US 4,841,886 AGranted

Needle plate for double needle bar loop pile tufting apparatus

AssigneeTuftco Corporation

InventorCharles W. Watkins

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A needle plate member for a multiple needle loop pile tufting machine including double needle bars supporting transverse rows of front and rear needles in which at least one row of needles has a narrow gauge. Finger members or needle plate fingers project rearward from the needle plate and extend rearward beyond the rear needles. The transverse spacing between each pair of needle plate fingers is equal to twice the needle gauge of the needles having the narrow gauge. The wider gauge or transverse spacing of the needle plate fingers permits the fingers to extend rearwardly through both front and rear transverse rows of needles to adequately support the base fabric moving through the machine and penetrated by both sets of needles, as well as guiding the front loops past the rear needles to minimize tagging.

Claims9

Dependent claims

In a multiple needle tufting machine including a front transverse row of reciprocable front needles having a front needle gauge, and a rear transverse row of reciprocable rear needles having a rear needle gauge and spaced rearwardly of said front needles, each front and rear needle having a vertical reciprocable path and being adapted to carry yarn through a base fabric movable longitudinally through the machine, and a looper hook for each needle having a bill for seizing and forming a loop in each yarn carried through the base fabric by the corresponding needle, fabric support means for supporting the base fabric between the needles and the looper hooks, comprising:

(a) a needle plate having a longitudinal dimension and a transverse dimension and a free transverse edge portion,
(b) means supporting said needle plate so that said free edge portion extends transversely of the machine and closely adjacent the reciprocable paths of the transverse row of said front needles,
(c) a plurality of finger members mounted in said needle plate, each finger member projecting rearward from said free edge portion,
(d) each said finger member terminating in a rear end behind said rear transverse row of rear needles,
(e) each pair of said finger members having a uniform transverse spacing equal to twice the needle gauge of said transverse row of needles having the narrower needle gauge of both said transverse rows, and
(f) said finger members projecting rearwardly between every other pair of needles having said narrower needle gauge, said needle fingers extending rearwardly between the needles in said other transverse row of needles.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.