Patent Application
20160108569
None.
None.
None.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for visualizing a position of an operating head relative to a workpiece. In one configuration, the present system assists a user in making a pattern on a workpiece using a free-motion machine. A further configuration relates to sewing machines for quilting and more specifically to a method and apparatus for sewing quilting patterns onto a workpiece by displaying a pattern and an indicator on a display apparatus, the indicator corresponding to a position of a sewing head relative to the workpiece, and moving the display apparatus to move the indicator relative to the displayed pattern and move the sewing head relative to the workpiece.
2. Description of Related Art
A quilt is a coverlet that typically has three layers: a decorative top layer, a middle layer of insulating material, and a backing layer. Traditionally, the top layer is made by piecing together small pieces of material to form patterns or designs. Optionally, a border is formed around the top layer by sewing strips of material around the perimeter of the sewn pieces as a border. The quilt is assembled by stitching together the three layers in a quilting pattern using a rocking stitch, running stitch or straight stitch around the entire area of the quilt to secure the layers and to add decorative effect.
Quilts have been made throughout American history to use as bed coverings. Today, some even use quilts as decorative wall hangings or to make quilt-like clothing products or textiles. Over the years, quilting has become a popular hobby, in part because of technological advances in quilting sewing machines that have made the machines more affordable and quilting easier and faster. Many quilters have home quilting machines that allow one to select intricate quilting patterns to be stitched onto many yards of material. In addition, these quilting sewing machines are used by the textile industry to create all types of affordable quilted products.
A problem with these machines, however, is that they are large and difficult to handle. Further, because the user is located farther away from the needle when using a paper pantograph, or scroll, as a guide, it is difficult to follow a quilting pattern on a pantograph and observe the sewing quality.
In addition, the need to acquire and retain numerous scrolls is expensive and requires significant storage space.
Despite the machine providing a more efficient quilting experience, many users are still not satisfied with the quality of the stitching of the quilt.
To improve the accuracy and speed of quilting, computer-controlled quilting machines can be used. However, these machines are not desired by many because the user does not have control over the stitching. While the user may have higher quality stitching on the quilt, the users do not experience the satisfaction of creating the quilting design and sewing the quilting pattern themselves. The difficulties identified above are also encountered by those using other types of machines to make patterns on a workpiece, for example, patterns in wood with routers and drill presses and patterns in material with home sewing machines.
Therefore, the need exists for a machine that allows a user to be more involved in the pattern making process. The need also exists for allowing manipulation of patterns that have traditionally been fixed on a scroll or generated by freehand. The need also exists for a machine that improves the look of the overall design. Further, the need exists for a machine that allows a user to create and manipulate patterns to be made in or on a workpiece. A need also exists for visualizing relative motion between the position of an operating head and a workpiece.
The present disclosure provides a method of stitching a workpiece where a user moves a display to move an indicator relative to a displayed pattern, and a sewing head relative to the workpiece. The present disclosure also provides a method of stitching a workpiece where a user moves a display to move a displayed pattern relative to a fixed position of an indicator wherein the indicator corresponds to a location of a sewing head. Further, the present disclosure provides a method of stitching a workpiece where a user moves a display to move an indicator and a displayed pattern relative to the workpiece. The present method of stitching a workpiece implements the following steps: displaying a predetermined pattern on a display located adjacent to a control handle, the control handle operably connected to a sewing head moveable relative to the workpiece; displaying an indicator on the display, the indicator corresponding to a position of the sewing head relative to the workpiece; and moving the display and the control handle to move the indicator relative to a displayed pattern, and move the sewing head relative to the workpiece.
The present disclosure further provides for a method of stitching a workpiece. The method includes displaying a predetermined pattern on a display and manipulating the predetermined pattern on the display. An indicator is displayed on the display wherein the indicator corresponds to a position of a sewing head relative to the workpiece. Then, a control handle operably connected to the sewing head is moved, thereby moving the indicator relative to the pattern on the display and the sewing head relative to the workpiece.
The present disclosure also includes an apparatus for stitching a workpiece. The apparatus comprises a memory for retaining a plurality of patterns and a display connected to the memory for displaying a selected one of the patterns. The apparatus further comprises a sewing head moveable relative to the workpiece. A control handle is operably connected to the sewing head to move the sewing head relative to the workpiece, wherein the display is mounted relative to the control handle for movement with the control handle.
The present disclosure further includes a method of visualizing a position of an operating head relative to a workpiece. The method comprises displaying a pattern, such as a predetermined pattern, on a display, displaying an indicator on the display, the indicator corresponding to a position of the operating head relative to the workpiece, and manually moving a relative position of the pattern on the display corresponding to relative motion of at least one of the workpiece and the operating head.
Further, the present disclosure includes a method of visualizing a position of an operating head relative to a workpiece comprising tracking a relative physical position of the workpiece and the operating head in response to operator movement of at least one of the operating head and the workpiece; and displaying on a display an indicator relative to a workpiece image, the indicator corresponding to the tracked relative physical position.
In addition, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for making a pattern in a workpiece, the apparatus comprising a free-motion machine having an operating head and a tracking device; a memory for retaining a plurality of patterns; a display connected to the memory for displaying a selected one of the patterns; and an indicator on the display corresponding to the position of the operating head relative to the workpiece, wherein the selected pattern is made in the workpiece by manually moving the workpiece relative to the operating head corresponding to the relative motion of the selected pattern on the display relative to the indicator on the display.
The foregoing features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description of the drawings in which:
At the outset, it should be appreciated that the use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
For purposes of the present disclosure and appended claims, the conjunction “or” is to be construed inclusively (e.g., “a bear or a pig” would be interpreted as “a bear, or a pig, or both”; e.g., “a bear, a pig, or a mouse” would be interpreted as “a bear, or a pig, or a mouse, or any two, or all three”), unless: i) it is explicitly stated otherwise, e.g., by use of “either . . . or”, “only one of . . . ”, or similar language; or ii) two or more of the listed alternatives are mutually exclusive within the particular context, in which case “or” would encompass only those combinations involving non-mutually-exclusive alternatives.
For purposes of the present disclosure or appended claims, the words “comprise”, comprising”, “have”, “having”, “include”, “including”, and so on shall be construed as being open-ended, e.g., “including” shall be construed as “including but not limited to.”
Referring to
In one configuration of the present disclosure, control handles 40 are adjacent the display apparatus 36. As shown in
The display apparatus 36 displays on the screen 38, a pattern 44 wherein the pattern can be any one of a plurality of patterns stored in an electronic memory. The pattern 44 can be manipulated on the screen 38 by the user. For example, a user may resize or multiply the pattern to create a desired pattern that fits any quilt size. The manipulation can also include rotation, resizing, and reorientation of the pattern. In addition, an indicator 46 is displayed on the screen 38. The indicator 46 corresponds to a position of the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. More specifically, the display apparatus 36 includes a digital cross hair generator that accepts video input of the pattern 44 and then superimposes the indicator 46 on the output shown on the screen 38 to correspond with the position of the sewing head 28.
Once the pattern 44 is determined, the user moves the control handles 40 and display apparatus 36 to move the indicator 46 relative to the displayed pattern 44, and, therefore, the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. In another configuration, the user moves the control handles 40 and the display apparatus 36 to move the pattern 44 relative to a fixed position of the indicator 46 on the display screen, and, therefore, the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. In yet another configuration, the user moves the control handles 40 and the display apparatus 36 to move both the indicator 46 and the displayed pattern 44, and therefore, the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. As the user moves the control handles 40, during operation, the sewing head 28 sews the pattern traced by the indicator 46 on the screen 38 onto the exposed section 24 of the workpiece 20.
In the configuration of
A user can select and use a desired pattern 44 from an electronic pattern library. Alternatively, a user can acquire and use a desired pattern 44 from another source and store such pattern in the electronic pattern memory for later use. Further, the user can manipulate the pattern by resizing, reorientating, or multiplying the pattern to create a desired design that fits the workpiece size. The indicator 46 is displayed on the screen 38 of the display apparatus 36 which corresponds to a position of the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. Thus, in operation, a user moves the control handles 40 and display apparatus 36 to move the indicator 46 relative to the pattern 44 on the screen 38 and the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. As the user moves the control handles 40, during operation, the sewing head 28 sews the pattern displayed on the screen 38 onto the exposed section 24 of the workpiece 20. As stated supra, the indicator 46 or the pattern 44 may be in a fixed position on the display. Alternatively, both the indicator 46 and the displayed pattern 44 may move positions on the display when the user moves the control handles 40 to move the indicator 46 relative to the displayed pattern 44 and the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. It should be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that if the display 36 is parallel to the workpiece 20, the movement of the control handles 40 along the x-axis and y-axis corresponds to the movement of the indicator 46 and/or pattern 44 on the screen 38. However, if the display 36 is perpendicular to the workpiece 20, the movement of the control handles 40 along the y-axis (moving the handles closer to or farther away from a user) will translate into movement of the indicator 46 and/or pattern 44 on the screen 38 along the z-axis (up and down). However, it is understood the screen 38 can be at any orientation to the workpiece 20.
In all configurations, as shown in
It should be appreciated that the method of stitching a workpiece may be implemented by means of a computer software program.
According to step 112, a user will move the control handle 40 operatively connected to the sewing head 28 to simultaneously move the indicator 46 relative to the pattern 44 on the screen 38 and to move the sewing head 28 relative to the workpiece 20. Thus, the pattern 44 displayed on the screen 38 is sewn onto the workpiece 20. Once the pattern 44 is sewn across a first row of the workpiece 20, the workpiece 20 is moved to allow a second row of the pattern to be sewn onto the workpiece 20. This process is repeated until the user has sewn the desired pattern or patterns over the desired area of the workpiece 20. Such computer software program can be run on sewing machine having a quilting head that is equipped with stitch regulation.
The predetermined pattern can be selected from a pattern library stored in the computer program. In yet another configuration, a pattern template can be displayed on the screen 38.
It should be appreciated to those having ordinary skill in the art that the above described computer program can be used with other types of free-motion machines that are used to make, trace or impart patterns in workpieces by moving the workpiece relative to an operating head. Further, the workpiece can be any of a variety of materials or constructions, such as but not limited to fabrics, composites, laminates, wood, metal or plastic.
The operating head can be any of a variety of devices, including but not limited to sewing heads, routers, lasers, formers, welders, fastening heads and cutters. For example, the present system can be adapted for portable sewing machines, routers secured to a router table and drill presses, wherein the workpiece would be any type of fabric, composite, laminate, metal, plastic or wood material. In the configuration of the free-motion machine is a portable sewing machine, the operating head is a sewing head with a needle. Similarly, where the free-motion machine is a router table or drill press, the operating head is the router/drill press head and bit.
The free-motion machine includes a tracking device 208 for determining the position of a workpiece 20.
The tracking device 208 can include any of the known devices for tracking a position or movement of an object, such as a roller ball, a laser, mechanical link or arm, wheel or other device that can be used to track movement of the workpiece 20.
Typically, the tracking device 208 s adjacent the operating head to track the motion of the workpiece relative to the operating head. It is believed to be beneficial to locate the tracking device 208 proximal to the operating head for workpieces 20 that stretch, or are flexible or elastic. For workpieces 20 that are rigid or substantially inflexible, the tracking device 208 can be spaced from the operating head.
Referring to
Therefore, the present system provides a method of visualizing the operating head 206 relative to the workpiece 20, by tracking a relative position of the operating head and at least a portion of the workpiece in response to operator movement of at least one of the operating head and the workpiece; and displaying on the display 212 (i) the indicator 214 corresponding to the operating head and (ii) movement of at least one of the indicator and the pattern on the display, the movement on the display corresponding to operator movement of at least one of the workpiece and the operating head.
The present system has been described in detail with particular reference to a presently preferred embodiment, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalents thereof are intended to be embraced therein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13358232 | Jan 2012 | US |
| Child | 14980833 | US |
