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US 12,655,559 B2Granted
Selectable gauge tufting machine
AssigneeCard-Monroe Corp.
InventorsBrian Lovelady, Ricky E. Mathews
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for forming patterned tufted articles, including controlling placement of yarns at each of a series of stitch locations of the pattern being tufted, and with the needles and corresponding gauge parts of the tufting machine being enabled to be shifted in multiple, varying shift increments, including in increments that are multiples of a gauge spacing of the needles, and in non-uniform shift increments not tied to the gauge of the needles, to form varying gauge tufted patterns, including finer gauge patterns, and which can be formed using a substantially same or consistent tufting machine gauge set-up.
Claims20
A tufting machine, comprising:
- at least one needle bar having a series of needles arranged therealong at a first spacing;
- a yarn feed mechanism feeding yarns to the series of needles;
- a series of gauge parts configured to pick-up yarns carried by the series of needles;
- wherein the gauge parts of the series of gauge parts are arranged along at least one gauge bar at a second spacing;
- one or more shift mechanisms configured to shift the at least one needle bar and the at least one gauge bar in a transverse direction with respect to a backing moving through the tufting machine;
- and
- a control system including programming configured for controlling feeding of the yarns by the yarn feed mechanism to the series of needles to form tufts of selected yarns picked up from selected needles by corresponding gauge parts at a selected pile height, and configured for controlling shifting of the at least one needle bar and the at least one gauge bar transversely with respect to the backing in shift increments that are less than or greater than the first spacing.
4 more elements
A method of forming a patterned tufted article having a designed pattern stitch rate and a designed pattern density, comprising:
- moving a backing through a tufting machine;
- feeding a plurality of yarns to a plurality of needles as the needles are reciprocated into and out of a backing moving therebelow;
- picking loops of yarns from the plurality of needles with a plurality of gauge parts;
- shifting the plurality of needles and the plurality of gauge parts transversely with respect to a direction of movement of the backing;
- wherein the plurality of needles and the plurality of gauge parts are shifted together by approximately a same distance so as to maintain the plurality of needles and the plurality of gauge parts in a substantially pitched relationship;
- presenting one or more yarns of the plurality of varns to one or more stitch locations along the backing according to a pattern of the patterned tufted article being formed;
- if a yarn is selected to be retained at the one or more stitch locations, controlling feeding of the yarn selected to be retained so as to retain a tuft of the yarn selected to be retained, and if a yarn is not selected to be retained, controlling feeding of the yarn not selected to be retained so as to pull back the yarn not selected to be retained to an extent that the yarn does not interfere with formation of a tuft of the yarn selected to be retained at the one or more stitch locations;
- and
- wherein moving the backing through the tufting machine comprises feeding the backing at an actual stitch rate approximately equivalent to a fabric stitch rate for the pattern increased by a selected amount.
6 more elements
A tufting machine, comprising:
- a backing feed configured to feed a backing along a path of travel through the tufting machine;
- at least one needle bar having needles positioned therealong;
- a yarn feed mechanism configured to feed yarns to the needles;
- at least one gauge bar having gauge parts positioned therealong configured to pick-up the yarns from the needles;
- one or more shift mechanisms configured to shift the at least one needle bar and the at least one gauge bar transversely with respect to the path of travel of the backing;
- and
- a control system including programming configured for controlling the one or more shift mechanisms to shift the at least one needle bar and the at least one gauge bar in substantially transversely across the backing in shift increments having a length less than or equal to a gauge spacing between the needles along the at least one needle bar so as to present an increased number of the yarns to each of a plurality of stitch locations, and configured for controlling feeding of selected yarns by the yarn feed mechanism to at least a portion of the needles such that the selected yarns picked up from the needles by the gauge parts;
- and
- whercin patterned tufted carpets are formed having a resultant pattern density that is greater than a designed density of a pattern as designed.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.