System and method for tufting sculptured and multiple pile height patterned articles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11136702-B2
Application number	US-201916459148-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2019
Priority date	Oct 1, 2015
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

A system and method for tufting sculptured and multiple pile height patterned articles, including controlling placement of yarns fed to the needles of the tufting machine by a yarn feed mechanism to form varying patterns includes a backing support over which the backing is fed, and which lifts/and biases the backing to a raised position. As the backing material is fed through the tufting machine, a series of loopers or hooks engage and pick loops of yarns from the needles. The yarn feed mechanism will be controlled to create a tension in selected loops of yarns, to cause the backing material to be pulled against the bias or spring force applied by the backing support toward the needle plate of the tufting machine to create tufts of different pile heights.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A tufting machine, comprising:
backing feed rolls feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine;
at least one needle bar with a series of needles mounted therealong, the needles carrying a series of yarns as the needles are reciprocated into and out of the backing material;
a series of gauge parts below the backing material and movable into engagement with the needles as the needles are reciprocated into the backing material to pick-up loops of yarns from the needles;
a backing support positioned along the tufting zone and over which the backing material is moved, the backing support having a resiliency and configured to support the backing material as the backing material moves through the tufting zone; and
a control system including programming for selectively controlling feeding of yarns of the series of yarns to at least a portion of the needles such that selected loops of yarns picked up from the needles by the gauge parts are tensioned to draw the backing material against the backing support sufficient to overcome the resiliency of the backing support and move the backing material downwardly toward the gauge parts for forming tufts of yarns in the backing material at varying pile heights.

2. The tufting machine of claim 1 , further comprising a shift mechanism for shifting at least some of the needles transversely across the backing material.

3. The tufting machine of claim 2 , further comprising a yarn feed mechanism for feeding the yarns to the needles.

4. The tufting machine of claim 3 , wherein the control system comprises programming for coordinating shifting of the needles by the shift mechanism and feeding of the backing material by the backing feed rolls, with control of the yarn feed mechanism for feeding the yarns to the needles so as to present a series of yarns to selected stitch locations along the backing material as the backing material is moved in accordance with a series of pattern steps to form loops of yarns in the backing material at an effective operative stitch rate wherein an increased number of stitches per inch are formed in the backing, with non-selected ones of the loops of yarns formed being pulled substantially low or out of the backing material while selected ones of the yarns presented are maintained at the selected stitch locations to form a pattern of tufts of yarns in the backing material.

5. The tufting machine of claim 3 and wherein the yarn feed mechanism comprises at least one of a scroll, roll, single end or double end yarn feed pattern attachment.

6. The tufting machine of claim 1 and wherein the gauge parts comprise level cut loop loopers, cut pile hooks, and/or combinations thereof.

7. The tufting machine of claim 1 , further comprising a needle plate having a series of fingers defining spaces therebetween; and wherein the backing support comprises a spring plate supported at a location spaced above the needle plate, the spring plate comprising a series of spring fingers extending at least partially over the needle plate and along a path of travel of the backing material.

8. The tufting machine of claim 1 , wherein the backing support further comprises a series of sections, each section including a spring plate having a series of spaced spring fingers against which the backing material is pulled as a result of the selected loops of yarns being tensioned.

9. The tufting machine of claim 8 , further comprising spacers supporting the spring plates at selected elevations above the gauge parts, and wherein the spacers are adjustably mounted so as to enable adjustment of the elevation of the spring fingers of the spring plates with respect to the needles.

10. A method of forming tufted patterns, comprising:
moving a backing along a path of travel over a backing support;
reciprocating a series of needles each carrying a yarn into and out of the backing;
with the needles penetrating the backing, engaging the needles with gauge parts and picking loops of yarns therefrom;
controlling feeding of yarns to selected needles to create tension in the yarns being fed to the selected needles, and controlling the tension so as to draw at least a portion of the backing against the backing support; and
as the tension in the yarns fed to the selected needles overcomes a resiliency of the backing support, drawing the backing and backing support downwardly such that the backing is moved toward a lowered position for forming tufts of yarns of varying pile heights therein.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein feeding the backing through the tufting machine comprises feeding the backing at an increased stitch rate approximately equivalent to a fabric stitch rate for the tufted article increased by a selected amount to form the pattern.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising presenting a desired number of yarns for insertion into the backing at selected stitch locations of the pattern being formed, and withholding selected yarns from such stitch locations, and wherein presenting a desired number of yarns comprises shifting at least some of the needles carrying the yarns transversely with respect to the feeding of the backing.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein controlling the feeding of the yarns to selected needles comprises controlling a yarn feed mechanism to control one or more selected yarns sufficient to draw loops of the one or more selected yarns substantially tight against a gauge part engaged by the loop of yarn to create the tension to overcome a resiliency of the backing support.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising cutting the loops of the one or more selected yarns to form cut pile tufts.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein engaging the needles with gauge parts comprises selectively activating one or more clips of level cut loop loopers to form loop and/or cut pile tufts.

16. A tufting machine, comprising:
one or more needle bars carrying a series of needles;
a yarn feed mechanism feeding a plurality of yarns to the needles;
backing feed rolls feeding a backing material along a path of travel below the needles and over a backing support, the backing support configured to support the backing material in an elevated position;
a series of level cut loop loopers arranged below the path of travel of the backing materials, each of the level cut loop loopers having a body comprising a shank, a throat having a bottom edge spaced above the shank and a clip moveable along the body between extended and retracted positions, the level cut loop loopers being moveable into engagement with the needles for picking up loops of yarns therefrom; and
a control system including programming for controlling the backing feed rolls and controlling the feeding of the yarns to the needles by the yarn feed mechanism to tension selected loops of yarns picked up by the level cut loop loopers sufficient to overcome a resilience of the backing support and urge the backing material toward a lower position for placement of variable pile height tufts of yarns in the backing material.

17. The tufting machine of claim 16 , wherein the bottom edge of the throat of each level cut loop looper is approximately 0.10″ above the shank thereof, and wherein each of the level cut loop loopers further comprises a hook or bill that extends downwardly from the throat approximately 0.04″-0.75″.

18. The tufting machine of claim 17 , wherein the backing support comprises a plate mounted along the path of travel of the backing material and having a resilience so as to bias the backing material toward its

Assignees

• Card Monroe Corp

Inventors

• Hall Wilton

Classifications

• D05C15/18 Primary

  Thread feeding or tensioning arrangements · CPC title

• D05C15/30

  by moving the tufting tools laterally · CPC title

• D05C15/34

  by inserting loops of different nature or colour · CPC title

• D05C15/145

  Needle plates · CPC title

• D05C15/32

  by altering the loop length · CPC title