US3613608A

US3613608A - Control equipment for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like

Info

Publication number: US3613608A
Application number: US827293A
Authority: US
Inventors: Norman M Hinerfeld; David S Nobler; William H Bartley
Original assignee: KAYSER ROTH Corp
Current assignee: Kayser-Roth Corp; KAYSER ROTH Corp
Priority date: 1969-05-23
Filing date: 1969-05-23
Publication date: 1971-10-19
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-19

Abstract

The manufacturing equipment is preferably in the form of sewing equipment comprised of a usual sewing head with a reciprocal up and down moving needle electrically driven for sewing a plurality of stitches in an article to be sewn. A presser foot retains the article in place during sewing and downwardly against usual feed dogs which move the article forwardly and rearwardly appropriate for the various stitching operations. A needle positioner is operable with the sewing with the sewing head for positioning the needle in a selected up or down position relative to the article at the termination of any sewing operational step, the needle preferably being positioned down extending through the article between at least certain successive sewing steps so that the article may be manually repositioned by an operator between said steps. A thread cutoff component is operably arranged with the sewing head for cutting off thread used by the needle in stitching at the termination of selected sewing steps, the thread cutoff being operable when the needle is up above the article as positioned by the needle positioner. According to the invention, the needle positioner also includes a counter device automatically counting reciprocations of the needle and capable of transmitting an electrical signal equivalent to such movement count. The sewing equipment may be controlled by the usual manually operable switches such as knee control and foot control switches. The equipment likewise may include usual components such as an automatic pickup for supplying articles to the operator and an automatic stacker for removing sewn articles from the operator, and the sewing head may make use of usual attachments such as pleater and buttonhole attachments. Further, according to the invention, an automatic controller, a power interface and preferably an automatic recorder are electrically connected with the sewing equipment, and a permanent record command switch is preferably arranged with the foot control switch. The power interface serves to electrically integrate the manually operable switches and the automatic controller with the sewing equipment, said power interface being selectively switchable between a manual mode and an automatic mode. In manual mode, the power interface connects the manually operable switches for usual control of the sewing equipment to perform a plurality of operational steps in an overall sewing operation on the article to be sewn, while at the same time, the power interface translates each of the component operational steps into composite instruction signals for transmission to and temporary recording at the automatic controller, any selected of said composite instruction signals being permanently recorded by the automatic controller in sequence by actuation of the permanent record command switch. Each instruction signal includes both function, the component being operated, and duration, either pure time in time elements or needle reciprocations from the needle positioner and counter. The automatic recorder is connected tO the automatic controller and is selectively actionable for inserting in proper sequence into temporary and permanent recording of the automatic controller composite instruction signals equivalent to certain of the composite instruction signals resulting from actual operation of the sewing equipment so that selected of the sewing equipment operations either need not be carried out by manual control or may be replaced by the automatic recorder. Also, the automatic controller is arranged for inserting instruction signals for determined time delays between selected component operations, either by permanently recording actual delays between component operations or by inserting numbers of time elements with the automatic recorder. Instructions for indeterminate time delays between component operations and training time delays intermediate selected component operations may likewise be appropriately inserted into the automatic controller. After completion of the permanent recording, when the power interface is in the automatic mode, the automatic controller may be operated to transmit back to the power interface the permanently recorded instruction signals in sequence which are translated by the power interface into commands for operating the various components to repeat the component operational steps to carry out the overall sewing operation including the now inserted determined delays, indeterminate delays and training delays. During the determined delays, a preceding operating component is stopped, the determined delay carried out in time, and a latter component started automatically. During the indeterminate delays, the preceding component operation is stopped, but the latter component operation is not started until manually actuated by a manual control. The training delays are indeterminate and may be intermediate a selected component operation interrupting such operation until manual control actuation or between component operations as an ordinary indeterminate delay, in either case, there being means on the automatic controller for selected elimination of the training delays with the effect of removal from the automatic controller permanent recording.

Description

United States Patent Norman M. Hinerfeld Mamaroneck, N.Y.;

David S. Noble, Carpinteria; William H. Bartley, Orange, Calif.

[72] Inventors [21] Appl. No. 827,293

[22] Filed May 23, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 19, 1971 [73] Assignee Kayser-Roth Corporation New York, N .Y.

[54] CONTROL EQUIPMENT FOR MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT SUCH AS SEWING EQUIPMENT. AND

THE LIKE 42 Claims, 27 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 112/2, 318/20.102, 346/33 MC [51] Int. Cl D05b 23/00 [50] Field of Search 112/2,

121.11, 121.15, 102,219 A, 252, 262; 235/l51.1 1; 346/33 MC; 318/162, 20.102;

Primary Examiner-James R. Boler Attorney-Mahoney, Hornbaker & Schick ABSTRACT: The manufacturing equipment is preferably in the form of sewing equipment comprised of a usual sewing head with a reciprocal up and down moving needle electrically driven for sewing a plurality of stitches in an article to be sewn. A presser foot retains the article in place during sewing and downwardly against usual feed dogs which move the article forwardly and rearwardly appropriate for the various stitching operations. A needle positioner is operable with the sewing with the sewing head for positioning the needle in a selected up or down position relative to the article at the termination of any sewing operational step, the needle preferably being positioned down extending through the article between at least certain successive sewing steps so that the article may be manually repositioned by an operator between said steps. A thread cutoff component is operably arranged with the sewing head for cutting off thread used by the needle in stitching at the termination of selected sewing steps, the thread cutoff being operable when the needle is up above the article as positioned by the needle positioner. According to the invention, the needle positioner also includes a counter device automatically counting reciprocations of the needle and capable of transmitting an electrical signal equivalent to such movement count. The sewing equipment may be controlled by the usual manually operable switches such as knee control and foot control switches. The equipment likewise may include usual components such as an automatic pickup for supplying articles to the operator and an automatic stacker for removing sewn articles from the operator, and the sewing head mav make use of usual attachments such as pleater and buttonhole attachments. Further, according to the invention. an automatic controller, a power interface and preferably an automatic recorder are electrically connected with the sewing equipment, and a permanent record command switch is preferably arranged with the foot control switch. The power interface serves to electrically integrate the manually operable switches and the automatic controller with the sewing equipment, said power interface being selectively switchable between a manual mode and an automatic mode, In manual mode, the power interface connects the manually operable switches for usual control of the sewing equipment to perform a plurality RiierTifiiiifls in an overall sewing operation on the article to be sewn, while at the same time, the power interface translates each of the component operational steps into composite instruction signals for transmission to and temporary recording at the automatic controller, any selected of said composite instruction signals being permanently recorded by the automatic controller in sequence by actuation of the permanent record command switch. Each instruction signal includes both function, the component being operated, and duration, either pure time in time elements or needle reciprocations from the needle positioner andcounter. The automatic recorder is connected to the automatic controller and is selectively actionable forinserting in proper sequence into temporary and permanent recording of the automatic controller composite instruction signals equivalent to certain of the composite instruction signals resulting from actual operation of the sewing equipment so that selected of the sewing equipment operations either need not be carried out by manual control or may be replaced by the automatic recorder. Also, the automatic controller is arranged for inserting instruction signals for determined time delays between selected component operations, eithei' by permanently recording actual delays between component operations or by inserting numbers of time elements with the automatic recorder. Instructions for indeterminate time delays between component operations and training time delays intermediate selected component operations may likewise be appropriately inserted into the automatic controller. After completion of the permanent recording, when the power interface is in the automatic mode, the automatic controller may be operated to transmit back to the power interface the permanently recorded instruction signals in sequence which are translated by the power interface into commands for operating the various components to repeat the component operational steps to carry out the overall sewing operation including the now inserted determined delays, indeterminate delays and training delays. During the determined delays, a preceding operating component is stopped, the determined delay carried out in time, and a latter component started automatically. During the indeterminate delays, the preceding component operation is stopped, but the latter component operation is not started until manually actuated by a manual control. The training delays are indeterminate and may be intermediate a selected component operation interrupting such operation until manual control actuation or between component operations as an ordinary indeterminate delay, in either case, there being means on the automatic controller for selected elimination of the training delays with the effect of removal from the automatic controller permanent recording.

SHEET AMA/04L A UTOMAT/C I 5 j FOOT CON 720/.

@r SLOW FAST MAIN DR! VE SPEED CONT ROL To F ' L5 495 FIG. 10.

READY PREfiER 506- 7 T0 RESET F 07 RECORD UP 36 TRAIN/N6 TRAIN/N6 57/16/69? d I F007 570; 1 am 2 OFF DOWN RUN RUN RUN RUN FAST SLOW FAST SLOW Pom Am FGRMWD REVERSE REVERSE POSITION STOP 496 u AND NEEDLE N giE PROGRAM TRIM up 0ow- 570/ POSITIONE'R I INVEAUURS M P5555542 DEL NgEMA/V H/A/ERFELO,

AY AVID NOBLE & 1.. RE ISTEA 5 2% 6 WILL/AM H. HARTLEY CONTROLLER BY 24M MAHo/vEY, HOE/VBAKEE 8: 5CH/CK ATTOEA/E Y8 PAIENTEDOBI 19 Ian SHEET CU 0F YTTfkfdddddd FIG. 12.

m VENTORS Aloe/14AM M Hm/Ee/asw, DA V/D 5. NOBLE 6:

WILLIAM h. 54271.5)

MAHONEY, HORNBAKER 8: ScH/CK A'rrozus s PATENTEDnm 1919?! 3,613,608

sum um 16 FIG. 14a.

ECUTE Ex N SEQUENCER INVENTOES Aloe/WAN M H/A/EEFELD,

DAV/0 5. NOBLE & I/V/LL/AM ft BARTLEY BY MAI-{0N5}; H02N5AKER 6: ScH/cK A'rroe/vs s PATENTEUUBI 19 I97! 3,613.6 O8

' SHEET 080E 16 FIG. 14b.

5EOUEA/CER 356 luvs/W025 NORMAN M. H/A/EQFELD 0A W0 5. A/oaLE &

WILL/AM h, EAETLEY av MAHQNEY, HORNBAKEE SCH/CK PATENTE'DBET 1 9 Ian 7 3 s 13.6 08

' sum user 16 Fra i4cj. 'Q 470 3&3

mvavm/as NORMA/V M H/A/ERFELD,

DA 100 5. NOBLE &

WILLIAM H. HARTLEY 5v MAHONEY, HOBNBAKEE 8: SCH/CK A TTOEA/EYS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like which has the efi'ect of automatically controlling at least the major portion of a series of sequential manufacturing component operational steps having mixed therein certain manual. steps required to be perfonned manually by an operator in carrying out an overall manufacturing-operation on an article to be manufactured, so that not only are the manufacturing, component operational steps automatically controlled, but also, the manual steps required to be performed by the operator, thereby increasing theefficiency of the overall manufacturing operation. Furthermore, themanufacturing equipment. of the present invention is arranged so that instruction signals for carrying out repeated identical overall manufacturing operations may be recorded in an automatic controller permitting the automatic controller tosubsequently automatically control the manufacturing components for carrying out the overall manufacturing operation merely by first carrying out the overall manufacturing operation under the manual control of an operator, various means being provided for inserting the instruction signals in the automatic controller creating time delays in the overall manufacturing operation for the manual step performances by the operator. As a result, the minimum of time is required for the programming of the automatic controller in order to permit the same to automatically control an entire overall manufacturing operation, giving maximum versatility and convenience in use so as to be adaptable to a wide variety of mass production manufacturing operations.

There are many manufacturing operations making use of various forms of automatic production machinery wherein a human '-'operator is required to manually control automatic machinery in performing certain steps of the overall manufacturing operation, while at the same time, between certain of the individual automatic machinery steps, such operator is required to manually perform certain manual functions or steps with or on the article being manufactured, such as realigning or repositioning the article being manufactured relative to the automatic machinery in order to carryout a subsequent automatic machinery operational step. Still further, in many such cases, it is necessary to position the automatic machinery relative to the article being manufactured in one determined position at termination of an automatic machinery operational step in order that ,the required manual operation may be properly carried out by the operator, while in other. instances the manufacturing operational step must be terminated with the manufacturing machinery in another position preparatory to the subsequent manual operation. To even further complicate the situation, one manufacturing equipment operational step might require a given number of machinery movements, the next manufacturing machinery operational stepa different number of movements, and still the next manufacturing equipment operational step still a different number of equipment movements, in each manufacturing machinery operational step the equipment being required to be manually controlled by the operator.

Even further, the times required for the manual operation by the human operator between the manufacturing equipment operational steps may be of varying length, one manual step requiring a different length of time from a preceding or a subsequent manual step as determined by the manufacturing equipment operational step preceding such operator manual step and the manufacturing equipment operational step succeeding such operator manual step. There are also many instances in the use of automatic production equipment or machinery comprised of a series of components wherein one automatic machinery operational step may require the use of one component and is immediately followed by the use of another component, the first component being required to terminate its particular operational step in a determined position, in order that the latter component can properly operate and without damaging the first component. Thus, it may be seen that the types of overall manufacturing operations discussed are not readily adaptable to overall automatic control,but

rather would appear to require a great amount of individual human operator control which could -only be accomplished by a skilled operator after a long periodof intensive training.

One industry in which the overall manufacturing operations include all of the difficulties hereinbefore discussed from the standpoint of attempting to make overall manufacturing operations capable of automatic control is the garment industry wherein vthe articles'to'be manufactured are garments basically requiring a series of sewing-or stitching operations. as well as various other operations. For instance, in considering the wide variety of sewing operations required in the assembling and manufacture of even very simple forms of gannents, it is seen that a wide variety and number of sewing steps can be involved, many requiring forward and reverse sewing and many requiring delays therebetween for manual operator repositioning of the garment for the next sewing step to be carried out. Furthermore, during manual operator repositioning of the garment between sewing steps, it is most convenient for the needle of the sewing head to be positioned projecting downwardly through the garment so that proper alignment is maintained relative to the sewing head needle between the sewing steps.

Also, where the gannent being manufactured is of a stable material, that is, a material which is not readily stretchable or deformable, each of the sewing steps will more preferably consist of a determined number of needle reciprocal movements or stitches, absolutely requiring the complete attention of the human operator for proper accomplishment. At the same time, at the termination of particular sewing steps, not only is it necessary for the sewing head needle to be positioned down projecting downwardly through the material for a subsequent manual operator repositioning step, it is also absolutely necessary for the presser foot of the sewing head working in conjunction with the needle during stitching to retain the garment material downwardly against feed dogs progressively moving the material during stitching to be raised in order that the garment material will be free for such manual operator repositioning. When the sewing steps have been completed, that is, at the termination of the last sewing'step, it is necessary that the sewing head needle will be positioned up in order that the thread cutoff device of the equipment will be able to operate in the thread the thread being used in the sewing steps without striking the sewing head needle during such thread cutofi.

Certain prior constructions of sewing equipment have included various controls incorporated therein, all requiring manual operation by a human operator, for accomplishing the proper positioning of the sewing head needle in selected up and down positions by means of an automatic needle positioning device. ln use thereof, the human operator is required to terminate a particular sewing step and then selectively actuate the needle positioning device to position the needle in the desired up or down position before the subsequent manual repositioning or thread cutoff step can be carried out. Also, as an adjunct to sewing equipment, various supplementary devices have been provided such as pickup devices for supplying garment parts to the operators sewing station and stacker devices on which a garment may be positioned by the operator after completion of the sewing operations for automatic stacking by the stacker devices.

Although these sewing equipment improvements have added somewhat to the convenience of the human operators, each still requires individual control by that operator at an appropriate time. The operators, therefore, must make a wide variety of mental decisions during an overall garment sewing operation, said decisions being immediately followed by manual actions at proper moments in order to carry out a coordinated overall sewing operation. Thus, it can be seen that a relatively high degree of operator skill has been required obtained only through long periods of training, and even then, such operations are relatively tedious and tiring even to such skilled operators.

To even more clearly illustrate the complications involved with attempts to fully, or even partially, automate sewing operations in the garment industry, consider the example of the great number of individual automatic and manual operations required for sewing a pocket patch on a shirt front. The finished pocket formed by the pocket patch in the example has an open top and the pocket patch will, therefore, require short lengths of multiple stitching at the top comers thereof for reinforcing in addition tothe continuous line of stitching completely around the pocket patch periphery with the exception of the top edge thereof. Furthermore, the pocket patch will have straight sides, angled lower corners and a straight bottom. Finally, assume that a stack of shirt fronts is positioned at the left of theoperator and a stack of pocket patches is positioned to the right of the operator, an automatic stacker being positioned directly rearwardly of the sewing machine table for final stacking of the completed pocket assembled shirt fronts.

The requirements of the machine operator would be to first pick up a shirt front from the left side and a pocket patch from the right side, placing the pocket patch at proper location on theshirt front and positioning the temporarily assembled garment at proper location beneath the sewing head needle on the sewing machine table, the needle being at the upper righthand corner of the pocket patch ready for commencing the sewing or stitching operations. At this time, and in order to accomplish this positioning of the temporarily assembled pocket patch and shirt front beneath the sewing head needle, the needle wouldhave to be in the up position and the presser foot likewise up. The operator is now ready to commence sewing and keep in mind that all component operations must be manually actuated by the operator.

In sequence, the presser foot is lowered, the sewing head actuated to sew four stitches forward and stop, the sewing head is actuated to sew four stitches rearwardly and stop. The sewing head is actuated to sew 36 stitches forwardly to the first comer of the lower right-angle pocket corner and stop, such stop preferably requiring the needle to be positioned down extending downwardly through both the pocket patch and shirt front. The presser foot is raised and the assembled pocket patch and shirt front repositioned to align for sewing along the right-angle pocket comer.

The presser foot is lowered and the sewing head is actuated to sew seven stitches along the angled pocket corner and stop with the needle positioned down. The presser foot is raised and the assembled pocket patch and shirt front manually repositioned aligned for sewing along the straight pocket bottom. The presser foot is lowered and the sewing head is actuated to sew 27 stitches along the pocket straight bottom to the first corner of the left-angle pocket comer and stop, with the needle positioned down.

The presser foot is raised and the assembled pocket patch and shirt from manually repositioned properly aligned for sewing along the left-angled pocket corner. The presser foot is lowered and the sewing head is actuated to sew seven stitches along the left-angled pocket corner and stop with the needle positioned down. The presser foot is raised and the assembled pocket patch and shirt front is manually repositioned to align 1 for sewing along the pocket left-hand straight side.

The presser foot is lowered and the sewing head is actuated to sew 36 stitches along the left-hand pocket straight side to the pocket upper left corner and stop. The sewing head is actuated in reverse to sew four stitches rearwardly and stop, then four stitches again forwardly and stop with the needle up followed by actuation of the thread cutofi and presser foot positioned up completing the sewing or operations or steps. Finally, the completely sewn pocket patch and shirt front are removed from the sewing head and positioned over the stacker with the stacker being actuated to properly stack the same rearwardly of the sewing machine table and permitting the operator to repeat the sequential steps for preparing for and sewing a next pocket patch and shirt front.

Thus, although 'the sewing of a pocket patch on a shirt front might appear at first consideration as a relatively simple sewing operation, it can readily be appreciated that such a sewing operation requires a great number of closely controlled sewing operations, interspersed with both component positioning operations and operations required to be manually performed by the operator. Furthermore, the operator is required to actuate in various manners the various automatic components, in each case, requiring a mental decision and then a manual movement of proper selected form. Furthermore, the training time for necessary skills in order to accomplish the sewing operations or steps in the proper sequence, as well as the other interspersed steps required, is obviously quite extensive, and even when properly trained, such work is quite tedious and tiring for an operator.

Thus, although small parts of overall sewing operations in the garment industry have been at least partially automatically controlled, no one prior to our, present invention has been successful in providing automatic control of virtually an entire overall sewing operation. Obviously, the wide variety and numbers of problems to be overcome if overall automatic control is to be provided are extremely complex and this is particularly true when it is considered that it is clearly impossible to eliminate the human operator from the overall sewing operations. In addition, no one prior to our present invention has been able to reduce training time and to reduce required skills of the ever-present human operator from the sewing operations, all necessary if optimum improvements are to be provided in the garment industry.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of our invention to provide control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like, such equipment being of the type normally requiring manual actuation of various components by a human operator in a determined sequence and interspersed with required purely manual operations or steps by said operator in order to carry out an overall manufacturing operation, wherein substantially the entire overall manufacturing operations are automatically controlled including determined time delays between certain manufacturing componentoperational steps during which the operator must perform manual steps in order to properly complete the overall manufacturing operation. As a result, the requirement for the human operator to manually actuate the automatic-manufacturing equipment and the sundry decisions by the operator normally involved therewith are completely eliminated, the main steps remaining for the operator once the overall manufacturing operation has been commenced being to manually perform certain more minor operations required between various of the automatic component operations. In this manner, theprior tediousness and skill required for such overall manufacturing operations is greatly reduced, thereby likewise reducing operator training time necessary for training an operator to be able to carry out the overall manufacturing operations.

As an example, in the garment industry and the various overall sewing operations thereof, each of the individual sewing steps, including positioning and repeated repositioning of various components, is completely automatically controlled. Where manual repositioning of articles to be sewn is required between any of the sewing steps, a time delay period is supplied during which the operator may accomplish such repositioning and after which, the automatic components immediately resume automatic operation under the automatic control.

It is a further object of our invention to provide control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like of the foregoing general character wherein the manufacturing equipment including such control devices may be set up or programmed for carrying out the determined overall manufacturing operations merely by an operator manually actuating the manufacturing equipment in the usual manner, the various individual of the manufacturing steps being recorded in an automatic controller, after which, the automatic controller is capable of automatically controlling the various components to repeat the overall manufacturing operation, even as to controlling the time of time delays between component automatic operations to provide the operator with sufficient time for manually performing necessary manual operations or steps. in addition, the control devices are arranged with the manufacturing equipment with certain of the same being capable of actuation for directly inserting into the automatic controller program various predetermined instructions of exact form as would be received from the actual operations of the components during a particular manufacturing step. The various components may, therefore, be manually actuated to carry out certain manufacturing operational steps in one manner, yet the automatic controller may be programmed to repeat such component operational steps in a different manner, all as determined by the particular operator controlling the devices and equipment.

Again as applied to sewing equipment for carrying out an overall sewing operation, the overall sewing operation is carried out by the operator manually actuating the various components in proper sequence, for instance, sequential sewing operations or steps. If, directly after the performance of a particular component operational step, say, of actually sewing 75 stitches in an article to be sewn, it is determined that that particular sewing operation should actually include only 55 stitches, instructions for the automatic controller to carry out the stitching step of only 55 stitches may be inserted into the automatic controller program while the instructions for the 75 stitches is not recorded so that upon repeating the overall sewing operation, the automatic controller will carry out that particular sewing step of only the 55 stitches. Also, the time delays between component operations for operator manually repositioning of the article being sewn can be inserted as instructions into the automatic controller merely by permitting that length of time delay between component manual actuations, or, in the alternative, the actual time delay between component operations taken by the operator may be eliminated from the automatic controller recording and a predetermined time delay inserted into the automatic controller recording or program as a substitute for the actual delay time taken operator the operator. Obviously, therefore, although the basic concept of the control devices is that of being able therewith to completely program the control devices for automatically carrying out an overall sewing operation merely by once performing the same under component manual actuation, even increased wide versatility of the control devices permits during such programming, the alteration of various steps to give the exact final programming desired.

it is still a further object of our invention to provide control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like as hereinbefore discussed wherein indeterminate time delays may be inserted as instructions into the automatic controller programming either between manufacturing equipment component operational steps or intermediate such component operational steps depending on the desired purpose. For instance, if a manual operation between two component operational steps will vary in time length from one repeated overall manufacturing operation to the next, an indeterminate time delay instruction may be inserted into the automatic controller program having the effect of stopping a preceding component operation at the end of its operational step, but requiring some manual actuation by the operator before the subsequent programmed operational step will commence so as to leave the length of the time delay completely controlled by the operator so that the same can be varied in total length as it is necessary. At the same time, the control devices are arranged so that these indeterminate time delays, functional in the same manner, may be inserted at any point in the automatic controller program, even intermediate a particular manufacturing equipment component operational step, the indetenninate time delays in this case being capable of elimination from the automatic controller programwithout otherwise altering such program at any time during subsequent automatic control of the manufacturing equipment, thereby constituting training time delays which are permitted to remain in the program during the operator training andcan be removed from such program after the operator has become sufficiently trained.

It is an additional object of our invention to provide control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like of the foregoing general character wherein each of the manufacturing equipment component operational steps is translated by the control devices into a composite' instruction for recording in the automatic controller to program the same, such composite instructions thereafter being sequentially translated back into component operations to carry out the various component operational steps during automatic actuation of the manufacturing equipment by the automatic controller. Each composite instruction as received and recorded by the automatic controller is formed from'the combination of function and duration, the function being the particular manufacturing equipment component to be automatically actuated and the duration being either a pure time duration measured in particular time units or a given number of component movements as sensed and counted by the automatic controller with the aid of other parts of the control devices. The determined time delays are measured by the automatic controller merely in time units, since no function is involved.

As applied to sewing equipment for performing a particular overall sewing operation on an article to be sewn, examples of the composite instructions of the different duration types might be a series of sequential sewing operations to carryout a series of sequential sewing steps and a final thread cutofi operation. For the sewing steps, such steps are measured in the number of reciprocal movements of the needle performing the sewing steps, such reciprocal movements being sensed and translated to the automatic controller such that an exact count of needle reciprocations is determined and carried out. The thread cutoff operation is programmed for duration merely in time units, there being a sufficient number of time units-to make up an overall total time within which the thread cutoff device can effectively perform the thread cutoff operation.

It is also an object of our invention to provide control devices for manufacturing equipment such as sewing equipment and the like involving the above discussed programmed automatic controller and the composite instructions therefor in order to automatically control the sequential manufacturing operations wherein all of the programmed instructions having the duration thereof measured in manufacturing equipment component movements may be simultaneously altered to alter the time involved in carrying out the same, and all of the programmed instructions having the duration thereof measured in time units may be simultaneously varied in order to vary the total time permitted for a manufacturing equipment component operation or the total length of a determined time delay. As applied to sewing equipment, a variable speed control is provided for the drive motor driving the reciprocal needle in the sequential sewing operations so that by varying the speed of the drive motor, the total time for accomplishing a given number of needle reciprocations is varied, the program in the automatic controller being that solely of needle reciprocation count so as to be unaffected other than the overall duration of a particular sewing step due to the faster or slower needle reciprocations as counted by the automatic controller. At the same time, the automatic controller is provided with a selected adjustment for the time elements which make up the total time period permitted by the automatic controller for the determined time delays so that variable adjustment of the time units will proportionately adjust the total length of the time delays without otherwise affecting the programming thereof in

Claims

1. In manufacturing equipment normally manually controlled by an operator for carrying out the series of manufacturing operations on an article to be manufactured, the combination of: a manufacturing device including manufacturing components having means selectively operable for performing a series of manufacturing operational steps on an article to be manufactured, each of said operational steps being comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation performed by said component upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufacturing steps by performing a plurality of consecutively, repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements, part of said manufacturing component operational steps having said duration thereof determined by said time measured in time elements and part of said manufacturing component operational steps having said duration thereof determined by said number of movements of said components; manual controls selectively manually movable between manufacturiNg component operating and nonoperating positions; an automatic controller including instruction signal recording and transmitting means for receiving and recording sequential composite instruction signals directly relating to both operational step function and duration of said manufacturing components including said one component and for transmitting back said sequential composite instruction signals after once having received and recorded the same; and a power interface switchable between a manual mode and an automatic mode including electrical component means constructed and arranged operably connecting said manual controls and said manufacturing components and said automatic controller when said power interface is in said manual mode for operating said manufacturing components through manual movement of said manual controls to perform said series of manufacturing operational steps on said article to be manufactured while simultaneously with said manufacturing operational step performance translating at least certain of said steps into said composite instruction signals including said one component duration exact count for sequential transmission to and recording by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller, said electrical component means being constructed and arranged operably connecting at least said automatic controller and said manufacturing components when said power interface is in said automatic mode for receiving said previously recorded certain composite instruction signals including said one component exact count back from said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller and translating said signals sequentially into commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performances by said manufacturing components to automatically sequentially repeat said at least certain of said steps.

2. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which an automatic recorder is operably connected to said automatic controller and has a plurality of selectively actionable signal transmitter means therein each being constructed and arranged for transmitting a predetermined different instruction signal exactly corresponding to a predetermined one of said instruction signals received by said automatic controller from said power interface when said power interface is in said manual mode upon operation of one of said manufacturing components through said manual controls to perform a particular of said series of manufacturing operational steps, a transmitter actuator operably connected to each of said signal transmitter means for selectively actuating that particular signal transmitter means to transmit its particular composite instruction signal for recording said particular composite instruction signal by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means for said automatic controller.

3. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of determined length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined time delay signals of said selected lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said pArticular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay.

4. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of selected length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps and artificially generated indeterminate time delay signals for delays of indeterminate length between others of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined and indeterminate time delay signals for delays of said selected and indeterminate lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said particular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay, said indeterminate delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in indeterminate time delays between said other component manufacturing operational steps, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said indeterminate time delays at termination of a former of said other component operational steps and automatically maintaining said indeterminate time delay until actuated by a manual actuation of one of said manual controls to start operation of a manufacturing component starting a latter of said other component operational steps.

5. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of selected length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps and artificially generated training time delay signals for delays of indeterminate length intermediate selected of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps the being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined and training time delay signals for delays of said selected and indeterminate lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said particular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay, said training delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting In training time delays intermediate said selected component manufacturing operational steps temporarily interrupting said selected steps, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said training time delays intermediate said certain component operational steps and automatically maintaining said training time delays of said selected steps until actuated by a manual actuation of one of said manual controls to restart operation of that particular manufacturing component to complete said selected steps; and in which training delay elimination means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means selectively actionable between a nonbypass and bypass position for selectively maintaining and eliminating effect of said training time delays intermediate said selected component manufacturing operational steps with said elimination by movement to said bypass position resulting in said selected component manufacturing operational steps being carried out by said manufacturing components without said training time delays, movement of said training delay elimination means from said bypass to said nonbypass position again maintaining previously eliminated of said training time delays.

6. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said at least one of said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device performing said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements is a component positionable in either of at least two selected positions at termination of said operational steps involving operation of that one component; and in which component positioner means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller for artificially generating either of at least two instruction signals corresponding to said at least two selected positions of said one positionable component determining the position of said one positionable component at termination of said one positionable component manufacturing operational steps to record an appropriate composite instruction signal in said automatic controller and cause said automatic controller to position said one positionable component in said selected position at said termination of said one positionable component manufacturing operational steps when said power interface is in said automatic mode.

7. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of determined length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined time delay signals of said selected lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said particular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay; and in which time delay regulating means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller selectively operable for changing said determined delay signals for said determined time delays to selectively change the times of said determiNed time delays as to future transmission thereof at any time after recording thereof and until rechanged by said time delay regulating means, said selective operation of said time delay regulating means being free of affect on said composite instruction signals recorded and transmitted by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means.

8. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which drive motor means is operably connected to said at least one of said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device for operating said at least one manufacturing component during said manufacturing operational steps of said at least one manufacturing component and said repeated substantially identical movements thereof; and in which speed adjustment means is operably connected to said drive motor means for selectably adjusting the speed of said drive motor means to adjust the speed of said substantially identical movements of said at least one and thereby automatically adjust said duration of said at least one manufacturing component and thereby automatically adjust said duration of said at least one manufacturing component manufacturing operational steps without affecting others of said composite instruction signals recorded and transmitted by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means.

9. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn with said manufacturing components including a sewing head having a reciprocal needle, a thread cutoff; in which said at least one manufacturing component is said sewing head with said reciprocal needle the duration of the operational steps thereof determined by the number of reciprocations of said reciprocal needle, said manufacturing operational steps involving said thread cutoff having the duration thereof determined by time measured in said preset time elements; in which needle counter means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic thru controller for determining the number of reciprocations of said reciprocal needle during a manufacturing operational step to permit reception, recording and transmitting of composite instruction signals by said automatic controller relating to said manufacturing operational steps; and in which automatic recorder means is operably connected to said automatic controller selectively operable for causing recording of predetermined numbers of time elements by said instruction signal recording and transmitting mean to form artificially generated time element duration instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means relating to manufacturing operational steps involving said thread cutoff permitting operation of said thread cutoff by said automatic controller during said time element duration when said power interface is in said automatic mode.

10. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components include a sewing head having a reciprocal needle, a thread cutoff; in which said at least one manufacturing component is said sewing head with said reciprocal needle having the duration of the operational steps thereof determined by the number of reciprocal movements of said reciprocal needle, said durations of said manufacturing operational steps involving said thread cutoff being determined by the time measured in said preset time elements; and in which automatic recorder means is operably connected to said automatic controller and includes a selectively operable time element signal transmitter means and a selectively operable component movement transmitter means, said time element transmitter means being selectively adjustable to a predetermined number of said preset time elements for transmission of an artificially generated predetermined time element duration of a composite instruction to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to form composite instruction signals involving said thread cutoff for transmission to operate said thread cutoff, said component movement signal transmitter means being selectively adjustable to a predetermined number of component movements for transmission of an artificially generated predetermined component movement duration of a composite instruction to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to form composite instruction signals involving said reciprocal needle for transmission to operate said reciprocal needle through a determined number of said reciprocations as selected for each said signal.

11. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said at least one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a reciprocal needle; in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for artificially generating time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components of selectively determined lengths; and in which said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller includes means for receiving from said means artificially generating, recording and transmitting time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals of certain of said manufacturing operational steps for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components during which said article to be sewn may be manually repositioned relative to said sewing head when said power interface is in said automatic mode.

12. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said at least one manufacturing component is sewing head having a reciprocal needle in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for artificially generating time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components of selectively determined lengths; in which said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller includes means for receiving from said means artificially generating, recording and transmitting time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals of certain of said manufacturing operational steps for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components during which said article to be sewn may be manually repositioned relative to said sewing head when said power interface is in said automatic mode; in which at least part of said time delays are artificially generated instruction signals resulting in transmitted determined time delays automatically starting at the termination of a manufacturing operational step with the following manufacturing operational step being automatically started by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means upon the ending of said determined time delay when said power interface is in said automatic mode; and in which determined time delay regulating means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means for selectively regulating means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means for selectively regulating said instruction signals relating to said determined time delays to automatically increase and decrease said determined time delays after recording of said determined time delay instruction signals by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means without affecting said composite instruction signal recording and transmission, said determined time delay instruction signals remaining as selectively regulated until re-regulated despite repeated operations of said manufacturing equipment by said power interface being in said automatic mode.

13. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 1 in which said article to be maNufactured is an article to be sewn and said at least one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a reciprocal needle; in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for artificially generating time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components of selectively determined lengths and of indeterminate lengths; in which said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller includes means for receiving from said means artificially generating recording and transmitting time delay instruction signals between composite instruction signals of certain of said manufacturing operational steps for providing time delays between operations of said manufacturing components during which said article to be sewn may be manually repositioned relative to said sewing head when said power interface is in said automatic mode; in which a part of said time delays are determined time delays and a part of said time delays are indeterminate time delays, said determined time delays being of determined length beginning with termination of a preceding manufacturing operational step and with said instruction signal recording and transmitting means automatically starting a next manufacturing operational step at the end of said determined time when said power interface is in said automatic mode, said indeterminate time delays starting at the end of a preceding manufacturing operational step and not ending until said instruction signal recording and transmitting means is manually actuated to transmit a next composite instruction signal starting a next manufacturing operational step when said power interface is in said automatic mode, certain of said indeterminate time delays being indeterminate training time delays; and in which time delay eliminating means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means selectively actionable for automatically eliminating instruction signals relating to at least certain of said indeterminate training time delays from said instruction recording and transmitting means to thereafter eliminate transmission of instruction signals relating to said at least certain indeterminate training time delays by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means when said power interface is in said automatic mode, said elimination of said instruction signals relating to said at least certain of said indeterminate training time delays being free of otherwise affecting said recording and transmission of said instruction signal recording and transmitting means.

14. In manufacturing equipment normally manually controlled by an operator for carrying out a series of sequential manufacturing operations on an article to be manufactured, the combination of: a manufacturing device including manufacturing components having means selectively operable for performing a series of sequential manufacturing operational steps on an article to be manufactured; manual controls selectively manually movable between manufacturing component operating and nonoperating positions; an automatic controller including instruction signal-recording means for receiving and first temporarily recording sequential instruction signals directly relating to said sequential operational steps of said manufacturing components, said instruction signal-recording means after said temporary recording permanently sequentially recording any of said instruction signals temporarily recorded upon electronic command and automatically permanently eliminating from recording in said sequence any of said instruction signals not permanently recorded, instruction signal-transmitting means for transmitting back said sequential permanently recorded instruction signals; permanent record command means operably associated with said automatic controller actionable for electronically commanding said instruction signal recording means to permanently record any oF said instruction signals temporarily recorded; and a power interface switchable between a manual mode and an automatic mode including electrical component means constructed and arranged operably connecting said manual controls and said manufacturing components and said automatic controller when said power interface is in said manual mode for operating said manufacturing components through manual movement of said manual controls to perform said series of sequential manufacturing operational steps on said article to be manufactured while simultaneously with said manufacturing operational step performance translating said steps into said instruction signals for sequential transmission to and temporary recording by said instruction signal-recording means of said automatic controller, said electrical component means being constructed and arranged operably connecting at least said automatic controller and said manufacturing components when said power interface is in said automatic mode for receiving said permanently recorded instruction signals back from said instruction signal recording means through said instruction signal transmitting means of said automatic recorder and translating said signals sequentially into commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performances by said manufacturing components to automatically sequentially exactly repeat said steps corresponding to said permanently recorded instruction signals.

15. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which each of said component manufacturing operational steps is a composite operational step comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation performed by said component upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufacturing steps by performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements, part of said manufacturing component operational steps having said duration thereof determined by said time measured in time elements and part of said manufacturing component operational steps having said duration thereof determined by said number of movements of said components; in which said instruction signal-recording of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for receiving and recording composite instruction signals directly relating to said composite manufacturing operational steps including said one component duration exact count; in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for transmitting back said composite instruction signals directly relating to said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components including said one component duration exact count; and in which said power interface is constructed and arranged for translating said composite manufacturing operational steps into said composite instruction signals and said composite instruction signals into said commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performance by said manufacturing components.

16. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which each of said component manufacturing operational steps is a composite operational step comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation performed by said componEnt upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufacturing steps by performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements; in which said instruction signal recording means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for receiving and recording composite instruction signals directly relating to said composite manufacturing operational steps including said one component duration exact count; in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for transmitting back said composite instruction signals directly relating to said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components including said one component duration exact count; in which said power interface is constructed and arranged for translating said composite manufacturing operational steps into said composite instruction signals and said composite instruction signals into said commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performances by said manufacturing components; in which a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by time elements and a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by said number of movements of said components; and in which an automatic recorder is operably connected to said automatic controller and has a plurality of selectively actionable signal transmitter means therein each being constructed and arranged for transmitting a predetermined different instruction signal exactly corresponding to a predetermined one of said instruction signals received by said automatic controller from said power interface when said power interface is in said manual mode upon operation of one of said manufacturing components through said manual controls to perform a particular of said series of composite manufacturing operational steps, a transmitter actuator operably connected to each of said signal transmitter means for selectively actuating that particular signal transmitter means to transmit its particular composite instruction signal for recording said particular composite instruction signal by said instruction signal recording means of said automatic controller.

17. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which each of said component manufacturing operational steps is a composite operational step comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation performed by said component upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufacturing steps by performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identicaL movements; in which said instruction signal-recording means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for receiving and recording composite instruction signals directly relating to said composite manufacturing operational steps including said one component duration exact count; in which said instruction signal transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for transmitting back said composite instruction signals directly relating to said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components including said one component duration exact count; in which said power interface is constructed and arranged for translating said composite manufacturing operational steps into said composite instruction signals and said composite instruction signals into said commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performances by said manufacturing components; in which a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by time elements and a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by said number of movements of said components; in which an automatic recorder is operably connected to said automatic controller and has a plurality of selectively actionable signal transmitter means therein each being constructed and arranged for transmitting a predetermined different instruction signal exactly corresponding to a predetermined one of said instruction signals received by said automatic controller from said power interface when said power interface is in said manual mode upon operation of one of said manufacturing components through said manual controls to perform a particular of said series of composite manufacturing operational steps, a transmitter actuator operably connected to each of said signal transmitter means for selectively actuating that particular signal transmitter means to transmit its particular composite instruction signal for recording said particular composite instruction signal by said instruction signal-recording means of said automatic controller; and in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal recording means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of determined length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component-manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined time delay signals of said selected lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface by said transmitting means with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said particular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay.

18. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which each of said component-manufacturing operational steps is a composite operational step comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation performed by said component upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufactUring steps by performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements; in which said instruction signal recording means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for receiving and recording composite instruction signals to said composite manufacturing operational steps including said one component duration exact count; in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for transmitting back said composite instruction signals directly relating to said manufacturing operation steps of said manufacturing components including said one component duration exact count; in which said power interface is constructed and arranged for translating said composite manufacturing operational steps into said composite instruction signals and said composite instruction signals into said commands requiring said manufacturing operational step performances by said manufacturing components; in which a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by time elements and a part of said composite manufacturing operational steps have the duration thereof determined by said number of movements of said components; in which an automatic recorder is operably connected to said automatic controller and has a plurality of selectively actionable signal transmitter means therein each being constructed and arranged for transmitting a predetermined different instruction signal exactly corresponding to a predetermined one of said instruction signals received by said automatic controller from said power interface when said power interface is in said manual mode upon operation of one of said manufacturing components through said manual controls to perform a particular of said series of composite manufacturing operational steps, a transmitter actuator operably connected to each of said signal transmitter means for selectively actuating that particular signal transmitter means to transmit its particular composite instruction signal for recording said particular composite instruction signal by said instruction signal-recording means of said automatic controller; in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal-recording means artificially generated determined time delay signals for delays of determined length between particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component-manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated with said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said determined time delay signals of said selected lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said determined delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface by said transmitting means with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in exact determined time delays between said particular component manufacturing operational steps corresponding exactly to said artificially generated determined time delay signals, said transmitting means of said automatic controller automatically starting each of said determined time delays at termination of a former of said particular component operational steps and automatically commencing a latter of said particular component operational steps at an end of said determined time delay; in which said automatic controller includes means for recording by said instruction signal-recording means artificially generated training delay signals at any selected point intermediate particular of said recorded composite instruction signals for said component manufacturing operational steps, there being means associated With said automatic controller for selectively artificially generating said training time delay signals of said indeterminate lengths free of association with said manufacturing component operation and nonoperation, said training delay signals when transmitted back to said power interface by said transmitting means with said power interface in said automatic mode resulting in training time delays of indeterminate length intermediate said particular component manufacturing operational steps interrupting operation of said manufacturing component carrying out said particular component manufacturing operational step until determined actuation of that particular manufacturing components manual control deliberately restarting operation of that particular manufacturing component; and in which training delay eliminating means is operably connected to said automatic controller selectively operable between nonbypass and bypass positions for selectively maintaining and eliminating said training delay signals from effect in said interrupting of said particular composite operational step and permitting the carrying out of said particular composite operational step by said automatic controller upon movement to said bypass position without said training time delay interruption, movement of said training delay eliminating means from said bypass to said nonbypass positions again maintaining previously eliminated of said training delay signals.

19. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn with said manufacturing components including a sewing head having a reciprocal needle; in which at least part of said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle have the duration thereof determined by the number of repeated reciprocations of said reciprocal needle; in which needle counter means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller for determining the exact number of repeated reciprocations of said reciprocal needle during a manufacturing operational step to permit reception, recording and transmitting of an instruction signal by said automatic controller relating to said exact needle reciprocations of said manufacturing operational steps; and in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for selectively artificially generating and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged permitting insertion in said recording thereof of permanently recorded instruction signals for exact length determined time delays of any determined lengths between determined of said composite instruction signals for said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, the length of any determined time delay being possible of determination without regard to others of said determined time delays said determined time delays regardless of length starting at termination of a former manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means automatically starting a next manufacturing operational step upon completion of that particular length determined time delay.

20. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device include a sewing head having a reciprocal needle movable between needle up and down positions; in which needle counter and positioner means is operably associated with said reciprocal needle and is operably connected to said automatic controller for counting the exact number of said reciprocations of said reciprocal needle during said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle at the tErmination of a predetermined exact number of said needle reciprocations, said needle counter and positioner means also being operably associated with said reciprocal needle and operably connected to said automatic controller for determining positioning of said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate certain of said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle after said exact number of reciprocations with said reciprocal needle in said down position extending through said article to be sewn; in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for selectively artificially generating and said signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged permitting insertion in said recording thereof of permanent instruction signals for exact length determined time delays of any determined lengths between determined of said instruction signals for said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, the length of any determined time delay being possible of determination without regard to others of said determined time delays, said determined time delays regardless of length starting at termination of a former manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means automatically starting a next manufacturing operational step upon completion of that particular length determined time delay; and in which said reciprocal needle is positioned down by said needle counter and positioner means and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means during at least certain of said determined time delays providing time during said delays for manual repositioning of said article to be sewn with said reciprocal needle extending therethrough prior to a next manufacturing operational step being started by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller at termination of said delays.

21. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device include a sewing head having a reciprocal needle movable between needle up and down positions; in which needle counter and positioner means is operably associated with said reciprocal needle and is operably connected to said automatic controller for counting the exact number of said reciprocations of said reciprocal needle during said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle at the termination of a predetermined exact number of said needle reciprocations, said needle counter and positioner means also being operably associated with said reciprocal needle and operably connected to said automatic controller for determining position of said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate certain of said operational steps involving said reciprocal needle after said exact number of reciprocations with said reciprocal needle in said down position extending through said article to be sewn, said needle counter and positioner means also being operably associated with said reciprocal needle and operably connected to said automatic controller for determining positioning of said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate at least one of said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle after said exact number or reciprocations with said reciprocal needle in said up position spaced above said article to be sewn; in which said automatic controller has means associated therewiTh for selectively artificially generating and said signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged permitting insertion in said recording thereof of permanent instruction signals for exact length determined time delays of any determined lengths between determined of said instruction signals of said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, the length of any determined time delay being possible of determination without regard to others of said determined time delays, said determined time delays regardless of length starting at termination of a former manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means automatically starting a next manufacturing operational step upon completion of that particular length determined time delay; in which said reciprocal needle is positioned down by said needle counter and positioner means and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means during at least certain of said determined time delays providing time during said delays for manual repositioning of said article to be sewn with said reciprocal needle extending therethrough prior to a next manufacturing operational step being started by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller at termination of said delays; in which said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device include a thread cutoff having means thereon properly operable only when said reciprocal needle is in said up position for performing a thread cutoff operation of thread involved in sewing by said reciprocal needle; and in which said reciprocal needle is positioned up by said said needle counter and positioner means and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means during termination of said one manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means operates said thread cutoff at said one manufacturing operational step termination while said needle is positioned up.

22. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 14 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device include a sewing head having a reciprocal needle movable between needle up and down positions; in which a drive motor is operably connected to said sewing head actionable reciprocally moving said needle, said drive motor when actuated being controllable between fast and slow speeds driving said reciprocal needle at said fast and slow speeds; in which needle counter and positioner means is operably associated with said reciprocal needle and is operably connected to said automatic controller for counting the exact number of said reciprocations of said reciprocal needle during said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle at the termination of a predetermined exact number of said needle reciprocations, said needle counter and positioner means also being operably associated with said reciprocal needle and operably connected to said automatic controller for determining position of said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate certain of said operational steps involving said reciprocal needle after said exact number of reciprocations with said reciprocal needle in said down position extending through said article to be sewn, said needle counter and positioner means also being operably associated with said reciprocal needle and operably connected to said automatic controller for determining positioning of said reciprocal needle and aiding in forming said instruction signals in said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to terminate at least one of said maNufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle after said exact number of reciprocations with said reciprocal needle in said up position spaced above said article to be sewn; in which said automatic controller has means associated therewith for selectively artificially generating and said signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged permitting insertion in said recording thereof of permanent instruction signals for exact length determined time delays of any determined lengths between determined of said instruction signals for said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, the length of any determined time delay being possible of determination without regard to others of said determined time delays, said determined time delays regardless of length starting at termination of a former manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means automatically starting a next manufacturing operational step upon completion of that particular length determined time delay; in which said reciprocal needle is positioned down by said needle counter and positioner means and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means during at least certain of said determined time delays providing time during said delays for manual repositioning of said article to be sewn with said reciprocal needle extending therethrough prior to a next manufacturing operational step being started by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller at termination of said delays; in which said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device include a thread cutoff having means thereon properly operable only when said reciprocal needle is in said up position for performing a thread cutoff operation of thread involved in sewing by said reciprocal needle; in which said reciprocal needle is positioned up by said needle counter and positioner means and said instruction signal instruction recording and transmitting means during termination of said one manufacturing operational step and said instruction signal recording and transmitting means operates said thread cutoff at said one manufacturing operational step termination while said needle is positioned up; in which said drive motor is controlled by said instruction signal and transmitting means to move said reciprocal needle at fast speed during initial portions of said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle preceding said certain of said determined time delays nd to move said reciprocal needle at slow speed during latter portions of said manufacturing operational steps involving said reciprocal needle preceding said certain of said determined time delays, said drive motor being controlled by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means to move said reciprocal needle at fast speeds during an initial portion of said one manufacturing operational step involving said reciprocal needle preceding said thread cutoff operation and to move said reciprocal needle at slow speed during a latter portion of said one manufacturing operational step involving said reciprocal needle; and in which automatic recorder means is operably connected to said instruction signal recording and transmitting means of said automatic controller constructed and arranged selectively actionable for selectively generating and placing artificially generated instruction signals into said instruction signal recording and transmitting means equivalent to any selected determined count of needle reciprocation as a substitute for actual counting by said needle counter and positioner means and later use by said instruction signal recording and transmitting means in controlling said reciprocal needle reciprocations during a manufacturing operational step involving said reciprocal needle.

23. In manufacturing equipment for carrying out a series of manufacturing operations on an article to be manufactured, thE combination of: a manufacturing device including manufacturing components having means selectively operable for performing a series of manufacturing operational steps on an article to be manufactured, at least one of said manufacturing operational steps requiring continuous operation of a certain manufacturing component throughout said step performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements with a first part of said step being determined duration of an exact number of said movements for each of said manufactured articles so as to be adaptable to automatic control and with a second part of said step being of indeterminate duration of an additional indeterminate number of said movements for each said article to commencement of said step so as to require manual control for terminating said step and placing said manufacturing device in a condition for a commencement of a subsequent step; manual control means operably connected to at least said certain manufacturing component manually actionable for stopping said component and stop said component movements to terminate said one manufacturing operational step and place said manufacturing device in condition for commencement of a subsequent step; and an automatic controller including instruction signal-transmitting means operably connected to said manufacturing components for automatically operating said certain manufacturing component to automatically start and continuously operate to carry out said manufacturing operational step first part by counting said component movements after said automatic start and operate said component exactly for said component movement exact count, said instruction signal-transmitting means after said step first part determined duration and completion by said component movement exact count being constructed and arranged for continuously proceeding to automatically operate said certain manufacturing component during said step second part indeterminate duration and continue said component movements until manual actuation of said control means to stop said component to terminate said step and place said manufacturing device in said condition for said commencement of said subsequent step.

24. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 23 in which said instruction signal transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged automatically controlling said manufacturing components for creating a time delay of determined length immediately after manual termination of said one manufacturing operational step second part by action of said manual control means and automatically starting predetermined of said manufacturing components to carry out another of said manufacturing operational steps immediately at expiration of said determined time delay.

25. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 23 in which said series of manufacturing operational steps performed by said manufacturing components on said article to be manufactured includes a plurality of consecutive of said one manufacturing operational step with each of said one operational steps being formed by said first parts of said determined duration of various exact numbers of said component movements and said second parts of said indeterminate duration of additional indeterminate numbers of said movements; and in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically delaying operation of said certain manufacturing component immediately between each of said one manufacturing operational consecutive steps for determined time delays and automatically operating said certain manufacturing component to immediately start the next of said one manufacturing operational consecutive steps upon expiration of that particular determined time delay, the exact number of said component movements in any step first part being free of dependence on other steps, the exact length of any determined time delay being free of dependence on the exaCt length of any other determined time delay.

26. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 23 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components include a sewing head having a movable stitching needle thereon operable to sew stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said certain manufacturing component is said sewing head with said movable needle; in which said one manufacturing operational step is the step of sewing a plurality of stitches by said sewing head needle between generally predetermined locations on said article to be sewn; and in which stitch counter means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically counting a determined number of stitches making up said exact number of movements for said one manufacturing operational step first part duration and cause said instruction signal-transmitting means to terminate said determined duration of said one manufacturing operational step first part and immediately start said one operational step second part continuously proceeding to automatically operate said sewing head.

27. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 23 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components include a sewing head having a movable stitching needle thereon operable to sew stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said certain manufacturing component is said sewing head with said movable needle; in which said one manufacturing operational step is the step of sewing a plurality of stitches by said sewing head needle between generally predetermined locations on said article to be sewn; in which stitch counter means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically counting a determined number of stitches making up said exact number of movements for said one manufacturing operational step first part duration and cause said instruction signal-transmitting means to terminate said determined duration of said one manufacturing operational step first part and immediately start said one operational step second part continuously proceeding to automatically operate said sewing head; and in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged automatically controlling said manufacturing components for creating a time delay of determined length immediately after manual termination of said one manufacturing operational step second part by action of said manual control means and automatically starting predetermined certain of said manufacturing components to carry out another of said manufacturing operational steps immediately at expiration of said determined time delay.

28. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 23 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said manufacturing components include a sewing head having a movable stitching needle thereon operable to sew stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said certain manufacturing component is said sewing head with said movable needle; in which said one manufacturing operational step is the step of sewing a plurality of stitches by said sewing head needle between generally predetermined locations on said article to be sewn; in which stitch counter means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically counting a determined number of stitches making up said exact number of movements for said one manufacturing operational step first part duration and cause said instruction signal-transmitting means to terminate said determined duration of said one manufacturing operational step first part and immediately start said one operational step second part continuously proceeding to automatically operate said sewing head; in which said series of manufacturing operational steps performed by said manufacturing components on said article to be sewn includes a plurality of consecutive of said one manufacturing operational steps of said sewing of various plurality of stitches by said sewing head needle between various generally predetermined locations on said article to be sewn with each of said sewing operational steps being formed by said first parts of said determined duration of various exact numbers of said stitches and said second parts of said indeterminate duration of additional indeterminate numbers of said stitches; and in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically delaying operation of said sewing head needle immediately between each of said sewing operational consecutive steps for determined time delays and automatically operating said sewing head needle to immediately start the next of said sewing operational steps upon expiration of that particular determined time delay, the exact number of said stitches in any step first part being free of dependence on other steps, the exact length of any determined time delay being free of dependence on the exact length of any other determined time delay.

29. In manufacturing equipment for carrying out a series of manufacturing operations on an article to be manufactured the combination of: a manufacturing device including manufacturing components having means selectively operable for performing a series of manufacturing operational steps on an article to be manufactured, said component manufacturing operational steps being sequential operational steps and having between certain of said operational steps required time delay steps during which an operator is required to manually perform an operation on said article before proceeding with a subsequent of said certain operational steps in an overall plan of manufacture of said article, at said article, one of said manufacturing components when operated performing a plurality of repeated substantially identical movements during each of said one manufacturing component operational steps and said article manufacture requiring at least two consecutive of said one manufacturing component operational steps; and an automatic controller including instruction signal-transmitting means operably connected to said manufacturing components for automatically sequentially operating said manufacturing components to perform said series of said manufacturing operational steps and immediately automatically stopping said manufacturing components for predetermined exact times sequentially between said certain operational steps to form said time delay steps and immediately automatically sequentially operating appropriate of said manufacturing components at termination of said predetermined times of said time delay steps to automatically proceed with said subsequent of said certain operational steps, said one manufacturing component operational steps being controlled by said instruction signal transmitting means counting said repeated identical movements in each of said steps and terminating said each step when a predetermined number of said movements have been made according to original independent predetermination for that step, said instruction signal-transmitting means being constructed and arranged for providing said time delay steps of sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually perform said required operation on said article according to said overall plan of manufacture, one of said time delay steps being between said one manufacturing component operational steps and being of sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article in a predetermined manner.

30. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which training time delay means is operably connected to said instructioN signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller actionable for inserting training time delays intermediate certain of said components manufacturing operational steps during which said certain manufacturing operational steps are interrupted, said interrupted certain manufacturing operational steps being automatically interrupted upon reaching said training time delays and automatically continued by said instruction signal transmitting means at termination of said training time delays, said training timed delay means including mean actionable alternately in a nonbypass position for maintaining said training time delays intermediate said component certain manufacturing operation steps and in a bypass position for selectively permanently removing throughout said means bypass positioning said training time delays from intermediate said component certain manufacturing operational steps after which said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically operates that particular of said manufacturing components to carry out that particular of said certain manufacturing operational steps without said training time delay interruption and without otherwise disturbing said manufacturing operational steps.

31. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which adjustment means is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller selectively operable between various settings for permanently increasing and decreasing the time lengths of said time delay steps as long as maintained at a given setting while still maintaining said time delay steps in proper sequence between said certain operational steps and without otherwise effecting said certain operational steps.

32. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of repeated identical movements thereof; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; and in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle.

33. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing components is a sewing head having a movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of identical movements thereof; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; and in which needle stitch counter means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically detecting said needle identical movements of said sewing head needle during said stitching steps and permit said instruction signal-transmitting means to count and maintain a needle stitch count through said needle stitch counter means during each of said stitching steps.

34. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a movable needle thereon capablE of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of repeated identical movements thereof; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; and in which adjustment means is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller selectively operable between various settings for permanently increasing and decreasing the time lengths of said time delay steps as long as maintained at a given setting while still maintaining said time delay steps in proper sequence between said certain operational steps and without otherwise effecting said certain operational steps.

35. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a reciprocally movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of up and down movements spaced above said article and passing downwardly through said article; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; and in which needle stitch counter and positioner means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically detecting said needle identical movements of said sewing head needle during said stitching steps and permit said instruction signal-transmitting means to count and maintain a needle stitch count through said needle stitch counter and positioner means during each of said stitching steps, said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically stopping said needle movements of said sewing head needle with said needle in said down position extending downwardly through said article to be sewn between said stitching steps permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn with said needle extending downwardly through said article to maintain said article positioned relative to said needle between said stitching steps.

36. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a reciprocally movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of up and down movements spaced above said article to be sewn and passing downwardly through said article; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; in which needle stitch counter and positioner means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic coNtroller for automatically detecting said needle identical movements of said sewing head needle during said stitching steps and permit said instruction signal-transmitting means to count and maintain a needle stitch count through said needle stitch counter and positioner means during each of said stitching steps, said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically stopping said needle movements of said sewing head needle with said needle in said down position extending downwardly through said article to be sewn between said stitching steps permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn with said needle extending downwardly through said article to maintain said article positioned relative to said needle between said stitching steps; in which said manufacturing components of said manufacturing device includes a thread cutoff having means thereon properly operable when said sewing head needle is in an up position spaced above said article to be sewn and clear of a path of movement of said thread cutoff means; and in which said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically detects through said needle stitch counter and positioner means and stops said needle movements of said sewing head needle with said needle in said up position at termination of a last of said stitching steps and sequentially automatically operates said thread cutoff for performing said thread cutoff operation of said thread involved in said stitching steps during said needle up positioning.

37. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of identical movements thereof; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; and in which training time delay means is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller actionable for inserting training time delays intermediate selected of said sewing steps during which said selected sewing steps are interrupted, said interrupted selected sewing steps being automatically continued by said instruction signal transmitting means at termination of said training time delays, said training time delay means including means actionable alternately in a nonbypass position for maintaining said training time delays intermediate said selected sewing steps and in a bypass position for selectively permanently removing throughout said means bypass positioning said training time delays from intermediate said selected sewing steps after which said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically operates said sewing head to carry out that particular of said selected sewing steps without training time delay interruption and without otherwise disturbing said manufacturing operational steps.

38. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 29 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a reciprocally movable needle thereon capable of sewing stitches in said article to be sewn by a plurality of up and down movements spaced above said article and passing downwardly through said article; in which said one manufacturing component operational steps are sewing steps during which said sewing head needle sews a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn; in which said time delay step between said one manufacturing component operational steps provided by said instruction Signal-transmitting means is of said sufficient predetermined time normally permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn between said sewing steps by said sewing head needle; in which needle stitch counter and positioner means is operably associated with said sewing head needle and is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller for automatically detecting said identical movements of said sewing head needle during said stitching steps and permit said instruction signal-transmitting means to count and maintain a needle stitch count through said needle stitch counter and positioner means during each of said stitching steps, said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically stopping said needle movements of said sewing head needle with said needle in said down position extending downwardly through said article to be sewn between said stitching steps permitting said operator to manually reposition said article to be sewn with said needle extending downwardly through said article to maintain said article positioned relative to said needle between said stitching steps; and in which training time delay means is operably connected to said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller actionable for inserting training time delays intermediate selected of said sewing steps during which said selected sewing steps are interrupted, said interrupted selected sewing steps being automatically continued by said instruction signal-transmitting means at termination of said training time delays, said training time delay means including means actionable alternately in a nonbypass position for maintaining said training time delays intermediate said selected sewing steps and in a bypass position for selectively permanently removing throughout said means bypass positioning said training time delays from intermediate said selected sewing steps after which said instruction signal-transmitting means automatically operates said sewing head to carry out that particular of said selected sewing steps without training time delay interruption and without otherwise disturbing said manufacturing operational steps.

39. In manufacturing equipment for carrying out a series of manufacturing operations on an article to be manufactured, a combination of: a manufacturing device including manufacturing components having means selectively operable for performing a series of manufacturing operational steps on an article to be manufactured, each of said operational steps being comprised of the combination of function and duration, said function being determined by the particular manufacturing operation being performed by said component upon said article, said duration being determined by one of the time measured in a given number of preset time elements to perform the particular of said manufacturing operation and an exact count of the exact number of movements of said component to perform said particular of said manufacturing operation, at least one of said manufacturing components having means for performing its manufacturing steps by performing a plurality of consecutively repeated substantially identical movements during every operation thereof directly performing an equal number of consecutively repeated substantially identical operations on said article, the duration of every operation of said one component being determined by said exact count of said plurality of said consecutively repeated substantially identical movements; drive motor means operably connected to at least said one of said manufacturing components for operating said one component to perform each of said one component-manufacturing operational steps, there being a plurality of said one component-manufacturing operational steps in said series of manufacturing operational steps for each of said articles to be manufactured, each of said one component-manufacturing operational steps requiring a predetermined plural number of said one component repeated identical movements; speed adjustment means operably connected to said drive motor means selectively adjustable for selectively increasing and decreasing operational speed of said drive motor, said operational speed increases automatically decreasing said duration and said operational speed decreases automatically increasing said duration of all of said one component-manufacturing operational steps by changing the speed of said one component movements to change the time required for said one component to complete its exact count of said repeated identical movements in each of said one component-manufacturing operational steps but without affecting manufacturing operational steps not involving said drive motor means; and an automatic controller including instruction signal-transmitting means operably connected to said manufacturing components for automatically operating said components in a predetermined sequence to perform said series of said manufacturing operational steps, automatic counter means operably associated with said instruction signal-transmitting means for automatically counting said number of movements of said one manufacturing component during said one component manufacturing operational steps and causing termination of said one component operational steps through said instruction signal transmitting means after said predetermined number of said one component exact movements have been counted for each of said one component operational steps regardless of said adjusted speed of said drive motor.

40. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 39 in which said instruction signal-transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically causing determined time delays made up of a determined number of preset time elements according to a predetermined plan between certain of said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, said determined time delays automatically commencing upon termination of a preceding manufacturing operational step and a succeeding manufacturing operational step commencing at the end of that particular determined time delay, said instruction signal transmitting means including time delay adjustment means operably connected thereto for selectively adjusting the preset time element length and thereby change the time length of each of said determined time delays permanently to a new time length as long as a particular new adjustment is maintained and without otherwise affecting the planned order of sequence of said series of manufacturing operational steps.

41. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 39 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a movable needle sewing through repeated needle movements a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn during said one component manufacturing operational steps; in which said automatic counter means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically exactly counting said number of stitches sewn by said sewing head needle during said one component manufacturing operational steps; and in which said speed adjustment means operably connected to said drive motor means automatically changes operational speed of said sewing head needle repeated movements through changing operational speed of said drive motor means upon selective adjustment of said speed adjustment means.

42. Manufacturing equipment as defined in claim 39 in which said article to be manufactured is an article to be sewn and said one manufacturing component is a sewing head having a movable needle sewing through repeated needle movements a plurality of stitches in said article to be sewn during said one component manufacturing operational steps; in which said automatic counter means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically exactly counting said number of stitches sewn by said sewing head needle during said one componenT-manufacturing operational steps; in which said speed adjustment means operably connected to said drive motor means automatically changes operational speed of said sewing head needle repeated movements through changing operational speed of said drive motor means upon selective adjustment of said speed adjustment means; and in which said instruction signal transmitting means of said automatic controller is constructed and arranged for automatically causing determined time delays made up of a determined number of preset time elements according to a predetermined plan between certain of said manufacturing operational steps of said manufacturing components, said determined time delays automatically commencing upon termination of a preceding manufacturing operational step and a succeeding manufacturing operational step commencing at the end of that particular determined time delay, said instruction signal-transmitting means including time delay adjustment means operably connected thereto for selectively adjusting the preset time element length and thereby change the time length of each of said determined time delays permanently to a new time length as long as a particular new adjustment is maintained and without otherwise affecting the planned order of sequence of said series of manufacturing operational steps.