EP3992344A1

EP3992344A1 - Sewing machine needle

Info

Publication number: EP3992344A1
Application number: EP21202100.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kazutaka Hakoyama; Masahiro Muroga; Toshihiko Matsuda; Mai Mitsuya; Tomomi TOODA; Yuki Sakai; Makiko KAGAWA; Yuta Komatsu
Original assignee: Organ Needle Co Ltd
Current assignee: Organ Needle Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-30
Filing date: 2021-10-12
Publication date: 2022-05-04
Anticipated expiration: 2041-10-12
Also published as: TW202217110A; CN114438674A; EP3992344B1; JP2022072869A

Abstract

The present invention provides a sewing machine needle including: a cylindrical shank portion 11 that is attached to a sewing machine; and a needle shaft portion 20 that is provided closer to a tip of the sewing machine needle than the shank portion 11; wherein one or more groove portions 12 are formed in a circumferential face of the shank portion 11 to extend continuously over the entire circumference. Thus, a type of the sewing machine needle can be visually checked easily.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a sewing machine needle that is attached to a sewing machine in use.

BACKGROUND ART

Sewing machine needles are inserted into a needle clamping portion of a sewing machine from below and attached thereto with screws or the like in use (see JP-A-2017-136220 ).
Since each of such sewing machine needles is thin and small, it may be difficult to visually check a type of the needle.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it easy to visually check a type of a sewing machine needle.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides a sewing machine needle including: a cylindrical shank portion that is attached to a sewing machine; and a needle shaft portion that is provided closer to a tip of the sewing machine needle than the shank portion; wherein: one or more groove portions are formed in a circumferential face of the shank portion to extend continuously over the entire circumference.
According to the present invention, as described above, the groove portions are formed in the circumferential face of the shank portion. According to such a configuration, the groove portions may be associated with a type of the sewing machine needle (e.g. information such as a needle size and a product name) so that the type of the sewing machine needle can be visually checked easily.
Moreover, each of the groove portions is formed to extend continuously over the entire circumference. Accordingly, the type of the sewing machine needle can be easily checked regardless of the direction of the needle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D are a front view, a side view, a back view and a sectional view of a sewing machine needle;
FIGS. 2A and 2B are partial enlarged views of groove portions and their vicinity, FIG. 2A being a front view, FIG. 2B being a sectional view;
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a state in which sewing machine needles are attached to a needle clamping portion of a sewing machine;
FIGS. 4A to 4D are views showing sewing machine needles with different numbers of groove portions, FIG. 4A being a front view of a sewing machine needle with one groove portion, FIG. 4B being a front view of a sewing machine needle with two groove portions, FIG. 4C being a front view of a sewing machine needle with three groove portions, FIG. 4D being a front view of a sewing machine needle with four groove portions;
FIG. 5 is an example of a correspondence table between the number of groove portions and a needle size;
FIG. 6 is a front view of a sewing machine needle in which groove portions and a front groove are intersected;
FIG. 7 is a front view of a sewing machine needle in which a paint is put into groove portions; and
FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a state in which sewing machine needles each having a groove portion formed at a screwing position are attached to the needle clamping portion of the sewing machine.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A sewing machine needle 10 according to the present embodiment is attached to a needle clamping portion 31 of a sewing machine shown in FIG. 3 in use. The needle clamping portion 31 is designed to reciprocate up and down when the sewing machine is operated. As a result, sewing is performed by the sewing machine needle 10 which reciprocates integrally with the needle clamping portion 31.
In the example shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of such sewing machine needles 10 can be attached to the needle clamping portion 31 and disposed in parallel. A plurality of attachment holes into which the sewing machine needles 10 can be inserted from below are formed in the needle clamping portion 31. In addition, the needle clamping portion 31 is provided with needle clamping screws 32 that can advance into or retreat from the attachment holes. When the needle clamping screws 32 are fastened, the needle clamping screws 32 advance into the attachment holes so that the sewing machine needles 10 which have been inserted in the attachment holes can be pressed down and fixed. In this manner, the sewing machine needles 10 according to the present embodiment are attached to the sewing machine by the screwing.
As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D, each of the sewing machine needles 10 has a shank portion 11, a needle shaft portion 20, and a taper portion 13. The shank portion 11 is attached to the sewing machine. The needle shaft portion 20 is provided closer to a tip of the sewing machine needle 10 than the shank portion 11. The taper portion 13 connects the shank portion 11 and the needle shaft portion 20 to each other.
As shown in FIG. 3, the shank portion 11 is a portion that is retained by the needle clamping portion 31 of the sewing machine. The shank portion 11 is formed into a cylindrical shape so that thickness of the shank portion 11 is invariable.
The taper portion 13 is a circular truncated cone-shaped part provided between the shank portion 11 and the needle shaft portion 20. The taper portion 13 is formed with a diameter that is gradually reduced as it goes toward the tip.
The needle shaft portion 20 is a part that can penetrate a fabric to be sewn. A tip of the needle shaft portion 20 has a sharpened shape to form a needle tip portion 28. A thread hole 21 through which a thread can be run is bored in the vicinity of the tip of the needle shaft portion 20.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a front groove 22 for guiding the thread from the position of the thread hole 21 toward the shank portion 11 is formed on a front side of the needle shaft portion 20.
As shown in FIG. 1C, a scarf portion 23 is formed closer to the shank portion 11 than the thread hole 21 on a back side of the needle shaft portion 20. As shown in FIG. 1B, the scarf portion 23 is formed into a shape in which an outer surface of the needle shaft portion 20 has been indented.
A back groove 24 for guiding the thread on the back side is formed further closer to the shank portion 11 than the scarf portion 23.
As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D and FIGS. 2A and 2B, groove portions 12 are formed in a circumferential face of the shank portion 11 according to the present embodiment to extend continuously over the entire circumference. The groove portions 12 are formed by engraving the surface of the shank portion 11. The groove portions 12 according to the present embodiment are formed with the same widths so that each of the widths does not vary over the entire circumference.
In the present embodiment, the groove portions 12 are associated with a type of the sewing machine needle 10 (e.g. information such as a needle size and a product name). As a result, the type of the sewing machine needle 10 can be checked by referring to the groove portions 12. For example, the product name of the sewing machine needle 10 can be identified by the groove portions 12 provided thus.
Incidentally, the type of the sewing machine needle 10 may be also determined by the color in which the sewing machine needle 10 has been painted. However, when the sewing machine needle 10 is merely painted in the color, the paint may peel off or deteriorate in visibility. When the groove portions 12 are formed as in the present embodiment, there is however no risk of the paint peeling off, and the visibility can be also enhanced because the outline of the needle changes.
Moreover, since each of the groove portions 12 is formed to extend continuously over the entire circumference, the type of the sewing machine needle 10 can be checked regardless of the direction of the needle 10 (regardless of which side, the front side or the back side, of the sewing machine needle 10 a user is looking at).
In addition, due to the groove portions 12 provided thus, a heat dissipation effect of the sewing machine needle 10 can be also enhanced. When the sewing machine is used to perform high-speed sewing work, the sewing machine needle 10 may become very high in temperature (about 200°C) due to frictional heat. Even in this case, the heat dissipation effect can be increased due to the groove portions 12 that are formed to increase a surface area. With the increase in the heat dissipation effect, for example, a possibility of burns can be reduced during needle replacement.
In addition, due to the groove portions 12 provided thus, machine oil can be prevented from flowing to the needle tip side even in a case where the machine oil leaks from the sewing machine. For example, even in a case where the oil leaking from the sewing machine flows through the needle clamping portion 31 to the sewing machine needle 10, the oil can be temporarily stopped by the groove portions 12. Accordingly, the oil is less likely to adhere to an object to be sewed in the structure.
Incidentally, the sewing machine needle 10 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D and FIGS. 2A and 2B is provided with three groove portions 12, and the three groove portions 12 are formed into the same shape and with the same width. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the shape, the width, and the number of the groove portions 12 can be set desirably.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D, a plurality of sewing machine needles 10 different in the numbers of the groove portions 12 may be used. The numbers of the groove portions 12 may be set to correspond to types of the sewing machine needles 10 respectively, so that each of the types of the sewing machine needles 10 can be identified by a corresponding one of the numbers of the groove portions 12. In other words, the number of the groove portions 12 may be used to represent the type of the sewing machine needle 10. As an example, the number of the groove portions 12 may be increased as the size of the sewing machine needle 10 increases.
In addition, the groove portions 12 may be used to represent a binary number, so as to indicate the type of the needle. That is, each of the groove portions 12 may be associated with a corresponding one of places of the binary number so that presence or absence of the groove portion 12 can represent "0" or "1" in the corresponding place. Specifically, among the groove portions 12 disposed in parallel, an n-th (n is a natural number) groove portion may be set to represent a "2^(n-1)"-th place. The "2^(n-1)"-th place may be "1" when the n-th groove portion is engraved. The "2^(n-1)"-th place may be "0" when the n-th groove is not engraved. When the groove portions 12 are used to represent a binary number in this manner, richer information than the number of the groove portions 12 can be displayed.
In a case where, for example, a maximum of four groove portions 12 can be used, as shown in FIG. 4D, 16 (= 2⁴) indications (15 indications if an indication for no groove portion 12 is excluded) can be made. FIG. 5 shows an example of a correspondence table between the groove portions 12 and the needle size when the needle size is indicated by the groove portions 12. In this example, the maximum of the four groove portions 12 can be used, and the four groove portions 12 are a first groove portion 12a, a second groove portion 12b, a third groove portion 12c, and a fourth groove portion 12d in order from the tip side (see FIG. 4D). In this case, the first groove 12a represents a first place of a binary number, the second groove 12b represents a second place of the binary number, the third groove 12c represents a fourth place of the binary number, and the fourth groove 12d represents an eighth place of the binary number. Thus, when, for example, only the first groove portion 12a is engraved, it represents a binary number "0001" (= a decimal number "1"). Moreover, when all the groove portions 12 are engraved, it represents a binary number "1111" (= a decimal number "15"). In this manner, numerical numbers 1 to 15 can be indicated if the indication for no groove portion 12 is excluded. In the example of FIG. 5, the needle size also increases as the numerical number represented by the groove portions 12 increases.
Although not shown in the drawings, a plurality of sewing machine needles 10 having different shapes of groove portions 12 may be used. For example, the groove portions 12 may have variations in shape, in such a manner that some of the groove portions 12 are formed into linear shapes while the other groove portions 12 are formed into wavy or zigzag shapes, or angles of the groove portions 12 to longitudinal directions of their sewing machine needles 10 are changed. The shapes of the groove portions 12 may be made to correspond to the types of the sewing machine needles 10 respectively, so that each of the types of the sewing machine needles 10 can be identified by a corresponding one of the shapes of the groove portions 12. In other words, the shape of the groove portion 12 may be used to represent the type of the sewing machine needle 10.
Although not shown in the drawings, a plurality of sewing machine needles 10 with different widths of groove portions 12 may be used. When the widths of the grooves 12 are made to correspond to the types of the sewing machine needles 10 respectively, each of the types of the sewing machining needles 10 can be identified by a corresponding one of the widths of the groove portions 12. In other words, the width of the groove portion 12 may be used to represent the type of the sewing machine needle 10.
Incidentally, when the type of the sewing machine needle 10 is identifiable by the shape, the width, and the number of the groove portions 12 as described above, the type of the sewing machine needle 10 may be identifiable by any of the shape, the width, and the number of the groove portions 12, or by a combination of two or more of the shape, the width, and the number of the groove portions 12.
FIG. 6 is a view showing a modification of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the front groove 22 may be formed to be extended to a position at which the front groove 22 intersects the groove portions 12. On this occasion, it is desirable that the back groove 24 does not intersect the groove portions 12 as in FIG. 1C. In other words, configuration may be made so that the front groove 22 intersects the groove portions 12 and the back groove 24 does not intersect the groove portions 12. When the configuration is made thus, the side where the groove intersects the groove portions 12 is the front side. Accordingly, the front and the back can be easily identified when the sewing machine needle 10 is attached to the needle clamping portion 31. In other words, according to a background-art sewing machine needle 10, it is difficult to identify the front and the back of the sewing machine needle 10, and an attachment mistake may occur especially in the sewing machine needle 10 thin in size. In this regard, when the configuration is made so that the front groove 22 intersects the groove portions 12, a worker can identify the front and the back of the sewing machine needle 10 easily and can therefore prevent an attachment mistake.
FIG. 7 is a view showing another modification of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, a paint may be put into the groove portions 12. Due to the paint put into the groove portions 12 thus, the groove portions 12 can be made noticeable easily. Moreover, since the paint is made to get into the groove portions 12, the paint is less likely to peel off.
FIG. 8 is a view showing another modification of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, groove portions 12 may be formed at positions where the groove portions 12 are screwed down by a needle clamping portion 31. In other words, the groove portions 12 may be formed at such positions that tips of needle clamping screws 32 go into the groove portions 12 when the sewing machine needles 10 are attached to the sewing machine. In this manner, the groove portions 12 can be used to prevent the sewing machine needles 10 from dropping out.

Claims

A sewing machine needle comprising: a cylindrical shank portion that is attached to a sewing machine; and a needle shaft portion that is provided closer to a tip of the sewing machine needle than the shank portion; wherein
one or more groove portions are formed in a circumferential face of the shank portion to extend continuously over the entire circumference.
A sewing machine needle according to Claim 1, wherein
a type of the needle can be identified by at least one of a shape, a width or a number of the groove portions.
A sewing machine needle according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein
the groove portions are used to represent a binary number so that a type of the needle can be identified.
A sewing machine needle according to any one of Claims 1 through 3, wherein
a front groove for guiding a thread into a thread hole is formed in the needle shaft portion to a position at which the front groove intersects the groove portions.
A sewing machine needle according to any one of Claims 1 through 4, wherein
a paint is put into each of the groove portions.
A sewing machine needle according to any one of Claims 1 through 5, wherein
the sewing machine needle is attached to the sewing machine by screwing; and

the groove portions are formed at a position for the screwing.