Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D05—SEWING; EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
  • D05B—SEWING
  • D05B11/00—Machines for sewing quilts or mattresses
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D05—SEWING; EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
  • D05C—EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
  • D05C9/00—Appliances for holding or feeding the base fabric in embroidering machines
  • D05C9/02—Appliances for holding or feeding the base fabric in embroidering machines in machines with vertical needles
  • D05C9/04—Work holders, e.g. frames
  • D05C9/06—Feeding arrangements therefor, e.g. influenced by patterns, operated by pantographs

Definitions

• the invention concerns a device for the simultaneous tensioning on four sides of textile materials, simple or padded, which are worked continuously, unwinding continuously from rolls, on sewing machines such as automatic multi-needle quilting/embroidering machines.
• the invention also concerns a sewing machine, advantageously but not exclusively an automatic multi-needle quilting/embroidering machine, equipped with said tensioning device.
• the invention also concerns a method to continuously perform quilting, embroidery, the application of cords, ribbons or trimmings, on simple or padded fabrics, simultaneously tensioned on four sides.
• the invention is applied in the textile field and refers to quilting, embroidery, the application of cords, ribbons or trimmings etc., performed on continuously fed, simple, multi-layer or padded textiles, with the simultaneous tensioning of said materials on four sides.
• the invention is characterized by the presence of at least one inlet pre-tensioning element, at least one pair of drawing and lateral tensioning chains, two or more drawing and front tensioning rollers, and an adjustable braking system for the rolls which feed the material; these components allow to guarantee optimum tensioning on all four sides, for every type of textile material, in its passage through the sewing members .
• the invention is also characterized by the presence of a compensation system to recover the material during backstitching, in order to keep the front tensioning constant even when the drawing rollers rotate backwards with respect to the direction of unwinding of the feed roll.
• Multi-needle quilting machines are characterized in that they work "continuously", that is they continuously quilt the materials which are drawn by suitable drawing rollers and unwind from rolls, which are subject to controlled braking to ensure a constant and suitable tensioning in a longitudinal direction.
• the quilting pattern is achieved by moving the materials to be quilted in two main directions: front (backwards/forwards) and sideways (left/right); the materials are moved under the needles with an infinite combination of these two main movements in order to obtain the desired pattern.
• the materials to be embroidered are fixed at the four sides on suitable frames which are displaced in every direction with movements controlled by a computer; this operation of attaching the materials to the frames must be repeated manually with every new job, and takes a considerable period of time.
• the present invention intends to fill this vacuum and propose, both to improve precision in quilting machines and to increase the productivity of embroidering machines, a practical and efficient solution which will guarantee an efficient simultaneous tensioning on the four sides of materials which move in all directions during continuous processes .
• the purpose of the invention is to provide a device, and the relative method, for the simultaneous tensioning on four sides of textile material to be quilted or embroidered.
• the invention is suitable to be applied on a sewing machine, particularly a multi-needle quilting machine/ embroidering machine, in order to continuously work textile materials fed continuously from rolls, making ornamental quilting/embroidery patterns of very high precision.
• Another purpose is to make a sewing machine with the device mentioned above and suitable to continuously work simple or padded fabrics, with simultaneous tensioning on the four sides, obtaining any ornamental pattern, quilted or embroidered, also with the application of cords, ribbons or trimmings, with very high precision designs.
• a sewing machine on which the tensioning device according to the invention is applied comprises at least a trolley, which can be translated laterally, on which are mounted: the rollers for drawing the materials, the supports of the rolls of textile material to be quilted/embroidered, equipped with suitable tensioning brakes, and at least a compensation roller to recover the material during backstitching, that is, when the drawing rollers rotate backwards in the opposite direction to that in which the roll is unwinding.
• This trolley is equipped with alternative lateral left/ right movements, managed directly by a command computer of the sewing machine following the ornamental pattern to be qui1ted/embroidered.
• the drive of the drawing rollers which draw the materials is also managed directly by the command computer, and the rollers can rotate backwards or forwards in order to make the ornamental pattern to be quilted/embroidered; the compensation roller (s) is/are made to function automatically when the drawing rollers rotate backwards to keep the tensioning of the materials constant.
• the device according to the invention is mounted on the translatable trolley, in an intermediate position between the compensation rollers and the drawing rollers.
• This device consists of a supporting structure comprising two lateral walls on which a pre-tensioning element, two tensioning and drawing chains, two pressure bars and two sliding surfaces are mounted.
• the pre-tensioning element is positioned at inlet to the machine and its purpose is to widen the material and to tension it before it inserts the lateral edges of the material between the drawing chains and the sliding surfaces .
• the pair of drawing chains (one on each side) has the outer part of the links lined with gripping blocks made of anti-slip material, for example rubber.
• the task of these blocks is to hold firmly the lateral edges of the material, already under tension from the pre-tensioning element, and to draw them along the sliding surfaces, keeping the lateral tension substantially constant as the material transits under the sewing needles.
• the material unwinds from the feed roll, passes on an idle guide roller, under the compensation roller and then passes over the pre-tensioning inlet element which puts it under tension, widening the edges and inserting them between the blocks of the drawing chains and the sliding surfaces. Then, the material is drawn, under tension, under the sewing members, and finally passes, already quilted or embroidered, between the two drawing rollers.
• the rotary movements of these components are synchronized and are derived, by means of appropriate transmission members, from the drawing rollers, which in turn receive the impulses to move backwards/forwards from a suitable DC motor, managed directly by the command computer by means of a drive interface, following the ornamental pattern to be made.
• the rotatory movement of the pre-tensioning element is synchronized with that of the drawing rollers and the drawing chains only when the latter are drawing the material forwards, but stops when the drawing rollers and the chains rotate backwards, that is, during the backstitching steps.
• the pre-tensioning element consists of a roller made in three parts: a central part formed by a tube rotating idle on bearings mounted on the shaft of the pre-tensioning element, free to rotate backwards or forwards irrespectively, due to the effect of the friction of the material, and two lateral parts mounted at the ends and including devices able to grip the lateral edges of the material and to widen them to tension the material laterally.
• each of said devices consists of two disks, an inner disk facing the central part of the roller and an outer disk facing the supporting wall, made solid with each other by means of a spacer of the appropriate length and fixed to the shaft of the pre- tensioning roller by means of keys.
• two front circular cams are mounted, with tempered profiles, and are fixed to said walls in a position concentric to the shaft of the pre-tensioning roller.
• the circular cams have their shaped profile facing the semi-spherical ends of the steel rods, with the lower part of the profile being positioned in correspondence with the upper part of said walls and the higher part of the profile being positioned in correspondence with the lower part of the walls.
• a bushing element In the intermediate part of each steel rod, between the inner and outer disks, a bushing element is mounted with a plurality of pointed pins protruding from its outer surface.
• the bushing elements are able to rotate freely on the rods and are kept in position by two wall washers, one on the right and one on the left, fixed to the rods.
• the bushings solid with the rods, also move from inside towards the outside following the profile of the cams, consequently widening the edges of the material gripped by the pins present in the shell of the bushings.
• the edges of the material are inserted and gripped between the blocks of the drawing chains, which advance at the same peripheral speed, and the sliding surfaces.
• the tension supplied to the material by the pre-tensioning roller is kept constant for the whole period wherein the material is under the sewing needles, before entering between the drawing rollers.
• the drawing chains also begin to rotate backwards and the compensation element begins to lower, to keep the front tension constant on the material released by the drawing rollers .
• the idle central part of the pre-tensioning element rotates backwards due to friction with the material, but the two lateral parts, solid with the shaft by means of keys, do not rotate backwards.
• This characteristic is particularly significant in that, unlike conventional tensioning devices which allow tensioning only with forward movements, the device according to the invention does not release the tensioning if the fabric is made to move backwards.
• the tensioning imparted to the edges of material can be regulated to adapt it to the greater or lesser elasticity of said material.
• this is obtained by means of a mobile disk located between the springs mounted on the rods and the inner supporting disk.
• the mobile disk is fixed, by means of a series of stays passing through equidistant radial holes made in the inner supporting disk, to another disk provided with a hub which slides on the command shaft and can be blocked on the latter by means of an attachment screw.
• an attachment screw By suitably approaching or distancing the disk provided with the hub to/from the support disk and blocking it in position by means of the attachment screw, it is thus possible to increase or decrease the pressure of the springs mounted on the rods to adapt it to the type of material being worked.
• the command pinion of the shaft of the inlet pre-tensioning roller is not mounted directly on the shaft, but on the anchor of a clutch which can be engaged or disengaged as desired.
• the clutch is engaged and renders the command pinion solid with the shaft, whereas when the materials are set up manually, in order to facilitate this operation, the clutch can be disengaged and thus leave the pre-tensioning roller free to rotate.
• the free-wheel able to permit the pre-tensioning roller to stop when the drawing rollers rotate backwards; in the preferential embodiment, the free-wheel is not mounted directly between the shaft and the command pinion, but between the shaft and the clutch manifold.
• one of the device's supporting walls is fixed, whereas the other wall is translatable laterally in order to adapt the distance between the drawing chains and between the terminals of the pre-tensioning roller to the width of the material which has to be worked.
• Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a multi-needle quilting/ embroidering machine of the type able to comprise a tensioning device for textile material on the four sides during continuous quilting/embroidery operations according to the invention
• Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a preferential embodiment of the device according to the invention
• Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of a detail of the pre- tensioning element .
• Fig. 1 shows an electronically commanded multi-needle quilting/embroidering machine 10, the general type of which is substantially known.
• the quilting machine 10 comprises, in its essential parts, an inlet assembly 10a, a sewing assembly 10b and an outlet assembly 10c.
• the inlet assembly 10a is used to feed the textile material 11 which has to be worked.
• the inlet assembly 10a commonly called the trolley, is managed and controlled by a command software and is therefore able to move the textile material 11 in any direction, backwards/forwards or left/right, in order to make any type of ornamental pattern, even very complex ones .
• the sewing assembly 10b comprises upper sewing members 12 and lower sewing members 15 of a conventional type which cooperate with each other with their respective threads and make stitches on the textile material 11, making more or less complex ornamental patterns of quilting or embroidery.
• the machine 10 comprises drawing rollers 13 which draw the textile material 11 unwinding it from the roll 14 on which it is wound, an idle guide roller 16, a movable compensation roller 17 and supports for the roll 14 equipped with braking members 18.
• the device consists, in the embodiment shown here, of an inlet pre- tensioning roller 19, two lateral tensioning and drawing chains 20-20a, two pressure elements 21-21a, two supporting walls 22-22a and transmission means.
• the pre-tensioning roller 19 consists of a shaft 23 rotating on first bearings 24-24a fixed to the respective supporting walls 22-22a.
• an idle roller 26 is mounted, on second bearings 25-25a, which in this case can also be extended longitudinally due to the presence of coupling eyelets 58 between two mating roller elements.
• Each of the tensioning elements 27-27a consists of two disks, an inner disk 29 facing the idle central part 26 of the pre-tensioning roller, and an outer disk 30 facing the supporting wall 22, the disks being solid with each other by means of a spacer of the appropriate length and fixed to the shaft 23 by means of the keys 28.
• Two steel circular front cams 33-33a, with tempered profiles 34, are mounted on the supporting walls 22; they are fixed to said walls in a position concentric to the shaft 23 with the tempered profile 34 facing the semi- spherical ends 32 of the steel rods 31.
• the lower part of the profile 34 is located in correspondence with the upper part of the supporting walls 22, while the higher part of the profile 34 is located in correspondence with the lower part of the supporting walls 22.
• a bronze bushing 35 is mounted equipped with a plurality of pointed pins 36 protruding from its outer surface.
• Said bushings 35 are mounted in such a fashion that the distance between the outer diameters of two diametrically opposite bushings is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the idle roller 26. Said bushings 35 can also rotate freely on the steel rods 31 and are kept in position by two wall washers, an outer washer 37 and an inner washer 38, fixed to the steel rods 31. Between the washers 38 and the relative bushings 35 thrust bearing bearings are advantageously mounted.
• a compression spring 39 is mounted, of the appropriate length, which with its action keeps the semi-spherical end 32 of the rods 31 in constant contact with the tempered profile 34 of the cams 33-33a.
• Two drawing and tensioning chains 20-20a are mounted, one on each side, on the supporting walls 22-22a.
• Said chains 20-20a have the outer part of the links covered with gripping blocks 41, advantageously made of rubber, and are able to slide on four pinions of equal diameter 42-42a and 43-43a, rotating on bearings mounted on the supporting walls 22 - 22a .
• the two pinions 42-42a, facing the drawing rollers 13, are solidly mounted on a transmission shaft 44 which rotates on bearings 54 fixed to the supporting walls 22-22a.
• a pinion 45 is fixed to the left end of the lower drawing rollers 13; by means of an auxiliary chain 46, the pinion 45 transmits movement to a pinion 47 solidly mounted at the left end of the shaft 44.
• the number of teeth of the pinions 42, 43, 45 and 47 is suitably calculated so that the peripheral speed of the rubber blocks 41 of the chains 20-20a is equal to that of the drawing rollers 13.
• a pinion 48 is solidly mounted which, by means of a chain 49 commands a pinion 50 mounted on the anchor of an electromagnetic clutch 51, the manifold 52 of which is mounted on the shaft 23 by means of a free-wheel 53.
• the number of teeth on the pinions 48 and 50 is also suitably calculated so that the peripheral speed of the pre- tensioning roller 19 is equal to that of the drawing rollers 13 and the drawing chains 20-20a.
• Two pressure devices are also mounted on the walls 22-22a, consisting of two pressure elements 21-21a made of antifriction material, which press downwards on the inner part of the drawing chains 20-20a.
• the pressure devices also comprise a plurality of pneumatic cylinders 55, or other adjustable actuators which, acting on the pressure elements 21-21a, increase the pressure between the rubber blocks 41, mounted on the outer links of the chains 20-20a, and two metallic sliding surfaces 56-56a solid with the supporting walls 22-22a.
• the pressure can be adjusted by varying the value of the pressure of the air compressed in the pneumatic cylinders 55.
• the left supporting wall 22 is solidly fixed to the translatable trolley 10a, while the right supporting wall
• 22a is translatable laterally and can be clamped in the working position most suitable for the width of the material to be worked.
• the device as described heretofore functions as follows.
• the textile material 11 is drawn by the drawing rollers 13 and unwinds continuously from the roll 14, subject to braking by appropriate braking members 18. This braking action guarantees a constant front tensioning of the textile material 11 for as long as the drawing rollers 13 rotate forwards.
• the textile material 11 passes over the idle guide roller 16, under the movable compensation roller 17 and over the inlet pre-tensioning roller 19.
• the lateral edges of the textile material 11 are penetrated by the pins 36 protruding from the bronze bushings 35 mounted on the steel rods 31.
• Appropriate contrasting rollers, not shown here, ensure that the edges of the textile material 11 adhere to the pre-tensioning roller 19.
• the textile material 11 is drawn by the rubber blocks 41 and made to slide over the sliding surfaces 54-56a, keeping its lateral tension constant during the time it transits under the needles, until the textile material 11 is released by the rubber blocks 41 and enters between the drawing rollers 13 to finally arrive at the collection assembly 10c.
• the drawing rollers 13 When, due to the requirements of the pattern, the drawing rollers 13 begin to rotate backwards to make backstitches, the front tension of the textile material 11, which would otherwise slacken, is kept constant by the movable compensation roller 17 starting to function, which, commanded in a conventional manner, begins to lower with a movement corresponding to the backward movement of the drawing rollers 13.
• the drawing chains 20-20a commanded by the pinions 45, 42-42a, 43-43a and 47 and by the chain 46, also rotate backwards, keeping the lateral tension of the textile material 11 constant.
• the pinion 50 commanded by the chain 49, also rotates backwards, but does not transmit this movement to the shaft 23 due to the effect of the freewheel 53, which is located in-between.
• the pinion 50 which commands the shaft 23 is mounted on the anchor 51 of an electromagnetic clutch 52 which can be inserted to make the shaft 23 solid with the drawing system or dis-engaged to make it idle.
• a thrust disk 59 is inserted, wherein a series of holes are made, corresponding to those of the inner support disk 29, through which the steel rods 31 pass.
• Said thrust disk 59 is fixed, by means of rods 60 passing through an equal number of corresponding holes on the inner support disk 29, to a positioning disk 61 which slides on the shaft 23 and can be fixed to said shaft 23 by means of a screw 62 housed in its hub.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Treatment Of Fiber Materials (AREA)
• Sewing Machines And Sewing (AREA)
• Automatic Embroidering For Embroidered Or Tufted Products (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=11460644

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (4)

Citations (6)

• 2001
  • 2001-09-20 IT ITUD20010150 patent/ITUD20010150A1/it unknown
• 2002
  • 2002-09-16 WO PCT/IB2002/003814 patent/WO2003025274A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-09-16 EP EP02765265A patent/EP1461485A1/en not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (6)

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