Web-fed chain-stitch single-needle mattress cover quilter with needle deflection compensation

An apparatus for quilting a thick multilayered material comprising:

• a rectangular frame having a front end, a back end and a pair of opposite sides;
• a plurality of rollers on the frame for directing a web of the material from a supply at the front end of the frame and to an exit at the back end of the frame, while maintaining the web in longitudinal tension on the frame;
• a pair of side securements operable to support a portion of the material from the under transverse tension in a plane on the frame;
• a pair of chain stitch forming heads, including a needle head and a looper head, each moveable parallel to the plane on opposite sides of the plane;
• a pair of head drive servo motors, one on the needle head and operable to reciprocate the needle through the material in the plane and one on the looper head and operable to reciprocate the looper in an arc adjacent the plane;
• a controller operable to drive the drive servo motors in synchronized cycles to form series of chain stitches in the material in the plane in accordance with a pattern program;
• a pair of transverse head positioning linear servos each independently operable to transversely position a respective one of the heads in response to signals from the controller;
• at least one longitudinal head positioning servo operable in response to signals from the controller;
• the controller including a memory in which is stored needle deflection data and a program for calculating deflections of the needle in response to operations of the heads;
• and
• the controller being operable to send signals to the linear servos to relatively move the needle and looper transversely to compensate for transverse needle deflection in the formation of the series of stitches, and operable to send signals to the drive servos to relatively phase the needle and looper to compensate for longitudinal needle deflection in the formation of the series of stitches.

An apparatus for quilting a thick multilayered material comprising:

• means for supporting a panel of multilayered material in a plane;
• a chain stitch quilting head pair, including a needle head and a looper head, the needle head including a needle that reciprocates on the needle head approximately perpendicular to the plane and the looper head including a looper that reciprocates on the looper head in a longitudinal direction approximately parallel to the plane, the heads being moveable, relative to a panel supported in the plane and relative to each other, parallel to the plane on opposite sides of the plane;
• means including a plurality of servo motors for separately operating the heads to form chain stitches in the material and for independently moving the heads relative to the panel to position the formed stitches on the panel and relative to each other;
• and
• programmed control means for operating the servos to cause the heads to quilt the material with a series of chain stitches in the shapes of predetermined patterns and to cause the heads to move differently relative to the panel to affect needle and looper alignment to achieve stitch formation when the needle deflects.

A method of quilting a thick multilayered material comprising:

• supporting a panel of multilayered material in a plane;
• providing a pair of chain stitch forming heads, including a needle head having a needle that reciprocates on the needle head approximately perpendicular to the perpendicular to the plane and a looper head having a looper that reciprocates on the looper head in a longitudinal direction approximately parallel to the plane, the heads being moveable parallel to the plane on opposite sides of the plane;
• providing a plurality of servo motors and separately operating the heads therewith and independently moving the heads therewith relative to the panel in accordance with a programmed pattern to quilt the pattern on the panel of multilayered material supported in the plane with a series of chain stitches formed by the motion of the needle and the looper;
• and
• differently controlling the servos in accordance with the changes in the deflection of the needle as the pattern is quilted to cause the heads to form the series of chain stitches while maintaining the needle and looper in alignment.