Patent ID: 7438011

Claim:
A cutting apparatus for cutting an elongated sewing material when sewing of the sewing material is completed in a sewing machine that includes a guide unit that guides the sewing material to a sewing position of a sewing needle, the sewing machine sewing the guided sewing material onto an object to be sewn with the sewing needle and a thread, the cutting apparatus comprising: a main body including a hook section for hooking thereon the sewing material, the hook section being fixed relative to the main body; a fixed blade fixed to a predetermined position of said main body and spaced away above the hook section; a cutting blade movable relative to the fixed blade and to the hook section, the cutting blade cutting the sewing material by moving toward said fixed blade; and a drive device that moves said main body between a predetermined retracted position that does not interfere with sewing operation and a predetermined cutting position for cutting the sewing material, wherein said main body is held at the retracted position during sewing operation, and said main body is moved from the retracted position to the cutting position by said drive device to cut the sewing material, wherein said hook section hooks the sewing material while said main body is moving toward the cutting position, and wherein said cutting blade cuts the sewing material after the sewing material is hooked on said hook section and while said main body is in the predetermined cutting position.