GB2246371A

GB2246371A - Apparatus and method for tufting patterned fabrics

Info

Publication number: GB2246371A
Application number: GB9114162A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Phillip Harold Crossley
Original assignee: Spencer Wright Industries Inc
Current assignee: Spencer Wright Industries Inc
Priority date: 1990-06-30
Filing date: 1991-07-01
Publication date: 1992-01-29
Also published as: DE4121712A1; GB9114162D0; GB9014635D0

Description

L _k APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TUFTING PATTERNED FABRIC

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to tufting machines and more particularly to tufting machines having apparatus for providing increased patterning versatility and to a method for producing 5 patterning effects in tufted pile fabric.

In the production of tufted fabrics a plurality of spaced yarn carrying needles extend transversely across the machine and are reciprocated cyclically to penetrate and insert loops of yarn into a backing material fed longitudinally beneath the needles. The loops are seized by loopers or hooks oscillating below the fabric in timed relationship with the needles as the loopers or hooks cross the needles just above the needle eye. In loop pile machines the loopers point in the direction in which the backing material is being fed, hold the seized loops while the needles are being retracted from the backing, and thereafter move away from the point of seizure to release the loop. In cut pile machines the hooks point in the direction opposite to the direction in which the backing material is being fed so the loops are fed onto the hooks and each hook cooperates with a respective oscillating knife. Since the loops are being fed toward the closed end of the hook they cannot be released except by being cut by the knife. As the hook rocks away from the point of loop seizure the knife - 2 rocks upwardly and cuts the loop. During each penetration of the backing material a row of pile is produced transversely across the backing material. Successive penetrations result in a longitudinal row of pile produced by each needle.

This basic method of tuf ting limits the aesthetic appearance of tufted fabrics so produced. Thus, the prior art has developed a number of procedures for creating various pattern effects.

One such procedure is to vary the amount of yarn fed to lo the individual needles selectively. By varying the amount of yarn fed to the individual needles high, and low loop can be produced selectively. Another procedure. for patterning in a tufting machine is to form spaced rows of cut pile and loop pile. A number of methods have been devised to perform this patterning, such methods being well documented in the patented art. In these methods cut and loop pile may be formed selectively in the same row of stitching. In Card et al U.S. Patent No. 3,919,953 there are adjacent rows of loopers and hooks, the loopers pointing in one direction and the hooks in the opposite direction so as to form alternate rows of cut pile and loop pile.

Another procedure for patterning is to initiate relative lateral movement between the backing material and the needles to laterally displace longitudinal rows of stitching. One method is to jog or shift the needle bar endwise or transversely across the tufting machine relative to the base material in a step-wise manner in accordance with a pattern. Again, the patented art is abound with disclosures relating thereto, and Ingram U.S. Patent No. 4,392,440 is exemplary thereof.

1 i i. i 1 i 1 i 1 1 1 i i X k The use of a single straight needle bar greatly constrains the versatility of a tufting machine thereby limiting the patterning capabilities. This versatility can be increased by using a laterally shiftable needle bar having staggered needles, i.e., a needle bar wherein adjacent needles are offset in the backing material feed direction. Staggered needle cut pile machines without a shiftable needle bar are illustrated in Crumbliss et al U.S. Patent No. 3,913,505 and Card U.S. Patent No. 4,003,321. When a shiftable or sliding needle bar is utilized with staggered needles a temporary crossing-over of adjacent yarns occurs thereby resulting in a greater variety of patterning effects. It is also known to use two separately slidable needle bars having straight or inline needlesf i.e., one row of needles in each bar, and also to separate the two rows of needles of a staggered needle bar configuration onto separate needle bars so that the two rows of needles can be moved independently of one another. This creates a much greater facility to cross one row of yarns and needles over the other row of yarns and needles to provide greater patterning effects.

When two inline slidable needle bars each having one row of needles is used with a bed having adjacent rows of loopers and hooks pointing oppositely such as the apparatus in the aforesaid Card et al U.S. Patent No. 3,919,953, and only certain needles on each bar are threaded, a limited number of straight geometric patterns including "boxy" patterns such as squares and rectangles may be formed.

It should be understood that the tufting art is constantly striving for the production of new and different attractive patterns. The great popularity of tufted broadloom carpeting - 4 4.

has, in fact, been due to the various patterning developments. At one time woven broadloom accounted for substantially all of the carpet produced, and due to the nature of that process the goods were expensive and affordable only to a relatively few. Today because of the developments in the tufting art, tufted broadloom accounts for approximately 95% of the market, and because of the faster production rates and lesser amounts of yarn required, tufted carpeting is readily available to the greater mass of the population. As more patterns become available as a result of the innovative efforts of those in the tufting art, tufted fabrics acquire a greater share of the market and provide more of the public with a greater choice of patterns. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Consequently, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide increased versatility and patterning capabilities of tufting machines beyond that obtainable from the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for producing patterned tufted fabric not heretofore produced by tufting apparatus.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a tufting machine having two needle bars wherein each needle bar is provided with two rows of needles. The needle bars are combined with two respective rows of hooks or loopers, the hooks and loopers being staggered in a simple or complex pattern, and the rows of needles on each bar being similarly staggered. Each needle bar is shiftable transversely so that the needles of one bar may cooperate with different loopers and the needles 1 X - 5 on the other bar may cooperate selectively with different hooks. By shifting the needle bars selectively by means of pattern cams or the like, patterns may be produced which may be. for example, simple alternation, or of groups of advanced or retracted members. e.g. twos. threest and singlest etc. with a long or short repeat length such that diagonal and chevron tYpe patterns may be produced.

The invention also provides a method of operating a tufting machine with two needle bars each having two rows of staggered needles comprising selectively crossing over periodically the needles of each needle bar, and of each row, and also provides a tufted fabric produced thereby. By altering the stagger patterns of the needles and hooks, in combination with selective needle bar shifting, new patterns may be produced not heretofore possible. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a tufting machine incorporating apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic end view of the tufting machine illustrating a double sliding needle bar construction with two staggered rows of needles in each bar and with a bed having loopers for cooperating with the needles in one bar and hooks for cooperating with the needles in the other bar; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of a double needle 7 - 6 bar having a simple arrangement of two staggered rows of needles in each bar; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of another double needle bar having a more complex patterned arrangement of two staggered 5 rows of needles than that illustrated in Fig. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawingsr there-is illustrated a portion of a tufting machine 10 having a frame comprising a base 12 and a head 14 disposed above the base. The base 12 includes a needle plate 16 having support fingers 17 over which backing material is adapted to be fed-by conventional means (not illustrated).

Mounted in the head 14 at both front and rear of the machine for vertical reciprocation within a respective one of a plurality of bushing a ssemblies 18 is a respective push rod 20 to the lower end of which a needle bar support foot 22 is carried. Each support foot has an inverted substantially U-shape configuration in end elevation with undercut flanges to form a slideway within which a slide plate 24 is slidably received. A front needle bar 26 is secured to the slide plates 24 at the front of the machine and a rear needle bar 27 is secured to the slide plates at the rear of the machine, each needle bar being slidable endwise relative to the respective slideways and reciprocatably driven vertically by the action of the push rods. The needle bar 26 carries a plurality of needles 28 and needles 29, the needles 28 being aligned along the length of the needle bar and the needles 29 also being aligned along the needle bar, but offset or staggered relative to the needles 28, while the needle bar 27 carries needles 1 j 1 i k - 7 30 and 31, the needles 30 being aligned and the needles 31 being aligned, but needles 31 being offset or staggered relative to the needles 30. The needles are adapted to penetrate the base material upon reciprocation of the needle bars to project loops of yarn therethrough as the push rods are reciprocated by conventional means (not illustrated).

The needles 28 and 29 cooperate with respective loopers 320 33, while the needles 30 and 31 cooperate with respective hooks 34, 35, the loopers and hooks being mounted in the base 12 for oscillation in timed relationship with the needles for seizing loops of yarn presented by the respective needles, the loopers moving forwardly as the hooks move rearwardly and vise versa. The free ends or bills of the loopers and hooks are such that adjacent hooks have offset staggered free ends to cooperate with the staggered needles of the respective needle bars 26, 27. The backing material is fed from the front to the rear of the machine so that the loopers 32, 33 release the seized loops to form loop pile and each of the hooks 34, 35 hold the seized loops until cut by a respective knife 36 cooperating with each of the hooks to form cut pile, as is notoriously well known in the tufting art.

Each needle bar 26, 27 is arranged to be displaced longitudinally or lengthwise of itself, i.e., transversely relative to the direction of backing material feed, by a cam drive arrangement or programmed means such as a hydraulic drive or the like, which are well known per se in the art. Thus, each needle bar 26, 27 may be driven selectively with controlled lateral movement by cam drive apparatus such as illustrated in Ingram U.S. Patent No. 4,465,001 or Bardsley U.S. Patent - 8 No. 4,662,291 or similar apparatus. To this end each needle bar 26, 27 may be provided with a number of upstanding plate members 36 which are straddled by a pair of rollers 37 pivotably mounted on mounting plates 38 secured to brackets (not illustrated) clamped to a pair of laterally extending slide rods 39. The slide rods are journalled in brackets 40 fixed to the head 14 of the machine above the needle bar. At each end of the machine there is a needle bar shifting apparatus. generally illustrated at 42. only one end of the machine being illustrated. The slide rods 39 are fastened to a clamping block 43 above the bed at the respective end of the machine and a drive rod 44 is secured to each clamping block 43 and extends through the respective end housing 46'of the tufting machine head 14 toward the respective shifting apparatus 42 and journalled in a respective end wall 48 for lateral movement.

Each shifting apparatus 42 is mounted on a frame comprising an end plate 50 secured to the adjacent end wall 48, a bottom plate member 52 and a vertically upstanding plate member 54 laterally extending relative to the tufting machine and secured to the plates 50 and 52. Each drive rod 44 journally extends through the respective end plate 50 and is clamped between a two-piece clamping block 56. Also clamped between the elements of the clamping block 56 in vertically spaced relationship are a pair of slide rods 60 and 62 similar to the rods 39. The rods 60, 62 are journalled within bearings in laterally spaced bearing blocks 64, 66, 68. the block 68 being intermediate the blocks 64 and 66. Another bearing block 70 intermediate block 66 and 68 has one bearing which journally supports the slide rod 62 which has a rod receiving arcuate 1 i i i i i 1 i 1 i upper end for receiving a circumferential portion of the other slide rod 60. Each of the bearing blocks 64-70 is secured by conventional means to the vertical plate member 54 so that the slide rods 60. 62 may accurately slide relatively to a rigid frame, the sliding being effected by means hereinafter described.

At the upper end of the block 70, a clamping member 72 Is disposed having an arcuate cut-out conforming to that of the slide rod 60 for receiving the remainder of the circumference of the slide rod 60, i.e., the portion not received within the top of the block 70. The clamping member 72 is tapped so as to threadily receive two bolts or the like which normally are disposed so that the member 72 is above the top of the block 70 to permit the rod 60 to slide. The rods 60 and 62 are tied together by the clamping block 56 and by two additional clamping blocks 76 and 78 which, as hereinafter described, carry the cam followers.

Mounted intermediate the bearing blocks 68 and 70 on the plate 54 on the reverse side of that from which the bearing blocks 64-70 extend, is a rotatable drive means having an output shaf t 80, the drive means being driven in timed relationship with the vertical reciprocation of the needle bar by conventional means from the main shaft (not illustrated) of the tufting machine, as is notoriously well known in the art.

The output shaft 80 extends through and is journalled in bearing means supported on the plate 54. The shaft projects intermediate and forwardly of the slide rods 60, 62 and carries an interchangeable pattern cam 82.

Each of the clamping blocks 76. 78 is a two piece member 1 - 10 like the block 56 having two members clamped together about the rods 60, 62. However, the blocks 76, 78 also have a respective follower carriers 84, 86 clamped between the members and secured thereto. At the end of the respective carrier 84,, 86 adjacent the cam, the carriers have a respective block 88, 90 on which are mounted respective bearings which Journally carry the respective follower 92i 94, the followers acting against the periphery of the cam 82 at substantially diametrically opposed locations. For further details of each cam driven shiftable needle bar drive reference may be had to the aforesaid Ingram Patent. As aforesaid, an electronically or mechanically programmed hydraulic, pneumatic or mechanical shifter may be utilized, the present invention merely requiring one such shifter for each needle bar.

With reference to Fig. 3, it may be seen that the needles of each needle bar are staggered in a simple alternating pattern, while in regard to Fig. 4, the needles are shown alternating in a more complex pattern, with a different pattern or array of needles in each bar, or with only certain of the needles being threaded. The needle bars may be constructed in such a way that the pattern of the stagger can be altered in setting up the machine for operation, and the invention is not limited to the particular configurations illustrated. When a machine is operated using two staggered rows of needles in conjunction with one row of staggered loopers and one row of staggered hooks aesthetic patterns of diagonals and/or chevrons may be produced in accordance with the invention and, as illustrated in Fig. 2, there is the added facility of introducing both cut pile and loop pile into the face of the Z1 1 i 1 1 i 1 i 1 z i k fabric. In this case, the rates of yarn fed to the front and rear staggered rows of needles may be adjusted such that the cut pile and loop pile sections of the fabric produced are either level with one another, or contour effects may also be produced by differential rates of yarn feed and back-robbing of the loop pile. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that loop pile could readily be produced at both staggered rows of needles by using two staggerpd rows of loopers working in unison. Application of the invention to all cut pile fabric has limitation in that the bulk of the cut pile hook and knife configuration creates a much larger separation of the two rows of needles, with attendant difficulty of access support for the backing material.

As aforesaid, the double needle bar arrangement, with two rows of needles on or associated with each needle bar, makes possible complex and interesting pattern effects, with crossing over of several different color and/or texture yarns being possible in an increased number of combinations. When the different color or texture yarns are threaded through the different rows of needles in the front and rear needle bars 26, 27 attractive fabrics have been produced. Additionally certain selective needles in each row may be threaded with different color or texture yarn to provide a large variety of patterns.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention.

12

Claims

Claims 1. A tufting machine comprising means for supporting
2 a backing

material for movement in a feeding direction through
3 the machine, front and rear needle bars adapted to reciprocate toward and away from said backing material, each of said needle bars carrying a plurality of spa.ced apart needles disposed 1 6 7 8 9 10 in front and rear spaced apart tows.extending transversely relative to said feeding direction, the needles in the front row being staggered relative to adjacent needles in the rear row in each needle bar, said needes being adapted for carrying yarn and for penetrating said backing as said needle bars reciprocate. a plurality of loopers having a free end pointing 12 in said feeding direction. each looper corresponding to at 13 least each needle in said front needle bar and disposed in 14 a staggered array with alternate loopers adapted to cooperate is 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 27 with and seize loops of yarn from needles in the front row and the remaining loopers adapted to cooperate with and seize loops of yarn from needles in the rear row of said front needle bar, a plurality of hooks having a free end pointing in a direction opposite said feeding direction, each hook corresponding to at least each needle in said rear needle bar and disposed in a staggered array with alternate hooks adapted to cooperate with. and seize loops of yarn from needles in the front row of said rear needle bar and the remaining hooks adapted to cooperate with and seize loops of yarn from needles in the rear row of said rear needle bar, a knife cooperating with each hook to cut loops of yarn on said hooks. and means for selectively shifting each needle bar transversely 1 i i
4 28 29 30 31 32 - 13 independently of the other needle bar so that needles in the front needle bar may selectively cooperate with different loopers and the needles in the rear needle bar may selectively cooperate with different hooks during successive needle penetrations of said backing.

2. A tufting machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein selected needles In each row of each needle bar are omitted.

1 3. A tufting machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein 2 adjacent loopers, have staggered free ends and adjacent hooks 3 have staggered free ends.

2 3 4 1 4. A method of forming tufted pile fabric, comprising feeding a backing material in one direction through a tufting machine from front to back; mounting thread carrying needles in front and rear spaced apart transverse rows in each of a front and rear needle bar; staggering the needles in each front row relative to the needles in the respective rear row of each 7 needle bar so that needles in each row in each needle bar are 8 transversely intermediate adjacent needles in the other row; seizing a loop of yarn by a looper from each needle in said 10 front needle bar and a loop of yarn by a hook from each needle 11 in said rear needle bar, each looper having a free end pointing 12 in said one direction, and each hook having a free end pointing 13 in a direction opposite said one direction; selectively shifting 14 each needle bar independently of the other needle bar transversely relative to said loopers and hooks; and cutting 16 the loops seized by said hooks.

1. ( - 14 3
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, including threading the needles in the front needle bar with a yarn of a first color, and threading the needles in the rear needle bar with a yarn of a second color.

1
6. The method as claimed in claim 4,, including threading 2 the needles in the front needle bar-with a yarn of-a first 3 color and threading selective needles in the rear needle bar 4 with a yarn of a second color, and threading the remaining 5 needles in the rear needle bar with a yarn of a third color.
7.

i i 1 I i p i i 1 1 i The method as claimed in claim 4, including threading 1 2 the needles in the rear needle bar with a yarn of a first color 3 and threading selective needles in the front needle bar with 4 a yarn of a second color, and threading the remaining needles in the front needle bar with a yarn of a third color.

1
8. The method as claimed in claim 4, including threading 2 selective needles in the front needle bar with yarn of a first 3 color and threading the remaining needles in the front needle 4 bar with a yarn of a second color; and threading selective 5 needles in the rear needle bar with a yarn of a third color 6 and threading the remaining needles in the rear needle bar 7 with a yarn of a fourth color.

1 i i 1 k 1
9. A tufting machine substantially as hereinbefore 2 described with reference to and as illustrated in the 3 accompanying drawings.

1
10. A method of forming tufted pile fabric substantially 2 as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying 3 drawings.

Published 1992 at The Patent Office. Concept House. Cardiff Road. Newport. Gwent NP9 I RH. Further copies may be obtained from Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point. Cwrtifelinfach. Cross Keys. Newport. NP I 7HZ. Printed kv Multiplex techniques lid. St Marv Cray. Kent -