GB2165560A

GB2165560A - Tufted patterned carpet

Info

Publication number: GB2165560A
Application number: GB08525160A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Geoffrey Wilson Dewhirst
Original assignee: THOMSON SHEPHERD CARPETS LIMIT
Current assignee: THOMSON SHEPHERD CARPETS LIMIT
Priority date: 1984-10-13
Filing date: 1985-10-11
Publication date: 1986-04-16
Also published as: GB2165560B; GB8525160D0; DE3536546A1; GB8425937D0; BE903413A

Abstract

A machine for producing tufted carpet comprising a first plurality of needles selected needles of which can be controlled to produce long loops and a second plurality of needles, selected needles of which can be controlled to produce cut tufts. Unselected needles in both pluralities provide short loops. Thus carpet can be produced which has a pile of long loops, of cut tufts or having selected areas of long loop pile with other areas of cut tuft pile. The pile formation can be controlled so that its density is substantially uniform. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tufted patterned carpet This invention relates to tufted patterned carpet.

In a conventional tufting machine pile yarn is inserted by needles into a prewoven or spun bonded primary backing cloth. The loops of pile yarn created after penetration of the backing by the needles are merely held by a hook for loop pile construction or are held by a hook and while being so held are cut with a knife for cut pile construction.

A tufting machine known as the "Velvaloop" machine produces cut and loop pile at the same time. The machine has two rows 6f needles staggered in such a manner that the front row of needles cooperate with loop hooks to form loop piles and the rear row of needles form cut pile on a separate set of tufting parts. The plain fabric produced consists of alternate rows of loop pile and cut pile butthe stagger of the needles is such that each cut tuft appears to be surrounded by four loop tufts and each loop tuft is surrounded by four cut tufts.

Pattern attachments that vary the amount of pile yarn fed to the loop pile tufting needles can be used to create certain patterned effects. If a short amount of pile yarn is fed to a loop pile needle only a low loop can be produced and if this is programmed to appear in between two high cut tufts, an appearance of cut pile only in certain areas is created. In other areas cut and loop pile can be produced side by side.

When the pile yarn inserted by one row of needles is different to the colour of the yarn inserted by the other row a certain degree of patterning by way of colour is possible. In areas where only high cut pile is apparent a single colour only will appear whereas in the other areas where cut and loop pile are produced side by side both colours will be visible. It us evident, however, that the patterning that can be achieved in this way is limited. Moreover in the areas where both cut and loop pile are produced together the density of the pile is considerably increased. This is not always desirable.

The present invention has been made with these problems in mind.

According to the invention there is provided a carpettufting machine comprising meansforfor- warding a base fabric, a first plurality of needles, a second plurality of needles, means for reciprocating the needles for penetration of the base fabric so as to introduce pile yarn through one side of said base fabric and form loops on the other side of the base fabric, means for holding selected loops formed by one plurality of needles to form long pile loops, means for holding selected loops formed by the other plurality of needles to form long pile cut tufts, any unselected loops formed by the first and second pluralities of needles forming short pile loops.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the means for holding selected loops comprises a looper hook for each needle of the first plurality of needles and a looper hook for each needle of the second plurality of needles. Cutting means is provided with the hooks for one plurality of needles whereby the long pile loops are cut. Preferably the machine is operated so that when one plurality of needles is producing long cut pile and/or low loops the other plurality of needles is producing long loops and/or short pile loops, so that the pile density remains substantially the same.

It will be apparent that the patterning possibilities are virtually infinite. For example the carpet can have all loop pile, all apparent cut pile or a combination of different types of pile in predetermined areas of the carpet. If the pile yarn inserted by one plurality of needles is a different colour to the yarn inserted by the other plurality or selected needles in one or both pluralities of needles are provided with different colours, discrete areas of different colour can be produced.

The invention also provides a method of producing a tufted carpet comprising forwarding a base fabric, inserting pile yarn through one side of the base fabric by first and second pluralities of needles so as to form loops of pile yarn on the other side of the base fabric, holding selected loops formed by one plurality of needles to form the long pile loops, holding and cutting selected loops formed by the other pluralities of needles to form long pile cut tufts and forming short pile loops with unselected needles in both pluralities.

The invention also extends to carpet produced by the machine and method defined above.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the standard "Velvaloop" type tufting machine; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the standard cut pile tufting principle; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a standard loop/cut pile tufting principle; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a conventional patterned "Velvaloop" type carpet; and Figure 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a patterned carpet according to the invention.

Referring to the drawings in more detail, Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a standard "Velvaloop" tufting machine comprising a typical transverse needle bar 1 supporting a first plurality of needles 2 and a second plurality of needles 2a. All the needles carry pile yarn which for clarity has been omitted from Figure 1.

Carpet base fabric 13 is arranged to be moved by means not shown in the direction of arrow 13a past the needle bar 1.

The needle bar is adapted to be reciprocated by push rod 3 driven by means (not shown) whereby the needles are pushed through the base fabric and then withdrawn. The base fabric is advanced continuously as the needle bar is inserting tufts into the base fabric. As illustrated in Figure 1 the needle bar is in the bottom dead centre position with the needles extending through the base fabric.

The first plurality of needles 2 are for producing cut pile. When the needle bar 1 is at bottom dead centre a hook 4 engages with the loop of pile yarn created by penetration of the base fabric 13 by each needle 2 and is held by the hook until cut by knife 5.

Hook 4 is activated by a looper shaft 6 moving lever 7 through connecting link 8 acting on hook cut pile rocking lever 9.

The second plurality of needles 2a are for producing loop pile. When needle bar 1 is at bottom dead centre a hook 10 engages with the loop of pile yarn created by penetration of the base fabric 13 by needle 2a and moves off hook 10. As the base fabric is advanced through the tufting machine the loops are removed from the hook 10.

The hook 10 is supported in hook pile rocking lever 11 pivotallymontedon hook pivot shaft 12. As shown in Figure 1, both loop and cut rocking levers 11 and 9 pivot around the centre of hook pivot shaft 12. In addition both cut pile rocker lever 9 and loop pile rocker lever 11 are powered from hook shaft 6, but the cut pile hook rocker lever 9 is clamped to the hook pivot shaft 12 whereas the loop pile hook rocker lever 11 is mounted on free turning bearings on hook pivot shaft 12, so that the loop and cut hooks 4 and 10 will always move in opposite directions, and since they have a common drive, are timed to work in conjunction with each other.

Figure 2 shows in more detail cut pile tufting of the kind obtained from the above described machine. In operation the needle 2 penetrates base fabric 13 producing a loop 14 of pile yarn 25 which is picked up and held by hook 4 along with previously formed loops 14a and 14b. As the loops 14 move along the hook they are progressively cut by the knives 5.

The construction of the carpet produced by the known "Velvaloop" machine as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 is shown diagrammatically in Figure 4. The cut pile tufts produced by needles 2, hooks 4 and knives 5 are referenced 17 to 17g. The loop pile tufts produced by needles 2a and hooks 10 are referenced 19, 19a, 19b and 19c. Low loops can also be produced by needles 2a by reducing the amount of pile yarn fed to the needles.

These low loops are referenced 18, 18a, 18b and 18c.

It is clear from the drawing that the density is considerably greater where cut pile and loop pile occur side by side than is the case in areas where only cut pile and low loops are formed.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the cut pile hooks 4 are replaced by a loop/cut hook arrangement as shown in Figure 3 which comprises a hook 15 having a tension spring 16 mounted thereon.

In operation needle 2 penetrates the base fabric 13 producing a loop 17, which is picked up by hook 15.

The loop 17 is then pulled offthe hook 15 overcom- ing the tension of spring 16 due to the action of a pattern mechanism only feeding a short length of yarn for the loop being formed. Low loops 17a and 17b can be seen to have by-passed the cutting mechanism 5 due to programmed short yarn feed.

When the pattern mechanism is programmed to feed a long length of pile yarn for the loop being formed, the loop is retained on hook 15 until it is progressively cut by knife 5, producing in the finished carpet high cut pile tufts referenced in Figure 3 as loops 18, 18a and 18b. The variability of cut tufts and low loops is infinite.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a patterned carpet made using the above described apparatus.

The cut pile tufts produced by needles 2, hooks 15 and cutters 5 are referenced 20, 20a, 20b and 20c.

Low loop tufts from the same pile yarn are referenced 21 to 21c. The loop pile produced by needles 2a and hooks 10 are referenced 23 to 23c and low loops from the same pile yarn are referenced 22, 22a and 22b. As can be seen from Figure 5 the tuft density of the carpet is substantially uniform throughout.

Thus with the invention a carpet can be produced with programmable areas in all apparent high cut tufts and programmable areas with all apparent high loop tufts. Although not illustrated the invention can also provide areas with high cut tufts and high loops intermingled.

Claims

1. Acarpettufting machine comprising means for forwarding a base fabric, a first plurality of needles, a second plurality of needles, means for reciprocating the needles for penetration of the base fabric so as to introduce pile yarn through one side of said base fabric and form loops on the other side of the base fabric, means for holding selected loops formed by one plurality of needles to form long pile loops, means for holding selected loops formed by the other plurality of needles to form long pile cut tufts, any unselected loops formed by the first and second pluralities of needles forming short pile loops.

2. A carpet tufting machine as claimed in Claim 1, wherein means are provided for controlling the loops and cut tufts formed whereby the carpet is produced with substantially all loop pile.

3. A carpet tufting machine as claimed in Claim 1, wherein means are provided for controlling the loops and cut tufts whereby the carpet is produced with substantially all cut pile.

4. A carpet tufting machine as claimed in Claim 1, wherein means are provided for controlling the loops and cut tufts whereby the carpet is produced with predetermined areas with loop pile and the other areas with cut pile.

5. Acarpettufting machine as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein means are provided for controlling the loops and cut tufts formed by the needles so that the pile density of the carpet produced is substantially uniform.

6. A method of producing a tufted carpet comprising forwarding a base fabric, inserting pile yarn through one side of the base fabric by first and second pluralities of needles so as to form loops of pile yarn on the other side of the base fabric, holding selected loops formed by one plurality of needles to form long pile loops, holding and cutting selected loops formed by the other plurality of needles to form long pile cut tufts and forming short pile loops with unselected needles in both pluralities.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the formation of long pile loops by one plurality of needles is selected, and formation of short pile loops by the other plurality of needles is selected so that the carpet is produced with loop pile.

8. A method as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the formation of long pile cut tufts by one plurality of needles is selected and formation of short pile loops by the other plurality of needles is selected so that the carpet is produced with cut pile.

9. A method as claimed in Claim 6 wherein needles in each plurality are selected to produce areas in the carpet with loop pile and other areas in the carpet with cut pile.

10. A method as claimed in any of Claims 6 to 9 wherein the selection of needles to form long pile loops, long pile tufts and short pile loops is such that the pile density in the carpet is substantially uniform.

11. A carpet produced by the machine as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5 or by the method as claimed in any of Claims 6 to 10.