To suspend a needle thread take-up of only a part of heads in service in a compound embroidery machine where two kinds of heads are in service alternately.

At the frame 2 of the compound embroidery machine 1, two or more multi-needle heads 3, two or more single-needle heads 4, a main shaft 16 and a color change rod 17 are provided. At each multi-needle head 3, a needle bar absence part 21 and a needle thread take-up absence part 22 are provided. At each single-needle head 4, a clutch mechanism 23 for intermittently transmitting power from the main shaft 16 to the needle thread take-up 13 and a switch member 24 for switching the clutch mechanism 23 individually are provided. While the multi-needle heads 3 are in service, the color change rod 17 batch switches the clutch mechanisms 23 through the switch members 24 to suspend the needle thread take-ups 13 of all the single-needle heads 4. When an operator slides the switch members 24 on the color change rod 17 while the single-needle heads 4 are in service, the needle thread take-ups of only a part of single-needle heads 4 are suspended.

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