US3415209A

US3415209A - Machine for making tufted carpets and like fabrics

Info

Publication number: US3415209A
Application number: US625425A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ellison Ronald; Pritchard John
Original assignee: Ellison Tufting Machinery Ltd
Current assignee: Ellison Tufting Machinery Ltd
Priority date: 1966-03-28
Filing date: 1967-03-23
Publication date: 1968-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 1985-12-10
Also published as: US3393653A; CH465751A; DE1685118A1; NL6704214A; GB1112595A

Description

DeC- 10, 1968 R. ELLIsoN ETAL 3,415,209

MACHINE FOR MAKING TUFTED CARPETS AND LIKE FABRICS Filed March 23, 196'? United States1 Patent O "ice MACHINE FOR MAKING TUFTED CARPETS AND LIKE FABRICS Ronald Ellison, Blackburn, and John Pritchard, Rishton, England, assignors to vEllison Tufting Machinery Limited, Blackburn, England, a corpora-` tion of Great Britain Filed Mar. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 625,425 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 28, 1966,

13,625/ 66 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A machine for producing a tufted fabric from a plurality of differently constituted yarns. The machine includes needles, means forreciprocating said needles through a backing fabric to effect loop formation, a supply of a plurality of yarns for each needle, control means for selecting a particular yarn and preenting it to its associated needle during loop formation, and means for severing said yarns after said loop formation.

Our invention relates to a machine for making patterned carpets and like fabrics, and has for its principal object the production of a machine for making a tufted fabric with a pattern in several colours or types of yarn.

Another object of the invention is the production of a tufting machine adapted to make a multi-coloured fabric having a supply of yarns for each needle, the said yarns being of different colours and being presented as selected by a pattern to the said needle by an arrangement of flexible tubes.

In one embodiment of our invention, we providev a table over which a length of backing fabric is drawn at a suitable speed. A row of hooked latch needles is provided below the table, withmeans for reciprocating the row so that the needles pierce the fabric. A row of loop catchers (loopers) is also provided, with means for cutting the apices of the loops if required.

Above the table a creel of yarn is located, the creel having a number of bobbins for each needle corresponding to the number of alternative colours to -be fed to the needle. A lyarn from each bobbin is fed through ,a nonreturn catch and a yarn tensioner to a flexible tube made for example of polyvinyl chloride (P.V.C.) the lower end of the tubes, with a short length of yarn protruding therefrom, being located above the associated needle. Means are provided for bringing the end of a particular tube, selected under control of a pattern, above the path of the needle. This can be eifected by fixing the tubes associated with each needle on a bar, and sliding the bar to and fro by a selecting mechanism. Finally a yarn gripper is provided for each needle, together with a yarn presser bar and a knife common to all the needles.

In operation the tube carrier bars are moved by their control mechanism to bring a selected colour yarn above each needle. The yarn grippers seize the selected yarns and bring them into the paths of the hooked latch needles, which are presed through the backing fabric. The needles hook the yarns, looping them by means of their latches through the fabric, and transfer the formed loops to the loopers which are advanced towards the needles for this purpose, After the production of one or more loops the presser bar is advanced to clamp the yarns against the back of the backing fabric, and the knife severs them.

During the next period a fresh selection of yarn colours is made, and the machine action is repeated.

Although the formation of one loop per needle has been described, more than one, all of one colour, may be 3,415,209 Patented Dec. v 10, `196,8

formed and transferred to a looper before yarn cutting is effected. The apices of the loops may be severed either singly orl after several have been, transferredlo4 the loopers.

Although ay colour patternedcarpet construction,has been described, it is obvious that yarns of different cl1'ar acter or denier may be used instead of different colours. The pattern control is preferably of an optical pickuptype, the pattern being drawn on one or more sheets or bands which are suitably illuminated, the sheets lbeing v passed before a row of pickup devices as photlo-trzfuisis;l

tors, the outputsl of which determine the colours ofthe yarns to beused for the various loops. I l' Reference shouldnow be made to theaccompanying drawing which shows anembodiment of our iiiventionj Referring to the figure, we provide a tablefl over whicli a length of backing fabric 2 is drawn in the direction of the arrow by driven rollers of normal type (not shown) Below the table 1 there is a row of latch needles one of which is shown at 3. The needles. are carried on a needle bar 4 which is .reciprocated in guides 5 by a driven link 6. The needles in their lowest position are situated with their points below the fabric, and in their highest position they are as shown in the drawing. There .is also a row of loopers 7 carried on a reciprocating bar 8, the bar being suitably moved in phase with the needle move-y ment by the spur gearing 9. In addition, there are a series of knives 10 carried'on a bar 11 which is also reciprocated in a nearly vertical direction in order to cut the yarn if necessary, as will be described later.

Above the table there is a Creel of yarn bobbins (not shown), with a number of bobbins for each needle corresponding to the number of alternative colours to be fedv to the needle. In the drawing, four yarns desirably of different colours are shown. A yarn 11 is fed from each bobbin through a non-return catch 12 combined withga matic pressure is applied to any of the cylinders, they are de-energised and the bar 14 is moved to an end position against a stop 20 by spring 33. In this position,'the endflexible tube 21 would be in a position above-the needle. As shown in the drawing, the cylinder 16 has been supplied with compressed air, so that the bar 14 is pushed one selection of the colour of yarn to be supplied to the needle at each stitch is determined .by a pattern which,

may be coloured, and there may 'be an optical pickup for each needle, the pickup controlling the supply of compressed air to the cylinders.

Above each needle is a yarn gripper 35. These grippers rotate on a shaft 25, and each gripper consists of two parts, 26 and 27, the two parts being movable relative to one another so that a yarn 11 can Ibe'gripped in the jaws 28, 29. This latter jaw terminates in a yarn guide 30. Finally there is a presser bar 31 including a foot, which is reciprocable in the direction shown vby the doubleheaded arrow near it, the presser bar being adapted to press against the fabric 2, and a yarn which is being drawn through it by the needle 3, whereupon the end of the yarn is severed by a knife 32 which is oscillated in a directio n normal to the plane of the drawing. The knife and presser foot are provided with recesses opposite each yarn path, so that when the foot advances, each yarn enters a recess, whereupon the Aknife bar is slid endwise severing the yarns.

The machine operates as follows. Assuming that all the parts are in a withdrawn condition, i.e. that the needles are below the fabric, the gripper mechanism is as shown with the grippers upwards, and the -bar 14 is against its rear stop; none or one of the

cylinders

16, 17 or 18 is supplied with compressed air under the control of the pattern, the cylinder selected being in accordance with the colour to be fed to the gripper. This moves the appropriate flexible tube 13 above its associated needle, whereupon the two jaws 28, 29 are closed together by a rotating mechanism at the end of the shaft 25 (not shown). This grips the end of the yarn protruding from the tube 22, whereupon the gripper mechanism rotates through about 180 to the position shown dotted in the drawing, pulling the end of the yarn past the hooked end of a needle 3, which has by this time risen through the fabric. The needle is actually located on the machine with its hook facing the gripper, but the hook is rotated through 90 in the drawing for clarity. The movement of the gripper mechanism now ceases, and the needle moves downwards drawing a loop of the yarn through the fabric. The end of the yarn which has been engaged by the gripper remains held, so that the yarn is drawn from its associated tube. Thereupon the presser foot 31 ad vances, holds the stitch or loop that is formed onto the base fabric, and the knife 'blade 32 is oscillated end-wise severing the yarn. Whilst the presser foot holds the formed loop in place, the looper 7 catches the yarn, and the knife severs the loop if this is required. Otherwise the loop remains so as to form an uncut pile fabric. Whilst the yarn is held by the presser foot, the gripper 27 releases its yarn end and once more rotates through 180 to the position shown in the drawing, the end of the yarn previously passing over the guide 30 being retained on the fabric 2 by the presser foot. The return of the presser foot to the position shown in full in the drawing completes the formation of a whole row of stitches, since there has been a similar operation carried on by all the other needles, of which there may be several hundred.

After withdrawal of the presser foot the fabric is drawn along in the direction of the arrow, presenting a new piece of backing fabric for the next row of stitches, the knife 10 and the looper 7 are returned to the position shown in drawing, and the cycle is repeated for the next row of stitches.

Although the invention has .been described in connection with the supply of various colours of yarn to a mechanism, it should be understood that diferent types or deniers of yarn may be used, so as to produce a pattern of varying texture rather than colour. Although the formation of one loop in the course of a needle stroke has been described, followed if necessary -by another loop of a different colour, it should be understood that several loops, all of one colour, are preferably formed in sequence and transferred to a looper before yarn cutting is effected, to ensure that the loops are secured in the backing fabric.

The apices of the loops may be severed either singly or after several have been transferred to the loopers. After the yarn loops have been drawn into the backing fabric, the back of this material is coated with an adhesive such as a rubber latex.

We claim:

1. In a machine for producing a tufted fabric from a backing and a plurality of differently constituted yarns, the combination comprising a plurality of needles, means for reciprocating the needles through the backing, a plurality of differently constituted yarns associated with each needle, a flexible guide tube for each said yarn through which said yarn passes, a slidably mounted bar carrying an end portion of each tube through which the yarn exits, means securing the tubes so that when the bar is moved the end portions of the tubes shift, pattern-controlled means for moving the bar to position the tubes so that a preselected yarn is presented to its associated needle, gripper means for carrying the preselected yarn from its tube to its needle when the needle is piercing the backing, the gripper means including a pair of gripper jaws, means rotating said jaws to a closed position to grip said preselected yam, rotating said jaws in common to a position to engage the yarn to the needle and rotating said jaws to free the preselected yarn after the needle has withdrawn through the backing and formed a loop on the backing.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein a bar mounts the needles in common, means reciprocates the needle bar, each needle includes a hook and a latch, each needle being moved by the bar reciprocating means from below the backing through the backing and returned to below the backing during the formation of a loop.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 further including a presser foot associated with the needles, a knife mounted on said presser foot, means for moving the foot to a position to press a portion of the preselected yarn against the backing after the formation of a loop, and means for moving the knife to sever the preselected yarn at a location between the backing and the tube through which the yarn passes.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 further including a looper associated with each needle, a bar mounting the loopers in common, and means lfor moving the bar during the formation of a loop so that the yarn loops are transferred `from the needles to the loopers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,828,702 4/1958 Hall 112-79.5 2,862,465 12/1958 Card 112-79.6 X 2,887,966 5/1959 Felton i12-79.5 3,247,814 4/1966 Polevitzky 112--79 FOREIGN PATENTS 919,904 2/ 1963 Great Britain.

HERBERT F. ROSS, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.