Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D05—SEWING; EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
  • D05C—EMBROIDERING; TUFTING
  • D05C15/00—Making pile fabrics or articles having similar surface features by inserting loops into a base material
  • D05C15/04—Tufting
  • D05C15/08—Tufting machines
  • D05C15/14—Arrangements or devices for holding or feeding the base material
  • D05C15/145—Needle plates

Definitions

• This invention relates to multiple needle tuft ⁇ ing machines, and more particularly to a needle plate for producing low pile in a multiple needle tufting machine.
• the needle plate is provided with a plurality of uni- formly spaced straight fingers extending from one edge of the plate in the direction of the fabric feed, or rearward, so that each finger extends between an ad ⁇ jacent pair of needles. These fingers are adapted to provide a support for the portion of the base fabric in the path of the needles and are spaced to permit free reciprocation of the needles between the fingers.
• the needle plate fingers are uniformly spaced at the same gauge as the needles.
• a conventional needle plate finger has a rectangular cross-section, with its short di ⁇ mension transverse, and its long dimension vertical.
• each cantilevered needle plate finger has sub ⁇ stantial depth to provide sufficient strength to support the base fabric as the fabric is penetrated by the needles.
• the short transverse di ⁇ mension of each needle plate finger is desirable so that the needles can be spaced closer together to achieve finer gauges.
• the combied depth of the needle plate finger and the height of the looper hook bill moving across a corresponding needle below the needle plate determines the minimum pile height of the tufted loops formed by the needles and hooks.
• the hooks are mounted to move as closely as possible, -beneath the bottom surfaces of the needle plate fingers.
• Both J. L. Card patents disclose typical conven- tional needle plates having longitudinal grooves re ⁇ ceiving elongated needle plate fingers of rectangular cross-section having a greater depthwise dimension.
• the three R. T. Card patents disclose needle plates having needle plate fingers of varying config- urations to accommodate narrow gauge, staggered needles.
• the Dedmon et al patent discloses a "usual base plate 62" in which the needle plate fingers appear to have been formed by milling the trailing edge of the base plate to produce long needle plate fingers of substantial depth.
• the Short patent discloses a needle plate of substantial thickness having a plurality of uniquely shaped recesses in the trailing edge of the needle plate especially formed to accommodate hollow, cylin- drical needles of the type through which a fluid is discharged to carry the yarn through the hollow needle and fabric.
• the low pile needle plate made in accordance with this invention has a vertical thickness substan ⁇ tially less than the height of the conventional needle plate fingers.
• the needle plate made in accordance with this invention eliminates the needle plate fing-
• the needle plate is solid, formed of a thin, monolithic sheet of material, preferably tempered spring steel, which has a rear or trailing edge, preferably notched, which is located closely adjacent the paths of at least one row of needles reciproca-
• a plurality of uniformly spaced notches are formed in the free or trailing edge of the transversely mount ⁇ ed, solid plate so that each notch accommodates a corresponding needle in one row as the needles pene ⁇ trate the base fabric supported on the needle plate.
• the projecting portions of the trailing edge of the needle plate are spaced closely adjacent each needle in a second or rear transverse row of a staggered needle arrangement, so that the base fabric is sup ⁇ ported closely adjacent each needle in both rows of the staggered needle pattern.
• FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a multiple needle tufting machine, incorporating the needle plate made in accordance with this inven ⁇ tion, and showing the looper hooks in retracted solid- line positions, and the looper hooks in phantom for ⁇ ward, inoperative position;
• FIG. 2 is a plan view of a needle plate section and its mounting plate, with portions broken away;
• FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary plan section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;
• FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, showing the base fabric fragmen- tarily, and the operative position of a front looper hook, shown fragmentarily.
• FIG. 1 discloses a transverse needle bar 10 in a conventional multiple-needle tufting machine support ⁇ ing a first row of uniformly spaced needles 11 and a second row of uniformly spaced rear needles 12 off ⁇ set mid-way between the front needles 11, to provide a uniform, narrow gauge, staggered needle tufting machine.
• the needle bar 10 is vertically recipro ⁇ cated by conventional means, not shown, to cause the front and rear needles 11 and 12 to move between an upper position above the base fabric 13 to a lower position (FIG. 4) penetrating the base fab ⁇ ric 13, so that the needles will carry yarns 14 and 15 through the base fabric 13 to form loops of tufting therein.
• the base fabric 13 is supported upon the needle plate 16, made in accordance with this invention, for movement, by means not shown, in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4, that is longitudinally from front-to-rear through the machine.
• the looper apparatus 18 which cooperates with the needles 11 and 12 includes a transverse hook bar 20 supported upon a plurality of transversely spaced brackets 22 fixed to corresponding rocker arms journ- aled on a rock shaft, not shown.
• the rock shaft is driven by conventional means, not shown, connected to the rocker arms 23 for limited reciprocable move- ment in synchronism with the reciprocable movement of the needles 11 and 12.
• a plural ⁇ ity of transversely spaced looper hooks 25 and 25' Supported within the hook bar 20 are a plural ⁇ ity of transversely spaced looper hooks 25 and 25'.
• the structure of the alternating hooks 25 and 25' are identical, except that the bills 26' of the looper hooks 25' are slightly longer than the bills 26 of the looper hooks 25, to permit the bills 26 and 26' to cross their corresponding needles 12 and 11 by substantially the same amount in order to seize the corresponding yarns 15 and 14 to form the tufted loops 28.
• the looper hooks 25 and 25' are cut pile hooks with barbed ends, point ⁇ ing forward in the direction opposing fabric feed.
• knife 30 is provided for each looper hook 25 and 25' to cooperate with the corresponding hooks 25 and 25' to produce cut pile tufts.
• the knives 30 are mounted in knife blocks 31 carried upon a transverse knife bar 32, which in turn is carried by the arms 33 mounted on the reciprocably driven rotary knife shaft 34.
• the knife shaft 34 and the means for driv ⁇ ing the hook bar 20 and the needle bar 10 are all dri- ven synchronously by means well-known in the art to cause the needles 11 and 12, the looper hooks 25 and 25' and the knives 30 to cooperate to form cut pile tufts from the yarns 14 and 15.
• the needle plate assembly comprises a plural- ity of needle plates or needle plate sections, arranged end-to-end transversely of the tufting machine.
• Each needle plate 16 is preferably made of a rectangular sheet of unitary solid material, such as spring steel, of very thin gauge or thickness.
• the needle plate 16 is mounted upon an elongated mounting plate 36 having a rear edge 37, and adapted to be supported upon the bed plate 35 of the machine.
• the rear top portion of the mount ⁇ ing plate 36 includes recess 38 to receive the front portion of the needle plate 16, so that the rear or trailing edge 40 of the needle plate 16 extends trans ⁇ versely of the machine between the rows of needles 11 and 12, and is spaced rearwardly of the rear edge
• the needle plate 16 may be secured in the recess
• the top surface of the needle plate 16 may be support- ed flush with the top surface of the mounting plate
• a plurality of open notches 44 are formed in the trailing edge 40 of the needle plate 16, Each notch 44 is only large enough to accommodate ⁇ that is to receive, a front needle 11 as it penetrates the base fabric 13.
• the edges 45 and 46 of each notch 44 are spaced as closely as possible to a corres ⁇ ponding needle 11 to support the maximum area of the base fabric 13 adjacent the corresponding needle 11, without interfering with the movement of the respec ⁇ tive needles 11.
• the notches 44 are V- shaped, each having a pair of opposed angular edges 45 and 46 disposed closely adjacent the opposite sides of the path of a corresponding needle 11.
• the walls 45 and 46 diverge symmetricall about the longi ⁇ tudinal median of the angular notch 44, which median coincides with the center of each corresponding needle 11.
• each pointed portion 48 provides support for the corresponding areas of the base fabric 13 adjacent and rearward of each corresponding needle 12, penetrate the base fabric 13.
• the bills 26 and 26' of the needles 25 and 25' respec ⁇ tively may be positioned at higher elevations than is customary, to reciprocate forward closely adjacent the bottom surface of the needle plate 16 and conse ⁇ quently quite close to the base fabric 13, to permit the formation of very low pile tufts or tufted loops.
• the loopers 25 and 25' are supported in such an elevated position, because of the thinness of the needle plate 16, that the top surfaces 50 of the looper hooks 25 and 25' adequately support portions of the base fabric 13 adjacent and to the rear or trailing side of the needles 11 and 12.
• the thickness of the solid material of the needle plate 16 is about 0.030-0.040 inches.
• Conventional looper hooks having bills 26 and 26' of depths of .075-.125 inches may be successfully used with the thin needle plate 16, so that the total distance be ⁇ tween the bottom surface of the base fabric 13 and the bottom edge of the hook bills 26 and 26' may only be approximately .105 inches to .165 inches.
• low pile tufts of 5/32 of an inch in depth have been easil" manufactured, and naps of lesser height may be formed by using thinner looper bills 26 and 26'.
• the needle plate 16 in conjunction with an in-line tufting-machine in which there is only a single transverse row of uniformly spaced needles, such as the row 11.
• the notches 44 may be smaller, providing just suffi ⁇ cient room for clearance of each corresponding needle 11 as it penetrates the base fabric 13. Where the notches 44 are smaller, they may intersect the trail ⁇ ing -- * dge 40 at spaced positions to provide connect ⁇ ing straight edges instead of the pointed portions 48.
• substan ⁇ tial support is provided for the base fabric 13, with a substantially reduced thickness of the solid material from which the needle plate 16 is made.
• the thinness of the needle plate 16 then permits higher elevations for the looper hooks as they cross the respective needles penetrating the base fabric 13 to produce low pile tufted fabrics with very short naps or pile heights.
• spacing the side xalls 45 and 46 of the notches 44 as close as possible to the respec ⁇ tive needles 11, not only provides maximum support for the base fabric 13 in the vicinity of the needles 11, but also assists in guiding the needles 11 after they have penetrated the base fabric 13 and are moving within the respective notches 44.
• Each V-shaped notch 44 utilized in the needle plate 16 made in accordance with this invention de ⁇ fines an angle of 60° between the diverging side walls 45 and 46.
• other angles may be utilized in the formation of the notches 44.
• the notches 44 do not have to be V-shaped, but could have an arcuate formation.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Sewing Machines And Sewing (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=22188602

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1985
  • 1985-03-05 EP EP19850901720 patent/EP0214966A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1985-03-05 WO PCT/US1985/000385 patent/WO1986005218A1/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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