A unidirectional reinforcement and a method of producing a unidirectional reinforcement that may be used in applications where high quality and strength is required. The unidirectional reinforcement includes transversely arranged discrete Z-direction resin flow facilitating means running back and forth between the longitudinal edges of the sheets, and traveling between the groups of rovings and between the top and bottom surfaces of the unitary web.

A unidirectional reinforcement and a method of producing a unidirectional reinforcement that may be used in applications where high quality and strength is required. The unidirectional reinforcement includes transversely arranged discrete Z-direction resin flow facilitating means running back and forth between the longitudinal edges of the sheets, and traveling between the groups of rovings and between the top and bottom surfaces of the unitary web.

A unidirectional reinforcement and a method of producing a unidirectional reinforcement for use in applications where high quality and strength is required. The unidirectional reinforcement includes transversely arranged thin discrete flow passage formed to ensure resin flow properties in a direction transverse to the direction of the unidirectional rovings. Thin discrete flow passage forming means are secured on the unidirectional rovings by means of additional yarns running on the thin discrete flow passage forming means and transverse thereto.

A unidirectional reinforcement and a method of producing a unidirectional reinforcement for use in applications where high quality and strength is required. The unidirectional reinforcement includes transversely arranged thin discrete flow passage formed to ensure resin flow properties in a direction transverse to the direction of the unidirectional rovings. Thin discrete flow passage forming means are secured on the unidirectional rovings by means of additional yarns running on the thin discrete flow passage forming means and transverse thereto.

A sewing machine includes a thread take-up lever that supplies an upper thread to a needle from a thread supply source, a hook which catches the upper thread inserted in the needle, and which intertwine the upper thread with a lower thread, and a control unit that controlling a hook release phase at which the hook releases the upper thread in such a way that a hook/upper-thread necessary amount that is necessary when the upper thread is intertwined with the lower thread becomes smaller than a thread-take-up-lever/upper-thread supply amount that is supplied by an operation of the thread take-up lever. The control unit controls the hook release phase at a plurality of timings.

A method for manufacturing a composite warm-keeping textile structure includes the steps of: applying an elastic gripper-puffing mechanism to perform puffing operations upon opened cotton fibers for forming at least one puffy fiber agglomerate; applying the elastic gripper-puffing mechanism to grab unit fiber agglomerates from the puffy fiber agglomerate and further to drop the unit fiber agglomerates onto a first cloth layer on an operational platform; vibrating the operational platform to have the unit fiber agglomerates to be evenly distributed over the first cloth layer, so that the unit fiber agglomerates are formed as a fiber agglomerate distribution layer adhered onto the first cloth layer; and, having a second cloth layer to cover the fiber agglomerate distribution layer, so that the first cloth layer and the second cloth layer clamps together the fiber agglomerate distribution layer in between to form the composite warm-keeping textile structure.

Regarding a method of a sewing process for a trim cover of a vehicle seat provided with a decorative band, conventionally, a decorative band made up of a covering and wadding is sewn to a member of a trim cover similarly made up of a covering and wadding. Because of this, an area where a decorative band is sewn has an increased thickness, causing discomfort when an occupant sits. To address this, in the example embodiment, a sewn covering is manufactured by sewing together coverings for a portion of a trim cover and a decorative band and sewing decorative stitching through the sewn ends, and then the sewn covering and wadding are overlaid on each other to sew their borders together. This makes it possible to reduce the thickness of an area where the decorative band is sewn and reduce the discomfort when an occupant sits.

Regarding a method of a sewing process for a trim cover of a vehicle seat provided with a decorative band, conventionally, a decorative band made up of a covering and wadding is sewn to a member of a trim cover similarly made up of a covering and wadding. Because of this, an area where a decorative band is sewn has an increased thickness, causing discomfort when an occupant sits. To address this, in the example embodiment, a sewn covering is manufactured by sewing together coverings for a portion of a trim cover and a decorative band and sewing decorative stitching through the sewn ends, and then the sewn covering and wadding are overlaid on each other to sew their borders together. This makes it possible to reduce the thickness of an area where the decorative band is sewn and reduce the discomfort when an occupant sits.

A method for manufacturing a covered string-like object, the method comprising a placement step of placing a string-like object on a sheet-like flexible backing, a sewing step of sewing the string-like object to the backing with an embroidery material, and a separation step of separating the backing from the string-like object. According to the method for manufacturing a string-like object, a string-like object can be easily and reliably covered with an embroidery material.

A robotic sewing assembly is provided and includes a sewing head body, an upper arm, a motor and a lower arm. The upper arm is attachable to the sewing head body and includes a sewing needle oriented along a first axis. The lower arm is rotatably attachable to the sewing head body to be rotatable about a second axis defined transversely with respect to the first axis by the motor. The lower arm includes a stitch plate, a butterfly looper and first and second drivetrains. The first drivetrain is extendable through the lower arm and configured to maintain a position of the stitch plate during lower arm rotation. The second drivetrain is extendable through the lower arm and configured to drive the butterfly looper during the lower arm rotation.