Tufted fabric with embedded stitches

• US 20050160955A1
• Filed: 01/15/2005
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tuftco Corporation
• Original Assignee: Tuftco Corporation
• Inventors: Boyd, Ernest S., Lovelady, Brian, Frost, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,431,974 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 112/80.730
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/32 by altering the loop length
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 17/026 characterised by the tufted pile surface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/23929 Edge feature or configured or discontinuous surface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/23936 Differential pile length or surface

Abstract

The present invention provides for tufted needlefelts with partially or totally obscured loop bights that provide good tuft bind.

Claims

1. In a multiple needle tufting machine adapted to feed a backing substrate longitudinally from front to rear through the machine having a plurality of spaced needles aligned transversely of the machine for reciprocal movement through the substrate and a yarn feed mechanism for precisely supplying yarns to selected needles a method of burying predetermined first bights of yarn in a thick substrate comprising the steps of:

(a) feeding adequate yarn to a needle on the tufting machine for a selected first stitch so that a looper seizes the yarn when the needle penetrates the substrate and forms a first yarn bight on a front surface of the substrate;

(b) feeding insufficient yarn to the needle on the subsequent second stitch so that when the needle carries the yarn through the substrate to be seized by the looper and form the second yarn bight, yarn is pulled from the first yarn bight such that the first yarn bight remains engaged within the thickness of the substrate but does not extend to the front surface of the substrate;

(c) repeating steps (a) and (b) for additional selected stitches according to a predetermined pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the thick substrate is needlefelt.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the substrate is between 1 and 7 millimeters.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the thickness of the substrate is between about 1.5 and about 2 millimeters.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising backrobbing yarns from predetermined third bights of yarn so that the third yarn bights extend only about to the front surface of the substrate.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the thick substrate is needlefelt.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the thickness of the substrate is between 1 and 7 millimeters.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the thickness of the substrate is between about 1.5 and about 2 millimeters.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the yarn forming the bights of yarn is applied to the substrate at a weight of between 5 and 30 ounces per square yard.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the yarn forming the bights of yarn is applied to the substrate at a weight of between 5 and 30 ounces per square yard.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the yarn forming the bights of yarn is applied to the substrate at a weight of between about 12 and 17 ounces per square yard.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the yarn forming the bights of yarn is applied to the substrate at a weight of between about 12 and 17 ounces per square yard.

17. The tufted fabric of claim 1 wherein the weight of the yarns forming first, second and third groups of bights and associated backstitches is between 5 and 30 ounces per square yard.

18. The tufted fabric of claim 17 wherein the weight of the yarns forming first, second and third groups of bights and associated backstitches is between 12 and 17 ounces per square yard.

19. The tufted fabric of claim 1 wherein a binder is applied to the back surface and cured such that the resulting tufted fabric has substantially uniform tuft bind.

20. The tufted fabric of claim 19 wherein the binder is selected from the group of latex and polyurethane.

13. A tufted fabric having a face and an opposite back surface defining a thickness therebetween having a regular backstitch on the back surface and wherein

a first group of tufted bights of yarn extend from the face;

a second group of tufted bights of yarn extend through the thickness of the fabric to about the face; and

a third group of tufted bights extend into the thickness of the fabric but do not extend to the face.

14. The tufted fabric of claim 13 wherein the fabric is a needlefelt.

15. The tufted fabric of claim 13 wherein the thickness is between 1 and 7 millimeters.

16. The tufted fabric of claim 15 wherein the thickness is between 1.5 and 2 millimeters.