Looper thread guiding mechanism for facilitating the looper thread setting to a looper

A looper thread guiding mechanism for guiding a looper thread to a looper of a sewing machine, the looper including a base portion and an arm portion extending from the base portion and having a thread hole at its tip end portion, a stitch being formed in a workpiece by a swinging motion of the looper in synchronism with a vertical motion of a sewing needle, the mechanism comprising;

• a movable segment slidably and substantially linearly movable along the arm portion between a thread hooking position adjacent the thread hole and a stitching position adjacent to the base portion, the movable segment having a thread holding portion;
• a drum rotatably supported on the base portion and positioned away from the arm portion;
• and
• a linking member connected between the drum and the movable segment, the linking member being unwound from the drum upon angular rotation thereof in one direction for positioning the movable segment adjacent to the thread hole, and being partly wound over the drum upon angular rotation thereof in an opposite direction for positioning the movable segment adjacent to the base portion so as to guide the looper thread to the base portion.