Computer controlled tufting machine and a process of controlling the parameters of operation of a tufting machine

• US 4,981,091 A
• Filed: 08/01/1989
• Issued: 01/01/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Card-Monroe Corporation
• Original Assignee: Card-Monroe Corporation
• Inventors: Taylor, Brooks E., Card, Roy T., Neely, Marshall A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schroeder, Werner H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Calvert, John J.
• Application Number:
  US07/388,604
• Time in Patent Office: 518 Days
• Field of Search: 66/210, 112/80.23, 112/80.32, 112/80.73, 112/121.11, 112/266.2
• US Class Current: 112/80.32
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/145 Needle plates
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/26 with provision for producing patterns
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/32 by altering the loop length
• CPC Class Codes: D05D 2205/085 combined with a display arrangement, e.g. touch sensitive control panel
• CPC Class Codes: D05D 2205/18 Screens

Abstract

A tufting machine is provided with separate motors which drive the main drive shaft, control the feed of the backing material and control the bedrail height. A computer is electrically connected to these motors and to the yarn feed controls. The software indicates patterns to be produced, informing the computer to control the number of stitches per inch of backing, the weight of face yarn per square yard, the pile height, the amount of yarn fed to the needles and the linear length of carpeting produced. The computer also dictates the schedule by which prescribed lengths of additional patterns are produced by the tufting machine and can control a number of such tufting machines. When the pile height is to be changed, the computer automatically controls the main motors for rocking the main shaft, to reciprocate the needles while controlling the yarn feed controls and the motor to the bedrail.

Claims

1. A tufting machine having a needle bar carrying a plurality of needles, a bedrail backing feed means for moving backing material across said bedrail, and means for reciprocating said needle bar to drive said needles into and out of the backing material for inserting yarns carried by said needles into said backing material for producing loops of said yarns therein, the improvement comprising:

(a) a bedrail control motor connected to said bedrail for moving said bedrail up and down; and

(b) control means coupled to said bedrail control motor for controlling the operation of said bedrail control motor.

2. The tufting machine defined in claim 1 for feeding a backing material across said bedrail, said motor means being connected to said control means, said control means simultaneously controlling said motor means and said control motor for rocking said backing material back and forth as said control motor changes the position of said bedrail.

3. Process for automatically adjusting the pile height of a cut pile machine of the type having feed rolls which feed a backing material across a bedrail and a plurality of needles reciprocated for inserting yarns from one side through the backing material for producing successive loops in the backing material on the other side of said backing material, and wherein loopers catch and hold the loops and knives cut the held loops, the steps of:

(a) disposing a motor in operative relationship to said bedrail for raising and lowering said bedrail;

(b) disposing motor means in operative relationship to said feed rolls for driving said backing material in one direction or the other across said bedrail; and

(c) simultaneously operating said motor and said motor means for raising said bedrail and for rocking said loops back and forth so as to retard breaking of said loopers as said backing material is lifted by said bedrail.

4. A tufting machine assembly for automatically altering the stitch rate of a tufting machine of the type having a plurality of needles for inserting yarns carried by the needles through a backing material as said backing material is progressively fed through said tufting machine and across the path of reciprocation of said needles so that said needles respectively produce successive tufts in successive transverse portions of said backing material, comprising:

(a) variable drive means for moving the backing material at prescribed rates of travel;

(b) control means for controlling said drive means;

(c) means for detecting and transmitting the rate of reciprocation of said needles to said control means; and

(d) means connected to said control means for causing said control means to alter the rate at which said backing material is fed to thereby alter the stitch rate at which successive tufts are produced by said needles per prescribed longitudinal length of backing material which passes through the path of reciprocation of said needles.

5. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 4 wherein said control means includes a computer and software means for establishing the rate of feed of said backing material for achieving a preselected stitch rate.

6. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 5 wherein said computer detects the linear length of tufting which has been produced, at a prescribed stitch rate and input means for said computer for directing said computer to change the stitch rate after a prescribed linear length of backing material has been produced at a prescribed stitch rate.

7. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 4 wherein said control means includes a computer and means for detecting and feeding to the computer signals indicating the linear length of backing material which has been produced at a prescribed stitch rate, and means for changing the stitch rate after a prescribed linear length of backing material has passed across the path of reciprocation of said needles.

8. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 4 including a bedrail for prescribing the depth of travel of said needles through said backing material for each cycle of reciprocation of said needles and means connected to said control means for automatically altering the position of said bedrail so as to alter the pile height of said tufts.

9. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 8 wherein said last mentioned means includes a stepping motor controlled by said control means and means connected to said control means for dictating the extent of alteration of the position of said bedrail.

10. The tufting machine assembly defined in claim 4 including an on off switch means controlled by said control means for actuating said switch.

14. The tufting machine defined in claim 4 wherein said encoding means is an incremental encoder which indicates the incremental speed of rotation of said main drive shaft.

11. A tufting machine assembly of the type having a main drive shaft for reciprocating a needle bar carrying a plurality of needles for inserting yarns carried by the needles through a backing material as the backing material is progressively fed through the tufting machine and across the path of reciprocation of said needles and so that said needles produce tufts in said backing material, and a yarn feed means for supplying prescribed lengths of yarn to said needles, the improvement comprising:

(a) a yarn feed motor for controlling the operation of said yarn feed means;

(b) a computer means coupled to said yarn feed motor for controlling the speed of operation of said yarn feed motor;

(c) encoder means operatively coupled to said main shaft for generating signals indicative of the speed of rotation of said main shaft; and

(d) means coupling said encoding means to said computing means and to said yarn feed motor for utilizing said signals in setting speed ratios at which said yarn feed motor is driven in relationship to the speed of rotation of said main shaft.

12. The tufting machine defined in claim 11 including an indexer for altering the speed at which said yarn feed motor is driven in relationship to the speed of rotation of said main shaft in response to said computer.

13. The tufting machine defined in claim 11 wherein said computing means further comprises an operation interface for inputting, storing and retrieving parameters for said speed ratios.

15. The tufting machine defined in claim 11 including an indexer and wherein said computer means loads said indexer with ratio information for prescribing the ratio of rotation of said yarn feed motor with respect to the rotation of said main shaft.

16. The tufting machine defined in claim 15 including gear reducers between said main shaft and said yarn feed means and wherein said ratio information is fed to said gear reducers to control the ratio between the revolutions of said main shaft and the fractions of revolutions of said yarn feed means.

17. The tufting machine defined in claim 12 wherein said encoder sends signals to said indexer for every rotation of said main shaft.

18. The tufting machine defined in claim 12 wherein said indexer comprises an electronically erasable, programmable, read-only memory.

19. The tufting machine defined in claim 15 wherein said signals from said encoder means are fed to said indexer and wherein said yarn feed motor is a servomotor and said indexer sends a pulse stream to said servomotor.

20. The tufting machine defined in claim 19 wherein each of said pulses of said pulse stream from said indexer is translated into steps on said servomotor.

21. A tufting machine assembly of the type having a main drive shaft for reciprocating a needle bar carrying a plurality of needles for inserting yarns carried by the needles through a backing material as the backing material is progressively fed by backing feed means through the tufting machine and across the path of reciprocation of said needles and so that said needles produce tufts in said backing material, the improvement comprising:

(a) a feed means motor for controlling the operation of said feed means;

(b) a computer means coupled to said feed means motor for controlling the speed of operation of said feed motor;

(c) encoder means operatively connected to said main shaft for generating signals indicative of the speed of rotation of said main shaft; and

(d) means coupling said encoding means to said computing means and to said yarn feed motor for utilizing said signals for setting the speed ratio at which said yarn feed motor is driven in relationship to the speed of rotation of said main shaft.

22. The tufting machine defined in claim 21 including an indexer for altering the speed at which said feed motor is driven in relationship to the speed of rotation of said main shaft.

23. The tufting machine defined in claim 21 wherein said computing means further comprises an operation interface for inputting, storing and retrieving parameters for the operation of said machine.

24. The tufting machine defined in claim 21 wherein said encoding means is an incremental encoder which indicates to said computer the incremental speed of rotation of said main drive shaft.

25. The tufting machine defined in claim 21 including an indexer and wherein said computer means loads said indexer with ratio information for prescribing the ratio of rotation of said yarn feed motor with respect to the rotation of said main shaft.

26. The tufting machine defined in claim 25 including gear reducers between said main shaft and said feed roll and wherein said ratio information is fed to said gear reducers to control the ratio between the revolutions of said main shaft and the revolutions of said feed roll.

27. The tufting machine defined in claim 22 wherein said encoder sends signals to said indexer for every rotation of said main shaft.

28. The tufting machine defined in claim 22 wherein said indexer comprises an electronically erasable, programmable, read-only memory.

29. The tufting machine defined in claim 25 wherein said signals from said encoder means are fed to said indexer and wherein said yarn feed motor is a servomotor and said indexer sends a pulse stream to said servomotor.

30. The tufting machine defined in claim 29 wherein each of said pulses of said pulse stream from said indexer is translated into steps on said servomotor.

31. Process for automatically adjusting the stitch rate of a tufting machine of the type in which a main drive shaft reciprocates a needle bar carrying a plurality of needles for inserting yarns carried by the needles through a backing material as the backing material is progressively fed by a feed means through the tufting machine and across the path of reciprocation of said needles and so that the needles produce tufts in said backing material, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating electrical signals indicative of the speed of rotation of said main shaft;

(b) inputting said signals into a computer; and

(c) inputting a program to said computer for generating signals for dictating the speed at which the backing material is to be passed beneath said needles and comparing the signals generated by said main drive shaft and generated by said computer for establishing the speed at which said backing material is moved beneath said needles and across said machine.

32. Process for automatically adjusting the density of the tufts produced by a tufting machine of the type in which a main drive shaft reciprocates a needle bar carrying a plurality of needles for inserting yarns carried by the needles through a backing material as the backing material is progressively fed by a feed means through the tufting machine and across the path of reciprocation of said needles and so that the needles produce said tufts in said backing material, and a yarn feed means feeds yarns to said needles, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating electrical signals indicative of the speed of rotation of said main shaft;

(b) inputting said signals into a computer; and

(c) inputting a program to said computer for generating signals for dictating the speed at which said feed means feeds yarns to said needles and comparing the signals generated by said main drive shaft and generated by said computer for establishing the speed ratio at which said yarn feed means feeds yarns with respect to the rotation of said main drive shaft.