Automatic sewing machine

An automatic sewing machine comprising

• a sewing needle,
• a work holder for moving a work piece in a plane during sewing,
• a nondestructive, nonvolatile semiconductor storage element having a plurality of randomly addressable storage locations, said storage locations containing instructions for positioning the work holder in a plurality of positions relative to an axis of the sewing needle,
• electrical means for addressing the storage locations in said element in a predetermined sequence and for reading instructions from said storage element in said predetermined sequence,
• the electrical means further including first and second upcounters for storing data group portions of each instruction and a fixed storage element for storing directional and command portions of each instruction,
• the electrical means having output signals representative of said sequentially read instructions, and
• means responsive to said output signals for intermittently positioning the work holder relative to the needle at predetermined times to produce a predetermined pattern of movement and stitching without damaging the needle.

An automatic sewing machine, comprising:

• a sewing needle;
• a work holder for holding a work piece during sewing;
• a nondestructive, nonvolatile memory unit having a plurality of randomly addressable information words, said words including commands for directing sewing of the work piece;
• a control system for sequentially reading said words and generating output signals representing said commands;
• and
• means responsive to said output signals for directing movement of at least said work holder or needle to produce a sewing sequence relative said work piece.

A method of sewing a work piece with an automatic sewing machine comprising the machine-performed steps of:

• sequentially reading a plurality of instructions from a nondestructive, nonvolatile randomly addressable storage unit having a plurality of randomly accessible instructions;
• sequentially generating electrical signals representative of each of said read instructions;
• and
• sequentially moving a work holder retaining the work piece relative a needle in said machine responsive to said signals to produce a sewing sequence relative the work piece.

An automatic sewing machine, comprising:

• a sewing needle;
• a work holder for retaining a work piece during sewing and being capable of simultaneous movement along generally orthogonal coordinate directions;
• means for moving the work holder relative the needle, the moving means being capable of simultaneously moving the work holder along both coordinate directions;
• nondestructive, nonvolatile memory means having a plurality of randomly addressable storage locations, said storage locations including data words containing positional and directional information associated with the work holder;
• and
• means responsive to the selected data words for generating signals for the moving means and for controlling the direction of movement and position of the work holder relative the needle along both said coordinate directions.

An automatic sewing machine having a timing cycle of a predetermined duration between successive stitches, comprising:

• a sewing needle;
• a work holder for retaining the work piece during sewing;
• means for driving the work holder relative the needle;
• nondestructive, nonvolatile memory means having a plurality of randomly addressable storage locations;
• means for sequentially addressing a plurality of said storage locations during each timing cycle of the machine;
• and
• means for sequentially reading information in the addressed storage locations and generating signals representing said information for controlling the driving means.

An automatic sewing machine, comprising:

• a sewing needle;
• a work holder for retaining a work piece during sewing;
• a nondestructive, nonvolatile memory means having a plurality of randomly addressable storage locations, said storage locations including data words indicating a plurality of desired operational modes for said needle and work piece;
• address means for selecting said storage locations including said mode words;
• and
• means responsive to a selected mode data word for controlling the operational mode of said needle and work piece.