Device for driving a thread take-up lever in a multi-head sewing machine

In a multi-head sewing machine having a frame, a plurality of sewing heads mounted on said frame in longitudinally spaced relation to each other, each of said sewing heads having a bracket arm, a needle bar case disposed in front of said bracket arm and one or more thread take-up levers mounted on said needle bar case, and a main shaft extending through and rotatably supported by said bracket arms of said sewing heads, a device for driving any desired one of said thread take-up levers comprising:

• movement converting means located within each bracket arm for converting rotational movement of said main shaft onto reciprocating movement thereof;
• transmission control means operatively associated with said movement converting means for transmitting and disconnecting the reciprocating movement produced by said movement converting means to one of said thread take-up levers selected for sewing operation;
• and
• retaining means for retaining the selected take-up lever in a predetermined rest position when the reciprocating movement of said movement converting means is disconnected from the selected take-up lever by said transmission control means.