Horizontal rotary hook of sewing machine

Abstract

Provided is a horizontal rotary hook including: an inner rotary hook including an attracted member made of metal in an outer lower surface portion; a permanent magnet that attracts the inner rotary hook; a magnet plate accommodating the permanent magnet and provided with a mounting hole at a center of a diameter thereof; a non-metallic outer rotary hook accommodating the magnet plate and having a shaft hole at a center of a diameter of an inner bottom portion thereof; and a hook supporting shaft that is inserted through the hole of the magnet plate and the shaft hole of the outer rotary hook and includes, at an upper end thereof, a flange for rotatably supporting the outer rotary hook and the magnet plate. A friction coefficient of a contact surface of the magnet plate that comes into contact with the outer rotary hook is set to be larger than a friction coefficient of the flange of the hook supporting shaft.

Claims

1. A horizontal rotary hook for a sewing machine, the horizontal rotary hook comprising: an inner rotary hook including an attracted member comprising a metal in an outer lower surface portion; a permanent magnet that attracts the inner rotary hook; a magnet plate accommodating the permanent magnet and provided with a mounting hole at a center of a diameter thereof; a non-magnetic outer rotary hook accommodating the magnet plate and including a shaft hole at a center of a diameter of an inner bottom portion thereof; and a hook supporting shaft that is inserted through the mounting hole of the magnet plate and the shaft hole of the outer rotary hook and includes, at an upper end thereof, a flange for rotatably supporting the outer rotary hook and the magnet plate, wherein an area of a surface of the inner bottom portion, which in a plan view overlaps with the magnet plate, has a coarse surface and one of a surface of the flange of the hook supporting shaft and a surface of the magnet plate that faces the flange is a smooth surface.

2. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein a low friction member for reducing a friction coefficient is provided between the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate, so that the friction coefficient between a contact surface of the magnet plate that comes into contact with the outer rotary hook and the outer rotary hook is set to be larger than the friction coefficient between the surface of the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate.

3. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein the flange is subjected to a surface finishing for reducing a friction coefficient between the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate, so that a friction coefficient between a contact surface of the magnet plate that comes into contact with the outer rotary hook and the outer rotary hook is set to be larger than a friction coefficient between the surface of the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate.

4. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein said surface of the magnet plate is subjected to a surface finishing for reducing a friction coefficient between the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate, so that a friction coefficient between a contact surface of the magnet plate that comes into contact with the outer rotary hook and the outer rotary hook is set to be larger than the friction coefficient between the flange of the hook supporting shaft and the magnet plate.

5. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the flange faces the magnet plate.

6. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the flange of the hook supporting shaft is the smooth surface.

7. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein said surface of the magnet plate that faces the flange is the smooth surface.

8. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein an uppermost surface of the magnet plate is located below a bottom surface of the permanent magnet.

9. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to a bottom surface of the magnet plate, a height of an upper surface of the inner bottom portion is less than a height of an upper surface of the magnet plate.

10. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein an entirety of the surface of the inner bottom portion includes the coarse surface.

11. The horizontal rotary hook for the sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein, in the plan view, the magnetic plate extends on the inner bottom portion outside the area of the surface of the inner bottom portion that overlaps with the magnet plate.

12. A horizontal rotary hook for a sewing machine, the horizontal rotary hook comprising: an inner rotary hook including an attracted member comprising a metal in an outer lower surface portion; a permanent magnet that attracts the inner rotary hook; a magnet plate accommodating the permanent magnet and provided with a mounting hole at a center of a diameter thereof; a non-magnetic outer rotary hook accommodating the magnet plate and including a shaft hole at a center of a diameter of an inner bottom portion thereof; and a hook supporting shaft that is inserted through the mounting hole of the magnet plate and the shaft hole of the outer rotary hook and includes, at an upper end thereof, a flange for rotatably supporting the outer rotary hook and the magnet plate, wherein a contact surface of the magnet plate, which comes into contact with the outer rotary hook, is a coarse surface and a surface of the flange of the hook supporting shaft is a smooth surface.

13. A horizontal rotary hook for a sewing machine, the horizontal rotary hook comprising: an inner rotary hook including an attracted member comprising a metal in an outer lower surface portion; a permanent magnet that attracts the inner rotary hook; a magnet plate accommodating the permanent magnet and provided with a mounting hole at a center of a diameter thereof; a non-magnetic outer rotary hook accommodating the magnet and including a shaft hole at a center of a diameter of an inner bottom portion thereof; and a hook supporting shaft that is inserted through the mounting hole of the magnet plate and the shaft hole of the outer rotary hook and includes, at an upper end thereof, a flange for rotatably supporting the outer rotary hook and the magnet plate, wherein a contact surface of the magnet plate, which comes into contact with the outer rotary hook, is a coarse surface and another surface of the magnet plate that faces the flange is a smooth surface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A is a vertical cross-sectional view including a magnet plate of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a horizontal rotary hook of the present invention in an unassembled state, and FIG. 1C is an enlarged view of a section in FIG. 1A;

(2) FIG. 2A is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of a main portion in a state where an outer rotary hook, a magnet plate, a hook supporting shaft, and a permanent magnet are unassembled in the present invention, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a section in FIG. 2A;

(3) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a state where a needle thread is not caught by a bottom portion of the outer rotary hook in the present invention;

(4) FIG. 4A is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view of a main portion including a magnet plate of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4B is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view of a main portion in an embodiment where the magnet plate is placed in the accommodating recess without a protrusion; and

(5) FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a state where the needle thread is caught by the bottom portion in a conventional technique, and FIG. 5B is an enlarged perspective view of a section in FIG. 5A.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(6) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a horizontal rotary hook of the present invention mainly includes an outer rotary hook A, a magnet plate 2, a hook supporting shaft 3, a permanent magnet 5, and an inner rotary hook B. The outer rotary hook A mainly includes an outer rotary hook main body 1, a gear shaft 15, and the like (see FIG. 1).

(7) The gear shaft 15 is integrally attached to the outer rotary hook main body 1. A driving gear (not shown) that meshes with the gear shaft 15 rotates the outer rotary hook A. The outer rotary hook main body 1 has a form of a flat cylindrical cup and is made of a synthetic resin such as plastic. An opening is formed in an upper portion of the outer rotary hook main body 1. A bottom portion 11 is formed in a lower portion of the outer rotary hook main body 1. The bottom portion 11 has a substantially circular shape (see FIG. 1B).

(8) An accommodating recess 13 is formed in the bottom portion 11 (see FIG. 1). The accommodating recess 13 is a portion forming the bottom portion 11 and is a part of the bottom portion 11. The accommodating recess 13 is a flat and circular space. The center of the diameter of the accommodating recess 13 is at a center portion of the bottom portion 11. The magnet plate 2 and the permanent magnet 5 are accommodated in the accommodating recess 13. The accommodating recess 13 has a shape of a flat and cylindrical recess with an inner circumferential wall 13b. The shape of the inner circumferential wall 13b is substantially the same as the outer circumferential shapes of the magnet plate 2 and the permanent magnet 5. The accommodating recess 13 has a flat bottom surface 13a.

(9) The accommodating recess 13 is provided with the circular continuous inner circumferential wall 13b. A protrusion 13c, protruding upward from the bottom portion 11, is formed along the inner circumferential wall 13b (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The protrusion 13c is a raised portion having an annular shape and is continuously formed in a circumferential direction. The protrusion 13c has a flat conical outer circumferential shape. There is also an embodiment where the accommodating recess 13 has no protrusion 13c and only has the bottom surface 13a and the inner circumferential wall 13b (see FIG. 4B).

(10) A shaft hole 12 is formed at the center of the bottom portion 11. The position where the shaft hole 12 is formed also corresponds to the center of the diameter of the accommodating recess 13. The hook supporting shaft 3 described later penetrates through the shaft hole 12. The gear shaft 15 is formed on a lower surface side of the bottom portion 11. The gear shaft 15 is a member in a form of a shaft. An outer circumference of the gear shaft 15 is threaded to be in a form of a gear. The gear shaft 15 is orthogonal to the bottom portion 11.

(11) The shaft hole 12 is formed along the axial core of the gear shaft 15. Thus, the gear shaft 15 has a form of a hollow tube. The height of the inner circumferential wall 13b of the accommodating recess 13 from the bottom surface 13a includes a height to the top portion of the protrusion 13c. There is also an embodiment where the protrusion 13c is not formed, and thus the accommodating recess 13 is simply formed as a flat circular cylindrical recess in the bottom portion 11 (see FIG. 4B).

(12) The magnet plate 2, in various embodiments, has a form of a tray (flat cylindrical cup). A raised portion 22 is formed along the outer circumference of a main plate portion 21 as the bottom of the magnet plate 2 (see FIG. 1, FIG. 2A, FIG. 4B, and the like).

(13) The outer diameter of the magnet plate 2 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the accommodating recess 13. Thus, a size relationship is achieved where a small gap is formed between the outer circumference of the magnet plate 2 and the inner circumference of the accommodating recess 13. A shaft hole 23 is formed at the center of the diameter of the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2. In a state where the magnet plate 2 is inserted in the accommodating recess 13, the position of the shaft hole 23 of the magnet plate 2 matches the shaft hole 12 of the outer rotary hook A. As a second embodiment of the magnet plate 2, the magnet plate 2 is formed of the main plate portion 21 only (see FIG. 4A).

(14) The hook supporting shaft 3 includes a supporting shaft 31 and a flange 32 formed at an end of the supporting shaft 31. The flange 32 has a form of a disk having a diameter larger than that of the supporting shaft 31. The supporting shaft 31 of the hook supporting shaft 3 is inserted through the shaft hole 23 of the magnet plate 2 and the shaft hole 12 of the outer rotary hook A. The flange 32 comes into contact with a periphery of the shaft hole 23 of the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2. A contact surface of the flange 32 that comes into contact with the periphery of the shaft hole 23 may be subjected to surface finishing (processed) to reduce a frictional resistance.

(15) Thus, the contact surface of the magnet plate 2 that comes into contact with the outer rotary hook A has a friction coefficient larger than that of the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3. Thus, with a difference in a frictional resistance between a contact portion between the magnet plate 2 and the outer rotary hook A, and a contact portion between the magnet plate 2 and the flange 32, the magnet plate 2 rotates along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook A.

(16) A low friction member 4 for reducing the frictional resistance may be disposed between the flange 32 and the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2. Specifically, the low friction member 4 is a washer 41 subjected to surface finishing (processed) on both surfaces to reduce the frictional resistance. Alternatively, the washer 41 made of resin with a low friction coefficient such as fluororesin or polyacetal or a sheet made of the resin may be used.

(17) The permanent magnet 5 has a form of a flat annular plate, and is attracted to the magnet plate 2 to be disposed in the accommodating recess 13 of the outer rotary hook A. The permanent magnet 5 is formed of a metal material such as an iron material or a rubber material. A through hole 51 is formed at the center of the permanent magnet 5. The inner diameter of the through hole 51 is larger than the outer diameter of the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3. Thus, the flange 32 fits within the through hole 51. The outer diameter of the outer periphery of the permanent magnet 5 is set in such a manner that the permanent magnet 5 fits within the raised portion 22 of the magnet plate 2.

(18) The inner rotary hook B includes a container main body 6 in a form of a container and an attracted member 7. A bobbin chamber is provided in the inner rotary hook B. A lower surface, that is, a bottom surface portion 61 of the container main body 6 of the inner rotary hook B is provided with the attracted member 7 formed of a magnetic material. The container main body 6 is made of a synthetic resin such as plastic. Specifically, the attracted member 7 is formed of a metallic thin plate. The attracted member 7 is disposed to be exposed on the lower surface side of the inner rotary hook B.

(19) The attracted member 7 is positioned on a lower surface side of the inner rotary hook B, that is, a lower surface side (that is, a lower surface of the inner rotary hook B) of the bottom surface portion 61 of the container main body 6. Specifically, the attracted member 7 may be formed to provide substantially the same effect as the bottom surface portion 61 of the inner rotary hook B.

(20) In this case, a substantially circular through hole is formed in a center portion of the bottom surface portion 61, and the attracted member 7 is mounted to close the through hole. The attracted member 7 is mounted by resin casting on the container main body 6. The bottom surface portion 61 may cover the entire bottom portion of the container main body 6, and the attracted member 7 may be formed to be embedded to have one surface exposed on the lower surface side of the bottom surface portion 61.

(21) How the horizontal rotary hook is assembled in the present invention will be described. As described above, the outer rotary hook A has the accommodating recess 13 formed in the bottom portion 11. The magnet plate 2 is disposed in the accommodating recess 13. A gap is provided between the accommodating recess 13 and the outer circumference of the magnet plate 2 or, when the raised portion 22 is formed, the raised portion 22. Thus, the magnet plate 2 can be easily inserted into the accommodating recess 13 to be disposed.

(22) In a state where the magnet plate 2 is accommodated in the accommodating recess 13, the supporting shaft 31 of the hook supporting shaft 3 is inserted through the shaft hole 23 of the magnet plate 2 and the shaft hole 12 of the outer rotary hook A, whereby the hook supporting shaft 3 is fixed at a predetermined position in a sewing machine main body. The outer rotary hook A can freely rotate about the hook supporting shaft 3. A frictional resistance P1 between the bottom surface 13a of the accommodating recess 13 formed in the bottom portion 11 of the outer rotary hook A and the magnet plate 2 is set to be larger than a frictional resistance P2 between the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3 and the magnet plate 2, that is P1>P2.

(23) Thus, a configuration where the magnet plate 2 is likely to be dragged by the rotation of the outer rotary hook A is achieved. As a result, when the outer rotary hook A rotates, the magnet plate 2 rotates together with the bottom portion 11. Furthermore, slipping occurs between the flange 32 and the magnet plate 2. All things considered, the magnet plate 2 rotates along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook A, whereby the permanent magnet 5 attracted to the magnet plate 2 can also rotate at the rotating speed that is substantially the same as that of the outer rotary hook A.

(24) The following configuration is provided to set the frictional resistance P2 between the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3 and the magnet plate 2 to be smaller than the frictional resistance P1 between the bottom surface 13a of the accommodating recess 13 formed in the bottom portion 11 of the outer rotary hook A and the magnet plate 2 as described above.

(25) A friction coefficient 1 on a lower surface side of the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2 is set to be larger than a friction coefficient 2 on an upper surface side, that is, 1>2.

(26) Specifically, the main plate portion 21 is provided with a coarse surface on the lower surface side and a smooth surface on the upper surface side. Alternatively, the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2 has flat upper and lower surfaces, and the accommodating recess 13 has a coarse bottom surface 13a and the flange 32 has a smooth lower surface.

(27) Thus, as described above, the difference in the frictional resistance is provided so that the frictional resistance P1 between the bottom surface 13a of the accommodating recess 13 formed in the bottom portion 11 of the outer rotary hook A and the magnet plate 2 is set to be larger than the frictional resistance P2 between the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3 and the magnet plate 2. Thus, the magnet plate 2 rotates along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook A.

(28) The washer 41 made of a synthetic resin, as the low friction member 4, may be disposed between the flange 32 of the hook supporting shaft 3 and the main plate portion 21 of the magnet plate 2. Thus, the frictional resistance P2 between the flange 32 and the magnet plate 2 is set to be smaller than the frictional resistance P1 between the bottom surface 13a of the accommodating recess 13 and the magnet plate 2, through the washer 41.

(29) As described above, the magnet plate 2, having a simple circular shape without a member for engaging with the accommodating recess 13 to be fixed, can be inserted to be disposed in the accommodating recess 13 to be fixed in the circumferential direction. Thus, the magnet plate 2 can rotate along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook A, whereby the permanent magnet 5 can also rotate along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook A.

(30) The magnet plate 2 and the permanent magnet 5 can be fixed while being extremely stable with respect to the outer rotary hook A. Thus, the magnet plate 2 and the permanent magnet 5 can be prevented from rattling while the outer rotary hook A is rotating. Accordingly, with the permanent magnet 5 stably mounted to the outer rotary hook A, the inner rotary hook B can be mounted to the outer rotary hook A in an extremely stable state without rattling.

(31) As described above, the magnet plate 2 and the accommodating recess 13 are provided with no protrusions, notches, recesses, or the like that make the magnet plate 2 and the accommodating recess 13 engage with each other for fitting and fixing. Thus, a needle thread n of a bobbin disposed in the inner rotary hook B can be prevented from being caught in the outer rotary hook A during a sewing operation of the sewing machine to hamper the sewing operation.

(32) In second, third, and fourth embodiments, with extremely simple configurations, the difference in the frictional resistance can be provided so that the magnet plate can rotate along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook, and the permanent magnet can also rotate along with the rotation of the outer rotary hook.