YARN COLOR PLACEMENT SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A tufting machine for forming patterned tufted articles including a number of different color yarns, comprising:
- at least one needle bar having a series of needles mounted therealong;
backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine;
a pattern yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns to said needles;
at least one needle bar shifter for shifting said at least one needle bar transversely across the tufting zone;
a series of gauge parts mounted below the tufting zone in a position to engage said needles of said at least one needle bar as said needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form tufts of yarns in the backing material; and
a control system for controlling said yarn feed mechanism in cooperation with said at least one needle bar shifter to control feeding of the yarns to said needles as needed to form high tufts of yarns and to pull selected ones of the yarns low or out of the backing material;
wherein the tufts of yarns are formed in the backing material at an increased effective process stitch rate based upon a desired stitch rate of the patterned tufted article multiplied by the number of different color yarns of the pattern to substantially maintain density of the patterned articles.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A yarn color placement system for a tufting machine including a series of different color yarns being fed to the needles of the tufting machine by yarn feed mechanisms. A backing material is fed through the tufting machine at an increased stitch rate as the needles are shifted according to the programmed pattern steps. A series of level cut loop loopers or hooks engage and pick loops of yarns from the needles, with the clips of the level cut loop loopers or hooks being selectively actuated to form cut pile tufts, while the remaining loops of yarns can be back-robbed so as to be hidden from view in the finished patterned tufted article.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A tufting machine for forming patterned tufted articles including a number of different color yarns, comprising:
-
at least one needle bar having a series of needles mounted therealong; backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine; a pattern yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns to said needles; at least one needle bar shifter for shifting said at least one needle bar transversely across the tufting zone; a series of gauge parts mounted below the tufting zone in a position to engage said needles of said at least one needle bar as said needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form tufts of yarns in the backing material; and a control system for controlling said yarn feed mechanism in cooperation with said at least one needle bar shifter to control feeding of the yarns to said needles as needed to form high tufts of yarns and to pull selected ones of the yarns low or out of the backing material; wherein the tufts of yarns are formed in the backing material at an increased effective process stitch rate based upon a desired stitch rate of the patterned tufted article multiplied by the number of different color yarns of the pattern to substantially maintain density of the patterned articles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of tufting patterned articles including tufts of multiple different color yarns, comprising:
-
feeding a backing material through a tufting machine at a prescribed stitch rate for the patterned tufted article; as the backing material is fed through the tufting machine, reciprocating a series of needles to deliver the yarns into the backing material; engaging the yarns delivered into the backing material by the needles with a series of gauge parts to pull loops of yarns from the needles for forming tufts of yarns in the backing material; shifting at least some of the needles transversely according to a shift profile of a pattern for the article; selectively controlling feeding of the yarns to the needles in accordance with the shift profile of the pattern for the article to form high tufts of yarns and to pull back loops of yarns as desired; wherein the tufts of yarns are formed in the backing material at an increased effective process stitch rate that is substantially equivalent to the prescribed stitch rate times the number of different colors formed in the pattern. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 27)
-
-
15. A method of operating a tufting machine to form patterned tufted articles having multiple colors, comprising:
-
feeding a backing material through the tufting machine; feeding a plurality of yarns to a series of needles carried by a shiftable needle bar; shifting the needle bar transversely according to a programmed shift profile for the pattern of the tufted article; controlling the feeding of the yarns to the needles in accordance with programmed pattern instructions so as to feed desired amounts of the yarns to the needles as needed to form rows of high and low tufts of yarns in the backing material; forming the tufts of yarns at an increased effective stitch rate determined by multiplying the number of colors being formed in the patterned tufted article by a desired fabric stitch rate that comprises a number of stitches per inch desired for the patterned tufted articles; and wherein the feeding of the yarns to form the high and low tufts tracks the shifting of the needles so as to substantially maintain density of the tufts of yarns being formed in the backing material in a direction of the rows of tufts and location of the high tufts of yarns at desired positions across the backing to form the patterned tufted articles. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification