JP3383568B2 - Linking device for circular knitted fabric - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a linking device for circular knitted fabrics, and in particular, for example, it is possible to automatically perform a linking operation by inserting a point needle into a warp formed on the circular knitted fabric. The present invention relates to a knitting cloth linking device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a knitted fabric which is a material of a knit product has other stitches as the stitches to be linked so that the product is correctly linked to a predetermined size and shape when the stitches are linked. Overcast stitches are formed in which the stitches are made larger by knitting a little larger. Then, when performing linking, an operator pulls the knitted fabric by hand and unfolds it to find the overlocking eye by seeing through the knitting fabric, and manually sets the point needle of the linking device by piercing the overlocking eye. After that, I hung a sewing machine and linked.
This work is performed in the same way for circular knitted fabrics.First, the operator puts his / her hands on the open part of the circular knitted fabric to pull out the circular knitted fabric and open the knitted fabric on the back side as seen from the operator. After looking at the overlocking stitches, set the point needle of the linking device by piercing the overlocking stitches, set the knitting fabric on the front side in the same way, and match the positions of the overlocking stitches to be linked. I set it on the point hand, hung it on the sewing machine, and linked it.

[0003]

However, although it is relatively easy to find the entire overlocking stitch as a row, it is necessary to accurately detect each overlocking stitch at a glance so that the overlocking stitch is formed slightly larger than an ordinary stitch. Experience and skill were needed as they were only given. Therefore, it takes a lot of time for a person who is not skilled in the work to visually detect the overlocking eyes, and the work efficiency is very poor. This problem is particularly noticeable with circular knitted fabrics because it is difficult to pull out the knitted fabric on the front side after setting the knitted fabric on the back side in the linking device. Therefore, when the linking is performed, a defect such as removing the overlocking eye at several places to perform the linking occurs, resulting in a poor product yield.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a linking device for a circular knitted fabric, which is capable of automatically performing a piercing operation of a point needle through a stitch formed on the circular knitted fabric to perform linking. .

[0005]

A linking device for circular knitted fabric according to the present invention includes an inserter for inserting the circular knitted fabric into the circular knitted fabric having overlocking stitches to extend the circular knitted fabric, and a circular member extended by the inserter. An image pickup means for picking up a multi-tone image including an image of the overlocked eye of the knitted fabric, an overlocking eye detecting means for detecting the position of the overlocked eye by image-processing the multitone image, and an overlaid eye detecting means for detecting the position. For circular knit fabric, having means for associating the point needle with the position of the overlocking stitch, means for piercing the point needle for each overlocking stitch, and a sewing machine mechanism for linking the overlocking stitch through which the point needle is pierced It is a linking device. In the present invention, the state of the knitted fabric on the front side and the state of the knitted fabric on the other side are individually imaged in a state in which the stitches including the overlocking stitches are enlarged. As a result, the situation of the knitted fabric on the front side and the situation of the other side are not confused and recognized, so that the point needle can be accurately pierced into the overlocking eye, and the linking to the desired size and shape is performed correctly. .

Further, according to the present invention, an upper holding means for holding the upper portion of the overlocking stitch of the circular knitted fabric and moving in the inserting direction, and a lower holding means for holding the lower portion of the overlocking stitch of the circular knitting fabric and moving in the inserting direction. You may have. In this case, the stitches including the overlock stitches are imaged in a further enlarged state. As a result, the position of the overlocking stitch can be detected more reliably, and the linking can be performed more surely to the desired size and shape.

Furthermore, in the present invention, at least the surface of the insert body on which the overlocking stitches are arranged is formed in a flat shape, and the image pickup direction of the image pickup means is perpendicular to the width direction of the flat surface of the insert body. It may be arranged. In this case, the situation near the overlocking stitch of the circular knit fabric is two-dimensionally imaged. Accordingly, a plurality of overlocking stitches can be simultaneously imaged at once, so that it is not necessary to individually image each overlocking stitch of the circular knit fabric, and the time required for linking is shortened and the production efficiency is improved.

In the present invention, the insert may have a light emitting means. In this case, the light transmitted through the circular knit fabric is detected by the image pickup means. As a result, a multi-tone image in which the boundary portion between the fiber portion of the circular knit fabric and the overlocking stitch portion can be clearly discriminated is captured, so that the position of the overlocking stitch can be detected more accurately, and it is possible to more reliably obtain the desired position. It is correctly linked to the size and shape.

Further, in the present invention, the insert may have a slit, and an illuminating means for irradiating the slit with light.
In this case, also with respect to the knitted fabric arranged on the slit, the light transmitted through the circular knit fabric is received by the imaging means. As a result, a multi-tone image in which the boundary portion between the fiber portion and the stitch portion of the circular knitted fabric arranged on the slit can be clearly discriminated is captured, and thus the position of the overlock stitch on the slit can be detected more accurately. Further, it is possible to pierce and link the overlocking stitch of the knitted fabric on the front side and the overlocking stitch on the other side by the same point needle.

Further, in the present invention, the overlocking eye detecting means is provided with a means for converting the multi-tone image into a binary image, a means for converting the binary image into a label image, and a label included in the label image. An area for generating an extracted label image by counting the number of constituent pixels of each area and extracting only an area having a number of constituent pixels larger than a value set based on the minimum number of constituent pixels of the area formed by the overlaid eye in the label image An extraction unit and a unit that calculates the position of each overlaid eye by calculating the position of each region included in the extracted label image may be provided. In this case, the overlocking eye is extracted based on the area of the region, and the position of the overlocking eye is obtained. Accordingly, it is possible to correctly identify the position of the overlocked stitches by identifying the stitches which are the overlaid stitches and the other stitches.

In the present invention, the means for converting into a binary image is
A unit that divides the multi-tone image into a plurality of small areas and that determines the binarization threshold value for each small area based on the image characteristics in the small area may be included. In this case, the image of each part is binarized according to the illumination condition of each part of the circular knit fabric. As a result, the boundary between the fiber portion and the overlocking portion of the circular knitting fabric is detected without being affected by the lighting condition of each portion of the circular knitting fabric, so that the overlocking stitch can be detected more accurately,
It is surely linked correctly to the desired size and shape.

In the present invention, the means for associating the point needle with the position of the overlocked eye includes means for displacing the position of the overlocked eye in one direction and means for displacing the point needle in a direction orthogonal to the one direction. But it is okay. In this case, by displacing the position of the overlocking stitch and the point needle,
The point hand can be accurately associated with the position of the overlocked eye.

The above objects, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings.

[0014]

1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a linking device for circular knitted fabric according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the overlocking eye detecting portion, and FIG. 3 is an essential part schematic view showing a state in which socks in which the vicinity of the toes are not closed are inserted into the overlocking eye detecting portion.

The circular knitting cloth linking device 1 includes a lower plate 2. The lower elevator 3 is installed at the approximate center of the lower plate 2. The lower elevator 3 is configured to move the plate member on the upper surface in the vertical direction by combining a plate member with a cam, a drive motor, or a combination of the plate member with a hydraulic jack. A cylindrical base tube 4 is provided on the upper surface of the lower elevator 3.
The base cylinder 4 is used for inserting and stocking a plurality of circular knit fabrics, and is formed to have an appropriate length. Further, the overlocking eye detecting unit 10 having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is arranged above the base cylinder 4.

The overlocking eye detecting section 10 includes a lower insertion plate 12a and an upper insertion plate 12b which are long flat plates. Lower insertion plate 1
The structure of 2a and the upper insertion plate 12b will be described. The lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b have an intermediate plate 14 that is not easily deformed and is made of, for example, a stainless plate.
Then, by covering the front surface and the back surface of the intermediate plate 14,
EL (Electro Luminescence) panels 16a and 16b
Are laminated with the light emitting portion facing outward. Furthermore, EL
The EL panel 1 is provided on the outward surface of the panels 16a and 16b.
To protect 6a, 16b, cover the entire surface,
For example, the transparent plates 18a and 18b made of transparent acrylic plates are stacked to form the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b.

The EL panels 16a and 16b are provided with
It is electrically connected to an operating power supply (not shown) so that an appropriate voltage can be applied and light can be emitted arbitrarily. In this embodiment, the EL panel is used as the light emitting means, but the light emitting means is not limited to this and may be any one having a light emitting function.
However, in consideration of the processing in the image processing device 26, which will be described later, the EL panel used in the example of this embodiment is arranged so that the brightness on the surface of the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b does not vary depending on the location. Alternatively, it is desirable to use a plasma display panel or the like that emits surface light.

The lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b
As shown in FIG. 3, a sock W (hereinafter simply referred to as an unfinished sock W) in which the vicinity of the toe, which is a circular knit fabric, is not closed.
It is placed through. The lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b are formed in such a size that when the unfinished sock W is inserted, at least the portion of the unfinished sock W where the overlock K is formed is stretched and expanded. . That is, at least the widths of the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b where the overlocking stitch K is arranged are such that there is no gap between the knitted fabric on the front side of the unfinished sock W and the knitted fabric on the other side. It is formed to be wider than the width of the unfinished socks W in the state in which the socks are finished. Further, in order to hold the overlocking stitch K at a constant height, hooks 19a and 19b for hooking on the overlocking stitch K at both ends are provided on both sides of the lower insertion plate 12a. The lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b are
It is desirable that the unfinished socks W not have a portion such as a protrusion in which the outer shape changes rapidly so that the unfinished sock W can be smoothly inserted and can be moved on the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b. .

The rollers 20a, 2 serving as lower clamping means are provided on the front and back of the lower portion of the lower insertion plate 12a.
0b are arranged symmetrically with respect to the lower insertion plate 12a. As shown in FIG. 3, the rollers 20a and 20b are for rotating the unfinished socks W while pressing the unfinished socks W against the insertion plate 12a and moving them in the insertion direction below the portion where the overlocking stitch K is formed. It is driven by driving means such as a motor provided with an encoder so that it can rotate by an arbitrary amount. In addition,
The rollers 20a and 20b are provided with a frame portion 5 (FIG. 1) near the lower insertion plate 12a so that the work of inserting the unfinished socks W into the lower insertion plate 12a can be performed easily, and the frame portion 5 (FIG. 1).
An arm 6 is movably attached to the arm 6, and both ends of the roller shaft are supported by the arms 6 so that the arm 6 can be separated from the surface of the insertion plate 12a.

Further, above the upper insertion plate 12b, when the holding arm portions 22a, 22b configured to be openable and closable are closed, the upper portions of the front and back surfaces of the insertion plate 12 are sandwiched across the width direction. The upper holding portion 22 is arranged. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper sandwiching portion 22 includes the overlocking eye K.
This is for sandwiching the unfinished sock W above the portion where the is formed and moving it in the insertion direction, and is supported by the upper elevator 7 configured so that the supporting position can be arbitrarily changed. The insertion plate 12b is fixed to the lower surface of the upper elevator 7 so as not to interlock with the movement of the upper holding portion 22. In addition, the sandwiching arm portions 22a and 22b are connected to the belt 8
A rotational force is applied to the rotary shaft by the motor 9 via the motor so that it can be opened and closed arbitrarily. Furthermore, the upper clamping unit 2
2. The upper insert 12b and the like are configured to be movable laterally by an arm 13 formed on a pedestal 11 located beside the lower elevator 3.

Then, the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 1
A CCD camera 24 is provided near the front and back of 2b.
The a and 24b are arranged so that the imaging direction is perpendicular to the surfaces of the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b. CC
The D cameras 24a and 24b capture multi-gradation images including images of all overlocking stitches K of the unfinished socks W arranged on the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b from a short distance. The multi-gradation images captured by the CCD cameras 24a and 24b are appropriately switched and input to the image processing device 26 in accordance with the location where the overlocking eye is detected. In this embodiment, the CCD cameras 24a and 24b are arranged so that the image pickup direction is perpendicular to the surfaces of the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b, but the overlock K of the unfinished sock W is included. The arrangement may be appropriately changed as long as it is within a range in which the situation of the stitches can be clearly imaged.

An image processing device 26 is electrically connected to the CCD cameras 24a and 24b. Image processing device 2
Reference numeral 6 is for detecting the overhanging eye K provided on the unfinished sock W based on the multi-tone image picked up by the CCD cameras 24a, 24b. The image processing device 26 includes a smoothing processing unit 28 that performs a smoothing process on a multi-tone image, a binarization processing unit 30 that binarizes the multi-tone image, and a binarization process used for binarization. A threshold value determining unit 32 for obtaining a threshold value and a labeling processing unit 34 for converting a binarized image into a label image.
And an overlocking eye area extraction unit 36 that extracts an overlocking eye area based on the number of pixels constituting each labeled area included in the label image to generate an extracted label image, and the position of each overlocking eye area included in the extracted label image. And an overlocking eye position calculation unit 38 for calculating The functions of the respective parts will be described in detail when the operation state of the linking device 1 for a circular knitting cloth with respect to an unfinished sock W is described later.

The point needle controller will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the point needle control unit, FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the structure of the point needle, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the needle portion.

A point needle control unit 50 is arranged above the front side of the frame body 5. The point needle control unit 50 includes a conveyor 52 as shown in FIG. The conveyor 52 is fixed so as to horizontally move the belt 54 in the front-rear direction. Furthermore, on the belt 54,
A point needle lateral position control unit 60 including a combination of the feed screw 56 and the feed motor 58 is attached via a plate 61. In this case, the feed screw 56 is horizontally attached to the plate 61. The feed screw 56 is provided with another plate 63 so that it can be displaced laterally. In this case, the plate 63 is arranged near the lower insertion plate 12a. A needle push control unit 66 including a feed screw 62 and a feed motor 64 is fixed to the front side of the plate 63. Furthermore, at the back end of the plate 63, a point needle 6 having a width substantially the same as that of the lower insertion plate 12a.
8 is attached so as to face the upper end of the lower insertion plate 12a.

As shown in FIG. 5, the point needle 68 is provided with a plurality of grooves 70 at regular intervals, and a sheath portion 72 having a comb-like longitudinal cross section and a groove 70 which can be pushed back and forth freely. A plurality of needles 74 and a lid portion 76 that covers a part of the upper surface of the sheath portion 72 on the near side. As shown in FIG. 6, the needle 74 has an L-shaped end portion on the front side, and is formed to be hooked on the front end surface of the sheath 72 when pushed out to the back side. There is. In addition, a step-like step is provided at the back end of the needle 74, and when the needle 74 is pulled back to the front side, the lid 7
It is formed so as to be hooked on 6. In addition, the needle 74
A guide groove 78 for guiding a sewing machine needle, which will be described later, is formed on the upper surface of the end portion on the back side of the sewing machine. A guide groove similar to the guide groove 78 is also formed at the tip portions of the hooks 19a and 19b.

The feed screw 6 of the point needle lateral position control unit 66
As shown in FIG. 5, a female screw member 79 is screwed onto the screw 2. It A block pushing / pulling portion 80 having a solenoid for generating a force for pushing the needle 74 is fixed to the female screw member 79. Further, a block 84 having a needle push pin 82 on the surface facing the point needle 68 is attached to the block push / pull portion 80.

The point needle control unit 50 can change the position of the point needle 68 in the front-rear direction by driving the conveyor 52 with the above-described structure. Further, the lateral position of the point needle 68 can be changed by driving the point needle lateral position control unit 60. Further, by intermittently driving the needle push control unit 66 and the block push / pull unit 80, the needles 74 can be pushed out one by one. The conveyor 52, the point needle lateral position control unit 60, the needle push control unit 66, and the block push / pull unit 80 are electrically connected to the control unit 90 (FIG. 1), and the needle 74 of the point needle 68 is It is possible to correspond to the position of the overlocking stitch detected by the overlocking stitch detection unit 10 and to push out toward the overlocking stitch.

Furthermore, this linking device 1 for circular knit fabrics
Includes a sewing machine 100 for linking the overlock stitch using the guide groove 78 of the needle 74 of the point needle 68 pierced through the overlock stitch. The sewing machine 100 is configured to be movable laterally by an arm 17 or the like formed on another mount 15 located beside the lower elevator 3.

Next, with reference mainly to FIG. 7, the operating state of the linking device for circular knitted fabric for the unfinished sock W will be described. It should be noted that the figure is a flow chart showing an example of the operating state of the linking device for circular knit fabric.

First, in step S1, the unfinished socks W are set on the overlocking stitch detecting section 10 of the circular knit fabric. Explaining the setting operation, first, the unfinished socks W are inserted into the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b. At this time, hooks 19 are attached to the overlocking stitches K at both ends of the unfinished socks W.
a and 19b are inserted. As a result, unfinished socks W
Are stretched in the width direction. Then, the unfinished sock W is held above the overlocking stitch K by the holding arm portion 22a of the upper holding portion 22,
22b is sandwiched between the rollers 22a, and the rollers 20a and 20b are sandwiched by pressing the rollers 20a and 20b below the overlocking stitch K against the lower insertion plate 12a, as shown in FIG.

Next, in step S2, the unfinished sock W is held by the upper holding portion 22 and the rollers 20a and 20b.
Extend in the insertion direction. As for the extension, as shown in FIG. 3, the support position of the upper holding portion 22 is moved upward or the roller 2 is moved.
It is performed by rotating 0a, 20b to pull down the unfinished sock W, or by performing both of the above operations. At the time of extension, care must be taken so that the overlocking stitch K is arranged within the image capturing range of the CCD cameras 24a and 24b.

The results of the steps S1 and S2 performed so far will be explained.
The stitches are expanded in both the width direction of the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b and in the insertion direction, and the overlaid stitch K is easily detected by the image processing device 26. In this embodiment, in step S2, the rollers 20a and 20b and the upper sandwiching portion 22 extend the unfinished sock W in the inserting direction. However, in step S1, the unfinished sock W and the inserting plate are inserted. 12
When the unfinished socks W are appropriately stretched in the insertion direction due to the friction with, the step S2 may be omitted.

Next, in step S3, as shown in FIG. 8, the CCD cameras 24a and 24b image the condition of the stitches including the knitting stitches K formed on the unfinished sock W. During imaging, the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 1
The 2b EL panels 16a and 16b are turned on, and transmitted light is used to clearly distinguish the boundary portion between the fiber portion and the stitch portion of the unfinished sock W, and the CCD camera 2 is used.
Images are taken at 4a and 24b. Note that FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showing a part of a multi-tone image picked up by a CCD camera.

Then, in step S4, the picked-up multi-tone image is input to the smoothing processing unit 28 included in the image processing device 26, and converted into a smoothed multi-tone image. The smoothing processing unit 28 includes CCD cameras 24a, 2
The noise included in the multi-tone image picked up by 4b is removed, and the image is converted into an image in which fine fluctuation of the density tone of each pixel is eliminated. By performing the smoothing process, the multi-tone image becomes an image in which the boundary portion between the fiber portion and the stitch portion of the unfinished socks W can be more clearly discriminated. As the smoothing filter, a simple averaging filter that replaces the average value of the gradations of the pixel of interest and its surrounding pixels with the value of the pixel of interest, a filter that uses the moving average method, or the like is used. Can be used.

In step S5, as shown in FIG. 9, the smoothed multi-tone image is input to the binarization processing unit 30 and binarized to convert it into a binary image. In addition,
FIG. 9 is an illustrative view showing a state where the multi-tone image shown in FIG. 8 is binarized.

The binarization process will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10. First, in step S51, the threshold value determining unit 32 divides the multi-tone image into small regions having the same area. When dividing into small areas, the small areas may be divided such that they overlap at a certain ratio. 10. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation status of the binarization processing.

Next, in step S52, the binarization threshold value for each small area is determined based on the density histogram for each small area. Further, a more appropriate binarized threshold value that is smoothed can be obtained by performing threshold value interpolation between small areas. Although the P-tile method is used as the threshold value determining method in this embodiment, a threshold value determining method such as a mode method or a discriminant analysis method may be used. Further, when the lighting condition of the unfinished socks W is small and the binarization threshold does not need to be frequently changed, the binarization threshold obtained by first executing this step is saved and May be applied to the binarization processing of the input image from the next time onward.

In step S53, the final step of the binarization process is conversion of the multi-tone image into a binary image. In the binarization process, the binarization threshold value for each small area determined by the threshold value determination unit 32 is used for conversion. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the image signal “1” is applied to a portion corresponding to a fiber portion, that is, a pixel having a high density gradation, and to a portion corresponding to a stitch portion, that is, a pixel having a low density gradation. A binary image is formed by allocating the image signal “0”.

Then, in step S6, the labeling processing unit 34 converts the binary image into a label image. In this embodiment, as a result of converting the binary image into the label image, as shown in FIG. 11, the pixel at the portion corresponding to the fiber portion remains “0” and is not labeled and is maintained. And, in the stitch portion including the overlocking stitch K,
An area is formed by adding labels such as characters and symbols other than "0". As a result, as can be seen by comparing FIG. 9 and FIG. 11, “c” and
Labels "d", "e", "f", and "g" are assigned. Note that FIG. 11 is an illustrative view showing a state in which the binary image shown in FIG. 9 has undergone labeling processing.

In step S7, as shown in FIG. 12, the overlaid eye area extracting unit 36 extracts the area showing the labeled overlaid eyes K (hereinafter, simply referred to as the overlaid eye area). Note that FIG. 12 is an illustrative view showing a state in which the overcast area is extracted from the label image shown in FIG. 11.

The overcast eye extraction processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 13. First, in step S71, the number of pixels constituting the labeled area included in the label image, which indicates the area of the labeled area (hereinafter, simply referred to as area). (Called) is counted for each area. Note that FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing an example of the operating state of the overcast eye extraction processing.

Next, in step S72, the preset area threshold is compared with the area of each labeled area, and if the area of the focused area is smaller than the area threshold, as shown in step S731. Then, the label value of the region of interest is deleted, and "0" is input to the pixels of that region. If the area of the focused area is larger than the area threshold, the label value of the focused area is stored in the current shape as shown in step S732. The area threshold value is set to be slightly smaller than the minimum value of the number of constituent pixels of the overlaid eye labeled area when the image of the overlaid eye K is binarized and subjected to the labeling process. In this embodiment, the area threshold value is set to 12.

Then, in step S74, it is determined whether or not there is an unprocessed labeled area, and the processing from step S72 is performed on all the labeled areas.

In step S8, the position of the overlocking stitch is detected by calculating the position of the overcast stitch region by the overcast stitch position calculating unit 38. In this embodiment, the position of the center of gravity of the overlaid eye region is regarded as the position of the overlaid eye for calculation.

Then, as shown in FIG. 14, step S
In No. 9, whether the needle 74 can be inserted into the overlocking eye K is judged from the detected position of the overlocking eye K and the position of the needle 74.

As shown in FIG. 15, if the detected overlocking stitch K is displaced up and down and the needle 74 is in a position where it cannot penetrate the overlocking stitch K, step 10 is executed. , The rollers 20a, 20b are used to displace the cloth along the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b, and the point needle 68 is displaced in a direction orthogonal to the displacement direction of the cloth, so that the cloth is positioned at a position corresponding to the overlocking stitch K. The needle 74 is adjusted to come.

When the adjustment is made in step 10, the process is returned to the regression point 1 and the position of the overlocking stitch is detected again. Then, when the needle 74 cannot be adjusted to the position corresponding to the overlocking eye by one adjustment, the above-described adjustment of the position is performed a plurality of times.

With this adjustment, when one overlocking stitch and the needle 74 come to the corresponding positions as shown in FIG. 16, the needle 74 is pushed out in step S11. As a result, as shown in FIG. 17, the needle 74 is pierced by the overlocking stitch K of the cloth and stops in a state of being in contact with one surface of the lower insertion plate 12a.

Then, in step 12, the needle 74
It is determined whether or not the extrusion has been performed for all overlocking stitches K on the one surface side of the lower insertion plate 12a. If not performed for all overlocking stitches K on one side, the process is returned to the regression point 1. If all the overlocking stitches on the one side are performed, step 1
The process is advanced to 3.

In step S13, it is determined whether or not the process in step S11 has been performed for all the overlocking stitches K on one side. One overhanging eye K
If the needle 74 has not been pushed out, the process proceeds to step 14.

In step 14, as shown in FIG. 18, the lower insertion plate 12a slides downward to form a slit N between the lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12b. At this time,
Make sure that the point needle 68 does not come off the overlocked eye of the fabric.
As shown in FIG. 19, the point needle 68 is slightly pushed forward, and the needle 74 is positioned in the slit N. Further, a light (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the slit N is turned on, the camera for imaging is switched to the CCD camera 24b, and then the process is returned to the regression point 1.

The lower insertion plate 12a and the upper insertion plate 12
18 and 19, even if the slit N is formed between it and the b, the overlocking stitch K on the other surface side of the insertion plate is formed.
In many cases, the position of and the needle 74 do not correspond. Therefore, even on the other surface side of the insertion plate, the overlock detection unit 10
Thus, the overlocking stitch K is detected. And the insertion plate 1
2A, 12b is adjusted in the same manner as the one surface side so that the position of the overlocking stitch K of the cloth on the other surface side of the insertion plates 12a, 12b and the needle 74 come to the corresponding position. Since the cloth is displaced by the rollers 20a and 20b, the cloth is simultaneously displaced on both sides of the insertion plate.
On the one surface side of the insertion plate, the needle 74 is pierced through the overlocking stitch K, so that the cloth does not move so much on the one surface side of the insertion plates 12a and 12b, and the needle 74 does not come off from the overlocking stitch K. .

As a result of such an adjustment, as shown in FIG. 20, when the overlocking stitch K of the cloth and the needle 74 on the other surface side of the insertion plates 12a and 12b come to correspond to each other, the needle 74
Is pushed further. As a result, as shown in FIG. 21, one needle 74 is pierced through the overlocking stitch K of the cloth on the one surface side and the other surface side of the insertion plates 12a and 12b. Similarly, with respect to all the overlocking stitches K on the other surface side of the insertion plate, the needle 74 is pierced from the one surface side of the insertion plates 12a and 12b. Then, in step 13, when the needles 74 are pierced through all the overlocking stitches K, the needles 74 of the point needles 68 and the hooks 19a, 19b.
Linking is performed by the sewing machine 100 using the guide grooves of. It should be noted that the position information of the overlocking area is appropriately stored in a recording device (not shown) provided inside or outside the image processing device 26, or the position of the point needle and the circular knit fabric is relatively set. It is input to a linking device having a function of changing and is used when the point needle is automatically pierced into the overlocking eye.

In this embodiment, the case in which the stitches other than the overlock stitches are not extracted by the overlock stitch region extracting section 36 has been described.
In consideration of the case of extraction exceeding the area threshold value, referring to the predicted position of the overlocking eye set based on the overlocking eye position information when the unfinished socks W are arranged in advance in the inserts 12a, 12b. It is also possible to perform the extraction processing on the labeled area of the stitch closest to the position as the overedging area. If the area of the overcast eye K is not extracted in the vicinity of the predicted position, the initial area threshold value may be lowered and the above process may be repeated until the overcast area is extracted in the vicinity of the predicted position.

Further, when the point needle 68 is pierced through the overlocking eye K, it is not necessary to displace both the point needle 68 and the cloth, for example, with the cloth fixed, the point needle 6
Alternatively, the point needle 68 may be moved to the position of the overlocking eye K by displacing 8 vertically and horizontally. Further, by fixing the point needle 68 and disposing rollers on the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the cloth, for example, the cloth is two-dimensionally displaced vertically, horizontally, and thereby the point needle 68 comes to the position of the overlocking eye K. May be.

The linking device 1 for the above-mentioned circular net cloth
Then, the needle 74 of the point needle 68 is provided only on one surface side of the insertion plate, the needle 74 is pierced by the overlocking stitch K on the one surface side of the insertion plate, and the needle 74 is attached to the other surface of the insertion plate. Although the overlocking stitch K on the side is also pierced, in the present invention, the needle of the point needle is provided on each of the one surface side and the other surface side of the insertion plate, and the needle on one surface side of the insertion plate is one of the insertion plates. Insert the needle on the other side of the insertion plate through the overlocking eye on the other side, insert the needle on the other surface side of the insertion plate through the overlocking eye on the other surface side of the insertion plate, and butt the needles together You may move the overlocked eye so that it passes through. In this case, it is preferable that after the one needle is pierced through the overlocking eye, the tip portion of the needle is pushed by the removal preventing member in order to prevent the overlocking eye from coming off from the one needle.

Further, the linking device 1 for the above-mentioned circular net cloth
Then, a plurality of needles 74 are pierced through the plurality of overlocking stitches K in order from the end. In the present invention, first, only the appropriate number of overlocking stitches K among the plurality of overlocking stitches K are separated by an appropriate distance. 7
The remaining overlocking stitch K and the remaining needle 74 may be made to correspond to each other by piercing No. 4, and the remaining needle 74 may be pierced through the remaining overlocking stitch K almost at the same time.

The linking device 1 for the above-mentioned circular net cloth
Then, when the positions of the plurality of overlocking stitches K correspond to the positions of the plurality of needles 74, the needles 74 can be pierced into the overlocking stitches K at almost the same time.

[0059]

As described above, according to the overlocking stitch detecting portion of the circular knitted fabric according to the present invention, the situation of the knitted fabric on the front side of the circular knitted fabric and the situation on the other side can be confused and recognized. Since there is no edge, the position of the overlocking eye can be accurately detected. Then, the point needle can be accurately brought to the position of the overlocked eye, and accurate linking can be performed.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned examples are merely a few examples of the present invention, and can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the claims.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a linking device for circular knitted fabric according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a overcast detection unit.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative view of a main part showing a state in which a sock in which the vicinity of the toe is not closed is inserted into the overlocking eye detecting portion.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a point needle control unit.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the structure of a point needle.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a needle portion.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of the operating state of the overlocking eye detection unit.

FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showing a part of a multi-tone image picked up by a CCD camera.

9 is an illustrative view showing a state where the multi-tone image shown in FIG. 8 is binarized.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation status of the binarization processing.

FIG. 11 is an illustrative view showing a state where the binary image shown in FIG. 9 has been subjected to labeling processing.

12 is an illustrative view showing a state in which a overcast area has been extracted from the label image shown in FIG. 11. FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operating state of the overcast eye extraction processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a step of passing a point needle through the overlocking eye.

FIG. 15 is a side view illustrative view showing a case where the position of the overlocking stitch on the one surface side of the inserter does not correspond to the position of the needle.

FIG. 16 is a schematic side view showing a case where the overlocking stitches on the one surface side of the inserter are adjusted to the positions of the needles.

FIG. 17 is a side view diagram showing a state in which the needle is passed through the overlocking eye on the one surface side of the inserter.

FIG. 18 is a side view solution diagram showing a state in which the lower insert is slid.

FIG. 19 is a side view solution diagram showing a state where a needle enters the slit between the upper and lower inserts.

FIG. 20 is a side view diagram showing a state in which the other side of the inserter is adjusted so that the overlocking eye comes to the position of the needle.

FIG. 21 is a side view solution diagram showing a state in which a needle is passed through an overlocking eye on both sides of the inserter.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Linking device for circular knit fabric 3 Lower elevator 12a lower insertion plate 12b Upper insertion plate 19a, 19b hook 20a, 20b roller 22 Upper clamping part 24a, 24b CCD camera 26 Image processing device 68 point needle 100 sewing machines

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takuya Fukitsuki 35-1 Ikenishi, Nawa-cho, Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture (72) Inventor Takeshi Takeuchi 105-1-502 Yabashi-cho, Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture (56) Reference Documents JP-A-5-305189 (JP, A) JP-A-60-119201 (JP, A) JP-A-6-296782 (JP, A) JP-A-9-103589 (JP, A) JP-A-10- 118364 (JP, A) Japanese Patent Publication 3-49478 (JP, B2) Patent 2901644 (JP, B2) Patent 3170238 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) D05B 7 / 00 D06C D06H

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A multi-tone image including an inserter that is inserted into a circular knitted fabric having overlocked stitches to extend the circular knitted fabric, and an image of the overlocked stitches of the circular knitted fabric stretched by the inserter. An image pickup means for picking up images, an overlocking eye detecting means for detecting the position of the overlocking eye by performing image processing on the multi-tone image, and a point needle corresponding to the position of the overlocking eye detected by the overlocking eye detecting means. A linking device for circular knitting fabric, comprising: a means, a means for piercing the point needle in each overlock stitch, and a sewing machine mechanism for linking the overlock stitch, which pierces the point needle. 2. An upper holding means for holding the upper portion of the overlocking stitch of the circular knitted fabric and moving in the inserting direction, and a lower holding means for holding the lower portion of the overlocking stitch of the circular knitting fabric and moving in the inserting direction. The linking device for circular knitted fabric according to claim 1. 3. The inserter is formed such that at least a surface on which the overlocking eye is arranged is formed in a flat shape, and the image pickup means is arranged such that an image pickup direction is perpendicular to a width direction of the flat surface of the inserter. The linking device for circular knitted fabric according to claim 1 or 3, which is provided. 4. The linking device for circular knitted fabric according to claim 1, wherein the insert has a light emitting means. 5. The linking device for circular knitting fabric according to claim 1, wherein the insert has a slit, and an illuminating unit that irradiates the slit with light. 6. The overcast eye detecting means includes means for converting the multi-tone image into a binary image, means for converting the binary image into a label image, and a label included in the label image. The number of constituent pixels of each area is counted, and an extracted label image is generated by extracting only an area having a number of constituent pixels larger than a value set based on the minimum number of constituent pixels of the area formed in the label image by the overcast eye. Area extracting means, and means for obtaining the position of each overlocking eye by calculating the position of each area included in the extracted label image,
The linking device for circular knitting fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The means for converting into the binary image divides the multi-tone image into a plurality of small areas, and determines a binarization threshold value for each of the small areas based on image characteristics of the small area. The circular knitting fabric linking device according to claim 6, further comprising: 8. The means for associating the point needle with the position of the overlocking stitch includes a means for displacing the position of the overlocking stitch in one direction and a means for displacing the point needle in a direction orthogonal to the one direction. A linking device for circular knit fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which comprises: 9. The circular knitting fabric according to claim 1, wherein the means for associating the point needle with the position of the overlocking stitch includes means for two-dimensionally displacing the point needle. Linking device. 10. The circular knitting according to claim 1, wherein the means for associating the point needle with the position of the overlocking stitch includes a means for two-dimensionally displacing the position of the overlocking stitch. Linking device for dough.