JPH0375192B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for feeding a web in a sewing machine.

The method according to the invention is particularly suitable for quilting machines, and at the same time can also be applied to embroidery machines for wide fabrics, with the method it is possible to carry out continuous work on these machines even in the case of complex designs and embroideries. is possible.

Although an example application of the method will be described below with particular reference to a quilting machine, it will be understood that the configuration of the machine can be easily modified for application to a continuous embroidery machine.

In known types of quilting machines, one or more layers of batting, stuffing, etc. are dispensed together with one or more strips of fabric, which, after containing the batting, are stitched according to a predetermined design. By adding it, it is fixed to the core material. Stitching is performed via a number of needles moving downward at predetermined times during the forward movement of the product. In order to carry out less simple stitch designs, quilting machines move the product laterally via a laterally movable carriage suitably linked to the forward movement of the fabric. However, despite the adaptability of this type of sewing machine, as described for example in US Pat. No. 4,106,417 and US Pat. In such cases, the forward motion and lateral movement of conventional devices are insufficient.

Many systems have been proposed for the purpose of retracting a part of a product in order to add a more complex design to an already stitched product. This is not sufficient for various reasons.

The proposed solutions are essentially divided into two types. In the first method, the entire carriage is arranged to be movable not only laterally but also longitudinally so that a predetermined part of the product to which the next additional stitch is to be applied can be retracted. Although this method at least partially solves the problem of maintaining a constant alignment of the two fabrics encasing the core material, it has the drawbacks of a limited return stroke and a very complex configuration that is difficult to adjust. There is. This naturally affects the manufacturing costs and does not completely eliminate the drawback of mismatch between several sets of stitches performed in different steps.

According to the second method, a pair of rollers or other return mechanism acting directly on the axis of the fabric is used, thereby simplifying the construction of the machine. In this case, it is extremely difficult to maintain a constant tension in the fabric during the return operation, and subsequent stitches will be misaligned with respect to earlier stitches, so the quality of the product obtained by this method is first and foremost. This method is even worse. It is essential for good quality quilting (or embroidery) that the stitches added at each stage correspond perfectly, which requires that the tension of the fabric be kept constant. If the tension is not maintained constant, the finished product will have visual inconsistencies, design distortions, and other unacceptable defects, both aesthetically and technically.

Furthermore, other special systems have been proposed, but they have severely limited return operations and are therefore virtually unfit for purpose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for feeding a web in a sewing machine for applying a plurality of series of stitches to a web.

According to the present invention, the object is to provide a method for feeding a web in a sewing machine for stitching at least one web, in which forward rotation of at least two rollers allows the web hooked on the two rollers to be fed out and to be fed out. a step of applying a first stitch to the web to be stitched; a step of stopping the forward rotation of the roller and fixing the web relatively to one of the two rollers on the feeding side; and a step of applying the first stitch to the web to be stitched; This is accomplished by a method of feeding a web in a sewing machine that includes the steps of unwinding the web and applying a second stitch to the unwound fabric.

According to the method of the invention, a first series of stitches can be applied to the web that is hung over at least two rollers during forward rotation of the rollers, by fixing the web relative to one of the rollers.
Even when the web is unwound during the backward rotation of the roller, the second series of stitches can be performed while preventing the web from sagging. As a result, it is possible to provide a method for feeding a web in a sewing machine that allows stitching to be performed both when the roller rotates forward and when it rotates backward.

Further, according to the present invention, the object is a web feeding device in a sewing machine for stitching at least one web, comprising: a first roller around which the web is wound; a second roller around which the web is wound; A cylindrical container coaxially accommodates a first roller on which a web is wound and has a partial opening through which the web unwound from the first roller can pass; and a connecting means connected to each of the second rollers, the connecting means is configured such that when the second roller rotates forward, the operation of the connecting means is prohibited, and the second roller is rotated backward. The rotation is achieved by a first web feeding device in the sewing machine, which is configured to allow activation of the coupling means.

According to the first device of the present invention, since the operation of the connecting means is prohibited during forward rotation of the second roller, the web can be pulled by the second roller to prevent the web from sagging. One series of stitches can be applied, and then when the second roller is rotated backwards, the coupling means is allowed to operate so that the web is pulled by the cylindrical container to prevent the web from sagging; A series of slouches can be applied.
As a result, stitches can be applied both when the second roller rotates forward and when it rotates backward.

Further, according to the invention, the object is a web feeding device for a sewing machine for stitching at least one web, which comprises a first roller around which the web is wound, and a second roller around which the web is wound. , a translational movement member that moves in translation in synchronization with the rotational movement of the second roller, and a third member that is rotatably provided on the translational movement member and that hangs the web between the first roller and the second roller. a roller, a connecting means for connecting the second roller and the translation member, and a stopping means for stopping the rotational movement of the first roller, and the connecting means and the stopping means are arranged so that the second roller rotates forward. If the second roller rotates backward, the connecting means and the stopping means are configured to be permitted to operate. This is accomplished by a second web feeding device in the sewing machine.

According to the second device of the present invention, when the second roller rotates forward, the web is let out from the first roller, so the web is pulled by the second roller and the web can be prevented from sagging. The first series of stitches can be applied, and then when the second roller rotates backward, the coupling means and the stopping means are allowed to operate, so that the action of the third roller can prevent the web from sagging. , a second series of stitches may be applied. As a result, stitches can be applied both when the second roller rotates forward and when it rotates backward.

In the present invention, since the unwinding of the fabric is highly controlled, when this system is applied to a multi-needle quilting machine, the sewing machine is not only capable of quilting small and medium-sized designs, but also allows the sewing machine to quilt small and medium-sized designs. It is also possible to quilt large panel designs that were previously only possible with single needle sewing machines. There are two major economic advantages when applying this system. That is, a large number of needles can be used, the quilting is done continuously from a roll, and there is no need to use paneled fabric and interlining.

According to the invention, it is also possible to provide a method of the above-mentioned type, characterized in that it can be used for continuous embroidery of fabrics. Currently, embroidery is performed using large frames that operate discontinuously. In other words, a fairly long (15-20 meters) or fairly wide (1-1.5 meters) piece of fabric to be embroidered is placed under tension in a very complex vertical frame suitable for stitching the desired design. let In this case, a machine with dimensions prohibitive for normal industrial production would be required, but
By using the method of the present invention, it is possible to perform embroidery of considerable complexity, even if it does not fully rival the work of frame embroidery machines, on a continuous machine and of regular size.

The invention will now be described with reference to two preferred but non-limiting embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

1 and 2, the quilting machine according to the invention comprises a carriage 1 in which the product as a web to be quilted is stretched, the product comprising a webbing 2, a core material 4 and a further material forming the lining material. Obi cloth 3
It consists of For the sake of simplicity, a quilted product is assumed in which a core material is inserted between two layers of cloth, but the present invention also provides for a quilted product comprised of two or more layers of core material and a corresponding number of layers of cloth. It can also be applied to cases where the fabric is made of only one piece of cloth without using a core material.

The fabrics 2 and 3 are unwound from fabric rolls 8 and 9 housed in suitable containers 10 and 11, respectively, as cylindrical containers. The container 10 is generally cylindrical and has a cutout corresponding to an arcuate opening 18 having an angle greater than 90° and less than 180°. The role of the opening 18 is to guide the fabric rolls 8, 9 into the containers 10, 11 and to allow removal of the fabric during unrolling. container 11
(and other containers) are substantially the same as container 10, the configuration and operation of only container 10 will be described.

At a position corresponding to one end of the opening 18,
A limit switch 20 and a clutch 21 as a first clutch, which will be described later, are arranged. A limit switch 22 is provided at the other end of the opening 18.
is placed. The container 10 is fixed to the carriage 1 and the shaft 30 as the first roller of the roll 8
is supported in a braking state, so that the cloth 2 is fed out in the forward direction via the drive rollers 40 and 41 as the second rollers under a constant tension.
The braking system 60 is suitably regulated and synchronized. The portion of the fabric 2 previously specified by the design program is unwound from the roll 8 and spread out on the carriage 1 together with other elements, and during this forward movement the needle 50 performs a first series of stitches in substantially known manner. , the forward movement of the product and the lateral movement of the carriage are adjusted accordingly. Next, the forward movement is stopped, and the cloth 2 facing the limit switch 20 is
is locked against the cylindrical surface of the container 10 by the clutch 21. At the same time, the shaft 30 of the roll 8 is connected to the electromagnetic clutch 4 as a second clutch.
6 to the container 10, and the entire device is connected in a transmission manner to drive rollers 40 and 41 via transmissions 51 and 52 as transmission mechanisms. Here, the clutch 21, the electromagnetic clutch 46 and the transmission 51 constitute a coupling means according to the device of the invention. A rotational movement in the opposite direction to the forward movement is thus initiated, and thus the cloth 2
is wrapped around the outer surface of container 10. The locking of the fabric by the clutch 21 and the wrapping of the fabric around the constant diameter and wide container 10 allows precise tensioning and mutual positioning of the fabrics 2 and 3 during the return movement of the fabric. When the return operation is completed,
i.e. up to 10 containers within the programmed range.
Once the fabric has been rewound to the position of the upper limit switch 22, the normal forward and/or lateral drive movement is resumed and additional stitches may be added by the appropriately programmed needle support bar 49. Stitching can also be performed during the return phase if desired, or various advancement and return movements can be performed depending on the stitch design used.

The maximum length of the part of the fabric that is withdrawn, i.e. the part of the product that can be stitched overlappingly, is equal to the circumference of the outer surface of the container 10 and is to a large extent independent of the diameter of the fabric roll and can be a fairly wide number. may be selected from a range. Preferably, the diameter of the container 10 is selected to be close to the maximum value compatible with the dimensions of the machine and the maximum return stroke. If the return travel required for quilting is less than these values, the return movement is stopped early by using a signal from the design programmer or by determining the return travel distance and comparing this to the programmed value. be able to.

As is clear from the foregoing description, the device according to the invention, while having substantially the same dimensions as a standard quilting machine, is capable of fabric return movements over very long distances hitherto not available. This cloth return movement is above all very precise and therefore Misalignment between the cloth and the core material is avoided.

When applying the method according to the invention to a continuous embroidery sewing machine, the application method is substantially the same as for quilting as described above. In this case a container 10 with a single roll of fabric, a number of needles and preferably a diameter sufficient to allow embroidery over a large area of the fabric.
and will be provided.

3 and 4 show a variant of the quilting sewing machine according to the invention, which includes a carriage 101 on which the product as a web to be quilted is stretched, the product comprising a fabric 102, a core material 1
04, and another cloth 103 forming the lining. For the sake of simplicity, we will discuss the case of a quilted product in which a core material is inserted between two layers of fabric; however, in this case too, the present invention provides a method for incorporating one or more layers of core material and a corresponding number of layers of fabric. It can also be applied to quilted products that contain or a single piece of fabric that does not contain a core material.

The fabrics 102 and 103 are carried by a roll 108 supported on respective shafts 180 and 190 as a first roller.
and each 109, and the shafts 180 and 190
is attached to the sewing machine's barrel. The movements of the rolls are essentially the same, so mainly cloth 1
The configuration and operation of only 02 will be explained.

A return roller 1 having a fixed axis along a feed path extending between the roll 108 and the product support surface
85 and a roller 160 as a third roller supported by a shaft 165 are arranged, and the cloth 102
moves between the rollers. Roller 160 is essentially a return or dancer roller whose axis 165 is continuously movable between a first position and a second position lower than the first position. For clarity, the rollers are shown in an intermediate position in FIG. Roller 160 is movable in response to rack 175 which engages pinion 184 mounted on shaft 197. The shaft 197 is connected via a friction clutch 192 to a drive roller 140 for moving the product as a second roller.
and 141, and is rotatably connected to the drive roller 1
The operation of 40, 141 is reversible (so that product retraction is possible) under the control of a central control unit (not shown). The connection takes place via transmission chains 151 and 152 as transmission mechanisms, through which the movements of the drive rollers 140 and 141 are transmitted only after the clutch 192 has engaged with the shaft 197. Transmission chain 151, 152 here
and clutch 192 constitute the coupling means of the device of the invention. The fabric roll is fixed by a clutch 177 serving as a stopping means, and the fabric during the return movement is kept under constant tension by the downward movement of the roller 160.

During the forward movement of the fabric 102, the fabric 102 is unwound from the roll 108 while being maintained at a constant tension by the adjustable brake 178, and at the same time, the fabric 102
A first series of stitches is applied to the product obtained by inserting the core material 104 between the needles 103 and 103 using the needle 150. Once the product has advanced a predetermined distance, rollers 160 under the control of the design programmer
At least one return is made via . When control of the movement of the fabric portion is transferred to the rollers 160, the fabric is subjected to a range and number of back and forth movements adapted to the complexity of the design to be reproduced. To be more precise,
The method of this embodiment allows a single cloth backward movement in addition to the normal forward movement (feeding out the cloth from the roll 108), and only in the case of a simple stitch pattern.
A second series of stitches is performed during this return motion or a subsequent forward motion (without unwinding of the fabric from roll 108), during which the system prepares for processing the next portion of product. In many cases, the stitches following the first series of stitches consist of a number of partial back and forth movements, which are controlled by drive rollers 140, 141 and transmitted by rollers 160 to the fabric section being worked on. . The processing method depends on the type and complexity of the design, the surface area on which the design is applied, the number of iterations, and the optimization criteria of the control system. The maximum length of the fabric portion that can be retracted depends on the maximum range of motion of the rollers 160. Since this length is twice the maximum possible displacement of roller 160, it is possible to retract very large areas of fabric with a very compact (easy length) device.

In the quilting sewing machine shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the roll 109 is arranged in a similar manner (shaft 17
1 and a movable roller 170 as a third roller, using the same rack 175. The connected rollers thus form a kind of vertically movable frame with a rigidity suitable for the necessary synchronization. It is also possible to use three (or more) fabric rolls as a multilayer product, as this can be adapted to the dimensions of the machine and the maximum return stroke.

As is clear from the above description, the device according to the present embodiment has substantially the same dimensions as a standard quilting machine, while allowing a retracting movement of the fabric over very long distances and a brake 17 during the forward movement.
8 and during the retraction movement the cloth and roller 16
Since a constant tension is applied to the fabric through the engagement with the 0,170 surface, this retraction movement is carried out with great precision, thus avoiding misalignment of the fabric and the interlining.

A quilting sewing machine that can move the carriage in the lateral direction with high precision, for example, the U.S. Patent No.
Application of the method of the invention to the sewing machine described in No. 4,262,613 results in a programmable electronically controlled quilting sewing machine containing four product transfer stages. This sewing machine has maximum adaptability, so
In fact, it can be used to stitch and embroidery any design, no matter how complex.

The invention extends to applications and variations which will be obvious to those skilled in the art, both of the method and of the apparatus for carrying out the method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the first device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the operation of the device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the first device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,101...carriage, 8,9,108,
109...Roll, 10,11...Container, 1
8... Opening, 20, 22... Limit switch, 21, 46, 167, 177, 192... Clutch, 40, 41, 140, 141... Drive roller, 50... Needle, 51, 52, 151, 152
...transmission, 60,168,178
...Brake device, 160,170...Roller,
165, 175...Rack, 184...Pinion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method for feeding the web in a sewing machine that performs stitching on at least one web, which method involves forward rotation of at least two rollers to feed out the web hooked on the roller and applying a first stitch to the web being fed out; stopping the forward rotation of the roller and fixing the web relatively to one of the two rollers; A method for feeding a web in a sewing machine, comprising the steps of: unwinding the web by two backward rotations; and applying a second stitch to the unwound fabric. 2. A feeding device for the web in a sewing machine that performs stitching on at least one web, which comprises a first roller around which the web is wound, a second roller around which the web is wound, and a second roller around which the web is wound. a cylindrical container that coaxially accommodates a wound first roller and has a partial opening through which the cloth unwound from the first roller can pass; connection means connected to each of the second rollers, the connection means being configured such that operation of the connection means is prohibited when the second roller rotates forward;
The web feeding device in the sewing machine is configured such that the connecting means is allowed to operate when the second roller rotates backward. 3. The coupling means includes a first clutch for engaging the shaft of the container with the first roller, a transmission mechanism for coupling the first roller to the second roller, and a transmission mechanism for coupling the first roller to the second roller. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a second clutch engaging said transmission mechanism. 4. The device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the opening of the container has an arc shape larger than 90° and smaller than 180°. 5 A feeding device for the web in a sewing machine that performs stitching on at least one web, which comprises a first roller around which the web is wound, a second roller around which the web is wound, and a second roller around which the web is wound. a translational movement member that translates in synchronization with the rotational movement of the translational movement member; and a third roller that is rotatably provided on the translational movement member and hangs the web between the first roller and the second roller. and a connecting means for connecting the second roller and the translational movement member, and a stopping means for stopping rotational movement of the first roller, and the connecting means and the stopping means are configured to connect the second roller and the translational movement member. When the second roller rotates forward, the operation of the connecting means and the stopping means is prohibited, and when the second roller rotates backward, the operation of the connecting means and the stopping means is prohibited. A web feeding device in the sewing machine, wherein the web feeding device is configured to allow. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said translational member engages said second roller via a rack and pinion system. 7. Claim 5 or 6, wherein the connecting means comprises a transmission mechanism that connects the shaft of the pinion to the second roller, and a clutch that engages the shaft of the pinion with the transmission mechanism. The device described in. 8. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said stopping means comprises another clutch.