1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a multi-needle sewing machine provided with a needle-bar moving mechanism which moves a needle bar case housing a plurality of needle bars.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multi-needle sewing machines have conventionally been used to sew an embroidery pattern of a plurality of colors. For example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publications, JP-U-H06-46676 (hereinafter referred to as “first document”) and JP-U-H06-81478 (hereinafter referred to as “second document”) and Japanese Patent Application Publication, JP-A-2006-61179 (hereinafter referred to as “third document”) disclose such multi-needle sewing machines respectively. The multi-needle sewing machine is generally provided with needle bar case in which are housed a plurality of needle bars having lower ends to which needles are attached respectively. The needle bar case is moved in a right-left direction so that one of the plural needle bars is selected. Threads are supplied from thread spools to the needles respectively.
The conventional multi-needle sewing machines have a possibility that the movement of the needle bar case may entangle the needles drawn from the plural thread spools with each other or one another. As a countermeasure, the multi-needle embroidery sewing machines disclosed by the respective above-referenced first and second documents employ the construction that the needle bar case and a spool holder on which thread spools are placed are moved synchronously. However, this countermeasure complicates the construction of the multi-needle sewing machine and increases the size of the multi-needle sewing machine. Furthermore, the third document discloses a spool holder device for an embroidery sewing machine, wherein threads are passed through a plurality of elongate tubes respectively so that the threads are prevented from interference with each other or one another. Passing the threads through the respective tubes has a difficulty.