Fabric clipping guide for an overlock machine

A fabric clipping guide installed in an overlock machine for guiding fabric clippings to a fabric clipping collector, the fabric clipping guide including a hopper for receiving fabric clippings from the overlock machine, the hopper having a sloping bottom guide tube, the guide tube having a bigger first guide hole connected to the fabric clipping collector and a smaller second guide hole reversed to the first hole, a nozzle having an outlet at one end connected to the second guide hole on the guide tube of the hopper, a suction hole at an opposite end, a threaded collar on the middle, a neck between the collar and the suction hole, a plurality of oblique through holes spaced around the neck and extended from one side of the, threaded collar to the inside of the nozzle, a socket threaded onto the threaded collar and defining an annular air chamber, a connector mounted on the socket for guiding high pressure air into the air chamber and the inside of the nozzle through the oblique through holes on the threaded collar, permitting high pressure air to be turned round and round and forced out of the outlet of the nozzle through the second guide hole and the first guide hole on the guide tube of the hopper to carry fabric clippings from the hopper to the fabric clipping collector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a fabric clipping guide for installation 
in an overlock machine for guiding fabric clippings from the stitching 
mechanism of the overlock machine to a fabric clipping collector, and more 
particularly to such a fabric clipping guide which turns an intake flow of 
high pressure air into an eddy flow of high pressure air to effectively 
suck in thread tips and fabric clippings from the overlock machine and to 
rapidly carry thread tips and fabric clippings to the fabric clipping 
collector. 
FIG. 4 shows a regular overlock machine. The overlock machine 90 comprises 
a stitching mechanism 91, a hopper 60 disposed in front of the stitching 
mechanism 91, a first guide tube 61 extended from the hopper 60 and 
connected to a fitting 70. The fitting 70 has a first inlet connected to 
the guide tube 61, an outlet connected to the fabric clipping collector 
80, a second inlet connected to an air nozzle 71, and a third inlet 
connected to a second guide tube 62. The second guide tube 62 has an 
opposite end connected to a thread cutting end 92 of the stitching 
mechanism 91. Because the air nozzle 71 is disposed at the front ends of 
the guide tubes 61;62, it produces low suction force. Further, this 
arrangement occupies much table space of the overlock machine 90. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a fabric clipping 
guide for an overlock machine which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. It 
is one object of the present invention to provide a fabric clipping guide 
for an overlock machine which requires less installation space. It is 
another object of the present invention to provide a fabric clipping guide 
which turns an intake flow of high pressure air into an eddy flow of high 
pressure air to effectively suck in thread tips and fabric clippings from 
the overlock machine and to rapidly carry thread tips and fabric clippings 
to the fabric clipping collector. To achieve these and other objects of 
the present invention, there is provided a fabric clipping guide installed 
in an overlock machine for guiding fabric clippings to a fabric clipping 
collector, the fabric clipping guide comprising a hopper for receiving 
fabric clippings from the overlock machine, the hopper having a sloping 
bottom guide tube, the guide tube having a bigger first guide hole 
connected to the fabric clipping collector and a smaller second guide hole 
reversed to the first hole, a nozzle having an outlet at one end connected 
to the second guide hole on the guide tube of the hopper, a suction hole 
at an opposite end, a threaded collar on the middle, a neck between the 
collar and the suction hole, a plurality of oblique passageways spaced 
around the neck and extended from one side of the threaded collar to the 
inside of the nozzle, a socket threaded onto the threaded collar and 
defining an annular air chamber, a connector mounted on the socket for 
guiding high pressure air into the air chamber and the inside of the 
nozzle through the oblique through holes on the threaded collar, 
permitting high pressure air to be turned round and round and forced out 
of the outlet of the nozzle throught the second guide hole and the first 
guide hole on the guide tube of the hopper to carry fabric clippings from 
the hopper to the fabric clipping collector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a fabric clipping guide in accordance with the 
present invention is installed in an overlock machine and used for guiding 
fabric clippings cut from stitched fabrics to a fabric clipping collector. 
The fabric clipping guide comprises a hopper 10, and a guide tube 11 
obliquely extended from the hopper 10 at the bottom. The guide tube 11 has 
a first guide hole 111 and an oppositely facing second guide hole 112 at 
the bottom of tube 111. The inner diameter of the second guide hole 112 is 
slightly smaller than that of the first guide hole 111. A cylindrical 
nozzle 20 is coupled to the second hole 112 on the guide tube 11. The 
nozzle 20 has mounting means, for example a threaded collar 21 around the 
middle thereof, a neck 22 in front of the threaded collar 21, a plurality 
of oblique passageways 211 spaced around the neck 22 and extending from 
the threaded collar 21 at one side thereof to the inside of the nozzle 20, 
a tapered outlet 23 at one end, and a suction hole 24 at an opposite end. 
When compressed air is driven through the passageways 211 into the inside 
of the nozzle 20, it is forced out of the tapered outlet 23 into the 
second hole 112 on the guide tube 11. When passing through the tapered 
outlet 23, a flow of air is compressed and forced to turn round and round 
toward the second guide hole 112 on the guide tube 11. A socket 30 is 
threaded onto the threaded collar 21 on the nozzle 20, defining an annular 
air chamber 301 around the neck 22 of the nozzle 20. The socket 30 has a 
radial through hole 31 disposed in communication with the annular air 
chamber 301. Further, a connector 32 is mounted in the radial through hole 
31. 
Referring to FIG. 3 and FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the hopper 10 is fixedly 
mounted in an overlock machine 40 in front of the stitching mechanism 41 
of the overlock machine 40, the first guide hole 111 of the guide tube 11 
is connected to a fabric clipping collector 50, and the suction hole 24 of 
the nozzle 20 is connected to the thread cutting end 42 of the overlock 
machine 40. When high pressure air is guided through the connector 32 into 
the annular air chamber 301, it flows through the oblique passageways 211 
into the second guide hole 112 on the hopper 10 via the tapered outlet 23. 
When passing through the tapered outlet 23, high pressure air is turned 
round and round and forms a spiral flow of high pressure air passing 
through the second guide hole 112 to the fabric clipping collector 50 
through the first guide hole 111. When the spiral flow of high pressure 
air passes through the first guide hole 11 and the second guide hole 112, 
a suction force is produced to suck fabric clippings into the hopper 10 
and carried with the spiral flow of high pressure air to the fabric 
clipping collector 50. 
While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and 
described, it will be understood that various modifications and changes 
could be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the 
invention disclosed.