Claims
- 1. A contour following machine for altering the edge of a material comprising:
a horizontal work surface; a dial plate through which a vacuum may be drawn, situated on the horizontal work surface; an edge-altering device; a rotary table upon which the edge-altering device is positioned; and a cut-out channel through which a connection between the dial plate and a linear actuator is established, wherein the edge-altering device is at an end of the horizontal work surface and the cut-out channel extends from the edge-altering device end of the horizontal work surface to a far end of the cut-out channel, which is located at a position extending beyond a center point of the work surface from the edge-altering device end of the horizontal work surface such that the dial plate can be moved to any position between the far end of the cut-out channel and the edge-altering device end of the cut-out channel.
- 2. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the edge-altering device is selected from the group consisting of a sewing machine, a knife, and a water jet.
- 3. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the edge-altering device is a sewing machine, which includes a sewing head with a sewing needle.
- 4. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the rotary table is rotated by a motor.
- 5. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the dial plate is moved along the cut-out channel by a linear actuator, which is moved by a motor.
- 6. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein a first sensing arm is located near the edge-altering device and is attached to a first spring-loaded sensor, and a second sensing arm is located near the first sensing arm and is capable of detecting changes in the straight line of an edge of a material being bound, the second sensing arm being attached to a second spring-loaded sensor; wherein a response from the first spring-loaded sensor is used to control the movement of the dial plate along the cut-out channel, and a response from the second spring-loaded sensor is used to control the rotation of the edge-altering device by way of a motor, which rotates the rotary table.
- 7. The contour following machine of claim 1, further comprising at least one palm-start button.
- 8. The contour following machine of claim 1, further comprising at least one emergency shut-off button.
- 9. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the horizontal work surface is a table top.
- 10. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein the material is placed on the horizontal work surface, wherein a portion of the material covers and rests on top of the dial plate.
- 11. The contour following machine of claim 6, wherein the first spring-loaded sensor and the second spring-loaded sensor are linear velocity displacement transducers.
- 12. The contour following machine of claim 1, wherein a vacuum is applied to the dial plate to hold the material in place.
- 13. The contour following machine of claim 1, further comprising an arm extending from the edge-altering device end of the horizontal work surface, wherein the arm applies pressure to the top of the material and the dial plate by activating a solenoid pressure plate.
- 14. A binding machine for binding the edge of a material comprising:
a horizontal work surface; a dial plate through which a vacuum may be drawn, situated on the horizontal work surface; a sewing machine, which includes a sewing head with a sewing needle; a first sensing arm located near the sewing head, which is attached to a first spring-loaded sensor; a second sensing arm located near the first sensing arm capable of detecting changes in the straight line of an edge of the material being bound, the second sensing arm attached to a second spring-loaded sensor; a rotary table upon which the edge-altering device is positioned; and a cut-out channel through which a connection between the dial plate and the vacuum is established, wherein the sewing machine is at an end of the horizontal work surface and the cut-out channel extends from the sewing machine end of the horizontal work surface to a far end of the cut-out channel, which is located at a position extending beyond a center point of the work surface from the sewing machine end of the horizontal work surface such that the dial plate can be moved to any position between the far end of the cut-out channel and the sewing machine end of the cut-out channel, and wherein a response from the first spring-loaded sensor is used to control the movement of the dial plate along the cut-out channel and a response from the second spring-loaded sensor is used to control the rotation of the sewing machine by way of a motor, which rotates the rotary table.
- 15. The binding machine of claim 14, wherein the dial plate is moved along the cut-out channel by a linear actuator, which is moved by a motor.
- 16. The binding machine of claim 14, further comprising at least one palm-start button.
- 17. The binding machine of claim 14, further comprising at least one emergency shut-off button.
- 18. The binding machine of claim 14, wherein the horizontal work surface is a table top.
- 19. The binding machine of claim 14, wherein the material is placed on the horizontal work surface, wherein a portion of the material covers and rests on top of the dial plate.
- 20. The binding machine of claim 14, wherein the first spring-loaded sensor and the second spring-loaded sensor are linear velocity displacement transducers.
- 21. The binding machine of claim 14, wherein a vacuum is applied to the dial plate to hold the material in place.
- 22. The binding machine of claim 14, further comprising an arm extending from the edge-altering device end of the horizontal work surface, wherein the arm applies pressure to the top of the material and the dial plate by activating a solenoid pressure plate.
- 23. A method of binding a material using a binder machine comprising:
inserting a binding material into a binder guide; placing the material onto a horizontal work surface such that material is approximately centered over a dial plate through which a vacuum may be applied; moving the material by way of a linear actuator, which moves the dial plate and the material along a cut-out channel in the horizontal work surface toward a sewing head of a sewing machine, which rests on a rotating table at a sewing machine end of the horizontal work surface; rotating the rotating table such that the sewing machine and the sewing head are in a start position; beginning a sewing cycle by penetrating the material with a sewing needle on the sewing head and beginning to sew using the sewing machine; detecting the location of the edge of the material using a first sensing arm connected to a first spring-loaded sensor and a second sensing arm connected to a second spring-loaded sensor; correcting the position of linear actuator and the angular location of the sewing head to provide a normal thread stitch, such that the sewing head maintains a tangential orientation to the edge of the material; pulling the material through the sewing head by way of the action of the sewing needle and a presser foot; detecting complete rotation of the material; rotating the sewing spindle to remove the needle from the material; cutting the binder material thread; and removing the completely edge-bound material from the horizontal work surface.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein a weight is placed on the material to prevent the material from shifting during sewing.
- 25. The method of claim 23, wherein the sewing operation is initiated by pushing one or more palm-start buttons.
- 26. The method of claim 23, wherein the start position is established by the sewing head rotating about 20° clockwise, and when the material reaches the sewing head, rotating the sewing head in a counterclockwise direction to make a swipe with binder material.
- 27. The method of claim 23, wherein the start position is such that the sewing head is at an approximate right angle to the dial plate.
- 28. The method of claim 23, wherein the binding machine has at least one emergency shut-off button.
- 29. The method of claim 23, wherein the first spring-loaded sensor and the second spring-loaded sensor are linear velocity displacement transducers.
- 30. The method of claim 23, wherein complete rotation of the material is detected by the dial plate rotating 360° which causes a detector switch to actuate and stop the sewing operation.
- 31. The method of claim 23, wherein the speed of sewing is slowed, when the sewing head rotates around a radius, by combining the proportional variation of a sensing signal from the second sensing arm and a sensing signal from the first sensing arm with the manual speed setting of the sewing head and using the differential as the resultant sewing speed.
- 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the signal combining function is carried out using an operational amplifier, wherein the combining of the two sensing signals controls the sewing speed.
- 33. The method of claim 23, wherein a vacuum is applied to the dial plate to hold the material in place.
- 34. The method of claim 23, wherein an arm, which extends from the sewing machine end of the horizontal work surface, applies pressure to the top of the material and the dial plate by activating a solenoid pressure plate.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/224,985, filed Aug. 14, 2000, and entitled “Automatic Binding Machine”.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60224985 |
Aug 2000 |
US |