JP2002200379A - Thread coloring sewing machine and maintenance device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To perform maintenance processing of an ink jet head in a device provided with a thread coloring means for coloring a sewing thread by an ink jet method. SOLUTION: The thread coloring sewing machine of the present invention includes a thread coloring means 13 for coloring a sewing thread 19 with ink ejected from an ink jet head 34, and is provided with a maintenance device 25 by vertically moving a presser bar 11. The configuration is such that maintenance processing of the inkjet head 34 is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thread-coloring sewing machine having a function of coloring a sewing thread with ink ejected from an ink-jet head, and to performing maintenance processing of the ink-jet head detachably mounted on the thread-coloring sewing machine. Related to a maintenance device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a sewing machine having a function of coloring a sewing thread (upper thread). In addition, the present applicant also disclosed in
Application for the invention described in JP-A-9-137096. In the present invention, a liquid coloring liquid (hereinafter, simply referred to as ink) such as a coloring material is sprayed onto a sewing thread by an ink jet method so as to be colored.

[0003]

However, a sewing machine provided with a mechanism for coloring a sewing thread by an ink jet method as in the configuration of the above-mentioned unpublished application has the following problems. That is, if air bubbles or foreign matter enters the small holes of the discharge nozzle of the ink jet head, the ink is not ejected even if pressure is applied. Therefore, a maintenance process called "purge" for periodically removing the air bubbles is necessary. If the ink is left attached to the surface of the discharge nozzle, the ink dries or the small holes of the discharge nozzle are clogged with ink, so that the ink is not discharged from the discharge nozzle. For this reason, a maintenance process called “wipe” for wiping the ink attached to the discharge nozzle and a maintenance process called “capping” for closing the small holes of the discharge nozzle when not in use are required.

Therefore, in the above-described electronic sewing machine having a mechanism for coloring a thread by the ink jet method, a mechanism for performing a maintenance process is provided in the coloring mechanism together with the ink jet head, or the coloring mechanism is attached to and detached from the sewing machine body. A configuration is adopted in which the coloring mechanism is detachably attached to the sewing machine main body when performing the maintenance processing by performing the attachment.

[0005] If the mechanism for performing the maintenance process is provided in the coloring mechanism, the operation for the maintenance process can be easily performed, but the size is increased accordingly. For this reason, the coloring mechanism is installed on the upper portion of the sewing machine having a sufficient space. However, when the coloring mechanism is provided on the upper portion of the sewing machine, the coloring portion and the stitch forming portion are separated from each other, so that it is difficult to change the color at a desired position. there were.

On the other hand, when the coloring mechanism is detachably attached to the sewing machine main body, the coloring mechanism can be provided near the sewing needle. However, in this case, it is necessary to remove the coloring mechanism from the sewing machine main body every time the maintenance processing is performed, and there is a problem that the operation becomes troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a thread coloring sewing machine and a maintenance device which can easily perform maintenance processing of an ink jet head in a device provided with a thread coloring means for coloring a sewing thread by an ink jet method. .

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stitch forming means for forming a stitch by a sewing thread on a work cloth by vertically moving a sewing needle with respect to the work cloth;
What is claimed is: 1. A thread-coloring sewing machine comprising: a thread coloring unit that colors the sewing thread with ink discharged from an inkjet head, wherein the maintenance device performs maintenance processing of the inkjet head, and the maintenance device performs maintenance of the inkjet head. It is characterized in that an operation member for executing the processing is provided.

According to the above configuration, the maintenance device can execute the maintenance processing by simply operating the operation member.

In the above construction, the thread coloring means is removably mounted on a presser bar of the sewing machine, and the operation member performs a maintenance process by the maintenance device in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar. It is preferable to configure so as to cause the above (the invention of claim 2).

According to the above configuration, the maintenance process can be performed in conjunction with the operation of moving the presser bar up and down, which is normally performed when the stitch forming operation is performed or completed, so that the maintenance process is troublesome. There is no need to perform any kind of operation, and there is no need to provide a special member for that.

In this case, the operation member is moved in a horizontal direction or a direction including a horizontal direction component in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar, so that the maintenance device performs the maintenance processing. It is preferable to configure (the invention of claim 3).

[0013] The maintenance member may be configured to execute the maintenance processing by the maintenance device by rotating the maintenance device in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar.
Invention).

Still further, in a configuration provided with the plurality of ink discharge nozzles provided in the ink jet head and opening to the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head, the maintenance device may further include a wiper function for wiping the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head. It is preferable to provide a capping function for closing the opening of the ink discharge nozzle and a purge function for releasing air from the ink discharge nozzle (the invention of claim 5).

According to the above configuration, by operating the operation member, the maintenance device can execute a plurality of maintenance processes.

The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is characterized in that a stitch forming means for forming a stitch by a sewing thread on the work cloth by moving a sewing needle up and down with respect to the work cloth; A thread-coloring sewing machine comprising: a presser bar having a cloth presser that comes into contact with the upper surface of a cloth to prevent the work cloth from lifting up and off; And a maintenance device for performing a maintenance process of the inkjet head, wherein the maintenance process of the inkjet head by the maintenance device is performed as the presser bar rises.

According to the above configuration, since the yarn coloring means and the maintenance device are configured separately, the size of the yarn coloring means does not increase. Moreover, since the maintenance process is performed by the maintenance device as the presser bar is lifted, the work for the maintenance process becomes troublesome by configuring the thread coloring means and the maintenance device separately. There is no.

Further, according to the present invention, a stitch forming means for forming a stitch by a sewing thread on the work cloth by moving a sewing needle up and down with respect to the work cloth, and an ink ejected from an ink jet head. A maintenance device which is removably mounted on a sewing machine main body of a thread coloring sewing machine including a thread coloring means for coloring the sewing thread, and has a maintenance mechanism for performing maintenance processing of the ink jet head. The maintenance process is characterized in that it is configured to be executed by operating an operation member provided on the sewing machine main body.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an embroidery sewing machine will be described below with reference to FIGS. The basic configuration of the embroidery sewing machine according to this embodiment is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-2304 filed earlier by the present applicant.
The configuration is substantially the same as that described in No. 00. Therefore, the same parts as those of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-230400 will be briefly described, and different parts will be described in detail.

First, the configuration of the embroidery sewing machine according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, a free arm 2 is provided at the left end of the bed of the machine frame 1 of the embroidery sewing machine, and the embroidery device 3 is detachably attached to the free arm 2. Have been.

The embroidery device 3 includes a cloth (work cloth) 4 (FIG. 1).
Embroidery frame 5 for holding the embroidery frame 5 and an embroidery frame moving mechanism for moving the embroidery frame 5 in the horizontal direction (X-axis direction and Y-axis direction). The embroidery frame 5 includes an outer frame and an inner frame, and the cloth 4 is sandwiched between them.

The embroidery frame moving mechanism includes a moving body 8 which is freely moved in the X-axis direction (left and right directions) by an X-direction stepping motor 6 (shown only in FIG. 10). The embroidery frame 5 is attached to the movable body 8 so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction (front-back direction). The moving body 8
Is moved by a Y-direction stepping motor 7 (only shown in FIG. 10). The electrical connection between the embroidery device 3 and the embroidery sewing machine main body is made by connecting the connector 9 of the embroidery device 3 and the connector 10 provided on the embroidery sewing machine main body.

A presser bar 11 is supported by the machine casing 1 so as to be vertically movable. A coloring portion 13 of a coloring unit 12 is detachably attached to a lower end of the holding rod 11. The coloring unit 12 and the coloring unit 13 will be described later. Incidentally, a cloth presser (not shown) is usually attached to the lower end of the presser bar 11. The pressing rod 11 is urged downward by a pressing spring (not shown).

The presser bar 11 is configured to be moved up and down by a user's manual operation and an automatic presser lifting mechanism (not shown) driven by a motor. Further, the feed dog 14 for feeding the cloth in cooperation with the cloth presser is provided so as to move up and down, move back and forth, and move left and right. This feed dog 14
Are arranged below the needle plate 15 during embroidery sewing.

A needle bar 16 is provided on the head portion of the machine casing 1 so as to be vertically movable, swingable in the left and right direction, and rotatable. A specific driving mechanism of the needle bar 16 will be described later. At the lower end of the needle bar 16 is a needle holder 1
The sewing needle 17 is attached via 6a. When the sewing needle 17 is moved up and down, the lower thread in the shuttle and the upper thread 1 inserted through the sewing needle 17 cooperate with a shuttle disposed below the needle plate 15.
8 form a seam in the cloth 4.

Further, a start / stop switch 19 for instructing start or stop of the sewing operation is provided on the head portion of the machine casing 1. A card slot is provided in the pillar section 20 of the machine frame 1, and a ROM card 21 storing sewing data is attached to a card connector 22 provided in the pillar section 20 via the slot. It has become possible. In the case of the embroidery sewing machine having the above configuration, the ROM card 2
XY movement of the embroidery frame 5 and the needle bar 1 according to the sewing data in
Various embroidery patterns are formed on the cloth 4 by cooperating the up and down movements of the cloth 6.

An operation panel 23 is provided on the front of the machine casing 1 of the sewing machine. The operation panel 23 is provided with a liquid crystal display (LCD) and various operation switches.

Next, the specific structure of the coloring unit 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. The coloring unit 12 includes a coloring section 13 attached to a lower end of the presser bar 11, an ink supply / recovery device 24, and a maintenance device 25. In the present embodiment, the coloring section 13 and the ink supply / recovery device 24 constitute coloring means.

The ink supply and recovery device 24 includes an ink slot 27 for setting an ink cassette 26 and an air compressor 30 for flowing air through a recovery tube 28 and recovering excess ink in a recovery tank 29. The ink cassette 26 includes, for example, four color ink cassettes of black, magenta, yellow, and cyan.

The power supply of the air compressor 30 is connected to a connector 33 provided on the sewing machine main body via a connection cable 31 and a connector 32. Further, the electrical connection between the ink jet head 34 and the sewing machine main body, which will be described later, is also performed by the wiring wired along the ink supply tube 35 or the collection tube 28 and the connection cable 3.
0 and so on.

The coloring section 13 is detachably attached to the lower end of the holding rod 11 by a tightening screw 36. The coloring portion 13 is, as shown in FIGS.
Attachment body 37 to presser bar 11, main body 38 made of synthetic resin
And an ink jet head 34 exchangeably housed in the main body 38. The mounting body 37
A substantially D-shaped mounting groove 37a for mounting the lower end of the presser bar 11 is formed in the upper portion of the main body 38, and a flange portion 37b having a concave portion for fitting the upper portion of the main body 38 is formed in the lower end. The main body 38 is fixedly fastened to the mounting body 37 by screws 39.

The ink jet head 34 is housed and fixed in a recess formed in the main body 38 so as to be embraced from the lower surface side. An opening (not shown) is formed in the middle part of the front surface of the main body 38 in the up-down direction. In this opening, openings of a large number of ink discharge nozzles 41 a formed in the front end surface of the ink jet head 34 are formed. It is configured to face. Therefore, in this embodiment, the front surface of the main body 38 functions as an ink ejection surface. On the lower surface of the front part of the main body 38, a cloth presser surface 40 corresponding to a normal cloth presser is formed.

On the left and right side surfaces of the main body 38, two ink receiving ports 38a to 38d are formed on each side surface. The ink receiving ports 38a to 38d are configured to be supplied with four colors of ink from the ink cassette 26 via the ink supply tube 35, respectively.

The ink-jet head 34 is composed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped electrostrictive element block, for example, a piezo element or the like. A sheet 41 made of a synthetic resin flat plate is attached to the front end surface of the electrostrictive element block, and a large number of ink discharge nozzles 41a are formed on the sheet 41 so as to be arranged in a line in the vertical direction. ing. On the right side from the center in the electrostrictive element block, comb-shaped ink chambers 42a to 42d each including a number of slits are formed. An ink distribution sheet 43 made of a synthetic resin flat plate is attached to the side surface on the right opening side of each of the ink chambers 42a to 42d so as to close the comb-shaped opening.

The ink distribution sheet 43 has a group of small holes (not shown) connecting the group of ink chambers 42a and the ink receiving port 38a, and a group of small holes (not shown) connecting the group of ink chambers 42b and the ink receiving port 38b. ) Is formed. The communication chambers 44c and 44b are formed by communication grooves 44a and 44b formed on the front and rear surfaces of the electrostrictive element block.
The 2d group and the ink receiving ports 38c and 38d are configured to communicate with each other.

At predetermined positions on the surface of the electrostrictive element block, electrodes (not shown) for expanding and contracting the ink chambers 42a to 42d to discharge ink droplets from the ink discharge nozzles 41a are provided. . The control of the application of the voltage to these electrodes is configured to be executed by the control device of the sewing machine main body at the timing of the drive timing of the sewing machine.

In the case of this configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink ejection nozzles 4
1a, cyan ink is ejected from the top one, magenta ink is ejected from the second one, and 3a
The yellow ink is ejected from the fourth ink, the black ink is ejected from the fourth ink, and the order of the four colors is repeated.

The ink discharge nozzles 41a arranged in a line are substantially parallel to the sewing thread (upper thread) 19 extending from the entanglement point of the seam of the cloth 4 to the eye of the sewing needle 17, and are slightly apart from the sewing thread. And are arranged to face each other. That is, the arrangement direction of the ink discharge nozzles 41a is configured to be the direction along the feed direction of the upper thread (sewing thread) 18. Thereby, the ink droplet ejected from the ink ejection nozzle 41a hits the upper thread 18.

As shown in FIG. 1, the maintenance device 25 includes a suction cap 46 attached to a lower portion of a support rod 45 detachably attached to a head portion so as to be rotatable about a shaft 45a. And a wiper blade 47 attached to the lower end of the support rod 45. The wiper blade 47 is made of an elastic material such as synthetic resin, and extends obliquely downward from the lower end of the support rod 45.

The suction cap 46 has a rectangular box-shaped case 48 having an open rear surface, an ink absorbing member 49 housed in the case 48, and an ink provided at a lower portion of the front part of the case 48. And a discharge hole 50. When the collection tube 28 is connected to the ink discharge hole 50, the ink can be sucked from the ink absorbing member 43 by the air flow of the air compressor 30 of the ink supply and collection device 24 and collected in the collection tank 29. I have. The structure of the suction cap 46 is substantially the same as that usually provided inside, for example, an ink jet printer having an ink jet head. Further, the suction cap 46 is urged to rotate in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by a spring 51, and is normally attached to the lower portion of the support rod 45 in an inclined state as shown in FIG.

Next, the driving mechanism of the needle bar 16 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG.
The needle bar 16 is connected to a balance crank 53 fixed to the left end of the main shaft 52 of the embroidery sewing machine via a needle bar crank rod 54 and a needle bar holder 55, whereby the main shaft 5 is rotated.
The needle bar 16 is moved up and down according to the rotation of the needle bar 2.

As shown in FIG. 9B, the needle bar holder 55 includes a bifurcated member 55a and a columnar member 55b rotatably supported by the bifurcated member 55a. The needle bar 16 is rotatably inserted into a through hole formed in the columnar member 55b. And the needle bar holder 55 is the needle bar 1
6 are sandwiched between the set collars 56, 56 fixed to the base plate 6. With this configuration, the needle bar 16 is
, And is rotatable in the left-right direction.

A spur gear 57 is provided at the upper end of the needle bar 16, and an intermediate gear 58 meshing with the gear 57 is rotatable by a pin 60 erected on a needle bar base 59. Supported. The intermediate gear 58 has a vertically extending spur gear portion 58a and a helical gear portion 58b. The idle gear 61 meshes with the helical gear portion 58b. The idle gear 61 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 62 that supports the needle bar base 59 in a swingable manner. The support shaft 62 is supported by the machine frame 1.

The idle gear 61 has a machine frame 1
The shaft gear 64 of the needle bar rotating stepping motor 63 fixed to the shaft gear is meshed. In this configuration, when the needle bar rotating stepping motor 63 rotates, the needle bar 16 is driven to rotate via the shaft gear 64, the idle gear 61, the intermediate gear 58, and the gear portion 57. As described above, when the needle bar 16 is rotated, the upper thread 18 is twisted and rotated in accordance with the rotation. Therefore, when the ink droplets are applied from the inkjet head 34 to the upper thread 18 and colored, Ink droplets can be uniformly applied. In this embodiment, it is possible to swing the needle bar base 59 and the needle bar 16 in the left and right direction while the needle bar rotation stepping motor 63 is driven or stopped.

Next, the electrical configuration of the embroidery sewing machine of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. A control device 65 for controlling the entire operation of the embroidery sewing machine includes a CPU 66,
ROM 67, RAM 68, input interface 69,
It is composed of an output interface 70 and the like. The control device 65 includes a start / stop switch 19, a spindle 52,
, A signal from a timing signal generator 71, an operation switch group of the operation panel 23, a coloring unit 12, and the like, which are provided in proximity to the input unit 69.

The control device 65 is provided with a sewing machine motor 72 for rotating the main shaft 52, a needle bar swinging stepping motor 73, a feed dog driving stepping motor 74, and a needle bar rotating stepping motor 63 via an output interface 70. , Liquid crystal display 23 of operation panel 23
a, X direction stepping motor 6, Y direction stepping motor 7, inkjet head 3 of coloring unit 12
4 and the air compressor 30 and the like.

The ROM 67 has a control program for controlling the entire operation of the embroidery sewing machine, that is, a control program for driving and controlling the motors 6, 7, 63, 72, 73 and 74, and a drive control for the liquid crystal display 23a. A control program for controlling the operation of the inkjet head 34, the air compressor 30, and the like, and various data necessary for executing sewing and coloring operations are stored.

Next, the operation of the embroidery sewing machine will be described focusing on the maintenance processing of the ink jet head 34 by the maintenance device 25.

First, the maintenance processing performed at the end of the execution of the sewing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. The sewing operation is performed as follows. That is, the user sets the cloth 4 on the embroidery frame and sets the thread spool 75 of, for example, a white thread as the upper thread 18. Further, the upper thread 18 is pulled out from the thread spool 75 and passed through a hole of the sewing needle 18 via a predetermined thread hooking path. Then, the user turns on the power switch to select a desired embroidery pattern (sewing data), to select whether or not to perform coloring sewing, and to appropriately execute a cleaning process of the inkjet head 34 of the coloring unit 12, which will be described later. Thereafter, the start / stop switch 19 is operated.

Then, according to the control program stored in the ROM 67 of the control device 65, the needle bar 16 is moved up and down and the embroidery frame 5 is driven, thereby executing the sewing operation. Further, a coloring operation for coloring the upper thread 18 is performed. In this case, even if there is a color change during sewing of the embroidery pattern, the upper thread 18 is automatically colored, so that there is no need to replace the upper thread 18. The uncolored portion at the start of sewing and the mixed color portion at the time of color change are about one or two stitches, and color change with extremely few errors can be executed. The details of this coloring operation are described in Japanese Patent Application No.
Although described in 00-230400, the description is omitted here because it departs from the gist of the present invention.

When the sewing operation is completed, the control device 6
5 detects the position of the needle bar 16 and moves the sewing needle 18 to the uppermost position. Next, the pressing rod 11 is moved to the coloring unit 1.
The maintenance unit 25 is raised to a cleaning position where the coloring unit 13 and the maintenance device 25 substantially oppose each other.

When the presser bar 11 moves to a predetermined position slightly below the cleaning position, the upper portion of the front surface of the main body 38 comes into contact with the rear surface of the suction cap 46. Further, when the main body 38 is raised, the suction cap 46
Is turned in the direction opposite to the arrow A against the urging force. Therefore,
In this embodiment, (the front surface of) the main body 38 functions as an operation member. Then, as shown in FIG.
When the ink reaches the cleaning position, the rear surface of the suction cap 46 comes into close contact with the front surface of the main body 38, and the ink discharge nozzle 4
1a is closed (capping operation).

In this case, first, the air compressor 30 is driven while the suction cap 46 is in close contact with the main body 38 and the ink discharge nozzle 41a is closed. As a result, air bubbles and foreign matters mixed into the main body 38 are sucked out of the discharge nozzle 41a into the suction cap 46 together with a small amount of ink, and collected in the collection tank 29 through the ink discharge hole 50 and the collection tube 28. You. Next, when the presser bar 11 at the cleaning position is lowered, the suction cap 46 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by the urging force of the spring 51 and is separated from the main body 38. By driving the air compressor 30 again in this state, the suction cap 4
The ink absorbed by the ink absorbing member 49 of No. 6 is collected in the collection tank 29 via the ink discharge hole 50 and the collection tube 28.

When the presser bar 11 is further lowered, the tip of the wiper blade 47 of the maintenance device 25 contacts the lower end of the front surface of the main body 38. At this time, since the wiper blade 47 is made of an elastic member,
The tip of the wiper blade 47 is pressed against the front surface of the main body 38 by the elastic force. And the presser bar 1
With the drop of 1, the tip of the wiper blade 47 rubs the front surface of the main body 38 from the lower part to the upper part (wiping operation). As a result, the ink adhering to the front surface of the main body 38 is removed, and the ink ejection nozzles 41 are removed.
a is cleaned.

Thereafter, the presser bar 11 is raised again, and the ink ejection operation is performed in a state where the suction cap 46 is in close contact with the front surface of the main body 38 to make the ink ejection uniform (flushing operation).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the coloring section 13 and the maintenance device 25 are formed separately, so that the coloring section 13 can be downsized and installed near the sewing needle 17. For this reason, the coloring operation of the sewing thread can be executed with high accuracy.

Further, the maintenance device 25 is attached to a support rod 45 fixed to the sewing machine frame 1, and the holding rod 1
1 is moved to the cleaning position or moved up and down, so that the maintenance process by the maintenance device 25 is executed. Therefore, even if the coloring unit 13 and the maintenance device 25 are provided separately, the maintenance process can be performed. Work is not troublesome.

Further, the maintenance device 25 is configured so that the maintenance processing is executed in conjunction with the operation which is normally performed at the time of performing or ending the sewing operation such as the raising operation and the vertical movement of the presser bar 11. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a troublesome operation to execute the maintenance processing, and it is not necessary to provide a special member for the operation.

Further, the maintenance device 25 comprises a suction cap 46 and a wiper blade 47,
It was configured to have four maintenance functions of “purge”, “wipe”, “capping”, and “flushing”. Therefore, these four maintenance processes can be executed by a single operation of operating the presser bar 11.

Further, when the presser bar 11 is at the lowering position, the suction cap 46 is retracted from the area related to the sewing operation, and the presser bar 11 is raised to rotate the suction cap 46 and perform maintenance processing. Configured to run. For this reason, even if the maintenance device 25 is attached to the support bar 45, it does not hinder the sewing operation.

In the above-described embodiment, the coloring section 13 and the maintenance device 25 are arranged apart from each other. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. And the maintenance device may be arranged close to each other.

FIG. 11 showing the second embodiment is as follows.
It is a vertical front view which shows the coloring part 81 of the coloring unit 12 schematically, (a) is the state in which the presser bar 11 is in the lowest position,
(B) shows a state where the presser bar 11 is at the cleaning position. A maintenance chamber 83 is provided at a lower portion in the main body 82 of the coloring section 81. An ink jet head 34 is disposed at a lower portion in the main body 82 via a spring 84 so as to be displaceable in and out of the maintenance chamber 83.

In FIG. 11, the ink jet head 3
4 is shown with the front face exposed. FIG.
, The suction cap 46 of the maintenance device 25 is disposed in the main body 82 at a position in front of the maintenance chamber 83.

On the other hand, a bar-shaped member 85 is fixed to the head of the machine frame 1. The lower part of the rod-shaped member 85 is inserted through the right part in the main body 82, and
When 1 is at the lowermost position, the lower end of the rod-shaped member 85 is located above the inkjet head 34.
The lower end of the rod-shaped member 85 is provided with an inclined surface 85a.

According to the above configuration, when the presser bar 11 is raised, the colored portion 81 is raised accordingly, and the presser bar 1 is raised.
When 1 reaches a predetermined cleaning position, the ink jet head 34 is moved leftward in the horizontal direction by the rod-shaped member 85 and is accommodated in the maintenance chamber 83. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the rod-shaped member 85 functions as an operation member. Further, the ink jet 34 is moved in a direction including a horizontal component. As a result, the ink discharge nozzle 41
a is closed by the suction cap 46. Further, by repeatedly lowering and raising the presser bar 11 from the uppermost position, the front surface of the ink jet head 34 and the rear surface of the suction cap 46 are rubbed, and
a is cleaned.

As described above, in the configuration of the second embodiment, the ink jet head 34 is moved in the horizontal direction and the sewing needle 17 is moved.
Since the ink jet head 34 is separated from the upper thread 18, it is possible to prevent the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18 from being stained with ink or the like at the time of maintenance, or to be entangled by a member that operates for maintenance. That is, in the second embodiment, the direction corresponding to the third aspect is a direction including a horizontal component separated from the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18.

The phrase "separating from the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18" means "to prevent the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18 from being stained with ink or the like at the time of maintenance, or to be entangled by a member operated for maintenance." Although it is a technical matter for achieving an effect, it is not described in the claims at this stage. In the future, it may be added to the present claims as necessary, or may be a technical matter of the invention according to the divisional application from the present application.

The configuration of the second embodiment other than that described above is the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, in the second embodiment, substantially the same operation and effect as those in the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the above-described second embodiment, the ink jet head 34 is moved to a component including a direction away from the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18. However, the ink jet head 34 and the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18 are separated from each other. If so, it may be moved in a completely horizontal direction. Further, if they are separated from each other, the needle may be swung in the direction opposite to the arrangement direction of the inkjet head 34, or both the needle swing operation and the movement of the inkjet head 34 may be performed. This claim “at the time of maintenance, the ink jet head 34 and the sewing needle 17 and the upper thread 18 are separated from each other” is not described in the claims at this stage, but will be added to the present claims as necessary. Or it can be a technical matter of the invention according to the divisional application from the present application.

In the configuration of the second embodiment, the maintenance device 25 is disposed at a position in front of the maintenance chamber 83.
The maintenance device 25 may be arranged at the position 4 so that maintenance can be performed.

Although not shown, in the coloring portion 13 shown in the first embodiment, in order to prevent the ink ejected from the ink ejection nozzle 41a and scattered forward from adhering to the cloth 4, A flange portion may be provided at the lower part of the front surface of 38.

Further, in the above embodiment, the movement of the presser bar 11 to the cleaning position and the vertical movement during the maintenance process are performed automatically. However, it is configured that the user manually performs the movement. Alternatively, the configuration may be such that both automatic and manual operations are possible.

Further, the maintenance device is not limited to the structure in which the maintenance device is mounted on the presser bar, but may be mounted on other members provided on the sewing machine frame. Furthermore, the maintenance process by the maintenance device is not limited to the configuration executed in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar. For example, the maintenance device is configured to execute a maintenance process by removing the thread spool from the thread stand, or the maintenance device is operated by operating a threading lever for automatically performing threading of the upper thread. May be performed.

[0074]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention relates to a thread coloring sewing machine provided with a thread coloring means for coloring a sewing thread with ink ejected from an ink jet head, by operating a maintenance device by operating an operation member. , The maintenance process for the inkjet head is executed, so that the operation for the maintenance process can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a colored portion and a maintenance device in a lowered position are partially cut away.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the coloring unit and the maintenance device at an ascending position in a partially broken manner.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the embroidery sewing machine.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the embroidery device and the periphery of a coloring unit of the coloring unit;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the embroidery device.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the embroidery device.

FIG. 9A is a perspective view showing a driving mechanism of a needle bar, and FIG.
Is an exploded perspective view of the needle bar holder

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration.

FIG. 11 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 11 (a) is a longitudinal sectional front view of a colored portion when a presser bar is at a lowermost position, and FIG. Longitudinal front view (b)

[Explanation of symbols]

In the figure, 4 is a cloth (work cloth), 11 is a presser bar, 12 is a coloring unit, 13 and 81 are coloring portions (thread coloring means), 17 is a sewing needle, 18 is a needle (sewing thread), and 24 is ink supply and recovery. Device (yarn coloring means), 25 is a maintenance device, 34 is an inkjet head, 38 is a main body (operation member), 41a
Denotes an ink discharge nozzle, 46 denotes a suction cap, 47 denotes a wiper blade, 49 denotes an ink absorbing member, and 85 denotes a rod-shaped member (operating member).

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Teruo Imamaki 15-1 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-city Inside Brother Industries, Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Tetsuharu Fuwa 15-1, Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi Inside Brother Industries, Ltd. Naohito Asai 15-1 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya F-term (reference) in Brother Industries, Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A stitch forming means for forming a stitch of a sewing thread on a work cloth by moving a sewing needle up and down with respect to the work cloth, and a thread coloring means for coloring the sewing thread with ink ejected from an ink jet head. A yarn coloring sewing machine comprising: a maintenance device that performs maintenance processing of the inkjet head; and an operation member that causes the maintenance device to perform maintenance processing of the inkjet head. Colored sewing machine. 2. The thread coloring means is detachably mounted on a presser bar of a sewing machine, and the operation member is configured to execute a maintenance process by the maintenance device in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar. The thread-colored sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein 3. The operation member is configured to execute a maintenance process by the maintenance device by moving the inkjet head in a horizontal direction or a direction including a horizontal component in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar. The thread-colored sewing machine according to claim 2, wherein 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation member is configured to execute a maintenance process by the maintenance device by rotating the maintenance device in conjunction with the vertical movement of the presser bar. Item 4. A thread-colored sewing machine according to Item 2. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of ink discharge nozzles provided in the ink jet head, the nozzles being opened to the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head, wherein the maintenance device wipes the ink discharge surface of the ink jet head; The thread coloring sewing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a capping function for closing an opening of the nozzle, and a purging function for bleeding the ink discharge nozzle. 6. A stitch forming means for forming a stitch with a sewing thread on the work cloth by moving a sewing needle up and down with respect to the work cloth; In a thread coloring sewing machine, comprising: a presser bar having a cloth presser for preventing floating of a work cloth detachably; and a thread coloring means for coloring the sewing thread with ink discharged from an inkjet head. A threading sewing machine, wherein the maintenance process of the inkjet head by the maintenance device is performed as the presser bar rises. 7. A stitch forming means for forming a stitch by a sewing thread on the work cloth by moving a sewing needle up and down with respect to the work cloth, and a thread coloring means for coloring the sewing thread with ink ejected from an ink jet head. In a maintenance device which is detachably attached to a sewing machine main body of a thread coloring sewing machine comprising a maintenance mechanism for performing maintenance processing of the inkjet head, the maintenance processing by the maintenance mechanism is performed by:
A maintenance device, wherein the maintenance device is configured to be executed by operating an operation member provided on the sewing machine main body.