System And Method For Tufting Sculptured And Multiple Pile Height Patterned Articles

A method of forming tufted patterns, comprising:

• feeding a series of yarns to a series of needles;
• moving a backing along a backing support urging at least a portion of the backing toward an elevated position;
• reciprocating at least some of the needles carrying the yarns into and out of the backing;
• engaging the needles with a series of gauge parts and picking loops of yarns therefrom;
• controlling the feeding of selected yarns so as to create tension in the selected yarns;
• controlling the tension in the selected yarns so as to draw at least a portion of the backing against the backing support;
• and
• as the tension in the selected yarns is increased sufficient to overcome a resiliency of the backing support that urges the backing toward its elevated position, drawing the backing downwardly toward a lowered position to form tufts of yarns of varying pile heights.

A method of tufting carpets to form a pattern having a desired pattern stitch rate, comprising:

• threading a series of yarns to a series of needles with the needles being threaded with different color or type yarns in a selected sequence;
• moving a backing through a tufting zone at an actual stitch rate that is at least two times the desired pattern stitch rate for the pattern;
• as the backing moves through the tufting zone, directing at least a portion of the backing material toward an elevated position;
• shifting at least a portion of the needles across the backing sufficient to present a series of different color or type yarns to a series of stitch locations in the backing;
• picking loops of yarns from the needles with a series of gauge parts;
• at the stitch locations, controlling feeding of the series of different color or type yarns presented, and retaining at least one desired yarn of the series of different color or type of yarns presented so as to form tufts of selected color or type yarns at the stitch locations based upon the pattern, with remaining ones of the series of yarns presented at the stitch locations being at least partially removed from the backing;
• and
• controlling the feeding of the at least one desired yarn to be retained at each stitch location so as to create tension in the at least one desired yarn to be retained sufficient to draw the backing toward a lowered position to form the tufts of the selected color or type yarns in the backing at varying pile heights.