GB1558872A - Guun for repairing tufted fabrics - Google Patents

Description

(54) AN IMPROVED GUN FOR REPAIRING TUFTED FABRICS (71) We, PRESTON ENGINEERS (PRECISION) LIMITED, of Kem Mill, Kem Mill Lane, Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley, Lancashire, a British Company, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:: This invention relates to a gun for repairing faults in tufted fabrics of the kind, hereinafter termed the kind specified. comprising a barrel projecting from a casing and containing a hollow needle, feed mechanism for feeding yarn into the interior of the needle, mechanism for advancing the gun along a tufted fabric to be repaired, a motor for imparting reciprocating movement to the needle to project it from the barrel and through the fabric and for actuating the yarn feed mechanism and the advancing mechanism and means for introducing air under pressure into the needle during each operation of the needle.

During operation of a tufting machine, faults develop from time to time due to failure of a needle to form a loop of pile, e.g. as the result of a knot in the yarn fed to that needle. It is, in general, impossible to stop the machine immediately the fault is detected, with the result that the fault develops into a chain of missing loops. The gun is used by an operator, after correction of the fault and restarting of the machine. to fill in the missing loops. The repair is generally made on a vertically ascending section of the tufted fabric as it leaves the machine.

A tufting machine includes a verticallv reciprocating needle bar which extends transversely to the direction of advance of the backing fabric to which loops of pile are applied by the needles as they penetrate downwardly through the fabric. It is often desired to form a patterned fabric. in which the loops produced by each needle do not extend in a straight line lengthwise of the fabric but in zig zag or sinuous fashion and this may be achieved by imparting transverse reciprocation, either to the needle bar or to the backing fabric, by a cam. The loops then run in a pattern determined by the configuration of the cam.

Existing guns. of which a typical example is described in Specification No. 968818, are capable only of repairing faults in unpatterned pile fabrics.

The invention provides a gun of the kind specified, which is capable of repairing faults in a patterned pile fabric, in which the barrel is pivoted to the casing for movement across the face of the fabric to be repaired and which includes a cam driven by the motor and operative, during return strokes of the needle, to move the barrel about its pivot and thereby to cause the next loop formed by the needle to be displaced laterally in the fabric in relation to the previously formed loop. The cam in the gun has, of course. a configuration corresponding to that of the cam fitted to the tufting machine so that the loops formed by the gun will follow the same pattern as that of the loops formed by the needles of the tufting machine.

One embodiment of gun according to the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. in which: Figure 1 is a front elevation of the gun, with a cover removed, Figure 2 is a section on the line II-II in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a section on the line III-III in Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 3. the gun 10 is used, suspended from a suitable support (not shown) by a suspension loop 11 but operated hv hand, to form loops 12 of yarn where necessary in a tufted fabric 13 ascend ing vertically from a tufting machine. The gun includes a casing 14 having a removable cover 15, an electric or pneumatic motor 17, constituting a handle and is shown partly broken away in Figures 1 and 3, and a barrel 18 which projects from the casing and can rotate with respect to it in bearings 19.

The output shaft of the motor 17 carries a crank pin 20, a cam 21 and a turntable 22.

The crank pin 20 imparts, through a connecting rod 23, reciprocating movement to a hollow needle 24 disposed in the barrel 18.

Yarn 25 is supplied to the needle 24 by yarn feed rollers 26 operated by a friction wheel 27 which coacts with the turntable 22. and the rate of yarn feed can be varied by shifting the friction wheel radially with respect to the turntable. Compressed air from a line 28 is applied to the interior of the needle 24 to feed yarn through it during its forward and return strokes.

Another cam 29 on the output shaft of the motor is operative to rock a pivoted lever 30 and cause it to move a rod 31 periodically to the right, as seen in Figure 3, while the needle 24 is retracting. against the action of a return spring 32. This movement is transmitted through a connecting rod 33 and a one-way clutch 34 to a pair of crawler belts 35 to cause the gun to travel along the fabric 13. The use of crawler belts has the advantage over the spiked feed wheel normally used in a repair gun that the belts do not tend to pluck existing tufts from the fabric.

The patterning of the loops 10 formed by the needle 24 is controlled by a pattern cam 36, which coacts with a pair of followers 37 on a carriage 38, which is slidable on a bar 39 and is connected to a link 40. which carries a pin 41 engaging a slot in a lever 42 which serves to rotate the barrel 1X in the bearings 19.

The pattern cam 36 is indexed. while the needle 24 is clear of the fabric 13. bv the cam 21 which actuates a pivoted lever 43, which coacts with an arm 44 loaded bv a spring 45. The arm 44 is connected bv a one way clutch 46 to a shaft 47 carrying the patterning cam 36. The cam 36 has a number of dimples 57. which are engaged in succession at each cycle of operation by a spring loaded detent 48 to retain the cam in its newly indexed position during the return movement of the arm 44 and the lever 43.

It is necessary. from time to time. to vary in accordance with the nature of the pattern the angular indexing movement imparted to the cam 36. This can be achieved bv an adjusting screw 49 which controls the initial position of the lever 43 in relation to the cam 21. The linkage between the carriage 38 and the barrel 18 is a multiplying linkage. If desired, this linkage may be adjustable to suit variations in gauge (i.e. the spacing between the needles) of the tufting machine by adjustment of the pin 41 in the slot 50 in the lever 42.

The cam 36 may carry a visible marker which coacts with a fixed index point on the casing 14 to indicate to the operator that the cam is set to the starting point of the pattern on the fabric to be repaired.

If the gun is to be used for repairing cut pile fabric rather than loop pile fabric the barrel 18 may contain a cutter arranged to operate as described in Specification No.

1098540.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A gun of the kind specified, which is capable of repairing faults in a patterned pile fabric. in which the barrel is pivoted to the casing for movement across the face of the fabric to be repaired and which includes a cam driven by the motor and operative during return strokes of the needle. to move the barrel about its pivot and thereby to cause the next loop formed by the needle to be displaced laterally in the fabric in relation to the previously formed loop.

2. A gun according to claim 1, in which the cam is formed with a plurality of dimples and which includes a spring loaded detent engageable with the dimples to retain the cam in the position to which it has been moved bv the motor.

3. A gun according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the cam is driven by the motor through a one-way clutch.

4. A gun according to anv one of the preceding claims. in which the advancing mechanism includes a pair of crawler belts operable by the motor through a one-way clutch.

5. A gun according to claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (5)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. ing vertically from a tufting machine. The gun includes a casing 14 having a removable cover 15, an electric or pneumatic motor 17, constituting a handle and is shown partly broken away in Figures 1 and 3, and a barrel 18 which projects from the casing and can rotate with respect to it in bearings 19. The output shaft of the motor 17 carries a crank pin 20, a cam 21 and a turntable 22. The crank pin 20 imparts, through a connecting rod 23, reciprocating movement to a hollow needle 24 disposed in the barrel 18. Yarn 25 is supplied to the needle 24 by yarn feed rollers 26 operated by a friction wheel 27 which coacts with the turntable 22. and the rate of yarn feed can be varied by shifting the friction wheel radially with respect to the turntable. Compressed air from a line 28 is applied to the interior of the needle 24 to feed yarn through it during its forward and return strokes. Another cam 29 on the output shaft of the motor is operative to rock a pivoted lever 30 and cause it to move a rod 31 periodically to the right, as seen in Figure 3, while the needle 24 is retracting. against the action of a return spring 32. This movement is transmitted through a connecting rod 33 and a one-way clutch 34 to a pair of crawler belts 35 to cause the gun to travel along the fabric 13. The use of crawler belts has the advantage over the spiked feed wheel normally used in a repair gun that the belts do not tend to pluck existing tufts from the fabric. The patterning of the loops 10 formed by the needle 24 is controlled by a pattern cam 36, which coacts with a pair of followers 37 on a carriage 38, which is slidable on a bar 39 and is connected to a link 40. which carries a pin 41 engaging a slot in a lever 42 which serves to rotate the barrel 1X in the bearings 19. The pattern cam 36 is indexed. while the needle 24 is clear of the fabric 13. bv the cam 21 which actuates a pivoted lever 43, which coacts with an arm 44 loaded bv a spring 45. The arm 44 is connected bv a one way clutch 46 to a shaft 47 carrying the patterning cam 36. The cam 36 has a number of dimples 57. which are engaged in succession at each cycle of operation by a spring loaded detent 48 to retain the cam in its newly indexed position during the return movement of the arm 44 and the lever 43. It is necessary. from time to time. to vary in accordance with the nature of the pattern the angular indexing movement imparted to the cam 36. This can be achieved bv an adjusting screw 49 which controls the initial position of the lever 43 in relation to the cam 21. The linkage between the carriage 38 and the barrel 18 is a multiplying linkage. If desired, this linkage may be adjustable to suit variations in gauge (i.e. the spacing between the needles) of the tufting machine by adjustment of the pin 41 in the slot 50 in the lever 42. The cam 36 may carry a visible marker which coacts with a fixed index point on the casing 14 to indicate to the operator that the cam is set to the starting point of the pattern on the fabric to be repaired. If the gun is to be used for repairing cut pile fabric rather than loop pile fabric the barrel 18 may contain a cutter arranged to operate as described in Specification No. 1098540. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A gun of the kind specified, which is capable of repairing faults in a patterned pile fabric. in which the barrel is pivoted to the casing for movement across the face of the fabric to be repaired and which includes a cam driven by the motor and operative during return strokes of the needle. to move the barrel about its pivot and thereby to cause the next loop formed by the needle to be displaced laterally in the fabric in relation to the previously formed loop.

2. A gun according to claim 1, in which the cam is formed with a plurality of dimples and which includes a spring loaded detent engageable with the dimples to retain the cam in the position to which it has been moved bv the motor.

3. A gun according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the cam is driven by the motor through a one-way clutch.

4. A gun according to anv one of the preceding claims. in which the advancing mechanism includes a pair of crawler belts operable by the motor through a one-way clutch.

5. A gun according to claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.