Thread-holding apparatus for buttonhole machine

Abstract

A thread-holding device is used with a standard buttonhole machine having a support head, a stitching needle for a needle thread displaceably mounted on the support head, and a blade for cutting the needle thread after a stitching operation and forming thereon a free end extending laterally from the needle. The thread-holding device comprises a support plate pivoted on the head, and a thread clip having a pair of jaws displaceable between a closed position engaging each other for holding the thread and an open position for releasing it. An actuator on the support plate and carrying the thread clip can move same vertically between an upper position spaced laterally relatively far from the needle and a lower position laterally relatively close to the needle. A control unit is connected to the clip and to the actuator for moving the clip from the open to the closed position while moving it from the upper to the lower position after a stitching operation to grasp the free end of the cut thread adjacent the needle. On moving back up into the upper position, the thread is pulled out of the clip, which is however aligned with the second, normally right-hand, side of the buttonhole so that this free end will be stitched right into the buttonhole.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.