U.S. patent application number 11/569297 was filed with the patent office on 2007-11-22 for sewing machine.
This patent application is currently assigned to TOKAI KOGYO MISHIN KABUSHIKI KAISHA. Invention is credited to Shinya Fujimoto, Hideo Hasegawa, Ikuo Tajima.
Application Number | 20070266919 11/569297 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35428429 |
Filed Date | 2007-11-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070266919 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tajima; Ikuo ; et
al. |
November 22, 2007 |
Sewing Machine
Abstract
Illuminating device includes a plurality of LEDs positioned at
intervals so as to form a linear LED array generally corresponding
to an array line along which needle bars are provided, and a lens
for gathering emitted light from the LEDs to thereby generate a
linear light beam corresponding to the array line. The illuminating
device provided in each machine head is controlled, independently
of the illuminating devices of the other machine heads, in response
to an operating state of the machine head. Thus, it is possible to
not only generate, at low cost, a linear light beam suited to
illumination of areas around the points of a plurality of needles
arranged in a linear array, but also appropriately control the
needle point illumination for the plurality of machine heads.
Inventors: |
Tajima; Ikuo; (Aichi,
JP) ; Hasegawa; Hideo; (Aichi, JP) ; Fujimoto;
Shinya; (Aichi, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROSSI, KIMMS & McDOWELL LLP.
P.O. BOX 826
ASHBURN
VA
20146-0826
US
|
Assignee: |
TOKAI KOGYO MISHIN KABUSHIKI
KAISHA
1800, Ushiyamacho
Kasugai-shi, Aichi-ken
JP
4860901
|
Family ID: |
35428429 |
Appl. No.: |
11/569297 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2005 |
PCT Filed: |
May 19, 2005 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/JP05/09195 |
371 Date: |
November 17, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
112/225 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D05B 79/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
112/225 |
International
Class: |
D05B 55/00 20060101
D05B055/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 21, 2004 |
JP |
2004-152177 |
Claims
1. A sewing machine provided with a multi-needle machine head
having a plurality of needle bars disposed in a straight or curved
linear array, said sewing machine including an illuminating device
for illuminating an area around a point of a sewing needle fixed to
a lower end of each of the needle bars, said illuminating device
comprising: a plurality of unitary light sources disposed at
intervals so as to form a linear array of said light sources
generally corresponding to a needle bar array line along which the
needle bars are disposed; and a lens provided for covering said
plurality of unitary light sources to gather light emitted from
individual ones of said unitary light sources, to thereby generate
a linear light beam corresponding to the needle bar array line.
2. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lens of said
illuminating device is a single elongated cylindrical lens of a
predetermined length, and said plurality of unitary light sources
are disposed at intervals along a longitudinal direction of the
cylindrical lens.
3. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said lens of said
illuminating device comprises a single elongated cylindrical lens
of a predetermined length, and a plurality of illuminating device
units disposed in an array along the needle bar array line, each of
said illuminating device units including at least one said unitary
light source provided in correspondence with said illuminating
device.
4. A sewing machine as claimed in any one of claims 1 wherein each
of said unitary light sources is a chip LED.
5. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein a number of said
unitary light sources is smaller than a number of said needle bars
in said machine head.
6. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 1 which is provided with a
plurality of the machine heads each including said illuminating
device.
7. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 6 which further comprises
control means for controlling said illuminating device of each of
the machine heads in response to an operating state of the machine
head.
8. A sewing machine provided with a plurality of machine heads,
said sewing machine comprising: an illuminating device provided for
each of the machine heads for illuminating an area around a point
of a sewing needle of the machine head; and control means for
controlling said illuminating device of each of said machine heads
in response to an operating state of the machine head.
9. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 8 wherein, when only one or
some of said plurality of machine heads are to be caused to operate
with other of said machine heads in a non-operating state, said
control means performs control for illuminating the illuminating
devices of only the machine heads that are to be caused to
operate.
10. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 8 wherein, when said
sewing machine has stopped operating due to occurrence of a thread
breakage, said control means performs control for illuminating only
said illuminating device of the machine head where the thread
breakage has occurred.
11. A sewing machine as claimed in claim 8 wherein said control
means performs control for illuminating said illuminating devices
in any of different illuminating styles corresponding to a
plurality of kinds of informing functions.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to sewing machines provided
with an illuminating device for illuminating areas around needle
points immediately beneath a machine head.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Heretofore, there have been known sewing machines provided
with an illuminating device for illuminating areas around the
points of needles (i.e., needle points) and surface of a sewing
fabric so that needle threading operation and inspection of a
pattern sewn on a sewing fabric can be performed with ease.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. HEI-11-253685
discloses a sewing machine which includes a plurality of needle
bars provided on a machine head, and an illuminating device for
illuminating an area around the point of a needle fixed to the
lower end of each needle bar and surface of a sewing fabric. The
illuminating device, which is capable of emitting a linear light
beam generally along an array line along which the needle bars are
disposed, comprises, for example, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp
or planar light-emitting member formed in a linear shape, or a
plurality of high-intensity dot-shaped light-emitting members
(e.g., LEDs) disposed in a linear array. With such an illuminating
device capable of emitting a linear light beam, it is possible to
sufficiently illuminate the area around the point of each needle
and surface of the sewing fabric.
[0003] Also known are sewing machines constructed to control the
illuminating device in response to an operating state of the
machine. Japanese Patent No. 2900549 discloses a sewing machine
which, when an anomaly or abnormal condition has been detected by
an abnormal condition detection means that detects false operation,
accident (e.g., thread breakage) or the like, changes the color of
the light emitted from the illuminating device to inform of the
abnormal condition. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open
Publication No. HEI-6-91085 discloses another type of automatic
sewing machine which detects a start and end of automatic sewing so
as to deilluminate the illuminating device upon detection of the
start of automatic sewing and illuminate the illuminating device
upon detection of the end of the automatic sewing; in this way,
this sewing machine can spare a human operator the trouble of
operating the switch of the illuminating device in order to save
power consumption.
[0004] In recent years, there has been a tendency to use, as the
illuminating device for illuminating an area around a needle point
and surface of a sewing fabric, an LED lamp that can be
significantly reduced in size and increased in operating life and
that can effectively prevent undesired heat production. However,
because illumination (light emission) by the LED lamp as a unitary
light source is limited to a small spot-shaped range, a
multiplicity of LED lamps have to be disposed in a linear array
with almost no gap in order to illuminate areas around the points
of the individual needles of a multi-needle sewing machine, which
would inevitably require an increased cost. With a multi-head,
multi-needle type sewing machine including a plurality of
multi-needle type machine heads, the necessary cost would increase
in proportion to the number of the machine heads.
[0005] On the other hand, in the conventionally-known sewing
machine of the type constructed to control the illuminating device
in response to an operating state of the sewing machine as
disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2900549 or Japanese Patent
Application Laid-open Publication No. HEI-6-91085, only one
illuminating device is controlled in response to an operating state
of the machine. Thus, in multi-head sewing machines provided with a
plurality of machine heads, it has of course been impossible to
control the illuminating device of each of the machine heads
independently of the illuminating devices of the other machine
heads, and it has also been impossible to control the individual
illuminating devices in response to operating states of the
corresponding machine heads.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0006] In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present
invention to provide a sewing machine provided with an illuminating
device that can generate, at low cost, a linear light beam suited
to illumination of areas around the points of individual needles
disposed in a linear array (i.e., needle point illumination). It is
another object of the present invention to provide a sewing machine
which can appropriately control needle point illumination for a
plurality of machine heads.
[0007] The present invention provides an improved sewing machine
provided with a multi-needle machine head having a plurality of
needle bars disposed in a straight or curved linear array, which
includes an illuminating device for illuminating an area around a
point (needle point) of a sewing needle fixed to the lower end of
each of the needle bars. The illuminating device comprises: a
plurality of unitary light sources disposed at intervals, or with
some gaps therebetween, so as to form a linear array of the light
sources generally corresponding to a needle bar array line along
which the needle bars are disposed; and a lens provided for
covering the plurality of unitary light sources to gather light
emitted from the individual unitary light sources, to thereby
generate a linear light beam corresponding to the needle bar array
line.
[0008] According to another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a sewing machine provided with a plurality of machine
heads, which comprises: an illuminating device provided for each of
the machine heads for illuminating an area around a point of a
sewing needle of the machine head; and a control section for
controlling the illuminating device of each of the machine heads in
response to an operating state of the machine head.
[0009] By the provision of the illuminating device constructed in
the aforementioned manner, the emitted light from the plurality of
the unitary light sources disposed at intervals can be gathered,
via the lens, to be converted into a linear light beam so that the
areas around the points of the individual sewing needles can be
illuminated evenly over a wide range with a small number of the
unitary light sources, which can thereby minimize the manufacturing
cost of the illuminating device. Further, in cases where the
present invention is applied to a multi-head sewing machine, the
necessary manufacturing cost can be reduced synergistically.
Furthermore, where chip LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are used as
the unitary light sources, the unitary light sources not only can
be reduced in size and increased in operating life but also can
effectively prevent undesired heat production.
[0010] By controlling each of the machine heads in response to an
operating state of the machine head, it is possible to perform
optimal needle-point illumination control on each of the machine
heads, independently of the other machine heads, in the multi-head
sewing machine, in response to the operating state of the machine
head. For example, when only one or some of the plurality of
machine heads are to be caused to operate with the other machine
heads in a non-operating state, it is possible to perform control
for illuminating the illuminating devices of only the machine heads
that are to be caused to operate. Alternatively, when the sewing
machine has stopped operating or shut down due to occurrence of a
thread breakage, it is possible to perform control for illuminating
only the illuminating device of the machine head where the thread
breakage has occurred. In this way, a human operator is allowed to
advantageously identify, at a glance, each operating or
non-operating machine heads, and perform sewing operation and
illumination control with no waste.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a view showing an outer appearance of a
multi-head, multi-needle embroidery sewing machine in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine head in the
embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a side view, partly in section, of the machine
head in the embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of an
illuminating device in the embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 5(A) is a sectional side view of the illuminating
device in the embodiment, and FIG. 5(B) is a sectional side view
showing a modification of the illuminating device; and
[0016] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system of a
control device and illuminating devices in the embodiment of the
embroidery sewing machine.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0017] Embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a view showing an outer appearance of a
multi-head, multi-needle embroidery sewing machine in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention, where reference
numeral 1 indicates a machine frame, and 2 a table. A plurality of
(four in the illustrated example) machine heads 3 are disposed at
equal intervals along a left-right horizontal direction of the
sewing machine, and a needle plate 4 is disposed immediately
beneath each of the machine heads 3 and at generally the same
height position as the table 2. On the upper surface of the table
2, there is placed an embroidery frame 5 that is driven in
front-rear and left-right horizontal directions via an X-axis drive
mechanism and Y-axis drive mechanism (not shown).
[0019] FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine head 3, and FIG. 3 is
a side view (partly in section) of the machine head 3. As clear
from these figures, each of the machine heads 3 comprises an arm 6
fixed to the machine frame 1, and a needle bar case 7 slidably
supported on the front surface of the arm 6. A plurality of (nine
in the illustrated example) needle bars 8 are vertically-movably
provided in the needle bar case 7, and a sewing needle 9 is fixed
to the lower end of each of the needle bars 8. The needle bar case
7 is caused to slide by a not-shown change mechanism, so that a
desired one of the needle bars 8 can be located at a selected
position and the thus-selected needle bar 8 is driven vertically
via a not-shown needle bar drive mechanism. Sewing is performed in
the conventionally-known manner through cooperation between the
vertically-driven needle bar 8 (sewing needle 9) and a not-shown
rotary hook provided beneath the needle plate 4, and embroidery
sewing is performed, on the basis of embroidery data, by the
embroidery frame 5 being driven in the front-rear and left-right
directions as well as by the cooperation between the
vertically-driven needle bar 8 (sewing needle 9) and the rotary
hook.
[0020] Illuminating device 10 is provided on a front lower surface
portion of the needle bar case 7. As shown in a perspective view of
FIG. 4 and sectional side view of FIG. 5(A), the illuminating
device 10 generally has a semi-cylindrical shape. The illuminating
device 10 includes a base plate 12 having a plurality of (four in
the illustrated example) chip LEDs 11 provided at equal intervals
thereon, a base member 13 fixing the base plate 12, and a lens 14
provided to cover the base plate 12. The number of the chip LEDs 11
on the base plate 12 is smaller than the number of the needle bars
8 arranged in the needle bar case 7, and the chip LEDs 11 are
disposed on the base plate 12 at intervals to form a linear array
(straight linear array in the illustrated example) substantially
corresponding to a needle bar array line along which the needle
bars 8 are disposed on the base plate 12. The lens 14 is in the
form of a substantially-semicylindrical lens that can gather
incoming light through its flat surface portion and emit a linear
light beam through its cylindrical surface portion, and the lens 14
is formed of, for example, an acrylic material. The semicylindrical
lens 14 has a total length corresponding to a total length of the
needle bar array line along which the needle bars 8 are arrayed in
the needle bar case 7, and the lens 14 has a shape corresponding to
the array line (straight line in the illustrated example) along
which the needle bars 8 are disposed. This lens 14 gathers
respective emitted light from the plurality of chip LEDs 11 to
thereby emit a linear light beam that can evenly illuminate areas
around the points of the individual sewing needles 9. Thus, the
light emission from the small number of (four in this case) chip
LEDs 11 of the illuminating device 10 can evenly illuminate the
areas around the points of the nine sewing needles 9 greater in
number than the four chip LEDs 11 of the illuminating device 10.
Whereas, in the illustrated example, the needle bars 8 are disposed
in the needle bar case 7 in a straight linear array, the needle
bars 8 are sometimes disposed in a curved array, such as a circular
array, in which case the longitudinal shape of the illuminating
device 10 is formed into a curved shape corresponding to the shape
of the array of the needle bars 8; thus, an array line along which
the plurality of chip LEDs 11 are arranged and the longitudinal
shape of the semicylindrical lens 14 are also set to a curved line
and curved shape, respectively.
[0021] As shown in FIG. 6, an illuminating drive control signal is
supplied from a control device 20 of the embroidery sewing machine
separately to the illuminating device 10 of each of the machine
heads 3 (the four machine heads 3 are indicated in the figure by #1
to #4 for clearer distinction) via a driver 21. Illumination and
deillumination (i.e., turning-on and turning-off) of each of the
illuminating devices 10 is controlled by the control device 20 in
accordance with an operating state of the sewing machine and an
operating state of the corresponding machine head 3. For example,
the control is performed in such a manner that the illuminating
device 10 is deilluminated when the sewing machine is in the
operating state because there is no need to illuminate the areas
around the needle points, but the illuminating device 10 is
illuminated when the sewing machine has stopped operating. In some
case, the multi-head type sewing machine is operated with only one
or some of the machine heads 3 in the operating state with the
remaining machine head(s) 3 in the non-operating state. If, in such
a case, the sewing machine has stopped operating, the control is
performed, independently for each of the machine heads, in such a
manner only the illuminating device 3 of each machine head 3 set in
the operating state is illuminated with the illuminating device 10
of each machine head 3 set in the non-operating state kept
deilluminated. In this way, the human operator not only can
advantageously identify, at a glance, each machine head 3 to be in
the operating state, but also can avoid a waste of, for example,
illuminating the illuminating device 10 of any of the non-operating
machine heads 3 which does not need to be illuminated. Further, by
performing the illumination control independently for each of the
machine heads as noted above, the control can be performed so that,
when the sewing machine has stopped operating or shut down due to a
thread breakage, only the illuminating device 10 of the machine
head 3 where the thread breakage has occurred is illuminated. Thus,
when the sewing machine has stopped operating or shut down due to a
thread breakage, the human operator not only can easily identify in
which of the machine heads the thread breakage has occurred, but
also can avoid a waste of illuminating the illuminating device 10
of any of the other machine heads 3 where the thread has not been
broken and hence there is no need to illuminate the illuminating
device 10. In order to perform such head-by-head illumination
control, it is only necessary to prepare and install a necessary
computer program and cause a CPU of the control device 20 of the
sewing machine to execute the program. In such a case, information
for setting operation (i.e., activation/deactivation) of each of
the machine heads 3, thread breakage detection signal of each of
the machine heads 3, information indicative of a current operating
state of the sewing machine, etc. are input to the control device
20 of the sewing machine, and the aforementioned illumination
control is performed independently for each of the machine heads 3
by the control device 20 referring to these input signal and
information. However, the present invention is not limited to such
program-based illumination control, and necessary hardware
circuitry for performing the illumination control may be fabricated
and incorporated into the control device 20 of the embroidery
sewing machine.
[0022] FIG. 5(B) shows a modification of the illuminating device.
Although this modified illuminating device 15 functions similarly
to the aforementioned illuminating device 10, the flat surface
portion of the cylindrical lens has a slightly different shape from
that of the aforementioned illuminating device 10. Namely, whereas
the flat surface portion of the cylindrical lens 14 of the
illuminating device 10 shown in FIG. 5(A) has a groove formed
therein for positioning the chip LEDs 11, the entire flat surface
portion of the cylindrical lens 16 of the illuminating device 15
shown in FIG. 5(B) is formed flat, and a spacer 17 is interposed
between the flat surface portion and the base member 13 so that a
slight space is formed, by the provision of the spacer 17, for
appropriately positioning the chip LEDs 11. While the cylindrical
lens 14 shown in FIG. 5(A) requires formation of the groove in the
flat surface portion, the cylindrical lens 16 shown in FIG. 5(B)
does not require formation of such a groove and thus can be
simplified in construction.
[0023] Whereas, in the above-described embodiment of the invention,
the illuminating device 10 (or 15) corresponding to one of the
machine heads 3 is constructed as a one-piece unit, the present
invention is not so limited, and a plurality of units of the
illuminating device 10 (or 15) may be provided, depending on the
number of the needle bars per machine head 3, by combining the
units into a horizontal array along the array line of the needle
bars, to thereby provide an illuminating means for the machine head
3. For example, two chip LEDs 11 may be used to provide an
illuminating device unit having about half of the length of the
illuminating device 10 shown in FIG. 4, and only one such
short-length illuminating device unit may be provided per machine
head 3 where the machine head 3 has just four or five needle bars;
however, two such short illuminating device units may be provided
horizontally per machine head 3 where the machine head 3 has nine
needle bars. In another alternative, the illuminating device unit
having about a quarter of the length of the illuminating device 10
shown in FIG. 4 may be constructed using only one chip LED 11. In
such case, one chip LED 11 is positioned centrally in the
longitudinal or length direction of the lens 14 (or 16), and one or
more short illuminating device units, each comprising the one chip
LED 11 and corresponding cylindrical lens 14 (or 16), may be
provided horizontally on the base plate 12, depending on the number
of the needle bars in the machine head 3. Needless to say,
illuminating device units of various different lengths may be
provided in a horizontal array on the base plate 12.
[0024] By the control device 20 variously setting illuminating
styles (illuminating time length, blinking style, illuminating
color switching style, etc.), the sewing machine of the present
invention can also perform various informing functions. For
example, the sewing machine of the present invention can warn the
human operator that a thread breakage has occurred, by first
blinking the illuminating device 10 of the machine head 3, where a
thread breakage has occurred, for several seconds and then
illuminating the illuminating device 10. In another alternative,
when the sewing machine has shut down, for example, due to some
error, all of the illuminating devices 10 may be blinked to inform
the human operator of the error. In this case, the illuminating
devices 10 are brought back to the normal state once the human
operator clears the error on an operation panel or the like. In an
alternative, there may be provided chip LEDs of a plurality of
colors, so as to allowing the chip LEDs to perform various
informing functions by switching between emitted light colors of
the LEDs. Note that each of the unitary light sources may be any
other suitable light source than the chip LEDs. Further, the
present invention may be applied to any other types of sewing
machines than embroidery sewing machines.
[0025] In the preferred embodiment, as having been described above,
the emitted light from the chip LEDs 11 disposed at intervals or
with some gaps therebetween is gathered via the lens 14 to be
converted into a linear light beam so that areas around the points
of the plurality of sewing needles 9 disposed in a linear array are
illuminated by the linear light beam. As a result, the areas around
the points of the plurality of sewing needles 9 can be illuminated
appropriately by a small number of the chip LEDs 11, which can
thereby minimize the necessary manufacturing cost of the
illuminating devices, and the necessary manufacturing cost of the
sewing machine of the multi-head, multi-needle type too can be
reduced synergistically. Further, by performing
illumination/deillumination control on the illuminating devices 10
of the individual machine heads 3 in accordance with the respective
operating states of the machine heads 3, it is possible to
illuminate only the illuminating device 10 of each operating
machine head 3 or only the illuminating device 10 of a particular
machine head 3 where a thread breakage has occurred, with the
result that the human operator is allowed to not only readily
identify each operating or particular machine head 3 but also
prevent wasteful illumination of the illuminating device 10 of any
of the machine heads 3 where no illumination is unnecessary.
* * * * *