Yarn Color Placement System
First Claim
1. A tufting machine for forming tufted articles having a pattern with a desired stitch rate and including tufts of yarns, the yarns including at least a first yarn and a second yam, the machine comprising:
- at least one needle bar having needles;
backing feed rolls supplying a backing material to the tufting machine;
a pattern yarn feed mechanism feeding the yarns to the needles;
at least one needle bar shifter for shifting the at least one needle bar;
gauge parts below the needles;
the gauge parts positioned to engage the needles of the at least one needle bar as the needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form loops of the first yarns and the second yarns in the backing material; and
a control system controlling the feeding of the backing material at an effective stitch rate that is greater than the desired stitch rate for the pattern and controlling the pattern yarn feed mechanism and the at least one needle bar shifter to control feeding of the yarns to the needles as the needles are reciprocated into and out of the backing material and shifted to place loops of the first yarns and the second yarns in the backing material and retain loops of selected yarns, chosen from the first yarns and the second yarns, to form tufts of the first yarns and the second yarns at a desired pile height, and to pull non-selected yarns substantially out of the backing material, to form fields of tufts of the selected first yarns and second yarns in the backing material with a number of tufts per inch of the tufts of the selected first yarns and second yarns retained in the backing material approximately equal to the desired stitch rate.
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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.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A tufting machine for forming tufted articles having a pattern with a desired stitch rate and including tufts of yarns, the yarns including at least a first yarn and a second yam, the machine comprising:
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at least one needle bar having needles; backing feed rolls supplying a backing material to the tufting machine; a pattern yarn feed mechanism feeding the yarns to the needles; at least one needle bar shifter for shifting the at least one needle bar; gauge parts below the needles;
the gauge parts positioned to engage the needles of the at least one needle bar as the needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form loops of the first yarns and the second yarns in the backing material; anda control system controlling the feeding of the backing material at an effective stitch rate that is greater than the desired stitch rate for the pattern and controlling the pattern yarn feed mechanism and the at least one needle bar shifter to control feeding of the yarns to the needles as the needles are reciprocated into and out of the backing material and shifted to place loops of the first yarns and the second yarns in the backing material and retain loops of selected yarns, chosen from the first yarns and the second yarns, to form tufts of the first yarns and the second yarns at a desired pile height, and to pull non-selected yarns substantially out of the backing material, to form fields of tufts of the selected first yarns and second yarns in the backing material with a number of tufts per inch of the tufts of the selected first yarns and second yarns retained in the backing material approximately equal to the desired stitch rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of tufting an article including tufts of a number of different color yarns arranged in a pattern having a desired stitch rate, the method comprising:
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feeding a backing material through a tufting machine at an effective stitch rate that is increased over the desired stitch rate of the pattern; reciprocating a plurality of needles to deliver the yarns into the backing material to form loops of the yarns; shifting at least some of the plurality of needles according to a shift profile of the pattern; and controlling feeding of the yarns to the plurality of needles as the plurality of needles are shifted and are reciprocated into and out of the backing material to form the yarn loops at varying pile heights, wherein controlling the feeding includes removing at least some of the yarn loops delivered into the backing material to form pattern fields of tufts of selected yarns; repeating the feeding, the reciprocating, the shifting, and the controlling for successive stitches of the pattern to form the pattern of the tufted article with a sufficient density of tufts per inch of yarns of one or more colors that are to be visible in a selected field of the pattern approximately equivalent to the desired stitch rate of the pattern to substantially hide yarns not to be shown in the selected pattern field and to avoid gaps in the pattern field. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A tufting machine for forming tufted carpets having a pattern with a desired stitch rate and including tufts of yarns of different colors, the tufting machine comprising:
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at least one needle bar having needles; backing feed rolls supplying a backing material to the tufting machine; a pattern yarn feed mechanism feeding the yarns to the needles; at least one needle bar shifter for shifting the at least one needle bar; a plurality of level cut loop loopers reciprocable into engagement with the needles of the at least one needle bar as the needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form loops of the first yarns and the second yarns in the backing material, each of the level cut loop loopers having a clip moveable between extended and retracted positions; and a control system controlling the feeding of the backing material at an increased stitch rate that is greater than the desired stitch rate for the pattern and controlling the pattern yarn feed mechanism and the at least one needle bar shifter to control shifting of the needles and feeding of the yarns to the needles as the needles are reciprocated into and out of the backing material to place loops of the first yarn and the second yarn in the backing material and retain loops of yarns to form tufts of the selected yarns at a desired pile height and to pull non-selected yarns substantially out of the backing material, with a density of tufts per inch of the selected yarns retained in the backing material sufficient to substantially hide non-selected ones of the first yarn and second yarn and to substantially avoid gaps appearing within color fields of the pattern; and
,wherein the control system moves the clips of selected level cut loop loopers between extended and retracted positions for forming loop pile and cut pile tufts. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification