US1536041A - Embroidering machine - Google Patents

Description

April 28, 1925- W. MYYERS smaxoxpanme pmcnma rah 24 192's 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed I8.

- INVENT OR Walfer Wm A'ITQRNEY 'April-28, 1925"- 1536,04!

I w. MYERS BIIBROIDIIING IAGHINB Filed March as. 192: 2 Sheets-Shut a Y INVENTOR v 'Walfer Mye V I ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

WALTER MYERS, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF ELIZABETH, v.LQ'IE'HJV JERSEY, A CORPORATION- OF NEW JERSEY.

EMBROIDERING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVALTnn MYERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Embroidering Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in embroidering machines and more particularly in the universal feed en'ibroidering machines of the socalled Bonnaz type wherein acovering thread or cord is wound around the sewing thread or around the sewing thread and a filler cord or braid.

One of the objects of this invention .is to provide improved means for varying the spacing of the convolutions of the covering thread or cord wound about the sewing thread or filler cord or both.

The invention has for another object to provide improved means in a universal feed embroidering machine for rendering the covering thread or cord winding device operative or inoperative, atthe will of the operator, without requiring a re-timing of the covering-thread guide with respect to the stitch-forming mechanism.

Other objects of the'invention will be apparent from the following description and claims.

To attain the objects of the present invention, the presentimprovement has been embodied in a universal feed enmroidering machine in which a covering thread spool and guide are supported upon the machine frame for bodily rotation coaxially of the needlebar. Loosely mounted upon the main-shaft of the machine and selectively keyed there to at the will of the operator is a series of different size driving gears in constant mesh with an intermediate step-gear comprising a series of gears secured against relative rotation housed within the overhanging bracket-arm and constantly in driving engagement witha driven'gear, loosely journaled upon the feed-direotion determining shaft and forming 1 part of the usual differential gearing for rotating the covering-thread guide. The driving gear requisite to impart the desired speed of rotation to the covering-thread guide may be selectively secured to the main-shaft of the machine by means of a key slidingly mounted in a slot of said. shaft and suitably connected with a manually manipulated lever. This lever may be secured to position the sliding key in gear-engaging and disengaging positions and as the several gears remain constantly in mesh the covering-thread guide may be readilythrown into and out of operation at will and the spacing of the convolutions of the covering-thread may be readily varied without, destroying the timing or the position of the covering-thread guide with respect to the stitch-forming mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a front side elevation, partly in section, of

.a universal feed embroidering machine in which a preferred form of the present improvement has been embodied. Fig. 2 is a detail of a portion of the bracket-arm of the machine illustrating the key-sliding lever. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section of a portion of the machine bracket-arm. Fig. at is an enlarged vertical section of the main and feed-direction-determining shafts. Fig. 5 is a detail view illustrating the relation ship of the covering-thread guide controlling driving and driven gears.

Referring to the drawings, the embroidering machine is constructed with a bed-platc 1, from which rises the vertical standard 2 of the overhanging bracket-arm 3 terminating in the head a. to which is suitably secured the needle-bar and feed-supporting frame Journaled in suitable. bearings provided in the overhanging arm is the main or driving shaft 6. The frame 5 is formed with parallel, horizontally extending bearing brackets 7 and 8,.having vertically alined apertures in which the cylinder '9 is journaled for rotary movements.

Mountedin the cylinder-9 is the needlebar 10, vertically reciprocated from the main-shaft 6 and constrained to rotate with the cylinder 9in the usual manner. At its lower end the needle-bar carries the hookneedle 11 adapted to coact in a well known manner with a chain-stitch looper (not shown), to enchain loops of threadabove the throat-plate 12, the thread being supplied from a spool carried by the spool-pin 13 located below the bed-plate 1. Vhile a chain-stitch mechanism is embodied in the machine being described, it will be evident that the covering-thread device controlling mechanism is equally adapted for embodiment in a lock-stitch machine, such for instance as is disclosed in my U. S. Patent No. 1,325,033, dated Dec. 16, 1919.

The feeding mechanism comprises a feeding foot 14: which is actuated to feed the work in a direction corresponding, as usual, to the direction of rotation of the cylinder 9. To effect rotation of the cylinder 9 under manual control there may be employed the usual connections such as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,325,038. These connections comprise in part a bevel gear 15, fixed upon the cylinder 9 and meshing with a similar gear 16 upon a studshaft 17 fixed upon the frame 5. Mounted upon the stud-shaft 17 to rotate witli the bevel-gear 16 is a pinion 18 meshing with a spur-gear 19 fixed upon the forward end of the feed-direction determining shaft 20 journaled in the overhanging bracket-arm of the machine. The shaft 20, as is usual in machines of this class, has gear and shaft connections with a handcrank 21 disposed below the bed-plate 1, whereupon by manipulation of said handcrank the shaft 20 may be rotated in opposite directions to change the direction of work-feeding movement of the feeding-foot 1 f.

During the sewing operation the hookneedle 11 is reciprocated through the tubu lar nipple 22, which as usual rotates with the cylinder 9 but is vertically reciprocated thereupon and may be designed to function either as a needle-stripper or as a combined braid-guide and needle-stripper as is well known.

Loosely journaled upon the machine frame between the bracket 8 and a collar 23 fixed upon the frame is a spool-carrier sleeve 24 upon which is secured the covering-thread spool-carrier 25 and the covering-thread guide 26 having the usual thread guiding aperture adjacent the needle. The guide 26 is bodily rotated about an axis constituting the path of reciprocation of the needle to wind the covering-thread about the sewing thread or about the sewing thread and a filler braid or cord dependent upon the character of the work desired. Vhile in the present instance the covering-thread spoolcarrier 25 is also bodily rotated, this carrier may be otherwise supported as for instance by mounting the covering-thread spool so that its unwinding aXis is concentric with the needle-bar, as is well known.

In order to rotate the guide 26 and the covering-thread spool-carrier 25, the sleeve 24 fixedly carries a spur-gear 27 in mesh with an intermediate pinion 28 supported by a studscrew 29 threaded into the frame The pinion 28 is in constant engagement with a spurgear 30 secured upon the lower end of a vertical shaft 31 suitably journaledin the machine frame. The gears 27, 28

and 30 are preferably enclosed by a housing 32 detachably secured upon the machine frame. At its upper end, the vertical shaft 31 carries a bevel gear 33 meshing with a similar gear 84E upon the forward end of a sleeve 35, journaled in a web 36 in the overhanging bracket-arm of the machine and sleeved upon the feeddirection-determining shaft 20. Upon the other side of the web 36, there is secured upon the sleeve a bevel-gear 37 forming part of a differential gear mechanism which in principle is well known in this class of machines. Meshing with the bevel-gear 37 is an intermediate pinion 3S journaled upon the reduced upper end of a gear-bracket 39 and held in position thereupon by means of a cap-screw 40. The gear-bracket 39 is apertured for reception of the shaft 20 upon which it is secured against relative rotation by means of the set-screw 41. The pinion 38 is also in constant mesh with a bevel-gear 12 upon one end of a sleeve -13, loosely journaled upon the shaft 20 and held against endwise movement thereupon by means of a collar 44. A spur-gear 41-5 is disposed upon the sleeve 43 to rotate therewith and is rotated from the main-shaft 6 by mechanism under manual control for varying the speed of rotation of the gear L5 and therefore the spacing of the convolutions of the covering thread.

Loosely journaled upon the main-shaft 6 and held against endwise movement thereupon by means of collars, as 46, is a series of driving gears 17, as, 49 and 50 of successively decreasing diameters and separated by washers, as 51. Each of these gears is provided with a key-slot 52 adapted to be successively engaged by the beveled nose 53 on the forward end of a key 5 L slidingly disposed in a way 55 provided in the mainshaft 6. At its opposite end the key 5-1- is formed with a notch 56 loosely entered by the unthreaded reduced end of a screw 57 threaded into a grooved collar 58 also slidingly disposed upon the shaft 6. The collar 58 is engaged by a stud 59 upon the upper end of a crankarm 60 having a fulcrumpin 61 journaled upon a detachable frontplate 62 secured upon the overhanging bracket-arm of the machine by means of a screw 63. Rigidly secured upon the fulcrum-pin 61, so as to in effect comprise a bellcrank-leverin connection with the crankarm 60, is a manually manipulated arm 64: having at its outer end an apertured boss 65 in which is slidingly mounted a lockingpin 66. Threaded upon the outer end of the pin 66 is a nut 67 while its inner end may be yieldingly seated under the actionof a spring 68, in any one of a plurality of apertures 69 formed in the front-plate 62. It will be apparent that by shifting the locking-pin 66 into the proper aperture 69, the key will be slidingly displaced in the way 55, whereupon the beveled nose 53 of thekey out of engagement with the gear last secured tothe shaft to serve as a safeguardagainst simultaneously securing. two gems to the shaft 6 and also to afford a rest for the key in gear disengaging position. Depressions,

as 71,.are provided in the front-plate 62 to alternate with the apertures 69 and when the lockingpin 6G is seated in any one of the depressions 71, the key 54 is disengaged from the driving gears, the nose contacting one of the washers 51.

Preferably secured upon the rear side of theoverhanging bracket-arm 3 is a gearhousing '72 in which is suitably journaled a co'rmter-shaft 73. Fixed upon the counter: shaft 73 is an intermediate step-gearconr prising a series of four-gears T 4, 75, 76 and 77 of successively increasing diameters and secured together by means of screw-bolts, as T8. The intermediate gears 74, 75, 76 and 77 are in constant mesh with the driving gears 47, 48, 49 and 50, respectively, while the gear 74 which has arelatively wide face is also in mesh with the spur-gear upon the shaft 20. Inasmuch as the driving gears can be keyed to the main-shaft only when the beveled nose 53 of the key is in alinement with the key-slots 52 of said gears and furthermore as the driving and intermediate gears, together with the spur-gears 45 are in constant mesh, the relative timing thereof with respect to the stitch-forming mech anism can not be destroyed by rendering the driving gears ineffective by manual manipulation of the arm 64.

In the operation of the stitching mechanism, when any one of the driving gears is keyed to the main-shaft 6, the coveringthread guide 26 i is positively rotated, through the gear connections described, about the needle to wind the covering-thread about the needle-thread or the needle-thread and a filler cord or braid, the number of convolutions of the covering-thread with respect to the number of stitches being dependent upon the driving gear selected, as

will be evident. The gears in the present machine are preferably of such a ratio that, when the gear 47 is keyed to the main-shaft, the covering thread-guide 26 makes one complete revolution during the formation of each stitch. While the driving-gears 48, 49 and each successively require one additional stitch to complete one revolution of the covering-thread-guide. The present construction therefore comprises conveniently positioned means, operable at the will of the operator, for both changing the spacing of the. convolutions of the covering thread and for rendering thecovering-thread guide inoperative without requiring retiming of the guide.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. In an embroidering machine, in combination, a main-shaft, stitch-forming mech anism including a reciprocatory needle, universal feeding mechanism, mechanism for controlling the directionof feed, a coveringthread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, actuating mechanism operatively connected with said main-shaft for rotating said guide, and means independent of the direction of feed for at will varying the relative speed of rotation of said main-shaft and said guide during the .operation of the machine. i

2. In an enibroidering machine, in combination, stitch-forming mechanism including areciprocatory needle, means for reciprocating said needle, universal feeding mechanism, mechanisn'i for controlling the direction of feed, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, actuating mechanism'for rotating said guide, and means independent of the direction of feed for at will varying the relative timing between said reciprocating needle and the rotating thread-guide during the operation of the machine.

3. In an embroidering machine, in combination, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, means for reciprocating said needle, universal feeding mechanism, mechanism for controlling the direction of feed, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, and actuating mechanism for rotating said guide including a series of driving gears, a series of driven gears constantly in mesh with said driving gears, and shiftable means for driving the driven gears from any one of said driving gears.

4. In an embroidering machine, in combination, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, means for recipio eating said needle, universal feeding mechanism, mechanism for controlling the direction of feed, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, and actuating mechanism for rotating said guide including a series of driving gears, a series of driven gears constantly in mesh with said driving gears, and shiftable means for at will rendering an intermeshing driving and driven gear of said series effective or ineffective to rotate said covering-thread guide.

5. In an embroidering machine, in combination, stitclrforming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, a driving shaft, a series of driving gears upon said driving shaft, a counter-shaft, a series of intermediate gears carried by said counter-shaft in constant mesh with said driving gears, means for selectively driving an intermeshing driving and intermediate gear of said series, and operative connections between the driven intermediate gear and said guide to rotate the latter.

6. In an embroidering machine, in combi nation, stitclr't'orming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, a driving shaft, a series of driving gears upon said driving shaft, a counter-shaft, a stepgear carried by said counter-shaft comprising a series of intermediate gears secured to rotate together and disposed in constant mesh with said driving gears, means for selectively securing a driving gear to said driving shaft, and operative connections between the step-gear and said guide to rotate the latter.

7. In an embroidering machine, in combination, stitch-formin mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, a driving shaft, a series of driving gears upon said driving shaft, a counter-shape, a series of intermediate gears carried by said counter-shaft in constant mesh with said driving gears, means for selectively driving an intermediate gear from one of said driving gears, operative connections between the driven intermediate gear and said guide to rotate the latter, and means for at will rendering the driving gears ineffective to rotate the guide.

8. In an embroidering machine, in combination, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, a covering-thread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, a driving shaft, a series of driving gears upon said shaft, a driven shaft, a series of driven gears upon said driven shaft in constant mesh with said driving gears, operative connections between said driven gears and said guide for rotating the latter, and means for selectively securing any gear of one of said series to its shaft including a sliding key, a lever and means for maintaining said lever with the sliding key in gear-engaging position.

9. In an embroidering machine, the combination with stitcl1forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, means for reciprocating said needle, and a coveringthread guide disposed to rotate about said needle, of means for at will rotating said guide at different speeds with respect to the reciprocations of said needle, said means including a device for selectively determining the speed of rotation of said guide while maintaining a predetermined position thereof with respect to said needle at a given point in the stitch-forming cycle.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

lVALTER MYERS.

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