US2192410A - Weaving tufted fabric - Google Patents

Description

March 5,1940. J MOORE ET AL wmvmc 'wmm FABRIC 5 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Dec. 27, 1957 pm an 1i Even T02 5;

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March 5, 1940. J, H. MOORE ET AL 2,192,410

' WEAVING TUFTED-FABRIC v Filed Dec. 27, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 5, 1940. J. H. MOORE ET AL WEAVING TUFTED FABRIC 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ma rch 5, 1940. J, MOORE ET AL 2,192,410

' WEAVING TUFTED FABRIC Filed Dec. 2'7, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 5' Patented Mar. 1940 f wnsvnsor TUFIED ranarc John Henry Moore, Methuen, Charles Edward Jewett, North Andover, and Boy Edwin Burdett, Lawrence, Mass assignors to Pacific Mills,

' Latzrence, Man, a corporation of Massachu- Application December 27, 1937, SeI'IalNo. 181,778

. Q 1 6- Claims. This invention relates to the production .of

tufted woven fabric and particularly to the cutting of the floating. threads on the fabric to permit their: formation into tufts or the like.

I In the production of ,a tufted woven fabric threads of a character intended to form the tufts are woven into thefabric with either the warp or the filling threads and are floated for a considerable distance on the surface of the fabric. The floating threads are then cut and given the proper finish to produce the desired tufted eflect.

Heretoforetheoperation of cutting the floating threadshas been separate from the. weaving process and difficult and expensive to perform because of the diiiiculty of severing the floating threads with the accuracy required. a An object of the present invention is to sever the floating threads as a part of the weaving operation.

A further object. of the invention is the. Provision of means associated with the loom which operates automatically to sever the floating threads after they have been incorporated in the fabric before the .fabric is wound ontothe take-up roll.

Whenthe floating threads are woven into" the fabric with the fllling threads the cutting of the floating threadsis accomplished by aseries of stationary knives which 'are disposed close to the upper face of the moving web and pass under the floating threads and thereby sever them by the movement of the web. When the floating threads are woven in with the warp threads the series of knives are periodically reciprocated to move under the floating threads to sever. them, the movement of the knives being effected under control of the pattern chain or the equivalent. Such constructions comprise further objects of the invention. g v

Ordinarily the woven fabric advances with each lay of a filling thread and when the floating threads are woven with the fllling threads there will be unwoven sections underlying the floating threads. Hence another object of the invention is in the provision of means for stopping the advance of the fabric during the laying of the floating threads so that the fabricis closed under the floating threads.

A further object of the invention is in the provision of stop mechanism for the take-up roll rendered operative to disable the take-up roll concurrently with the service positioning of. the floating thread shuttle and being operative to again start the take-up of the fabric concurrently with the moving of the floating thread shuttle out of service position.

A further object of the invention is generally to improve upon the weaving of tufted woven fabrics and mechanisms for severing the floating threads.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a loom embodying the present invention and wherein the floating I threads are woven in the fabric with the filler threads.

Fig. 2 is a detafl illustrating the mechanism controlling the operation oi the web take-up;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail taken generally along line 3-4 of Fig. 1, and illustrating the relative position ofa thread-cutting knife with respect to the breast beam and the take-up mechanism.

Fig, 4 is a plan view of a knife.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the knife of Fig. 3 and illustrating the manner in which threads are moved onto-the knife.

Fig. 6 is a plan detail of a section of fabric illustrating the severed floating threads.

Fig. 7 is a plan view partly broken away-of a loom wherein the floating threads are woven in the fabric with the warp threads.

Fig. 8 is a front end detail of the loom of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of a knife for severing the floating warp threads.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the knife 01' Figs. 8 and 9, and illustrating the manner in which the knife passes under and in contact with the floating threads.

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 through 5 the tuft-forming or floating threads are woven in the fabric with the fllling threads.

The loom for the purpose is more or less the usual loom having the harnesses l2 operated by the usual. Jack levers II which are reciprocated by the head mechanism I6 under control of the pattern chain IS. The loom is of the multiple shuttle tyn having the plural shuttles contained in a carrier 2 ll which is selectively raised and lowered to move the shuttles .into active position by a chain 22 controlled by a second pattern chain 24. The woven fabric passes over a breast beam 26 and around and between take- up rolls 28 and 30, see Figs. 1-, and 3, and is wound upon a winding shaft I2. r I

The aforesaid rolls 28, and 32 are driven by means including a worm gear 3,4 and a worm 36 fixed to a drive shaft 38 extended longitudinally of the machine at oneside thereof. The shaft 28 at the side end of the loom is connected through pinion gears 40 'with a short shaft havthey floatin ing a bevel gear 42 flxed thereon and driven through the take-up reversing mechanism which includes a pair of bevel gears 48 and to a sleeve 50slidable axially on but keyed for con- 51 has a pin 60 that is disposed under a shoulder 62 of the lower gear 48 whereby to .enable thesleeve to be raised to disengage thev upper sleevegear 46 from the bevel gear 42 and to bring the lower sleeve gear 48 .into engagement with said bevel gear to effect a reversal of'rnovement of the web in the usual manner.

When the floating threads are woven into the fabric withthe filling threads it is desirable to arrest the advance of the woven fabric during the introduction ofthe floatingthreads so that the fabric will present a woven appearance under the floating thread sections. For this purpose the floating thread preferably is contained in the lowermost shuttle and the position of the shuttle carrier is utilized to operate the reverse mechanism to render inoperative the take-up mechanism. g

For this purpose thelower end part of the sleeve 50 below the reversing arm 51 carries a collar 64, which has a projecting pin 66 engaged with. an arm 68, fixed to a rod 10 which is ver- ,tically and axially movable in guides I2 and so arranged that upwardmovement of the rod act- I ing through the pin 66 and collar 64 raises the sleeve 50 to disconnect the upper sleeve gear 46 from the gear 42, the movement, however, being insufficient to move the lower sleeve gear 48 into engagement with the gear 42. The rod at its upper end part has an arm I4 provided with a projecting pin I6 that overlies a laterally projecting roller I8 of a pivoted filling indicating lever connected through a strap 82 with the shuttle carrier chain 22. r The lever 00 thus rises I and the shaft I0 when the shuttle carrier is The floating flller threads 84, Figs. 1. a and 6.

span a considerable number of warp threads on the top face of the fabrics They also underlie a considerable number of warp threads; Preferably the underlying floating threads vare caught to the woven fabric, or interwoven with two or threewarp threads as indicated at 86, midway between the surface floating threads so as to anchor the, threads to the fabric after they are severed. The floating threads can be interwovenwith the fabric in'any desired pattern as determled by the setting of the pattern chain I8 to form a regular repeated pattern.

In accordance with the present invention mechanism is provided for automatically severing the floating threads accurately either in the middle thereof or in some other-location as determined by the-nature of the; tufts ordesign desired. The severing mechanism comprises ,a

bar 08 extended horizontally in front of and close to the vertical. pass of the web between the breastbeam 26 and the take-up roll 28, the bar being fixed at its ends in supporting. brackets attached to the breast beam beyond the selvage edges of the web.

"The bar 88 carries a plurality of cutter elements each'comprisin'g a feeler rod 92, see especially Figs. 4 and 5, which is inclined upwardly and rearwardly toward the fabric and is longitudinally adjustbly secured by a set screw 04 in a chordal passage in a collar or knife holder 96 slidably mounted on the bar 88 and fixed thereto in any angular and axial adjustment thereo. by a set screw 98. The feeler rod 92 is flattened at its forward end to provide a thin edge I00 and a fiat under-surface I02 whichrides upon or close to theface of the fabric. The-feeler rod behind the edge I00 is provided with an upstanding thin knife bl'ade I04 having a sharp inclined edge I06. With this arrangement as the web passes downwardly the floating threads 84 pass over the edge I00 and onto the feeler rod 92 and are raised into loop-formation-and move upwardly on the rod and onto the knife edge I06 by which they. are severed. Fig. 6 illustrates a section of the web with the severed floating threads 64. There are as many cutting elements as there are bunches of floating threads distributed crosswise of the'fabric. By properly positioning the cutting elements-lengthwise of the supporting bar 08 the bunches of floating threads can be severed accurately wherever desired.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 7 through 9, the floating threads are woven in the fabric with the warp threads, the floating threads being laid in with certain of the warp threads. That is to say, a floating thread is superposed over a regular warp thread so that the floating threads do not displace any warp threads. With ple shuttles may be employed where necessary to produce a desired pattern or character of woven fabric. Multiple shuttles, however, are not required to produce the tufted fabric. With this modification the arrangement of the floating sections of the floating threads can be anything desired as, for instance, the same as illustrated in Fig. l, where the floating sections are arranged in rows and the sections in one row are staggered with respect to the sections in the next row. The cutting mechanism for the floating [sections in this modification comprises a pair of parallel bars H0 and H2 disposed above the horizontal pass of the woven fabric on the breast beam I I4. Each bar carries a plurality of cutting elements. Each cutting element comprises a feeler rod II6 having a horizontal part H8 and. a vertical part or shank I20. The horizontal part rides upon or close to the exposed face of the fabric and has a tapered end face I22 terminated in an edge I 24 which can pass under the floating sections I26.- A thin knife blade I26 arsenic is flxed to the feeler rod and has an inclined cutting edge I30 merging into the inclined face I22 of the feeler rod. In this modification, since the floating threads lie parallel with the direction of movement of the fabric, the cutter mechanism,

is adapted to be reciprocate'd at right angles to the line of fabric movement to sever the floating threads. Thus the horizontal section of the feeler rod is moved under the floating threads which raises them into loop form' and carries them onto the knife where they are severed.

The vertical part or shank I of the feeler rod is secured in a vertically and angularly adjustable manner by a set screw I32 in a chordal passage of a supporting collar I84 which is angularly adjustable and axially movable on one or another of the bars IIII, I I2 and is clamped in any adiustedposition on the bar by the set screw I 36. The bars are provided with as many cutter elements as there are floating sections to the I46 and serve to guide the cutter elements for reciprocating movement.

The cutter elements are reciprocated in timed relation to the web movement by means of a bell crank lever I48 pivoted at I50 to the frame and having one arm connected through a link I52 with an end frame I40. The other arm of the bell crank lever is connected through a safety spring I 54 with a flexible strap or cable I 56 which passes'around sheaves I58 and ISO and is connected to a jack lever I62, the reciprocation of which is under control of a pattern chain I65.

The pattern chain is provided with a pair of projecting studs I88 and I88 of which the stud I66 effects the reciprocation of the jack lever in a direction to sever the floating strands and the stud I68 acts to hold the cutting elements for a short time in their forward cutting position to more perfectly execute the complete cut ting of the floating strands. i'he' jack lever moves automatically to its initial position-when free from control by the studs. A tensile spring I'III connected with the end frames I42 and with a stationary part of the loom serves to effect the retraction of the cutting elements.

With both mechanisms above described the floating sections may be cut capable of being ric which includes the steps of weaving the fab-' ric with floating filler threads interposed between the regular fllling threads, stopping the take-up of the fabric during the introduction of the floating threads, and severing the floating sections of the floating threads during the weaving operation.

2. The process of producing. tufted woven fabric which includes the steps of weaving the fabric with warp and flller threads, at times inserting a plurality of floating threads between consecutive filling threads, interweaving the floating threads with selected warp threads while the fabric is stationary to bunch the floating threads, and severing the floating sections of the floating threads during the progress of weaving.

3. In a loom for weaving tufted fabric comprising fabric take-up mechanism, a plurality of shuttles one containing a floating thread, means responsive to the service position of the floating thread shuttle for stopping the operation of said take-up mechanism, means for weaving the float.- ing thread into the fabric to form floating thread sections on a face thereof while the take-up mechanism is inoperative, and a plurality of cutter elements confronting a face of the woven fabric adapted to be engaged by the floating .thread sections to out said sections as the fabric advances.

4. In a loom for weaving tufted fabric, a fabric take-up mechanism, reversing mechanism for the take-up mechanism, a plurality of shuttles one containing a floating thread, means for weaving the floating thread into the fabric to form floating sections on a face thereof, means responsive to the service positioning of said floating thread shuttle for conditioning said reversing mechanism to stop the operation of said take-up mechanism, and cutter elements located over the woven fabric for cutting the floating thread sections.

5. In a loom for weaving tufted fabric, take-up mechanism for the woven' fabric, reversing mechanism for the take-up mechanism, a reversing arm for controlling said reversing mechanism, a plurality of shuttles one containing a" floating thread, means for weaving the floating thread into the fabric to form floating sections on one face of the fabric, means responsive to the active position of the floating thread shuttle for effecting operation of said reversing mechanism indeshuttles one containing a, floating thread, means shuttle chain movable to position the shuttles.

into active and inactive positions, means responsive to the movement of said chain into a position rendering said filling thread shuttle active to effect control of said reversing mechanism to stop said take-up mechanism, and'cutter elements located over the wovenfabric for cutting the floating thread sections.

JOHN Y MOORE.

CES EDWARD EOY EDWIN BURDETI.

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