System and method for forming patterned artificial/synthetic sports turf fabrics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10415169-B2
Application number	US-201715618613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2017
Priority date	May 13, 2013
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

A system and method for forming synthetic/artificial grass or turf products in which a series of tufts of artificial/synthetic grass filaments or yarns are formed in a backing material with various graphic pattern effects being formed therewith. The system generally will include at least one needle bar having at least one row of needles mounted along a tufting zone and reciprocated through the backing to a desired penetration depth, and will present a desired set or group of yarns to a series of pattern pixels or stitch areas. A series of level cut loop loopers or hooks will be aligned with and will engage the needles in order to form tufts of yarns in the backing material. Clips of the level cut loop loopers will be selectively controlled to control the retention of selected ones of the yarns presented at each pattern pixel. The remaining, non-selected yarns generally are not retained at the pattern pixels, and can be formed as lower pile tufts or removed from the backing material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming tufted articles, comprising:
reciprocating a series of needles into a backing moving therebeneath, wherein the needles are arranged in sets of needles threaded with one or more different colors of yarns;
presenting a series of yarns carried by the sets of needles to a plurality of stitch areas defined across the backing;
as the series of yarns are presented to each of the plurality of stitch areas, selectively activating clips of a series of level cut loop loopers moving toward engagement with the needles, in accordance with an LCL pattern profile to enable pick-up of selected yarns of the series of yarns presented at each stitch area for formation of tufts of the selected yarns at the plurality of stitch areas defined across the backing to form a pattern for the tufted article; and
controlling feeding of the yarns presented to each of the plurality of stitch areas by the needles in accordance with the LCL pattern profile so as to form the tufts of the selected yarns at a desired pile height and pull back non-selected yarns to an elevation below the tufts of the selected yarns sufficient to provide support for the tufts of the selected yarns while being substantially hidden from view between the tufts of the selected yarns formed by the level cut loop loopers.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising moving a series of loop pile loopers into engagement with the needles carrying the non-selected yarns, and picking up and forming loops of yarns with the loop pile loopers so as to form a series of loop pile tufts in the backing.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectively activating the series of clips of the level cut loop loopers comprises moving the clips to a blocking position along their level cut loop loopers to substantially prevent pickup of non-selected yarns thereby.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein reciprocating the needles into the backing comprises moving the needles through the backing to a depth sufficient to enable engagement of the needles by the level cut loop loopers at a first elevation, and by a series of loop pile loopers at a second elevation.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising forming the tufts of the selected yarns picked up by the level cut loopers at a first pile height, and picking up loops of the non-selected yarns from the needles with the loop pile loopers so as to form loop pile tufts of yarns in the backing at a second pile height.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the needles are mounted in a substantially in-line arrangement along at least one needle bar, and wherein each stitch area is defined approximately by a combined spacing between each of the needles of a needle group formed along the needle bar and associated therewith.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein each needle group comprises at least two needles spaced at a desired gauge spacing based upon the pattern of the tufted article being formed such that each stitch area comprises at least about two times the gauge spacing between the needles of its associated needle group.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the needles are mounted along a pair of needle bars.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shifting the needles by a distance less than a gauge spacing between the needles and sufficient to move tufts of yarns being formed in longitudinal tuft rows of the pattern at least partially out of alignment.

10. A tufting machine, comprising:
one or more needle bars having a series of needles mounted therealong, each needle carrying a yarn and having body including first and second pickup areas;
backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material beneath the needles;
a yarn feed mechanism for feeding the yarns to the needles;
a series of level cut loop loopers reciprocable into engagement with the needles along the first pickup areas thereof when the needles are reciprocated into the backing material for forming tufts of yarns in the backing material, each level cut loop looper comprising a body having a throat and a clip movable along the body between a non-engaging position and an engaging position; and
a series of additional gauge parts reciprocable into engagement with the second pickup areas of the needles when the needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form tufts of yarns in the backing material at a different pile height than the tufts of yarns formed by the level cut loop loopers;
wherein the needles are arranged in groups of needles threaded with a series of yarns, and as the needles are reciprocated into the backing material, the groups of needles present a desired number of yarns to each of a series of stitch areas for formation of tufts of selected ones of the yarns in the backing material, and
wherein the clips of the level cut loop loopers are controlled to enable pickup of the selected yarns of the yarns presented at each stitch area that are to be retained, while substantially retarding pickup by the level cut loop loopers of non-selected yarns of the yarns presented at each stitch area that are not to be retained, so as to selectively form tufts of yarns of varying pile heights and/or formation of loop and cut pile tufts of yarns in the backing material.

11. The tufting machine of claim 10 , further comprising a main drive shaft driving the reciprocating movement of the needle bar and a drive system for driving operation of the level cut loop loopers and the additional gauge parts.

12. The tufting machine of claim 11 , wherein the drive system comprises a servo motor driven independently from the main drive shaft of the tufting machine.

13. The tufting machine of claim 11 , wherein the drive system is linked to the main drive shaft and drives the upstream and downstream gauge parts in a Velv-a-Loop driving motion.

14. The tufting machine of claim 10 , further comprising a needle guide having a series of grooves through which the needles are at least partially received, wherein the needle guide provides support against deflection of the needles as the needles are reciprocated into and out of the backing material.

15. The tufting machine of claim 10 , wherein the additional gauge parts comprise a series of loop pile loopers arranged along an upstream side of the tufting machine and reciprocable into engagement with the needles carrying the other yarns of each needle group that are not picked up by the level cut loop loopers for forming a series of loop pile tufts in the backing.

16. A method of tufting patterned artificial turf, comprising:
reciprocating at least a series of needles into and out of a backing, wherein the needles are arranged in sets of spaced needles each carrying a yarn of a selected color or type;
presenting the yarns carried by the sets of needles to pattern pixel locations defined along and/or across the backing as the backing is fed through the tufting machine;
as the needles penetrate the backing and present the yarns carried thereby to the pattern pixel locations, reciprocating a series of level cut loop loopers toward engagement with the needles;
activating a series of clips of at least a portion of the level cut loop loopers to enable pick-up of selected ones of the yarns presented at each pattern pixel location for forming tufts of yarns in the backing, while substantially retarding pick-up of remaining ones of the yarns presented at each pattern pixel location by the level cut loop loopers; and
controlling feeding of the yarns presented at each pattern pixel location so that the tufts of the selected ones of the yarns are formed at a desired pile height, while the remaining ones of the

Assignees

• Card Monroe Corp

Inventors

• Hall Wilton
• Woodall Todd
• Mathews Ricky E

Classifications

• E01C13/08

  Surfaces simulating grass {; Grass-grown sports grounds (grass-like surfaces for skiing E01C13/12)} · CPC title

• D05C15/34

  by inserting loops of different nature or colour · CPC title

• D05C15/12 Primary

  in more than one row · CPC title

• D05C15/32

  by altering the loop length · CPC title

• D10B2505/202

  Artificial grass · CPC title