HK1164994B - Device for measuring thickness of cloth and method for measuring thickness of cloth - Google Patents

Description

Cloth thickness measuring device and cloth thickness measuring method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a cloth thickness measuring apparatus and a cloth thickness measuring method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for measuring a cloth thickness when a predetermined pressure is applied to a cloth in order to determine in advance whether or not it is appropriate to attach buttons, metal buttons, or the like to various cloths.

Background

When attaching a button, a grommet, or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as "button") to a fabric such as clothes, it is generally performed as follows: the button is held on the upper mounting die through the cloth, the mounting member such as eyelet (eyelet) or hook and loop (prong) is held on the lower mounting die, and the upper mounting die is pressed against the lower mounting die with a force of about 200N to 300N by operating the press machine. By this pressing, a part of the attachment member is pierced through the cloth and caulked, and the button is locked to the cloth at the caulked portion. As described above, the cloth to which the button is fixed is compressed by the caulking portion and becomes thin, but the degree of thinning of the cloth varies depending on the kind of the cloth, the initial thickness, or the size, material, or the like of the attachment member, particularly, the portion of the attachment member penetrating the cloth. Therefore, if the combination of the fabric with the button and the attachment member is not good, the fabric may be too thin and easily broken due to the attachment of the button, or the fabric may not be so thin due to insufficient compression of the clinched portion, which may cause the button to easily come off from the fabric. In order to prevent such attachment failure, conventionally, a pressure required for the press is applied to the cloth, and the thickness of the cloth at that time is measured to determine the thickness of the cloth substantially equal to the thickness of the cloth when the button is attached, and a button suitable for the cloth and an attachment member thereof are selected.

A conventional cloth thickness measuring apparatus is disclosed in japanese patent No. 2989589. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus is configured to have a fixed portion at one end of an arc-shaped frame and a movable portion at the other end, to arrange a cloth to be measured between the fixed portion and the movable portion, to operate a dial rotation type operation portion, to move the movable portion to the fixed portion while rotating the movable portion, to gradually compress the cloth by the movable portion, to detect a pressure applied to the cloth based on a strain of the arc-shaped frame, to stop moving the movable portion when the pressure reaches a predetermined value (for example, 200N), and to grasp a cloth thickness based on a displacement amount of the movable portion at that time.

However, in the conventional cloth thickness measuring apparatus, it is necessary to continue rotating the operation portion until the pressure applied to the cloth reaches a predetermined value, and therefore, the measurement takes time and labor. In addition, since the device presses the cloth while rotating the movable portion, rotational friction is generated, and a measurement error that cannot be ignored occurs depending on the kind of the cloth.

Patent document 1: japanese patent application laid-open No. 2989589

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the conventional apparatuses, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cloth thickness measuring apparatus and a cloth thickness measuring method capable of simply, quickly, and accurately measuring a cloth thickness when a predetermined pressure is applied to a cloth.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above problem, according to the present invention, there is provided a cloth thickness measuring apparatus for measuring a cloth thickness when a cloth is pressed with a predetermined pressure, the cloth thickness measuring apparatus including: a fixed part having a base surface; a movable part having a pressing end for pressing the cloth to the base surface; a movable section drive mechanism for linearly moving the movable section from an initial position where the pressing end does not contact the fabric to an excess pressing position where the pressing end presses the fabric against the base surface with a pressure greater than the preset pressure; a pressure detecting member for detecting a pressure of the pressing end pressing the cloth against the base surface; and a gap detection means for detecting a gap between the base surface and the pressing end when the detection value of the pressure detection means reaches the predetermined pressure while the movable portion moves from the initial position to the excess pressing position.

In the present invention, the movable portion is moved from the initial position to the excess pressing position at which the pressure applied to the fabric is greater than a predetermined value (for example, about 200N to 300N), and the distance between the base surface and the pressing end when the pressure applied to the fabric reaches the predetermined value is detected as the fabric thickness during the movement of the movable portion. The pressure applied to the cloth at the over-press position may be slightly larger than a predetermined value, and therefore, the over-press position is not a fixed position but an arbitrary position, and is actually a position at which the movement of the movable portion is restricted and stopped by the base surface. Therefore, the movable portion driving mechanism and the like are designed so that the pressure applied to the cloth at the stop position of the movable portion is at least slightly larger than a predetermined value. Compared with the prior art that the movable part is just moved to the designated position, the technical proposal can easily and instantly move the movable part to any over-pressing position. In the present invention, the movable portion can be moved from the initial position to any one of the excess pressing positions at once or quickly by the non-rotational linear motion, and the rotational friction is not generated on the fabric.

As the pressure detection means, a pressure sensor such as a load sensor can be used. The pressure sensor may be provided on a base surface of the fixed portion or a pressing end of the movable portion.

As the interval detection means, a displacement sensor such as a pulse encoder or a position sensor can be used. In the present invention, the displacement amount of the movable portion from the initial position is detected by the displacement sensor, and the distance between the base surface and the pressing end, that is, the fabric thickness can be determined based on the displacement amount.

In the present invention, a control unit having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an input/output interface, and the like may be used to detect the distance between the base surface and the pressing end when the detection value of the pressure detection means reaches the predetermined pressure while the movable unit moves from the initial position to the pressing position. In this case, for example, it may be configured that a preset pressure value is stored in the ROM, the pressure from the pressure detection means and the interval detection value from the interval detection means are put into the RAM in real time via the input interface, the CPU compares the pressure detection value with the preset value, and the interval detection value when the pressure detection value matches (or is larger than) the preset value is output from the output interface.

In the present invention, the pressure detecting device may further include a display unit and the control unit described above, wherein the control unit displays the detected value of the interval detecting means when the detected value of the pressure detecting means reaches the predetermined pressure on the display unit. As the display unit, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, a CRT tube, or the like can be used.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the movable portion driving mechanism includes: an operating lever; a fixed shaft for supporting the operation lever in a rotatable manner; and a link mechanism portion that transmits a rotational movement of the operation lever, which is generated by an operation of the operation lever by a measurer, to the movable portion, and moves the movable portion from the initial position to the pressure excess position. In this case, the measurer can move the movable portion from the initial position to the pressure excess position simply by holding the operation lever. The movable portion driving mechanism may include a bearing provided on the fixed shaft, and the bearing may support one side portion of the movable portion. In this case, although there is a possibility that the movable portion that causes the pressing end to touch the base surface may be strained by repeated use, the one side portion of the movable portion is supported by the bearing of the fixed shaft, which contributes to prevention of the strain.

According to another aspect, there is provided a cloth thickness measuring method for measuring a cloth thickness when a cloth is pressed with a predetermined pressure, the cloth thickness measuring method including: a cloth arranging step of arranging a cloth between the base surface of the fixed portion and the pressing end of the movable portion; a step of linearly moving the movable part without rotating, and linearly moving the movable part from an initial position where the pressing end does not contact the fabric to an excess pressing position where the pressing end presses the fabric against the base surface with a pressure greater than the preset pressure; a pressure detection step of detecting the pressure of the pressing end pressing the fabric to the base surface; and an interval detection step of detecting an interval between the base surface and the pressing end when the detected value of the pressure reaches the preset pressure while the movable portion moves from the initial position to the excess pressing position. The gap detecting step may further include a displacement amount detecting step of detecting a displacement amount of the movable portion from the initial position when the detected value of the pressure reaches the preset pressure.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

In the present invention, the movable portion can be quickly moved from the initial position to the excess pressing position where the pressure applied to the cloth is greater than the set value so as to linearly move without rotating, and the distance between the base surface and the pressing end at one point in the movement period is grasped as the cloth thickness.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a structural diagram of a fabric thickness measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side explanatory view of the measuring instrument showing a state in which the movable portion is moved forward by pulling the operating lever.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, which includes a measuring device 10 and a control module 50, wherein the measuring device 10 is a lever handle type that a measurer can operate with one hand, and the control module 50 processes a detection signal, which will be described later, input from the measuring device 10 and displays the detection signal as a cloth thickness on a display unit 51. Although not shown, the control module 50 is provided with a control unit 52, the control unit 52 is a microcomputer structure including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an input/output interface including an a/D converter, a D/a converter, an amplifier, and the like, and the control module 50 also contains a power supply circuit and the like.

The measurer 10 includes: a fixed portion 20 having a circular base surface 21 facing rearward (rightward in fig. 1; hereinafter, the rightward in fig. 1 is referred to as "rearward", and the leftward is referred to as "forward"); a bar-shaped movable section 30 having a pressing end 31 at a front end thereof for pressing the cloth 1 from the rear to the front against the base surface 21 of the fixed section 20, the movable section 30 being linearly movable forward and backward along an axis of the base surface 21 without rotating; a movable portion driving mechanism 40 for rapidly moving the movable portion 30 by a measurer gripping the operating lever 41 with a hand, i.e., pulling the operating lever 41 backward, and moving the movable portion 30 from an initial position to an excess pressing position at a stroke; a load sensor 22 as a pressure detection means for detecting a pressing force of the pressing end 31 pressing the cloth 1 against the base surface 21, the load sensor 22 being mounted in the base surface 21; a pulse encoder 34 as a movable portion displacement amount detection means for detecting a displacement amount of the movable portion 30 from the initial position, the pulse encoder 34 being attached to a support shaft 33, the support shaft 33 supporting a rear portion 32 of the movable portion 30, the rear portion being formed in a hollow cylindrical shape; and a frame 11 for supporting and integrating the above-described components. The frame 11 is composed of an inverted U-shaped front frame 11a and a box-shaped rear frame 11b (shown open to the side in fig. 1 and 2), a fixed portion 20 is set at one end portion of the front side of the front frame 11a, and the other end portion of the front frame 11a and the front wall of the rear frame 11b support the front portion of the movable portion 30 via a bearing so that the movable portion 30 can move forward and backward. In the rear frame portion 11 b: the movable portion driving mechanism 40 includes a portion other than a part of the operating lever 41 (movable grip portion 41a), a portion other than a front portion including the pressing end 31 of the movable portion 30, and the pulse encoder 34. The load sensor 22 and the pulse encoder 34 are connected to a control unit 52 of the control module 50 via a signal line 53. The rear end of the support shaft 33 to which the pulse encoder 34 is attached is supported by the rear wall of the rear frame portion 11b, and the support shaft 33 extends forward in a state coaxial with the base surface 21 of the fixing portion 20. The support shaft 33 is a spline shaft having a plurality of axially extending protrusions (not shown) formed on the outer periphery thereof in the circumferential direction, and grooves (not shown) extending in the axial direction and engaging with the protrusions of the support shaft 33 are formed on the inner periphery of the hollow cylindrical rear portion 32 of the movable portion 30 in the circumferential direction in the same number as the protrusions of the support shaft 33. Due to the engagement of the convex portion of the support shaft 33 and the groove of the movable portion 30, the movable portion 30 is guided axially in the front-rear direction without being able to rotate.

The movable portion driving mechanism 40 includes: an operation lever 41 including a movable grip portion 41a protruding downward from the opening 13 in the bottom wall of the rear frame portion 11 b; a fixed shaft 42 for supporting the operation lever 41 so that the operation lever 41 can rotate; a forward/backward moving section 43 connected to the rear end of the movable section 30; and a link portion 44 provided between the lever reverse end portion 41b of the operation lever 41 on the opposite side of the operation lever 41 from the movable grip portion 41a and the forward-backward moving portion 43 so that the movement of the lever reverse end portion 41b is transmitted to the forward-backward moving portion 43. Further, the rod opposite end portion 41b, the forward-backward moving portion 43, and the link portion 44 constitute a link mechanism portion for transmitting the rotation of the operation rod 41 to the movable portion 30. The movable portion drive mechanism 40 further includes a bearing 45 provided on the fixed shaft 42, and a spring 46 provided between the rod opposite end portion 41b and the front wall of the rear frame portion 11 b. In the use of the present device, since the pressing end 31 of the movable portion 30 repeatedly touches the base surface 21, there is a possibility that the movable portion 30 is strained, and the bearing 45 plays a role of supporting the upper side portion of the movable portion 30 from above when the movable portion 30 moves forward and backward, thereby preventing the deformation of the movable portion 30. Further, the deformation of the movable portion 30 may cause an error in the detection of the displacement amount of the movable portion 30. The function of the spring 46 is described below. Reference numeral 47 denotes a fixed grip portion 47 connected to the bottom wall of the rear frame portion 11b, and when the surveying staff operates the operating lever 41, the thumb hooks on the fixed grip portion 47 to grip the movable grip portion 41a of the operating lever 41. Fig. 2 shows a state in which the surveying staff pulls the operation lever 41 to advance the movable portion 30 from the state of fig. 1. When the measurer pulls the movable grip 41a of the operating lever 41 rearward from the state shown in fig. 1, the operating lever 41 rotates about the fixed shaft 42, the lever counter end 41b is displaced counterclockwise against the biasing force of the spring 46, and the movable portion 30 moves forward in conjunction with this displacement by pulling the forward/rearward moving portion 43 forward via the link portion 44 (see fig. 2). When the operator releases the operating lever 41 from this state, the spring 46 pushes the lever opposite end portion 41b rearward, that is, pushes the lever opposite end portion 41b clockwise about the fixed shaft 42, and the movable portion 30 and the movable portion driving mechanism 40 are returned to the positions shown in fig. 1 by the reverse operation to the above operation. Therefore, in the cloth thickness measuring apparatus of the present embodiment, the work of returning the movable portion 30 to the initial position is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional apparatus that requires the movable portion to be retracted by rotating the dial.

Next, a description will be given of a state of use of the cloth thickness measuring apparatus configured as described above, taking as an example a case of measuring the thickness of the cloth 1 when the pressure is applied to the cloth 1, in which case a pressure of 200N is applied to the cloth as an example. The pressure value 200N is stored in advance as fixed data in the ROM of the control unit 52. Before the start of measurement, the position of the movable portion 30 before the lever 41 of the measuring instrument 10 is pulled is set so that the displacement amount detected by the pulse encoder 34 is zero. In addition, at the next measurement, it was confirmed that the displacement amount at the initial position was zero. The only action to be performed by the measuring person is to first hold the cloth (cloth piece) 1 to be measured by hand, place it near the base surface 21 between the base surface 21 of the fixed portion 20 and the pressing end 31 of the movable portion 30 at the initial position, pull the operating lever 41, and then remove the handle from the operating lever 41 when the movable portion 30 moved by the operation is stopped by the fixed portion 20. When the measuring instrument 10 is used in a standing state with the base surface 21 of the measuring instrument 10 facing upward and horizontal, the cloth 1 is mounted only on the base surface 21.

When the operator pulls the operating lever 41, the movable portion 30 advances from the initial position by the movable portion driving mechanism 40, the pressing end 31 compresses the cloth 1 against the base surface 21 of the fixed portion 20, and then the movement of the pressing end 31 is restricted and stopped by the base surface 21. The movement of the movable portion 30 is completed in about 1 to 2 seconds. The movable portion driving mechanism 40 is configured such that the pressure applied to the fabric 1 by the pressing end 31 is slightly larger than 200N, which is a measurement reference value, at a position where the movable portion 30 is stopped. For example, in the present embodiment, the movable portion driving mechanism 40 is designed such that the pressing end 31 of the movable portion 30 is pressed with a force of about 245N (25kg weight) when the measuring staff pulls the operating lever 41 (this force may be about 49N (5kg weight)). Therefore, when the movable section 30 is stopped, the pressing end 31 applies a pressure to the cloth 1 at least slightly larger than the reference value 200N. Therefore, the stop position of the movable portion 30 is hereinafter referred to as "press-exceeding position". While the movable portion 30 moves from the initial position to the position beyond the pressed position, the pulse encoder 34 detects in real time the displacement amount of the movable portion 30 from the initial position, and the detected value is transmitted as an analog signal from the signal line 53 to the input interface of the control portion 52, amplified and converted into a digital signal at the input interface, and continuously stored in the RAM. Simultaneously, the following operations are carried out in parallel: the load sensor 22 detects the pressure applied to the base surface 21, that is, the force with which the pressing end 31 presses the fabric 1, in real time from the time when the pressing end 31 of the movable portion 30 contacts the fabric 1 until the time when the pressing position is exceeded, and the detected value is also continuously stored in the RAM from the signal line 53 via the input interface of the control portion 52. Then, the CPU compares the pressure detection value of the RAM with a pressure reference value stored in advance in the ROM in real time, converts a displacement amount measurement value when the pressure detection value and the pressure reference value match (or when the pressure detection value starts to be larger than the pressure reference value) into a cloth thickness, and displays the cloth thickness on the display section 51 via the output interface.

As described above, the operator only pulls the operating lever 41 to move the movable portion 30 linearly from the initial position to the excess pressing position blocked by the fixed portion 20 at once, and therefore, the measurement operation is simple and quick, and since the movement of the movable portion 30 does not involve rotation, the measurement can be performed accurately without generating rotational friction on the cloth 1.

Description of the reference numerals

1. Distributing; 10. a measurer; 20. a fixed part; 21. a base surface; 22. a load sensor (pressure detecting means); 30. a movable part; 31. a pressing end; 34. a pulse encoder (interval detecting means/displacement amount detecting means); 40. a movable section drive mechanism; 41. an operating lever; 41b, the opposite end of the rod; 42. a fixed shaft; 43. a forward-backward moving section; 44. a link section; 46. a spring; 50. a control module; 51. a display unit; 52. a control unit.

Claims (8)

1. A cloth thickness measuring device for measuring the thickness of a cloth pressed at a preset pressure,

this cloth thickness measurement device includes:

a fixing section (20) having a base surface (21);

a movable section (30) having a pressing end (31) for pressing the cloth (1) against the base surface (21);

a movable section drive mechanism (40);

a pressure detection means (22); and

a spacing detection member (34) characterized in that,

a movable section drive mechanism (40) configured to linearly move the movable section (30) from an initial position where the pressing end (31) does not contact the fabric (1) to an excess pressing position where the pressing end (31) presses the fabric (1) against the base surface (21) with a pressure greater than the preset pressure;

a pressure detection means (22) for detecting the pressure of the pressing end (31) pressing the cloth (1) against the base surface (21); and the number of the first and second groups,

the interval detection means (34) is configured to detect an interval between the base surface (21) and the pressing end (31) when the value detected by the pressure detection means (22) reaches the predetermined pressure while the movable section (30) moves from the initial position to the excess pressing position.

2. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit (51) and a control unit (52), wherein the control unit (52) is configured to display a value detected by the gap detecting member (34) when the value detected by the pressure detecting member (22) reaches the predetermined pressure on the display unit (51).

3. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,

the distance detection means (34) includes a movable-position displacement amount detection means (34) for detecting the amount of displacement of the movable portion (30) from the initial position, and detects the distance between the base surface (21) and the pressing end (31) on the basis of the amount of displacement.

4. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to claim 1,

the pressure detection member (22) is attached to the base surface (21).

5. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to claim 1,

the movable section drive mechanism (40) includes:

an operation lever (41);

a fixed shaft (42) for supporting the operating lever (41) so that the operating lever (41) can rotate;

and link mechanism sections (41 b, 43, 44) that transmit the rotational movement of the operating lever (41) caused by the operating lever (41) being operated by the measuring person to the movable section (30), and that move the movable section (30) from the initial position to the pressure excess position.

6. The cloth thickness measuring apparatus according to claim 5,

the movable section drive mechanism (40) has a bearing (45) provided on the fixed shaft (42), and the bearing (45) supports one side section of the movable section (30).

7. A cloth thickness measuring method is used for measuring the cloth thickness when the cloth is pressed by a preset pressure,

the cloth thickness measuring method comprises the following steps:

a cloth arranging step of arranging a cloth between the base surface (21) of the fixed part (20) and the pressing end (31) of the movable part (30);

a step of linearly moving the movable section (30) without rotating, and linearly moving the movable section (30) from an initial position where the pressing end (31) does not contact the fabric (1) to an excess pressing position without rotating, wherein the excess pressing position is a position where the pressing end (31) presses the fabric (1) against the base surface (21) with a pressure greater than the preset pressure;

a pressure detection step of detecting the pressure of the pressing end (31) pressing the cloth (1) to the base surface (21); and the number of the first and second groups,

and an interval detection step of detecting an interval between the base surface (21) and the pressing end (31) when the detected value of the pressure reaches the preset pressure while the movable part (30) moves from the initial position to the excess pressing position.

8. The cloth thickness measuring method according to claim 7,

the interval detection step includes a displacement amount detection step,

in the displacement amount detection step, the displacement amount of the movable part (30) from the initial position when the detected value of the pressure reaches the preset pressure is detected.