US3757710A

US3757710A - Automatic quilting machine

Info

Publication number: US3757710A
Application number: US00006213A
Authority: US
Inventors: G Landoni
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-01-30
Filing date: 1970-01-27
Publication date: 1973-09-11
Anticipated expiration: 1990-09-11

Abstract

An automatic quilting machine for stitching together according to any programmed pattern a plain upper material, a lower material, elastic in the warp sense and optionally an intermediate batting, which provides that a certain drawing of the stitching paths consisting of a predetermined elementary pattern repeated a given number of times, can be alternated with another or more different drawings, each of which is formed also by a plurality of repetitions of a basic pattern. Two sets of knobs control the circuits of the machine and select the basic patterns and preset an associate counter which cooperates with an impulse generator for determining the number of said basic patterns to be repeated before changing over the subsequent drawing by means of a converter.

Description

Landoni 1111 3,757,710 1 1 Sept. 11, 1973 AUTOMATIC QUILTING MACHINE Glannino Landoni, 21012 Cassano Magnago Via Verdi 133, Milan, Italy 22 Filed: Jan.27, 1910 211 Appl. No.: 6,213

[76] Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 7/1967 Portnoff et al 112/79 X 3/1970 Brown et al 112/79 R Primary Examiner-Geo. V. Larkrin Attorney-Browdy and Neimark s7 ABSTRACT An automatic quilting machine for stitching together according to any programmed pattern a plain upper Jan. 30, 1969 Italy 12181 A/69 material a lower material elastic in the warp sense and optionally an intennediate batting, which provides that a certain drawing of the stitching paths consisting of a [58] Fie'ld 174 I9 79 102 03 predetermined elementary pattern repeated a given 12 H l2. 3l8/56'8 3 i number of times, can be alternated with another or 1 more different drawings, each of which is formed also by a plurality of repetitions of a basic pattern. Two sets [56] I Refugees cued of knobs control the circuits of the machine and select UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 the basic patterns and preset, an associate counter 3,473,496 10/1969 Hesz 112/118 which cooperates with an impulse generator for deter 3.497.780, 1970 Leenhouls 1 2112 X mining the number of said basic patterns to be repeated g f g I i: before changing over the subsequent drawing by means oevl z y 3,272,163 9/1966 Erwin et a1 112/79 R of a converter 6 8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Al c A l 1 V @D l I M 2 v 3-" \J 1! ill 3 4 0P1 W2 8 a x Fm E c1 u2 51 W1 M1 52 nnb a- W1 H --0 Y 5 4 M M --4 L J y I FC2- e p 1 AUTOMATIC QUILTING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic quilting machine and particularly to an improvement in an automatic quilting machine of the type described and claimed in the co-pending applications Ser. no. 566,826 filed on July 21, 1966 now U. S. Pat. No. 3,492,957 and Ser. No. 795,324 filed on Jan. 30, 1969 now U. S. Pat, No. 3,500,778, both by the same Applicant.

The automatic quilting machine which is the subjectmatter of the above-mentioned patent application is used to manufacture associated quilted materials which essentially consist of a plain material associated to another material which is elastic in the warp direction, by a plurality of stitchings according to any programmed pattern. Said stitchings are effected while keeping the elastic material under tension in the warp direction, so that when the tension is released, upon completion of the stitchings, the resulting material shows different stitching patterns and is highly elastic. Between the plain material and the elastic material, a layer of batting may be inserted and quilted together with said materials.

Said machine, which has been described and illustrated in detail in the above mentioned patent applications, essentially consists of a carriage on which a plurality of fabric supplying rolls are mounted. The carriage moves transversely and is controlled by the profile of an interchangeable cam, while the rolls are caused to rotate in a plane which is perpendicular to the direction of the carriage movement. As a result of said two movements, the fabric or fabrics wound on the rolls are moved with respect to a plurality of needles so as to obtain different stitching paths in accordance with the programmed pattern.

In the machine described in the above mentioned patent application Ser. No. 566,826, the rotation of the fabric feeding rolls perpendicularly to the carriage movement could be rendered independent from the latter with the aidof a programming device acting on an electromagnetic clutch and an electromagnetic brake. In this way, the stitchings follow either only a transverse path, if no movement is imparted to the fabric supplying rolls, or a diagonal path, as a result of a transverse movement of the carriage combined with the movement of the rolls. Longitudinal stitchings of the fabrics are performed only over reduced lengths,-depending on the profile of the cam which controls the transverse movement.

As a consequence of the improvement described in the patent application Ser. No. 795,324 the movable parts of said machine were further made dependent, in order to make it possible to quilt the fabrics not only in reduced length, but even in the longitudinal sense over any desired lengths. This is achieved by providing a second programming disk or other equivalent device capable of programming the desired sequence of cut-in and cut-off of a second electromagnetic clutch and a second electromagnetic brake.

In this manner, any desired stitching paths can be obtained, without any limitation. Said paths however are necessarily repeated at most at the end of each complete revolution of the programming disks, thus forming a pattern which is repeated ad infinitum. The quilting paths can be modified to obtain different patterns, but this has to be done by stopping the machine and switching over to another program.

On the other hand, in the manufacture of some articles such as quilts, mattresses, etc. it is necessary to alternate two or more different patterns, in such a way that each of them be reproduced over a preestablished and programmed length.

The operation of alternating two or more paterns, which should be perfonned manually, involves significant drawbacks. Indeed, in addition to resulting in suspending periodically the working of the machine, said operation is practically made impossible by the working speed of the machine, which in some cases requires a manual intervention to cause the machine to halt with a maximum accuracy at pre-established points and to change the program in a few fractions of a second. Of course, this cannot be done in actual practice, particularly so because, with a view to a regular succession in the patterns, the machine would have to stop for negligible periods of time with respect to the few seconds of working, which is absolutely impossible in view of the inherent inertia of the movable parts of the machine and the accuracy required for each suspension.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the improvement according to the present invention is to permit a certain pattern of the stitching paths, repeated as many times as desired, to be al- 'ternated with one or more types of different patterns BRIEF DESCRIFI ION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of said invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example, wherein, for the sake of simplification, the case will be considered in which only two different, periodically alternating patterns are applied, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents an example of two adjacent stitching paths constituted by two alternating types of patterns, according to the improvement of the present invention.

FIG. 2 represents another example of two adjacent stitching paths in which two different types of patterns are alternated periodically; and

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view, in separated parts, of the main elements composing the improved machine according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1 and 2 show the resulting effect, for two adjacent stitching paths, obtainable by repeating a certain number of identical patterns, which may be called the basic pattern.

In the aforesaid figures, the basic patterns recurring in the exemplified stitching paths have been shown in heavy type. The pointsof passage from a first type of pattern to a second one and th subsequent return to the first stitching path have been indicated by T and Z in FIG. 1 and T and Z in FIG. 2, respectively.

in the example of H6. 1, one of the two stitching paths consists of a longitudinal rectilinear path which proceeds over a certain length and is obtained, as is known, by disengaging the driving devices of the transverse movement from the driving shaft.

With reference to FIG. 3, it can be noticed that the improved machine according to this invention does not substantially differ from the machine described and claimed in the above mentioned application Ser. No. 795,324, except for the electric control equipment grouped in panels A and A1. Said equipment, which is shown only externally in the figure, includes, in addition tthe control units normally used in quilting machines and already described in the two above mentioned co-pending applications a computer A and a converter Al. Two sets of knobs are provided for selecting the types of stitching paths which are required to be alternated, and for programming the length of each of them. Knobs N and M serve to select two types of 1-4 or IIV basic patterns, which, repeated for a given number of times, constitute the stitching paths to be alternated. Knobs n and m serve to set the length of each different stitching path, i.e., the number of times that each different basic pattern has to be repeated.

A slide H for lateral reciprocation of the carriage B is driven by cam E and cam follower rollers G1 and G2.

The shaft M1 is stopped by an electric brake Y1, every time the clutch X1 is not engaged.

Another programming disc DPl with its photoelectric cell FCl is controlling the clutch X through the computer A and the converter Al.

An electric motor N1 is driving the main shaft L through a belt and pulley K. The worm D1 unitary with the shaft L meshes with the worm-wheel D2 and drives the shaft Ml of cam E by means of an electric clutch X1.

On the opposite end of the shaft M, the bevel gears T drive a gear box Pr with a program disk DP2 and a photoelectric cell FC2. The same shaft L is driving the bevel gears U1 and worm gears U2 which are moving through the shaft S, the shaft L1 which drives the roller C1, when the electric clutch X is energized. Heretofore, according to the co-pending applications mentioned hereinabove, said basic pattern had to be repeated for an indefinite number of times, unless the programming disks were substituted. Now, on the contrary, a system has been designed for the purpose of counting the number of basic patterns repeated and to switch over to another working program, once a given pre-fixed number is reached, so as to obtain another pre-established pattern of the stitching path, etc.

This has been achieved by providing a disk V connected to the gear box Pr of the quilting machine through such gear ratios that each of its revolutions corresponds to the execution of one or more basic quilting patterns. For the purpose of checking the number of basic patterns executed, a specific impulse generator C supplies at each revolution of the aforesaid disk, or at each whole part of said revolution corresponding to a basic pattern, an impulse which is sent into the computer A.

When the number of basic patterns selected e.g., by knob n as for the types of basic patterns chosen by knob N is reached, a converter A1 automatically switches in the program of the basic pattern selected by the knob M; the basic patterns of this type are now repeated for a certain number of times, which is pre-fixed by knob m until there occurs another switching and the path consisting of the basic patterns of the type corresponding to the position of knob N is resumed, whereafter the cycle is repeated periodically and automatically.

The impulse generator C may consist of a limit switch or any other type of apparatus capable of producing an electric signal upon passage of a certain mark; for example, a proximity switch or a photoelectric cell.

As stated hereinabove, the aforesaid description and the corresponding drawings refer to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein, for the sake of simplification, the case of only two different, periodically alternating quilting patterns has been considered. Of course, three or more different quilting patterns alternated according to a given sequence can be obtained as well. For this purpose, it will be sufiicient to correspondingly increase the functions of the computer and its converter, as an extension of the principles defined hereinabove.

Moreover, further modifications, improvements and additions may obviously be introduced into the various constructive elements of the machine, without departing from the scope of the present invention as stated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An automatic multineedle quilting machine for obtaining any desired but repeated pattern of stitching paths, comprising a carriage adapted to move transversely, a first electric clutch controlling the transverse movement of the carriage, a first programming disk for operating said first electric clutch, a second electric clutch controlling the forward movement of the material to be quilted, and a second programming disk for operating said second electric clutch,

said quilting machine further comprising an impulse generator and an associated third disk means to drive said third disk and said associated impulse generator; a computer means receiving the control signals of said first and second programming disks and adapted to count the impulses of said impulse generator; and a plurality of first and second selecting means and a converter means preset by said plurality of first selecting means for programming a succession of elementary patterns and said plurality of second selecting means for programming the number of each of said elementary patterns to be repeated, said converter means being operated by said computer means to commute the quilting path from one of said patterns to the subsequent one in .said succession.

2. The automatic quilting machine of claim 1, wherein said computer means operates said converter means when the count of said impulses in said computer means is equal to said number of repeated elementary patterns preset by that second selecting means corresponding to said elementary pattern.

3. The automatic quilting machine of claim 2, wherein said impulse generator sends to said computer means an impulse upon each complete revolution of said third disk.

4. The automatic quilting machine of claim 3, wherein said third disk makes one complete revolution during the quilting operation according to any one of said elementary patterns.

5. The automatic quilting machine of claim 2, wherein said impulse generator sends to said computer has contacts inserted in the circuits of said computer means which receive the signals of said programming disks for operating said electric clutches.

8. The automatic quilting machine of claim 1, wherein one of said elementary patterns is a longitudinal rectilinear stitching corresponding to said first electric clutch disengaged and said second electric clutch engaged.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION 3,757,710 I Dated September 11, 1973 I Patent No.

v I Giannino LANDONI Inventor(s) I It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Colnmn 2, line 66, delete "th" and insert therefore the Column 3, line 13, delete "tthe" and insert therefore to theline 37, after wordfidisk" insert a comma I-.

Signed'end sealed this 29th day of January 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. RENE D. TEGTMEYER Attesting Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents

Claims

1. An automatic multineedle quilting machine for obtaining any desired but repeated pattern of stitching paths, comprising a carriage adapted to move transversely, a first electric clutch controlling the transverse movement of the carriage, a first programming disk for operating said first electric clutch, a second electric clutch controlling the forward movement of the material to be quilted, and a second programming disk for operating said second electric clutch, said quilting machine further comprising an impulse generator and an associated third disk means to drive said third disk and said associated impulse generator; a computer means receiving the control signals of said first and second programming disks and adapted to count the impulses of said impulse generator; and a plurality of first and second selecting means and a converter means preset by said plurality of first selecting means for programming a succession of elementary patterns and said plurality of second selecting means for programming the number of each of said elementary patterns to be repeated, said converter means being operated by said computer means to commute the quilting path from one of said patterns to the subsequent one in said succession.

5. The automatic quilting machine of claim 2, wherein said impulse generator sends to said computer means an impulse upon each given angle of rotation of said third disk, which is a submultiple of one complete revolution.

6. The automatic quilting machine of claim 5, wherein said third disk rotates by an angle submultiple of one complete revolution during the quilting operation according to anyone of said elementary patterns.

7. The automatic quilting machine of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of first selecting means has contacts inserted in the circuits of said computer means which receive the signals of said programming disks for operating said electric clutches.