Independent single end servo scroll pattern attachment for tufting machine and computerized design system
AssigneeTuftco Corporation
InventorsMichael R. Morgante, Mike Bishop, Randall E. Stanfield, Eric J. Vaughen, Richard Prichard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a single end scroll-type yarn feed attachment for tufting machines characterized by independent servo-motor control of yarn feed rolls while eliminating tube banks typical of tufting machine feed attachments to produce new tufted carpet designs.
Claims21
In a multiple needle tufting machine adapted to feed a backing fabric longitudinally from front to rear through the machine having a plurality of spaced needles aligned transversely of the machine for reciprocable movement through the backing fabric by operation of a rotary main drive shift, a yarn feed mechanism comprising:
- (a) a support having a mounting surface;
- (b) a plurality of servo motor driven single end yarn drives removably attached to said mounting surface;
- (c) a servo motor controller for processing ratiometric information, electronically connected to a servo motor of a single end yarn drive;
- (d) a master controller which receives rotational position information for the main drive shaft and sends corresponding ratiometric pattern information by electrical connection to the servo motor controller board.
A method of automatically inputting the parameters of tufting into a tufting machine of the type having an electronically controlled yarn feed attachment for providing measured increments of yarn to a plurality of transversely aligned needles adapted to be reciprocably driven, through a backing fabric passing from front to back through the tufting machine by a rotary main drive shaft, thereby placing stitches comprising tufts of yarn through said backing fabric comprising the steps of:
- (a) inputting pattern parameters of width, length, color, a relatively high pile height and a relatively low pile length, for stitches on a computer display wherein the width of the pattern is limited only by the number of transversely aligned needles of the tufting machine;
- (b) designing a pattern showing the location of relatively high pile tufts and relatively low pile tufts on the computer display to create a graphic representation of tufted carpet in a data file;
- (c) processing the data file containing the graphic representation of tufted carpet to assign yarn feed values to stitches based upon the pile height selected for that stitch and at least the preceding stitch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.