Program controlled quilter and panel cutter system with automatic shrinkage compensation

An apparatus for manufacturing a series of quilted panels from a continuous multiple layered web of fabric, the apparatus comprising:

• a quilting station having a stitching mechanism thereat operable to sequentially quilt a series of patterns along a multiple layered web of fabric extending through the quilting station;
• feed rollers rotatably supported at the quilting station and positioned to drivably engage and longitudinally feed the quilted web of fabric downstream through the quilting station;
• a panel cutter positioned downstream of the quilting station so as to receive the quilted web of fabric from the quilting station, the panel cutter having a transverse cutoff mechanism mounted thereon that is operable to transversely sever a panel of quilted fabric from the web in response to a cutoff signal;
• feed elements mounted relative to the panel cutter and operable to advance the quilted web of fabric so as to extend through and beyond the cutoff mechanism;
• and
• a controller programmed to control the feed rollers and the stitching elements to stitch a programmed series of patterns along the web and to coordinate therewith the rates of feed of the feed rollers and the feed elements so as to compensate for longitudinal dimensional changes in the web between the quilting station and beyond the cutoff mechanism of the panel cutter.

A method of controlling a combination quilting and panel cutter machine that is operable to automatically quilt patterns upon a web and cut quilted panels from the web, the method comprising the steps of:

• automatically controlling the feeding of a web into and through a quilting section of the machine and the feeding of quilted web into and through a cutoff section of the machine;
• cutting the quilted web into quilted panels in the cutoff section of the machine;
• determining dimensional shrinkage change in the length of the web which occurs in the course of creating a quilted panel;
• and
• utilizing the determined dimensional shrinkage change which occurs in the creation of one quilted panel as an input to control the quilting section of the machine during the creation of at least one subsequent quilted panel.

A combination quilting and panel cutter machine operable to automatically quilt patterns upon a web and cut quilted panels from the web, comprising:

• means for automatically feeding a web into and through a quilting section of the machine and for feeding quilted web into and through a cutoff section of the machine;
• means for cutting the quilted web into quilted panels in the cutoff section of the machine;
• means for determining dimensional shrinkage change in the length of the web which occurs in the course of creating a quilted panel;
• and
• means for utilizing the determined dimensional shrinkage change which occurs in the creation of one quilted panel as an input to control the quilting section of the machine during the creation of at least one subsequent quilted panel.