Raw material supply system for quilting machines

An apparatus for supplying raw material to an automated quilting machine, the apparatus comprising:

• a fill laminator programmable to select at least one fill material, at least one backing material, and at least one cover material to be continuously fed to the laminator from upstream dispensing structure and to direct the infed raw materials into a layered workpiece for presentation to an automated quilting machine;
• at least one cradle located upstream from the laminator and constructed to receive and hold fill material in roll form, the cradle having a powered feed system adapted to unwind and feed material from the roll to the laminator and edge guides to compensate for material misalignment on the roll;
• at least one foam log peeler located upstream from the laminator for receiving and holding foam fill material in log form, the log peeler having a cutting edge substantially aligned with a longitudinal axis of the log adapted to cut a continuous web of fill material at a specified thickness as the log rotates about the longitudinal axis and to continuously feed the web of fill material subsequently to the laminator;
• at least one fan-folded fill supply device located upstream from the laminator and constructed to receive and hold a continuous length of fill material that has been folded with alternating folds to create a stack of fill material adapted to be fed to the laminator;
• at least one fiber lay-down device located upstream from the laminator and adapted to deposit fiber material at a desired thickness directly onto another material as it is fed into the laminator;
• an automated tick magazine located upstream from the laminator and constructed to receive and store at least one fabric cover material, to stage and feed the cover material to the laminator, to cut the cover material to a specified length, to splice newly selected cover material to the end of the material being fed into the laminator, and to rewind unused cover material back into the magazine;
• a backing material supply device;
• and
• a printer configured to print colors and patterns onto the fabric cover material prior to presentation of the layered workpiece to the quilting machine.

A modular system for processing in-fed materials into a quilting fill package which may be stored for subsequent processing in a quilting machine, the system comprising:

• a fill material supply system for receiving and holding various forms of fill material to be selectively supplied to a laminator, the fill material supply system including at least two components selected from the group consisting of:
• (a) a cradle for receiving and dispensing fill material in roll form, (b) a foam log peeling device for receiving foam fill material in solid “log” form and configured to cut away and dispense a continuous web of foam fill material at a desired thickness, (c) a fan-folded fill device for receiving and dispensing fill material folded into bale form, and (d) a fiber lay-down device for creating and dispensing fill material in fiber form;
• and
• laminating structure downstream of the fill material supply system, the laminating structure constructed to select and receive at least one form of fill material from the fill material supply system and to direct the fill material into a layered workpiece.

A method for continuously supplying material to an automated quilting machine from a modular material supply system having a cradle for receiving and dispensing fill material in roll form, a foam log peeler for receiving fill material in “log” form and dispensing a continuous web of fill material, at least one fan-folded fill supply device for receiving and dispensing fill material folded into bale form, a fiber lay-down device for dispensing fill material in fiber form, an automated tick magazine for receiving and dispensing cover material, and a fill laminator, the method comprising the steps of:

• selectively feeding at least one fill material from at least one of the cradle, foam log peeler, fan-folded fill supply device, and fiber lay-down device to the fill laminator;
• selectively feeding at least one cover material from the tick magazine to the fill laminator;
• directing the fill and cover materials into a layered workpiece;
• and
• feeding the layered workpiece to the quilting machine.