Patent ID: 8250997

Claim:
Multiple needle sewing machine and in particular multiple needle chain stitch sewing machine, comprising stitch-forming elements having at least two needles and at least one gripper shaft with at least two gripper hooks arranged thereon, wherein a needle and a gripper hook respectively form a sewing element pair and wherein the needles and the gripper hooks are driven in a manner such as to perform chain stitches and in particular double chain stitches in a sewing material arranged on a sewing material support, using a needle thread and a gripper thread respectively, characterized in that the needles are connected indirectly or directly to a rotationally oscillating driving shaft and that at least one needle can be individually stopped and decoupled from the rotationally oscillating driving shaft in such a manner that in the stopped position decoupled from the rotationally oscillating driving shaft the needle(s) is(are) not moved in a translational fashion in the direction of the sewing material support during the sewing operation and thus does(do) not pierce the sewing material.