plate of the sewing machine;
The relay mechanism includes a pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and a sweeping member that sweeps the front end of the sewing material toward the sewing machine. ,
a flat placement section capable of stacking a plurality of sewn objects;
a gripping mechanism for gripping the uppermost sewing object on the placing section;
a conveying mechanism that conveys the sewing material gripped by the gripping mechanism to the workbench;
have A sewing material conveying device characterized by: Equipped with a flat workbench on which the material to be sewn is placed,
The work table is connectable to the sewing machine so as to convey the sewing material to a throat plate of the sewing machine,
a relay mechanism for transporting the sewing material transported to the workbench to a throat plate of the sewing machine;
The relay mechanism includes a pressing member that presses the sewing material from above during transportation, and a sweeping member that sweeps the front end of the sewing material toward the sewing machine. ,
A weight mechanism that supplies a weight to the sewing material sent on the workbench by the sewing machine is provided. A sewing material conveying device characterized by: The sewing material conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the wiping member advances toward the sewing machine by means of an elastic body. The sewn material conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the wiping member is advanced toward the sewing machine by an actuator.

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