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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11214905-B2
Application number	US-201916562588-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2019
Priority date	May 13, 2013
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

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:
feeding a backing along a path of travel;
reciprocating a series of needles into the backing as the backing moves therebeneath, wherein the needles are arranged in needle groups and are threaded with at least two different colors of yarns;
shifting at least some of the needles transversely across the backing to present a series of yarns carried by the needles to a plurality of stitch areas defined across the backing;
selectively activating clips of a series of level cut loop loopers in accordance with an LCL pattern profile to enable pick-up of selected yarns of the series of yarns presented at each stitch area and forming tufts of the selected yarns at each stitch area defined across the backing; and
controlling feeding of the yarns presented to each of the stitch areas to form the tufts of the selected yarns with a desired pile height and to selectively pull back non-selected yarns below the tufts of the selected yarns and to a pile height sufficient to provide support for the tufts of the selected yarns while being substantially hidden from view between the tufts of the selected yarns.

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 a series of loop pile tufts in the backing.

3. 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.

4. The method of claim 3 , 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 to form loop pile tufts of yarns at a second pile height.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the needles are mounted along at least one needle bar, arranged in needle groups comprising two or more needles spaced at a desired gauge spacing based upon the pattern of the tufted article being formed, and wherein each stitch area is defined approximately by a combined spacing between each of the needles of a needle group associated therewith.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the needles are mounted along a pair of needle bars, arranged in the needle groups each comprising two or more needles spaced at a desired gauge spacing based upon the pattern being formed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further wherein shifting at least some of the needles comprises shifting the needles by a distance less than a gauge spacing between the needles.

8. A tufting machine, comprising:
a series of needles arranged in needle groups, with each needle comprising a body having first and second pickup areas therealong;
backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material beneath the needles;
a yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns to the needles;
a series of level cut loop loopers reciprocable into engagement with the needles along the first pickup areas thereof forming tufts of yarns in the backing material, each level cut loop looper comprising a clip movable between a non-engaging position and an engaging position to enable pickup of selected yarns that are to be retained by the level cut loop loopers, while substantially retarding pickup by the level cut loop loopers of non-selected yarns, to selectively form tufts of yarn of varying pile heights and/or to form loop and cut pile tufts in the backing material; and
a series of additional gauge parts reciprocable into engagement with the second pickup areas of the needles 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; and
at least one shift mechanism for shifting at least some of the needle groups transversely across the backing material to present a plurality of yarns to each of a series of stitch areas for formation of tufts of the selected yarns in the backing material.

9. The tufting machine of claim 8 , further comprising a main drive shaft driving the reciprocating movement of the needles and a drive system for driving operation of the level cut loop loopers and the additional gauge parts.

10. The tufting machine of claim 9 , wherein the drive system comprises a servo motor driven independently from the main drive shaft of the tufting machine.

11. The tufting machine of claim 9 , 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.

12. The tufting machine of claim 8 , 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 to pick-up the 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.

13. A method of tufting artificial turf, comprising:
reciprocating a series of needles into and out of a backing, wherein the needles are arranged in sets of needles, each needle carrying a yarn of a selected color or type;
presenting the yarns carried by the sets of needles to a series pattern pixel locations defined along and/or across the backing as the backing is fed through the tufting machine;
reciprocating a series of level cut loop loopers toward engagement with the needles;
activating clips of at least some of the level cut loop loopers to enable pick-up of selected yarns presented at each pattern pixel location by the level cut loop loopers for forming tufts of the selected yarns in the backing, while substantially retarding pick-up of non-selected yarns presented 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 non-selected yarns presented and not picked up by the level cut loop loopers are pulled back to a height below the tufts of the selected yarns formed in the backing by the level cut loop loopers.

14. The method of claim 13 , 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.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising reciprocating a series of loop pile loopers into engagement with the needles 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 the non-selected yarns in the backing; and wherein controlling feeding of the yarns further comprises pulling back at least some of the loops of the non-selected yarns to form loop pile tufts of a pile height selected to provide support to the tufts of yarns formed by the level cut loop loopers.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sets of needles are mounted in a substantially in-line arrangement one or more needle bars, and wherein each pattern pixel location is approximately defined by a combined spacing between each of the needles of each set of needles presenting its yarns to an associated pattern pixel location; wherein each set of needles comprises at least two needles, and wherein the needles of each set of needles are arranged at a desired gauge spacing based upon the pattern of the t

Assignees

• Card Monroe Corp

Inventors

• Hall Wilton
• Woodall Todd
• Mathews Ricky E

Classifications

• D10B2505/202

  Artificial grass · CPC title

• E01C13/08

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

• D05C15/36

  by selective cutting of loops · CPC title

• D05C15/32

  by altering the loop length · CPC title

• D05C15/34

  by inserting loops of different nature or colour · CPC title