YARN COLOR PLACEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20090205547A1
• Filed: 05/16/2008
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Card-Monroe Corporation
• Original Assignee: Card-Monroe Corporation
• Inventors: Johnston, Kendall, Hall, Wilton
• Granted Patent: US 8,141,505 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 112/80.410
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/26 with provision for producing patterns
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/30 by moving the tufting tools laterally
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/32 by altering the loop length
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/34 by inserting loops of different nature or colour
• CPC Class Codes: D05C 15/36 by selective cutting of loops

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.

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.

2. The tufting machine of claim 1 and wherein said gauge parts comprise a plurality of level cut/loop loopers having a series of extensible clips.

3. The tufting machine of claim 2 further including actuator connector configured to be connected to an output shaft of an actuator for moving one of said clips of said level cut loop loopers between extended and retracted positions for forming loop pile and cut pile tufts, and having an extension portion extending forwardly from and at an angle with respect to said actuator connector portion along a direction transverse to the axial direction, and a connector slot extending from the extension portion and configured to receive one of said clips of one of said level cut loop loopers, the connector slot including lateral walls extending along lateral sides thereof.

4. The tufting machine of claim 3 wherein said lateral walls of said connector slots are spaced a sufficient distance to enable said clips to be received and seated therein while preventing rotation of said clips about a longitudinal axis of each clip and prevent substantial lateral movement of each clip relative to its actuator connector.

5. The tufting machine of claim 1 and wherein said pattern yarn feed mechanism comprises a pattern attachment having a plurality of yarn feed devices each feeding at least one selected yarn to a selected one of said needles.

6. The tufting machine for claim 1 and wherein said pattern yarn feed mechanism comprises a pattern attachment having a series of yarn feed rolls each feeding at least two yarns per feed roll to selected needles.

7. The tufting machine of claim 1 and wherein said pattern yarn feed mechanism comprises a scroll attachment, roll attachment, a double end yarn feed attachment, or a single end yarn feed attachment.

8. The tufting machine of claim 1 and wherein said gauge parts comprise cut pile hooks, loop pile loopers, level cut loop loopers and/or combinations thereof.

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.

10. The method of claim 9 and wherein controlling feeding of the yarns comprises back-robbing yarns to form low tufts to be hidden among the high tufts in the patterned articles.

11. The method of claim 9 and wherein controlling feeding of the yarns comprises controlling each yarn fed to each needle to selectively form high tufts of yarns and to pull selected yarns low or out of the backing material.

12. The method of claim 9 and wherein at least two different colors of yarns are used in the pattern and the effective process stitch rate is at least approximately two times the prescribed stitch rate for the patterned article for the feeding of the backing material.

13. The method of claim 9 and further comprising forming a number of high tufts in each tuft row that is approximately equivalent to the prescribed stitch rate.

14. The method of claim 9 and further comprising forming an approximately equivalent number of high tufts in each tuft row for each color-step of the pattern.

27. The method of claim 9 and further comprising selectively forming cut and loop pile tufts.

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.

16. The method of claim 15 and wherein controlling the feeding of the yarns comprises feeding a first amount of yarn to each needle forming a high tuft, while feeding a second, lesser amount of yarn to each needle forming a low tuft.

17. The method of claim 16 and wherein feeding a second, lesser amount of yarn comprises back-robbing the yarns fed to each needle to an extent sufficient to substantially hide or remove the low tufts from the backing.

18. The method of claim 15 and further comprising forming a number of high tufts in the backing that approximately matches the desired stitch rate.

19. The method of claim 15 and wherein the tufting machine is a 1/10^th gauge tufting machine and the desired fabric stitch rate is approximately ten stitches per inch.

20. The method of claim 19 and wherein the patterned tufted article includes at least two colors, and wherein the effective process stitch rate is at least about twenty stitches per inch.

21. The method of claim 15 and wherein the tufting machine is a ⅛

^th gauge tufting machine and the desired fabric stitch rate is approximately eight stitches per inch.

22. The method of claim 21 and wherein the patterned tufted article includes at least two colors, and wherein the effective process stitch rate is at least about sixteen stitches per inch.

23. The method of claim 15 and wherein the tufting machine is a 1/16^th gauge tufting machine and the desired fabric stitch rate is approximately sixteen stitches per inch.

24. The method of claim 23 and wherein the patterned tufted article includes at least two colors, and wherein the effective process stitch rate is at least about thirty-two stitches per inch.

25. The method of claim 15 and further comprising repeating an initial shift step in the programmed shift profile of the pattern.

26. The method of claim 15 and further comprising selectively actuating a series of clips of level cut loop loopers for each stitch of the pattern to form cut pile and loop pile tufts.