Tufting machine belt driven drive assembly

In a tufting machine for carrying out a tufting operation in which a series of successive tufts are made in a backing material being advanced through the tufting machine, the tufting machine having a frame, an elongate rotatable drive shaft supported on an upper portion of the frame, a drive motor for rotating the drive shaft on the frame, an elongate looper drive shaft spaced from an elongate and generally parallel knife drive shaft, each one of the shafts being rotatably supported on a lower portion of the frame spaced from the drive shaft, the looper drive shaft having a spaced series of loopers disposed thereon with respect to the tufting zone and the knife drive shaft having a spaced series of knives disposed thereon with respect to the loopers, the improvement comprising:

• a spindle assembly mounted on the frame with respect to the looper drive shaft and the knife drive shaft, said spindle assembly having a spindle support and an elongate spindle shaft rotatably supported thereon, said spindle shaft extending along a longitudinal axis and having a first end and a spaced second end, each said end protruding from said spindle assembly;
• drive means for transmitting the rotational movement of the drive shaft to said spindle shaft;
• a first cam assembly mounted on the first end of the spindle shaft;
• a first elongate drive pinion operably fastened to said first cam assembly for being reciprocated by said first cam assembly;
• a first elongate lever pivotally fastened at one of its ends to said first drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends on the looper drive shaft for transferring the reciprocating motion of said first drive pinion into a rocking motion of the looper drive shaft and of the loopers thereon toward and away from the tufting zone;
• a second cam assembly mounted on the second end of the spindle shaft;
• a second elongate drive pinion operably fastened to said second cam assembly for being reciprocated by said second cam assembly;
• and
• a second elongate lever pivotally fastened at one of its ends to said second drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends on the knife drive shaft for transferring the reciprocating motion of said second drive pinion into a rocking motion of the knife drive shaft and of the knives thereon toward and away from the loopers in timed relationship with the movement of the loopers toward and away from the tufting zone.

In a tufting machine for carrying out a tufting operation in which a series of successive tufts are made in a backing material being advanced through a tufting zone on the tufting machine, the tufting machine having a frame, a first elongate drive shaft rotatably supported on an upper portion of the frame, a drive motor for rotating the first drive shaft on the frame, a second elongate drive shaft spaced from the first drive shaft and being rotatably supported on a lower portion of the frame, the improvement comprising:

• a) a spindle assembly mounted on the frame with respect to the second drive shaft, said spindle assembly having a spindle support and an elongate spindle shaft rotatably supported thereon, said spindle shaft extending along a longitudinal axis parallel to said second drive shaft and having at least a first end protruding therefrom;
• b) drive means for transmitting the rotational movement of the drive shaft to said spindle shaft;
• c) a cam assembly mounted on the at least one end of the spindle shaft, said cam assembly including:
• a first transverse stub shaft protruding therefrom and being offset with respect to the axis of the spindle shaft for movement in an orbital path about the axis of the spindle shaft.
• a timing disc affixed to said spindle shaft, said timing disc having a timing reference mark defined on the periphery thereof;
• a split face clamp fastened to the at least one end of said spindle shaft adjacent said timing disc, said split face clamp having a spaced series of timing indicia defined thereon, said timing indicia being in at least partial registry with the reference timing mark on said timing disc,
• wherein said split face clamp is constructed and arranged for movement about said spindle shaft as said timing indicia are moved relative to the timing reference mark on the timing disc so that the rotational position of said cam assembly and said stub shaft about said spindle shaft is varied with respect to the rotational position of the first drive shaft;
• d) an elongate drive pinion having a first end and a spaced second end, the first end of said drive pinion being pivotally fastened to said stub shaft for transmitting the orbital motion of said stub shaft as a reciprocating motion;
• and
• e) an elongate lever having a first end and a spaced second end, the first end of said lever being pivotally fastened to the second end of said drive pinion and being fixed at its second end on the second drive shaft for transferring the reciprocating motion of said drive pinion into a rocking motion of the second drive shaft.

A tufting machine for carrying out a tufting operation in which a series of successive tufts are sewn into a backing material being advanced through a tufting zone defined by the tufting machine, said tufting machine comprising:

• a frame;
• an elongate rotatable drive shaft supported on an upper portion of the frame;
• a drive motor for rotating said drive shaft;
• an elongate looper drive shaft and an elongate and generally parallel knife drive shaft, said looper shaft and said knife shaft each being rotatably mounted on a lower portion of the frame, said looper drive shaft and said knife drive shaft being spaced from the drive shaft and from each other, said looper drive shaft having a spaced series of loopers disposed thereon with respect to the tufting zone and said knife drive shaft having a spaced series of knives disposed thereon with respect to the loopers;
• a spindle assembly mounted on the frame with respect to the looper drive shaft and the knife drive shaft, said spindle assembly having an elongate spindle shaft rotatably supported thereon, said spindle shaft extending along a longitudinal axis and having a first end and a spaced second end;
• a drive sprocket mounted on the drive shaft;
• a driven sprocket mounted on the spindle shaft, said driven sprocket being spaced from said drive sprocket and in substantial alignment therewith;
• a flexible timing belt encircling said drive sprocket and said driven sprocket for rotating said spindle shaft in timed relationship to the rotation of said drive shaft;
• a first timing disc affixed to the first end of said spindle shaft;
• a second timing disc affixed to the second end of said spindle shaft;
• a first cam assembly mounted on said spindle adjacent said first timing disc;
• a second cam assembly mounted on said spindle adjacent said second timing disc;
• a first elongate drive pinion operably fastened at one of its ends to said first cam assembly for being reciprocated by said first cam assembly;
• a second elongate drive pinion operably fastened to said second cam assembly for being reciprocated by said second cam assembly;
• a first elongate lever operably fastened at one of its ends to said first drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends on the looper drive shaft for transferring the reciprocating motion of said first drive pinion into a rocking motion of said looper drive shaft and of the loopers thereon toward and away from the tufting zone in timed relationship with the rotation of the tufting machine drive shaft;
• and
• a second elongate lever operably fastened at one of its ends to said second drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends to the knife drive shaft for transferring the reciprocating motion of said second drive pinion into a rocking motion of said knife drive shaft and of the knives thereon toward and away from said loopers in timed relationship with the movement of said loopers toward and away from the tufting zone.

A method of tufting a series of successive tufts in a backing material being advanced through a tufting zone defined in a tufting machine, the tufting machine having a frame with an elongate rotatable drive shaft supported on an upper portion of the frame, a drive motor for rotating the drive shaft, an elongate looper drive shaft and an elongate and generally parallel knife drive shaft each rotatably mounted on a lower portion of the frame, said looper drive shaft and said knife drive shaft each being spaced from the drive shaft and from each other, the looper drive shaft having a spaced series of loopers disposed thereon with respect to the tufting zone and the knife drive shaft having a spaced series of knives disposed thereon with respect to the loopers, said method including the steps of:

• rotating an elongate spindle shaft supported on a spindle assembly mounted on the frame in timed relationship with the rotation of the drive shaft, said spindle shaft extending along a longitudinal axis and having a first end and a spaced second end;
• mounting a first cam assembly on the first end of the spindle shaft, carrying a first stub shaft protruding from said first cam assembly and being offset with respect to the axis of said spindle shaft on said first cam assembly, and orbiting said first stub shaft about the axis of the spindle shaft;
• reciprocating a first elongate drive pinion pivotally fastened to said first stub shaft in response thereto;
• rocking the looper drive shaft and the loopers carried thereon toward and away from the tufting zone with a first elongate lever pivotally fastened at one of its ends to said first drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends on the looper drive shaft;
• mounting a second cam assembly on the second end of the spindle shaft, carrying a second stub shaft protruding therefrom and being offset with respect to the axis of said spindle shaft on said second cam assembly, and orbiting said second stub shaft about the axis of the spindle shaft;
• reciprocating a second elongate drive pinion pivotally fastened to said second stub shaft in response thereto;
• and
• rocking the knife drive shaft, and the knives carried thereon, toward and away from the loopers in timed relationship with the movement of the loopers toward and away from the tufting zone with a second elongate lever pivotally fastened at one of its ends to said second drive pinion and fixed at the other of its ends on the knife drive shaft.