US 5,575,228 AGranted

Variable gauge tufting apparatus

AssigneeTuftco Corporation

InventorsW. Paul Padgett, III, Brian K. Lovelady

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Abstract

A single or multiple needle bar tufting machine is provided with loop forming fingers above the substrate or base fabric and by laterally shifting the needles during tufting, rows of loop stitches are formed over the loop forming fingers on the face of the substrate and rows of pile loops are formed on the back side. Methods are disclosed for utilizing this machine in connection with yarn feed pattern control devices, pattern control needle bar positioners, a controllable fabric feed, to create a variety of novel fabrics and fabrics simulating patterns heretofore only made on looms and knitting machines. The resulting fabrics offer many advantages including lower stitch rates, better substrate coverage, less resistance to sliding traffic, increased abrasion resistance, and improved draping characteristics.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A tufting machine comprising:

(a) means for supporting a substrate for longitudinal movement in a feeding direction from front-to-rear through the tufting machine;
(b) a front needle bar having a plurality of front needles spaced transversely of said feeding direction;
(c) a rear needle bar behind said front needle bar in said feeding direction and having a plurality of rear needles spaced transversely of said feeding direction;
(d) a needle drive means for reciprocally moving said needle bars toward and away from the substrate and thereby causing said front needles and said rear needles to move in substantially vertical needle paths and to stitch yarns through the substrate;
and
(e) a pattern control actuator means operatively connected to said front and rear needle bars to shift said needle bars independently of each other in predetermined increments transversely of said feeding direction;
and
(f) a loop forming plate fixably supported above the substrate having a plurality of transversely spaced loop forming fingers projecting rearwardly between the vertical needle paths of the front and rear needles.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.