Tufting machines and methods of tufting

A tufting machine, comprising:

• a main drive shaft;
• a backing support along which a backing is supported;
• a plurality of needles positioned above the backing support and configured to penetrate the backing to deliver a plurality of selected yarns upon reciprocation of the needles;
• wherein the needles comprise hollow needles, each having an upper end and a lower end, with a passage defined between the upper and lower ends;
• a yarn feed system for supplying a plurality of yarns;
• a series of funnels in communication with the needles;
• a series of jerkers arranged along a path of travel of the yarns from the yarn feed system to the funnels, each of the jerkers configured to be selectively operated to retract non-selected yarns from the needles;
• a cutting assembly arranged below the backing support and including one or more knife modules, each comprising a knife configured to cut the selected yarns as selected yarns are carried into the backing with the reciprocation of the needles into and out of the backing;
• and
• a control system configured to control feeding of the selected yarns to the needles, and movement of selected jerkers between their extended and retracted positions, the control system including programming configured to advance the feeding of the selected yarns by the yarn feed system and the movement of the selected jerkers ahead of a next stitch placement step of a pattern being formed based on rotation of the main drive shaft of the tufting machine.

A method of forming patterned tufted articles, comprising:

• feeding a backing along a path of travel;
• feeding a plurality of yarns through a yarn selection system and to a plurality of hollow needles;
• wherein the needle selection system comprises a series of jerker modules in communication with an air supply and including a plurality of bores with pistons received therein, and a plurality of jerkers coupled to the pistons and each comprising a body having a proximal end and a distal end;
• selecting one or more yarns of the plurality of yarns being fed to the hollow needles and feeding a selected length of the one or more yarns to the hollow needles;
• controlling feeding of non-selected yarns to the hollow needles and moving one or more of the jerkers from an extended position to a retracted position to retract or hold back non-selected yarns from being fed to the hollow needles;
• and
• reciprocating the hollow needles into and out of the backing to place tufts of the one or more yarns into the backing in accordance with a pattern being formed.

A tufting machine comprising:

• a plurality of hollow needles;
• a yarn feed system configured to control feeding selected yarns of a plurality of yarns supplied to the hollow needles in accordance with a pattern;
• an air supply for supplying pressurized air;
• a yarn selection system configured to retract or hold non-selected yarns from being fed to the hollow needles, the yarn selection system comprising:
• a series of injectors configured to inject the selected yarns to the needles the hollow needles;
• a series of jerker modules arranged along a path of travel of the yarns from the yarn feed system to the hollow needles, each of the jerker modules in communication with the air supply and including a plurality of bores with pistons received therein;
• and
• a plurality of jerkers coupled to the pistons and each comprising a body having a proximal end and a distal end configured to engage at least one of the yarns supplied by the yarn feed system;
• wherein the jerkers are individually moveable between an extended position and a retracted position to retract or hold the non-selected yarns from being fed into the hollow needles by selective control of pressurized air to the bores of the jerker modules in accordance with a pattern being formed.