Cloth clamping device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10138583-B2
Application number	US-201715465178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

A cloth clamping device includes a clamping mechanism that comes into contact with a cloth and an up-and-down movement mechanism that moves the clamping mechanism up and down. The clamping mechanism includes a support portion, a leg portion, a foot portion, and a clamping portion. The clamping portion has a leading end portion facing the foot portion in a sideway direction and a base end portion being pivotally supported by the support portion. When the leg portion is lowered with respect to the support portion, the leading end portion pivots downward and is positioned in a sideway direction with respect to the foot portion, and when the leg portion is raised with respect to the support portion, the clamping portion comes into contact with the upper surface of the cloth and the leading end portion is positioned above the foot portion, and the clamping mechanism draw up the cloth.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cloth clamping device comprising:
a clamping mechanism configured to come into contact with an upper surface of a cloth, among cloths placed so as to be stacked in the up-down direction, and to clamp the cloth with which the contact is made, the clamping mechanism including a support portion, a leg portion, a foot portion, and a clamping portion,
the leg portion being provided on the support portion such that a lower end of the leg portion protrudes below the support portion, and such that the leg portion is capable of moving up and down between an upper position in which the leg portion is positioned relatively upward with respect to the support portion, and a lower position in which the leg portion is positioned relatively downward with respect to the support portion,
the foot portion being provided on the lower end of the leg portion and protruding in a sideway direction from the leg portion, and coming into contact with the upper surface of the cloth when the leg portion is positioned in the upper position,
the clamping portion including a leading end portion and a base end portion,
the leading end portion facing the foot portion in the sideway direction, and
the base end portion being pivotally supported by the support portion, at a position in the sideway direction with respect to the leading end portion and above the leading end portion, and
the clamping portion
being positioned in a closed position when the leg portion is in the upper position and
being positioned in an open position when the leg portion is in the lower position,
the closed position being a position in which the clamping portion comes into contact with the upper surface of the cloth and the leading end portion is positioned above the foot portion, and
the open position being a position in which the leading end portion pivots downward with respect to the closed position and is positioned in a sideway direction with respect to the foot portion; and

an up-and-down movement mechanism configured to move the clamping mechanism up and down, the up-and-down movement mechanism being connected to the support portion.

2. The cloth clamping device according to claim 1 , wherein
the clamping mechanism includes a holding mechanism configured to hold the leg portion in the upper position when the leg portion has moved to the upper position.

3. The cloth clamping device according to claim 2 , wherein
the holding mechanism includes a protruding member, a cam member, and a switching member,
the protruding member is provided on the support portion,
the cam member has a groove-shaped guide portion and a restricting portion,
the guide portion engaging with the protruding member and guiding a relative up and down movement of the protruding member with respect to the leg portion over a movement range of the leg portion between the upper position and the lower position, and
the restricting portion holding the leg portion in the upper position and restricting the relative up and down movement of the protruding member with respect to the leg portion,
the switching member is provided on the leg portion, and
the switching member operates in concert with the cam member and alternatingly switches a section at which the protruding member engages with the cam member between the guide portion and the restricting portion, each time the leg portion moves up-and-down once with respect to the support portion.

4. The cloth clamping device according to claim 3 , wherein
the protruding member is a pin provided on a lower end portion of a support rod that is provided on the support portion and that extends in the up-down direction,
the support rod is provided with a cam urging member configured to urge the cam member downward,
the cam member
is a cylindrical rotating element capable of rotating around the support rod as a shaft, and
is provided with
a plurality of the groove-shaped guide portions, which extend upward from a lower end of the cam member,
a plurality of the restricting portions disposed alternatingly in a circumferential direction, and
first inclined surfaces, which incline in the up-down direction, are formed on portions of a peripheral wall between each of the guide portions and the restricting portions,

a length in the up-down direction of a groove of the restricting portion is smaller than a length in the up-down direction of a groove of the guide portion,
the switching member has a cylindrical shape and is provided on a lower end of the leg portion, coaxially with the cam member, and faces the cam member in the up-down direction,
the switching member is provided with a plurality of groove portions, which extend downward from an upper end of the switching member and are disposed in the circumferential direction, and second inclined surfaces, each of which inclines in a direction intersecting the first inclined surface, are provided on portions of a peripheral wall between each of the plurality of groove portions,
a length in the horizontal direction of the first inclined surface is larger than a width of the guide portion and a width of the restricting portion,
a length in the horizontal direction of the second inclined surface is larger than a width of the groove portion,
when the leg portion moves from the lower position to the upper position, the cam member moves relatively upward with respect to the pin, via the switching member, and the pin moves from an upper end to a lower end of one of the guide portion and the restricting portion, moves along the second inclined surface while rotating relative to the switching member, and moves into the groove portion, and
when the leg portion moves from the upper position toward the lower position, the cam member moves relatively downward with respect to the pin as a result of an urging force of the cam urging member, and the pin moves from a lower end to an upper end of the groove portion, moves along the first inclined surface while rotating relative to the cam member, and moves to one of the restricting portion and the guide portion.

5. The cloth clamping device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a gap between the foot portion and the leading end portion of the clamping portion.

6. The cloth clamping device according to claim 5 , wherein
the adjustment mechanism includes a long hole and a screw,
the long hole is opened on the foot portion and extends in the protruding direction of the foot portion, and
the screw is inserted into the long hole and fixes the foot portion to a bottom portion of the leg portion, and

the foot portion is capable of moving with respect to the screw in a range of the long hole.

7. The cloth clamping device according to claim 1 , wherein
the clamping portion includes a curved surface curving downward between the leading end portion and the base end portion.

8. The cloth clamping device according to claim 1 , wherein
the clamping portion includes a grip portion provided from a surface of the leading end portion over the curved surface of the clamping portion, the grip portion has a larger frictional force with respect to the cloth than a frictional force between the cloths.

9. The cloth clamping device according to claim 8 , wherein
the frictional force of the grip portion is larger than a frictional force of a suppressing member, which is provided on a surface of a placement portion in which a plurality of the cloths are stacked and placed, and which is configured to suppress slipping between the placement portion and the cloth.

10. The cloth clamping device according to claim 1 , wherein
pairs of the clamping portion and the foot portion are provided

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Harada Koichi
• Tagawa Yuji
• Yamaura Hiroki

Classifications

• D05B33/006 Primary

  Feeding workpieces separated from piles, e.g. unstacking · CPC title

• B65H3/00

  Separating articles from piles (associating, collating, or gathering articles B65H39/00; machines for separating superposed webs B65H41/00; unpiling thin material combined with folding B65H45/26; combinations of piling and depiling operations, of interest apart from the single operation of piling or depiling B65H83/00) · CPC title

• D05B33/02 Primary

  and connected, for synchronous operation, with the work-feeding devices of the sewing machine · CPC title

• B65H2701/174

  Textile; fibres · CPC title

• B65H3/02

  using friction forces between articles and separator · CPC title