Claims
- 1. A clamp for securing a workpiece against a clamping surface in a sewing machine, said clamp comprising:
- a frame for mounting on the sewing machine and also for positioning above the workpiece; and
- at least one adjustable presser member supported by said frame,
- said at least one adjustable presser member being adjustable to permit the clamp to apply a preselected amount of pressure sufficient to firmly hold the workpiece in position on the clamping surface so that the workpiece can be sewn by the sewing machine.
- 2. The clamp as recited in claim 1 wherein said at least one presser member includes an engaging surface extending below said frame for engaging the workpiece.
- 3. The clamp as recited in claim 1 wherein a plurality of presser members are provided for engaging the workpiece.
- 4. The clamp as recited in claim 3 wherein each said presser member has a workpiece engaging portion spaced from the frame, said workpiece engaging portion is adapted for contact with the workpiece, and each said presser member is adjustable a preselected amount from said frame to vary the spacing between each said workpiece engaging portion and said frame independently of adjacent presser members.
- 5. The clamp as recited in claim 3 wherein said presser members comprise screw members having workpiece engaging portions spaced from the frame for contact with the workpiece such that rotation of any one presser member causes the spacing between said workpiece engaging portion of that presser member and said frame to be altered.
- 6. The clamp as recited in claim 1 wherein said at least one presser member extends from an upper side of said frame to a lower side of said frame to engage the workpiece under said frame.
- 7. The clamp as recited in claim 1 wherein said at least one presser member includes a workpiece engaging surface and the spacing between said workpiece engaging portion and said frame may be varied with varying thickness of the workpiece.
- 8. The clamp as recited in claim 7 including a resilient biasing element to resiliently bias said presser member away from said frame into engagement with the workpiece.
- 9. A method of clamping a workpiece to a clamping surface in a sewing machine, said method comprising the steps of:
- positioning a clamp frame in operative relationship with said clamping surface; and
- adjusting a presser member relative said clamp frame to apply a preselected amount of pressure to said workpiece on said clamping surface.
- 10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said step of adjusting said presser member includes moving an engaging surface on said presser member toward and away from said clamp frame.
- 11. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said step of adjusting said presser member includes moving a plurality of screw members relative to said clamp frame to position a plurality of engaging surfaces associated with said screw members in a preselected spaced relationship to said clamp frame.
- 12. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said step of adjusting said presser members such that they can accommodate a workpiece which varies in thickness.
- 13. A clamp for securing a workpiece having a varying thickness against a clamping surface, said clamp comprising:
- a frame for mounting on the sewing machine and also for positioning above the workpiece; and
- a presser member mounted to said frame for engaging the workpiece wherein said presser member is adjustable relative to said frame such that said presser member is engageable with portions of the workpiece having different thicknesses to apply a preselected amount of pressure sufficient to firmly hold each of said portions of the workpiece in position on the clamping surface so that the workpiece can be sewn within the frame by a sewing machine.
- 14. The clamp as recited in claim 13 wherein said presser member comprises a plurality of elements extending from said frame toward the workpiece.
- 15. The clamp as recited in claim 14 wherein the extension of each of said elements from said frame is independently variable.
- 16. The clamp as recited in claim 14 wherein each of said elements defines an engaging surface for engaging one of said portions of the workpiece.
- 17. The clamp as recited in claim 16 wherein said elements comprise a plurality of screw members threadably engaged with said frame.
- 18. The clamp as recited in claim 14 wherein each of said elements is a biasing member for biasing an engaging portion of said presser member into engagement with said portions of the workpiece.
- 19. The clamp as recited in claim 18 wherein said elements comprise a plurality of spring members and said engaging portion comprises a continuous member extending between said spring members and resiliently biasing away from said frame by said spring members.
- 20. A sewing machine for sewing a predetermined stitch pattern on a workpiece, said sewing machine comprising:
- a sewing head;
- a clamping surface;
- a moveable clamp support; and
- a clamp including a frame mounted to said movable clamp support above the clamping surface and an adjustable presser member supported by said frame wherein an engaging portion of said presser member is movable relative to said frame to engage the workpiece.
- 21. The sewing machine as recited in claim 20 including a detachable connector for detachably mounting said frame to said movable clamp support.
- 22. The sewing machine as recited in claim 20 wherein said presser member comprises a plurality of elements extending from said frame toward the workpiece, said elements being adjustable to accommodate varying thicknesses of the workpiece.
- 23. The clamp as recited in claim 1 including a connector supporting said frame for movement of the frame toward and away from the clamping surface.
- 24. A method as recited in claim 9 wherein said clamp includes multiple presser members with engaging surfaces; said method including the additional step of:
- adjusting the spacing between the clamp frame and said engaging surfaces such that the spacing of each engaging surface from the clamp frame is related to the thickness of the workpiece where contacted by that engaging surface.
- 25. A clamp for securing a workpiece against a clamping surface in a sewing machine, said clamp comprising:
- a frame for mounting on the sewing machine; and
- a plurality of presser members supported by said frame, each presser member being adjustable and having a workpiece engaging surface spaced from said frame to apply a preselected amount of pressure sufficient to firmly hold the workpiece in position on the clamping surface so that the workpiece can be sewn within the frame by the sewing machine;
- wherein a spacing from the frame to the workpiece engaging portion of a first of said presser members is different than a spacing from said frame to the workpiece engaging portion of a second of said presser members.
- 26. The clamp as recited in claim 1 wherein said frame includes a central aperture defining a stitch area and said at least one adjustable presser member is adjustable to permit the clamp to apply a preselected amount of pressure to the workpiece on the clamping surface generally outside said stitch area.
- 27. A clamp for securing a workpiece against a clamping surface in a sewing machine, said clamp comprising:
- a frame for mounting on the sewing machine, said frame defining a lower surface; and
- adjustable presser means defining a plurality of points of contact for engagement with said workpiece,
- said adjustable presser means including at least three independently adjustable means for independently adjusting spacings between said points of contact and said lower surface so that said adjustable presser member applies a preselected amount of pressure to the workpiece to hold the workpiece so that it can be sewn within the frame by the sewing machine.
- 28. The clamp as recited in claim 27 including at least one connector coupled to said frame for positioning said frame in the sewing machine.
- 29. The clamp as recited in claim 27 wherein said frame includes a central aperture defining a stitch area for sewing the workpiece.
- 30. The clamp as recited in claim 27 wherein said at least three independently adjustable means includes at least three springs.
- 31. The clamp as recited in claim 27 wherein said at least three independently adjustable means are threadedly coupled to said frame.
- 32. The clamp as recited in claim 27 wherein said at least three independently adjustable means define engaging surfaces and said points of contact lie on said engaging surfaces.
RELATED APPLICATION
This is a division of application Ser. No. 07/976,557 filed Nov. 16, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,367, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/735,822 filed Jul. 25, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,090.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
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630323 |
Oct 1978 |
SUX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
976557 |
Nov 1992 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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735822 |
Jul 1991 |
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