YARN FEED MODULE FOR TUFTING MACHINE

• US 3,847,098 A
• Filed: 07/23/1973
• Issued: 11/12/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Wallace W. Hammel Jr
• Original Assignee: Wallace W. Hammel Jr
• Inventors: Hammel, Wallace W. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schroeder, Werner H.
• Application Number:
  US05/381,866
• Time in Patent Office: 477 Days
• Field of Search: 112/79A,79R,266,410
• US Class Current: 112/80.73
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/32 by altering the loop length

Abstract

A yarn feed mechanism for a tufting machine having a plurality of needles for tufting yarns through a moving base fabric. The feed mechanism includes a module supporting a yarn feed roll, rotary clutches and drive transmission, detachably secured to a drive housing for drive coupling with at least two drive shafts in order to selectively drive the feed roll at different speeds.

Claims

1. In a tufting machine having a plurality of reciprocal needles operative to stitch yarns through a base fabric, a yarn feed mechanism comprising:

a. a drive housing of substantial length having a front wall portion, b. at least two drive shafts rotatably mounted in said housing, c. a rotary drive coupling member driven by each of said drive shafts at a speed proportional to the speed of said corresponding drive shaft, d. a plurality of module frames, each module frame having front and rear end portions and a width substantially less than the length of said drive housing, e. a yarn feed roll rotatably mounted on each of said module frames, f. at least two rotary clutch members mounted on each of said module frames, g. means operatively coupling said rotary clutch members to said yarn feed roll for selective driving of said feed roll, h. means for selectively actuating only one clutch member at a time, i. at least two rotary driven coupling members mounted on the rear end portion of each of said module frames, each of said driven coupling members being adapted to register with and drivingly engage a corresponding drive coupling member, in operative position, and to drivingly disengage said drive coupling member in inoperative position, j. drive transmission means on each of said module frames drivingly connecting each of said driven coupling members to a corresponding clutch member, k. detachable securing means on each of said module frames for attaching the rear end portion of each of said module frames to the front wall portion of said drive housing for driving engagement of each of said driven coupling members with a corresponding drive coupling member, in operative position, and for detaching the rear end portion of said module frame from said front wall portion for driving disengagement of the driven coupling members on said module frame from said corresponding drive coupling members, in inoperative position, and l. means for driving each of said drive shafts at a different speed so that each of said rotary clutch members in a module frame is driven at a corresponding different speed.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the front wall portion of said drive housing has a slot therein aligned with said drive coupling member, the rear end portion of said module frame comprising a tongue portion supporting said driven coupling member and being adapted to be inserted through said slot, and means on said module frame for limiting the entry of said tongue portion into said slot to said operative position in which said drive coupling member and driven coupling member drivingly engage.

3. The invention according to claim 2 in which said means for limiting the entry of said tongue portion comprises a flange projecting laterally from said module frame spaced forward of the rear end of said frame and adapted to fit flush against said front wall portion in operative position.

4. The invention according to claim 1 in which each clutch member is an electromagnetic clutch, and said means for selectively actuating said clutch members comprises an electrical pattern control means electrically connected to said electromagnetic clutches.

5. The invention according to claim 1 in which the rotary axEs of said rotary clutch members are parallel to the rotary axis of said feed roll, and said feed roll and said clutch members are operatively coupled by intermeshing gears.

6. The invention according to claim 5 in which each of said drive transmission means comprises a driven sprocket coaxially fixed on said drive coupling member, a drive sprocket coaxially fixed on one of said rotary clutch members and a chain coupling said driven and drive sprockets.

7. The invention according to claim 5 in which said clutch members and said feed roll are in substantial alignment in a front-to-rear vertical plane on each of said module frames.

8. The invention according to claim 7 in which said module frame is substantially a planar frame member lying in a front-to-rear vertical plane, said clutch members and feed roll being mounted on one side of said frame member and said drive transmission means being mounted on the opposite side of said frame member.

9. The invention according to claim 1 in which each of said drive coupling members and driven coupling members is a gear, said corresponding drive and driven gears being adapted to drivingly intermesh in operative position.