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US RE45,791 E1Granted
Multi-needle chain stitch quilting apparatus and method
AssigneeL&P Property Management Company
InventorsMichael A. James, Jeff Kaetterhenry, James T. Frazer, Terrance L. Myers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-needle chain-stitch quilting machine and method of operation thereof are provided that imparts relative motion between the needles and the material that is controlled so as to pull needle thread tails from the needle side of the quilted material. The feature of controlling thread tails may be optional to provide selection of either a high speed mode of operation without thread tail control or a quality mode of operation with reduction or removal of needle thread tails from the face of the quilted material. Thread trimmers may be included at each needle location on the looper side of the material to cut both needle and looper threads.
Claims58
A method of operating a quilting machine having at least one stitching element pair that each includes a needle and a looper, to control needle thread tails on the needle side of a chain stitch quilted material having a needle side and a looper side, the method comprising:
- with a needle at a starting point on the material and in a retracted position spaced from the needle side of the material and a needle thread tail extending from each needle entirely on the needle side of the material, initiating a thread tail wipe cycle by operating a programmed controller to reciprocate the needle through a stitch cycle and back to the retracted position to poke the needle thread through the material to the looper side of the material at the starting point on the material;
- then
- further operating the controller to advance a looper through a loop in the needle thread so that the needle thread extends from the needle and around the looper on the looper side of the material, then through the material with the needle thread tail remaining on the needle side of the material;
- then
- with the tension applied to the needle thread, further operating the controller to impart relative movement between the needle and the material, in a path from and back toward the starting point, in a direction parallel to the material a distance sufficient to pull the needle thread until the needle thread tail is pulled to the looper side of the material;
- then
- with the thread tail on the looper side of the material, operating the controller to drive the stitching element pair to sew a chain stitch sequence in the material.
4 more elements
A method of operating a multi-needle quilting machine having a plurality of stitching element pairs each that include a needle and a looper, to control needle thread tails on the needle side of a chain stitch quilted material having a needle side and a looper side, the method comprising:
- with each of a plurality of needles in retracted positions spaced from the needle side of the material to be quilted and with a needle thread tail extending from each needle on the needle side of the material, reciprocating the needles through a first stitch cycle and back to the retracted positions to poke the needle threads through the material to the looper side of the material where each needle thread has a loop that is entered by a looper of the respective stitching element pair while ends of the thread tails remain on the needle side of the material;
- then
- with the tension applied to the needle threads, pulling the needle threads until the ends of the needle thread tails are pulled to the looper side of the material;
- then
- with the needle thread tails to the needle side of the material, operating the plurality of stitching element pairs to sew a plurality of chain stitch sequences in the material.
2 more elements
A multi-needle quilting machine comprising:
- a frame;
- a plurality of chain stitching element pairs, each pair including a needle mounted to reciprocate through quilting material from the front side of a quilting material plane and a cooperating looper mounted to oscillate with respect to the needle on the back side of the quilting material plane to form chain stitches with a needle thread extending through the needle and a looper thread extending through the looper;
- a motion system operative to move the material longitudinally relative to the frame and to impart relative transverse movement between the stitching element pairs and the material;
- a plurality of thread trimming devices, each including a thread trimming mechanism situated one at each looper so as to be operable, when actuated, to cut a looper thread;
- and
- a programmed controller operative to control the stitching element pairs, the motion system and the thread trimming devices.
3 more elements
A quilting machine comprising:
- a frame;
- structure for supporting a length of a web of multi-layered material in a quilting plane;
- a web drive for advancing a supported web in a longitudinal direction in the quilting plane;
- a plurality of bridges, including a first bridge and a second bridge, spaced from one another in the longitudinal direction, each bridge being moveable relative to each other and relative to the supported material, longitudinally and transversely, adjacent and parallel to the quilting plane;
- each bridge having a plurality of needles supported thereon on a needle side of the quilting plane and a plurality of loopers mounted thereon on a looper side of the quilting plane opposite the needle side, each needle being reciprocable in a direction perpendicular to the quilting plane through material supported in the quilting plane to sew stitches in the material;
- a plurality of bridge longitudinal drives, one for each bridge, and operable to move the bridge bidirectionally in a longitudinal direction parallel to the plane;
- a plurality of bridge transverse drives, one for each bridge, and operable to move the bridge bidirectionally in a transverse direction parallel to the plane;
- a plurality of stitching element sets on each of the bridges, each including one of the needles and one of the loopers, and each operable to sew a series of stitches in material supported in the quilting plane;
- and
- a programmed controller operable to selectively control the web drive, the bridge drives, and the stitching element sets, in accordance with pattern program data.
7 more elements
A multi-needle quilting machine comprising:
- a frame for supporting a substrate web of material for quilting;
- a material drive selectively operable to move the substrate web longitudinally relative to the frame;
- one or more bridge assemblies selectively moveable longitudinally relative to the frame;
- a plurality of stitching elements on the one or more bridge assemblies, stitching element being operable to sew a series of stitches on the substrate web of material;
- a transverse drive selectively operable to impart transverse relative movement between the plurality of stitching elements and the substrate web of material;
- a controller operable to control the operation of the material drive, the movement of the one or more bridge assemblies, the operation of the stitching elements and the operation of the transverse drive to sew series of stitches on the substrate web of material while either:
- a) moving the web of material relative to the frame while the one or more bridge assemblies has zero longitudinal velocity relative to the frame, b) moving the one or more bridge assemblies longitudinally relative to the frame while the substrate web of material is stationary relative to the frame, or c) moving both the substrate web of material and the one or more bridge assemblies relative to the frame, wherein either A) the one or more bridge assemblies include 1) two or more rows of the stitching elements with each row being moveable longitudinally relative to another one of the rows of stitching elements 2) or at least two bridges each including one or more rows of stitching elements, each bridge being moveable longitudinally and transversely relative to the other ones of the bridges, or B) the material drive is operable to move at least a portion of the substrate web longitudinally and vertically, and the stitching elements include needles oriented horizontally perpendicular to said portion of the web.
4 more elements
A method of quilting comprising:
- supporting a multi-layered material in a plane in a quilting machine having a plurality of bridges extending horizontally in a transverse direction adjacent the plane and spaced from one another in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction, each with a plurality of needles on one side of the plane and a corresponding plurality of loopers on the opposite side of the frame, each corresponding pair of needles and loopers providing a cooperating chainstitch-forming element set, each of the bridges being moveable transversely and longitudinally relative to each other and relative to and parallel to the plane;
- moving one of the bridges relative to another of the bridges to carry a plurality of the needles and loopers in different transverse motions while sewing the stitches;
- and
- reciprocating a plurality of the needles through the plane while oscillating a corresponding plurality of the loopers on the opposite side of the material from the needles so as to sew a corresponding plurality of series of stitches on the material to quilt the material.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.