Sewing – Special machines – Embroidering
Patent
1995-09-19
1997-08-19
Nerbun, Peter
Sewing
Special machines
Embroidering
112445, 112458, 11247004, D05B 1912
Patent
active
056577087
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an embroidering machine controller suitable for use with an industrial sewing machine, for example, with an automatic embroidering machine, and more particularly to an embroidering machine controller which is capable of controlling operations of such automatic embroidering machines with improved operability.
BACKGROUND ART
Among various industrial sewing machines, there have been known in the art the so-called multi-head automatic embroidering machines which have a plural number of machine heads side by side on and along a wide support table, and which are arranged to put the embroidering needles on the respective machine heads in reciprocating motions in a synchronized fashion by means of a single common drive source to form simultaneously a plural number of embroidery patterns or stitches on a spread of cloth which is retained in a movable cloth holder frame on the support table.
Existing multi-head automatic embroidering machines of this sort generally include various drive mechanisms and servo mechanisms, for example, a main shaft drive motor serving as a common drive source to drive the respective embroidering needles up and down in reciprocating motions, actuators for shifting the cloth holder frame position, mechanisms for changing the color of embroidering threads, mechanisms for cutting embroidering threads, sensors for detection of embroidering thread breakages etc. In forming embroidery patterns and stitches, automatic embroidering machines of this sort invariably need to control these mechanisms according to setup operational data.
In this regard, for centralized control of a large number of functions involved in embroidering operations, multi-head automatic embroidery machines are normally provided with a controller which is exclusively tailored to each model of embroidering machine. In most cases, the controller is largely constituted by; a display means with a viewing screen for visually indicating operational information or message such as drive conditions, operation menu and others; a plural number of manual switch keys for entering commands or other data for the operation of the embroidering machine; a disk drive for uploading and downloading files of operational data including embroidering data; and a microcomputer for generally controlling a large number of functions as mentioned above.
For instance, the controller is used to set up operational data by reading in a specified file of embroidering data (embroidery pattern generating data) from a floppy disk on the disk drive, and to control automatically the operations of moving parts of the embroidering machine according to setup embroidering data to produce aimed embroidery patterns at the respective machine head. Besides, it is usually the case that the operator can remote-control the frame driving actuators and color changing mechanisms arbitrarily at a desired time point in the course of an embroidering operation by way of the manual switch keys on the controller, which also include manual switch keys with functions of adding modifications or alterations to the embroidery pattern in the uploaded embroidering data file or other functions.
In case of an embroidering machine controller of this sort, it is impractical to provide on the controller a large number of function selector switches in one-on-one relation with all of the numerous functions which are resorted to in the control of embroidering operations, in consideration of the inferior operationability as would result from complications of switching (keying) operations involving a large number of function selector keys (switches). In order to reduce the number of function selector keys, it has been the general practice to divide the numerous functions into a plural number of selection groups (selection modes) which are convenient to the operator in terms of keying-in operations, and to allot the functions of the each selection group selectively to a reduced number of function selector keys in relation with a keying operation on a grou
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patent: 4860678 (1989-08-01), Skogward
patent: 4943906 (1990-07-01), Tajima et al.
patent: 5097779 (1992-03-01), Ishikawa et al.
patent: 5333560 (1994-08-01), Yoshida
patent: 5347940 (1994-09-01), Hori et al.
Ishibashi Youichi
Makita Toshihiro
Okuno Akira
Nerbun Peter
Nippon Denpa Co., Ltd.
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