JPS6039396B2 - automatic fabric loader for sewing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an automatic fabric for a sewing machine that automatically inserts two pieces of fabric to be sewn into the upper and lower sides of a separating plate, respectively, and then automatically sets the fabric to the fabric sewing set position of the sewing machine. It is related to the loader.

When inserting two pieces of fabric above and below the separating plate,
Since the operator had to do it by hand, the insertion work was time consuming and required skill, which significantly degraded the original performance of the automatic sewing machine.

Also, when a worker sets fabrics above and below the separation plate, the next fabric cannot be set on the separation plate until the previous fabric has finished sewing, which makes it impossible to increase the operating rate. was there. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks by automatically inserting two pieces of fabric into the upper and lower parts of a separating plate, and by automatically setting these pieces of fabric through the separating plate at a cloth sewing setting position. Our objective is to provide an automatic fabric loader for sewing machines.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a sewing machine to which the automatic fabric loader of the present invention is applied, which machine includes a horizontal table 11 on which two overlapping pieces of fabric 10, 10' to be sewn are placed. It is of the usual type having a sewing machine head 12 and a sewing machine head 12 fixed to the table. This sewing machine is also equipped with a conventional type of advancing/sewing mechanism for advancing and stitching the fabrics 10, 10', and this advancing/sewing mechanism has a conventional sewing needle 13 extending from the sewing machine head 12 and a sewing machine facing the needle. It has a normal feed dog (not shown) provided on the table surface. The fabric is fed to the first feed dog in the usual way.
The stitches are sewn by the needle 13 while being fed in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Along the feeding direction of the fabric, a separating plate 14 is provided horizontally in front of the needle 13 at an appropriate distance from the surface of the table 11, and this separating plate separates two pieces of fabric 10 as usual. , 10' before suturing.

A pair of opposing manipulators 15 and 15' are arranged above and below the separation plate with the separation plate in between. The upper manipulator 15 controls proper feeding of the upper fabric, and the lower manipulator 15' controls proper feeding of the lower fabric. These manipulators have a structure similar to that shown, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-4819Y, filed by the applicant of the present invention. Briefly, these manipulators have a main body 16, at one end of which is a control roller 17 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) rotatable about a fill line parallel to the direction of fabric feed. It is provided. The control roller 17 of the upper manipulator 15 can press the upper cloth against the upper surface of the separation plate with an appropriate pressure, and the control roller of the lower manipulator 15' can press the lower cloth against the lower surface of the separation plate with an appropriate pressure. can. The ends of the bodies 16 of these manipulators are pivoted to a table so that the control rollers can be moved into and out of contact with the fabric. Stoppers 1 of the same shape are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of one side of the separation plate 14 to engage with the edge of the upper cloth and the green of the lower cloth, respectively.
9 (see FIG. 3) and, as clearly shown in FIG. 4, detection means 18, 18' are provided adjacent to each of the manipulators 15, 15'. Each of these detection means includes a cloth edge detection sensor 18a as shown in FIG.
and a sensor 18b for detecting the presence or absence of cloth. These sensors 8a, 18b consist of, for example, a pair of light emitting diode phototransistors. For example, the side edge greens of the upper and lower fabrics are prevented from shifting from the reference position toward the biting side (increasing the distance from the side edge greens of the fabric to the sewing line) by a stopper 19, and the side edge greens are If it deviates to the relief side opposite to the biting side, it is moved to the biting side by the control o-ra of the manipulator until the side edge green reaches the reference position in response to the signal from the detection means 18, 18'. .

In this way, the edge of the fabric is sewn while being guided in the feeding direction while being constantly corrected to the appropriate position. For detailed operation of this manipulator, please refer to the above-mentioned earlier application. The automatic fabric loader of the present invention inserts the upper and lower fabrics into the upper and lower parts of the separating plate, respectively, and automatically loads these fabrics into the sewing set position, that is, the feed dog engagement position and the manipulator operating position. The sewing machine is provided with a fabric separating means 20 for separating two pieces of fabric at a position, and a feeding means 30 for feeding the fabric to the sewing setting position.

The fabric separating means 20, as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, has a frame 22 attached to the table surface, which frame is located horizontally at a distance from the table surface and partially has an upper surface 23 located above the separation plate 14.
The frame body also has a gate 24 extending in the horizontal direction through which the fabric passes.
is provided. At the upper and lower ends of the gate 25 through which the gate fabric passes, a plurality of air jet ports 26 are provided at laterally spaced intervals. A pressurized air supply means (not shown) is connected to this air outlet. This pressurized air supply means includes, for example, a compressor. Feeding means 3, for example consisting of a belt conveyor of the endless type, which is arranged at one end adjacent to the gate 24, the horizontal belt surface 32 on which the fabric of the belt 31 rests is approximately the same as the closing opening 25 of the gate 24. It is located on a horizontal plane.

Therefore, when the fabrics 10 and 10' are placed on top of each other at appropriate positions on the belt surface 32 of the driving belt as shown in FIG. 5a, these fabrics move toward the gate as shown in FIG. 5b. and is smoothly inserted into the closing opening 25 of the gate 24. The fabric separating means 2 also includes fabric sensing means 27 located just outside the gate 24.

This fabric detection means detects the front end of the fabric fed by the feeding means before passing through the gate, and issues a signal. The pressurized air supply means is switched on so as to blow out pressurized air. When the front edge of the fabric comes near the entrance of the gate, air will begin to blow out from the air outlet,
When the front ends of the two overlapping pieces of fabric pass through the gate 24 in this state, the air blown out from the air outlet as shown by the arrow in Figure 4 causes the front ends of the fabric to move up and down greatly as shown in Figure 5c. Separated. This is based on the fact that the two fabrics are separated by the negative pressure created by the air jet. In this way, when the upper cloth 10 and the lower cloth 10' whose front ends are separated from each other are moved by the feeding means 30, the upper cloth is placed on the upper surface of the separating plate 14.
Also, the lower cloth is smoothly inserted into the lower surface of the separating plate (see Figure 5d). Furthermore, the upper fabric and the lower fabric are moved by the feeding means 30 and set at the sewing setting position, as shown in FIG. 5e. Thereafter, the sewing machine is operated and the fabric is sewn while advancing in the normal manner as described below. In addition, in the above, it is also possible to provide the air outlet only on the upper side of the gate and omit the air outlet on the lower side of the gate.

In the above, an insertion assisting means 40 is provided on the upper surface 23 of the frame at a position above the front end of the separating plate for smoother insertion of the fabric into the separating plate 14 (see FIG. 4).
.

This insertion assisting means includes a detection means 41 for detecting that the fabric has started to be inserted into the separating plate, and an air jetting means 4 for ejecting air approximately in the traveling direction of the fabric in response to a signal from this detection means.
It consists of 2. When the detection means 41 detects the front end of the fabric, it controls the air injection from the air outlet 26 of the fabric separation means 20 and causes the air injection means 42 to eject air. This insertion assisting means allows the fabric to be inserted into the separation plate more reliably and quickly without buckling or the like. Incidentally, in the above explanation, the insertion assisting means has been described only for the upper cloth, but as shown in FIG. You can also do it. Also, so that the separating plate can enter smoothly between the fabrics,
As shown in FIG.
It is preferable to protrude smoothly as shown by a.

Further, when separating the upper and lower fabrics, it is preferable to provide the air outlets 26 over as wide a range as possible so that both sides of the fabric can be largely separated, and to direct both outermost air outlets slightly outward. Further, it is preferable that the frame 22 is provided with a side wall 22a (FIGS. 1 and 4) as an outside air shielding wall so that outside air does not blow in and affect the separation operation. This side wall blocks outside air from influencing the air ejected from the air outlet. Furthermore, in order to more smoothly insert the fabric into the separation plate, a detection means for detecting the fabric is provided near the front end of the separation plate 14, and when the detection means detects the fabric, the fabric is moved by the feeding means. It is preferable to slow down the speed or temporarily stop the movement so that the fabric can be separated more reliably by the air jet from the air jet port, and only the fabric can be actively inserted into the separating plate.

The feeding means 30 includes a detection means 5 which provides a signal to stop the movement of the cloth when the cloth is set at the sewing set position.
0 (see Figures 3 and 4).

This detection means is movable in position as shown by the arrow in FIG. This detection means detects that the fabric is set at the sewing set position, and stops driving the feeding means 30 and stops the air jetting means 42 from blowing out air. The detection means 50 is linked to the detection means 18, 18', the sewing machine and the manipulator in the following manner. That is, when the detecting means 50 and the detecting means 18, 18' all detect the fabric, the upper and lower manipulators control the fabric as described above, and the sewing machine operates, that is, moves forward, and the sewing mechanism operates to start sewing the fabric. When the detection means 18, 18' do not detect the fabric and only the rearing means 50 detects the fabric, the sewing machine does not drive, the feeding means 30 stops driving, and the upper and lower manipulators 15, 15' work to remove the fabric. Pull it toward the biting side and set the fabric in the proper position. Detection means 18,1
When the sensor 8b for detecting the presence of cloth 8' and the detection means 50 detect the cloth, the sewing machine is activated to feed the cloth, and the upper and lower manipulators control the cloth as described above and sew the cloth. As described above, in the present invention, by simply placing two pieces of fabric on the belt conveyor, these pieces of fabric are automatically moved and automatically inserted above and below the separating plate, respectively, and are automatically set at the sewing set position. can. Therefore, setting the fabric does not take much time and does not require skill.
Further, even while the previous fabric is being sewn, the next fabric can be placed on the belt and moved to the separating plate, so that the original function of the automatic sewing machine can be fully demonstrated, and the operating rate can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a top view of a sewing machine to which the automatic fabric loader of the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a front view thereof, Fig. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the separating plate, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of the automatic fabric loader of the present invention. The schematic cross-sectional views, FIGS. 5a to 5e, are explanatory diagrams showing a series of operations of the fabric for setting by the automatic fabric loader of the present invention,
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a specific shape of the separating plate of the present invention. 14... Separation plate, 20... Fabric separation means, 30... Feeding means, 40... Insertion assisting means. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A forward sewing mechanism that advances and sews two pieces of fabric to be sewn together, and a separation plate that is disposed in front of the forward sewing mechanism in the forward direction of the fabric and separates the two pieces of fabric. A sewing machine comprising: a fabric separating means for separating the two fabrics in order to insert the two fabrics above and below the separation plate, respectively;
a feeding means for feeding the two pieces of fabric through the fabric separating means and the separation plate to a set position of the forward sewing mechanism; A gate through which the fabric passes, an air outlet provided in the gate to blow out air in the direction of movement of the fabric to separate the two pieces of fabric, and pressurized air supply means for sending pressurized air to the air outlet. An automatic fabric loader for a sewing machine, comprising: 2. The fabric separation means includes a first fabric detection unit disposed in front of the gate in the fabric feeding direction, and when the first fabric detection unit detects the fabric, the pressurized air supply unit releases the air. The loader according to claim 1, wherein pressurized air is sent to the jet port. 3. The fabric separation means includes a second fabric detection unit disposed between the gate and the separation plate, and when the second detection unit detects the fabric, the feeding of the fabric by the feeding unit is temporarily stopped. 2. The loader according to claim 1, wherein the two pieces of fabric are largely separated by the fabric separating means so that the front ends of the two pieces of fabric are placed above and below a separation plate, respectively. 4. A loader according to claim 1, wherein said feeding means comprises a drivable belt conveyor on which the fabric is placed. 5. The feeding means includes a detection means for detecting when the fabric reaches the set position of the forward sewing mechanism, and when the detection means detects the fabric, the feeding of the fabric by the feeding means is stopped. A loader according to claim 1. 6. The loader according to claim 1, wherein one end of the separating plate is formed with a protruding central portion so that it can be easily inserted between two pieces of cloth. 7 A plurality of the air outlets are arranged at intervals along the width direction of the fabric, and the axes of the openings of both outermost air outlets are arranged slightly outwardly with respect to an axis parallel to the traveling direction of the fabric. The loader according to claim 1, which is provided obliquely. 8. The loader according to claim 7, wherein an outside air shielding wall is provided adjacent to the outermost air outlet.