Patent Grant
12139832
This patent specification is based on Japanese patent application, No. 2022-006992 filed on Jan. 20, 2022 in the Japan Patent Office, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-126488
In a lock stitch sewing machine, seams are formed by entangling an upper thread with a lower thread. In general, the upper thread is wound around a thread reel and a spool pin is provided on the sewing machine. The thread reel is installed on the spool pin and the upper thread is supplied to a sewing needle.
Conventionally, a thread standing device having a plurality of spool pins which can be preliminarily installed in the vicinity of the sewing machine or attached to the sewing machine itself is known. In such a thread standing device, the thread reels for replacement are preliminarily installed for performing a multicolor sewing and an embroidery sewing, for example. For example, Patent Document 1 shows a thread standing device having a plurality of spool pins (16) capable of attaching a plurality of thread reels and a spool stand (1). In the spool stand (1), in the vicinity of a plurality of guide portions (21) holding a thread, the same number of thread holding portions (30) as the guide portions (21) are provided. The operation of changing the thread is assisted by holing unused upper threads by the thread holding portions (30).
The above described thread holding portions (30) hold the thread by sandwiching the thread between an O-ring (32) having an elasticity and a mounting part (31) to which the O-ring (32) is fitted. Namely, in order to hold the thread by the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31), it is necessary to apply a predetermined tension to the thread and enter the thread between the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31) in a state that the upper thread is tensed. When an operator grasps an end of the thread and tries to enter the thread between the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31), the other end of the thread is the thread reel for supplying the thread. Thus, it is impossible to apply the tension to the thread merely by grasping the end of the thread. It is necessary to further grasp the other end of the thread to apply the tension to the thread.
As described above, in order to hold the upper thread by the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31), it is necessary to grasp the thread by both hands. Thus, there is room for improvement from a viewpoint of workability.
The present invention provides a thread standing device capable of holding a thread with excellent workability and a sewing machine provided with the thread standing device.
The present invention is a thread standing device of a sewing machine including: a spool pin around which a thread reel is inserted; a thread hooking base on which a thread wound around the thread reel is hooked; and a thread holding slider which is slidable with respect to the thread hooking base, the thread holding slider being movable between a first position for covering a thread hooking portion of the thread hooking base and a second position for exposing the thread hooking portion, the thread being hooked on the thread hooking portion, wherein the thread hooked on the thread hooking portion is held when the thread holding slider is slid to the first position.
In the above described thread standing device, it is preferred that the thread holding slider includes an engagement portion which is configured to be engaged with the thread hooking base, and the thread hooking base includes a first engagement portion configured to be engaged with the engagement portion to hold the thread holding slider at the first position and a second engagement portion configured to be engaged with the engagement portion to hold the thread holding slider at the second position.
In the above described thread standing device, it is preferred that the thread hooking portion comprises a plurality of thread hooking portions, the thread holding slider comprises a plurality of thread holding sliders having the same number as the thread hooking portions, and each of the thread holding sliders is individually slidable with respect to the thread hooking base.
In the above described thread standing device, it is preferred that the thread holding slider includes: a knob which functions as a finger hook when the thread holding slider is slid with respect to the thread hooking base; a groove portion provided on the knob; and a cutting blade for cutting the thread inserted in the groove portion.
The present invention also includes a sewing machine having one of the above described thread standing devices.
When the thread standing device of the present invention is used, different from the conventional device, it is not necessary to grasp the thread by both hands for applying the tension to the thread and it is possible to switch between the holding state and the releasing state of the thread by sliding the thread holding slider. Namely, the necessary operation is only to slide the thread holding slider by one hand. Thus, the workability is improved compared to the conventional thread standing device where the operation by both hands is needed.
Hereafter, an embodiment of the thread standing device and an embodiment of the sewing machine having the thread standing device of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings. In this specification, the directions of right, left, front, rear, up and down are the directions viewed from a user using a sewing machine 1 in a state that the sewing machine 1 is installed on a working table. In the following explanation, an x-axis direction, a y-axis direction and a Z-axis direction are a front-rear direction, left-right direction and an up-down direction respectively as shown in the drawings.
First, an outline of a sewing machine 1 and a thread standing device 2 of the present embodiment will be explained with reference to
The thread standing device 2 includes a thread spool base 4 having a plurality of spool pins 3 formed in a cylindrical shape on an upper surface of the thread spool base 4. Mounting holes 5 are provided on the thread spool base 4 so that the mounting holes 5 penetrate the thread spool base 4 in the front-rear direction. The thread spool base 4 can be fixed to the sewing machine 1 with a not illustrated screw or the like inserted in the mounting holes 5. In addition, a pole 6 extending upward is provided on an upper surface of the thread spool base 4. A thread hooking antenna 7 extending in the left-right direction is provided on an upper end of the pole 6. A plurality of thread holding portions 8 having the same number (five in the present embodiment) as the spool pins 3 is provided on the thread hooking antenna 7.
Threads 9 used as an upper thread in the sewing machine 1 are wound around thread reels 10. Each of the thread reels 10 is inserted around each of the spool pins 3 and the thread 9 drawn out from the thread reel 10 is inserted into a needle hole of a needle 11 via the thread hooking portions 8 through a predetermined portion of the sewing machine 1. Thus, a preparation of the sewing is finished. After that, the sewing machine 1 is driven to form seams by entangling the thread 9 inserted into the needle 11 with a not-illustrated lower thread.
As shown in
Then, a structure of the thread hooking portions 8 and a periphery of the thread hooking portions 8 will be explained in detail. As shown in
The thread hooking base 16 further includes: a slide groove 18 which penetrates the thread hooking base 16 in the front-rear direction at a lower part of the thread hooking portions 8 and linearly extends in the left-right direction; a first positioning protrusion 19 and a second positioning protrusion 20 which is partly protruded frontward from the front surface of the thread hooking base 16. Same as the thread hooking portions 8, five slide grooves 18, five first positioning protrusions 19 and five second positioning protrusions 20 are provided on the thread hooking base 16.
Thread holding sliders 21 are attached to the thread hooking base 16. In the present embodiment, five thread holding sliders 21 are attached to the thread hooking base 16. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Furthermore, a knob 25 protruding from the front to the rear is provided on a rear side wall of the thread holding slider 21. A cutting blade 26 having a blade portion at a lower end is provided inside the knob 25. Furthermore, a groove portion 27 formed by notching the knob 25 upward from below is provided on the knob 25 to expose a lower end of the cutting blade 26.
The sewing machine 1 formed by the above described members is used in a state shown in
The thread 9 of the thread reel 10 inserted around the fourth spool pin 3 from the right in
Here, the fourth thread holding slider 21 from the right in
For replacing the thread 9 inserted in the needle hole of the needle 11 with another thread 9 in
However, the thread hooking portion 8 shown in
An excessive portion of the thread 9 held by the thread holding slider 21 and extended toward the needle 11 is guided to the inside of the groove portion 27. Thus, the excessive portion of the thread 9 can be cut by the cutting blade 26. Namely, it is not required to prepare scissors or other tools independently for cutting the excessive portion of the thread 9.
The thread holding slider 21 holding the thread 9 to be replaced (used) is moved rightward to release the thread 9 and the thread 9 is inserted in the needle hole of the needle 11 via the predetermined portion of the sewing machine 1. Thus, the sewing can be performed using the replaced thread 9.
As described above, in the sewing machine 1 of the present embodiment, the thread 9 can be held only by sliding the thread holding slider 21 leftward and the operation of sliding the thread holding slider 21 can be performed by one hand. Namely, different from the sewing machine of the above described Patent Document 1, it is not required to hold the thread by both hands. Thus, the workability is excellent. Meanwhile, in the conventional sewing machine shown in Patent Document 1, the thread is held by sandwiching the thread between the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31). However, this portion has similar configuration as a part of a thread path of a general sewing machine. Accordingly, in addition to the ordinary usage where the not used thread is held by the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31), there is a risk that the thread for performing the sewing is set while being inserted between the O-ring (32) and the mounting part (31). If the thread is set in the above described wrong state, the malfunction may occur such that an excess load is applied to the thread to cut the thread during the sewing or the O-ring (32) is worn by the moving thread. On the other hand, the thread holding slider 21 of the present embodiment is hardly mistaken for a thread path. Thus, the above described malfunction hardly occurs. In addition, in the thread holding slider 21 of the present embodiment, the engagement between the first positioning protrusion 19 and the positioning hole 24 is released when a light force is applied. Even when the sewing is performed by mistake in a state that the thread 9 is held by the thread holding slider 21, the engagement between the first positioning protrusion 19 and the positioning hole 24 is released by the tension transmitted from the thread 9. Thus, an excess load is not applied to the thread 9 from the thread holding slider 21.
Although the embodiment realizing the present invention is exemplified above, the present invention is not limited to a specific embodiment. Unless particularly limited in the above described explanation, various modification and change are possible in the range of the scope of the present invention described in the claims. In addition, the above described effects of the embodiments merely exemplify the effects arisen from the present invention. The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above described effects.
For example, in the above described embodiment, the first positioning protrusion 19 and the second positioning protrusion 20 which are partly protruded from the thread hooking base 16 are provided and the positioning hole 24, which is a through hole, is provided on the thread holding slider 21. However, it is also possible to mutually exchange them so that the through hole is provided on the thread hooking base 16 and the protrusions are provided on the thread holding slider 21.
Note that, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. Although it is to those skilled in the art, the following are disclosed as the one embodiment of this invention.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 349440 | Looker | Sep 1886 | A |
| 2628042 | Fitts | Feb 1953 | A |
| 3054277 | Broschard | Sep 1962 | A |
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| 20230043017 | Matsubara | Feb 2023 | A1 |
| 20230228022 | Mifuji | Jul 2023 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-126488 | May 2000 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20230228022 A1 | Jul 2023 | US |
