Floating needle sewing machine for simulating hand stitching

Abstract

A sewing machine capable of simulating hand stitching. The machine comprises a throat plate (101), a needle passage region (104) through the throat plate, a needle (2), upper and lower needle holders (4, 5) for driving the needle between a raised position lying wholly above the throat plate and a lowered position lying wholly below the throat plate, and thread-control drum and looper (9, 11) lying below the throat plate. A thread-guide tube (26) is located above the throat plate for guiding supplied thread so that a section thereof lies in a first thread path. A first clamp (33, 34) is operable to releasably clamp the thread adjacent to a free end thereof when lying in said first thread path. A thread pick-up (42) is movable from a retracted position to an advanced, thread pick-up position, the pick-up being cooperable with the raised needle so that during movement back to the retracted position the picked up thread engages and is held by the raised needle and part of the thread is caused to lie in a second thread path extending from the raised needle to the retracted pick-up. Second clamp jaws (46, 47) are operable to releasably clamp thread lying in the second thread path.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.