ES381142A1 - Tufting machines for manufacture of tufted fabrics, tufted carpets, rugs, drapes, heavy fabrics, and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

Tufting machines for making U-tufts and/or loop-tufts on a backing. The tufts may be made of the same or different heights and from strands of tufting material having the same or different color or other characteristics. Some machines form U-tufts and/or loop-tufts from discrete bits of tufting material whereas others form loop-tufts and/or U-tufts from a continuous strand. For tufts of the same or different color and of the same or different length, the pile pattern may be changed by controlling the number of rows of tufts per unit length of the backing the number of tufts per row (gage), and the relative positions of corresponding tufts of different rows. All of the machines utilize at least one, and usually more, of the following means in cooperative combinations tufting needle means including split-eye needles of novel construction and mode of control for opening and/or closure of the needle eyes forked-end tufting blades which slit the backing and force the strands through the backing to form loop-tufts novel adjustable bit-stop means at the tufting stations strand-clamping means of novel construction at the tufting stations and/or in advance of strand-severing means strand-severing means of novel rotary cutter and anvil construction used in various combinations of single cutter/single anvil, multiple-cutter/single anvil, and multiple-cutter/multiple anvil to supply a tufting station with tufting material of selected length and/or of selected color or other characteristics: novel cutter/anvil arrangements for making cut and/or uncut loop-tufts from continuous strands and in which blades of the cutter slit the backing, force the strands through the backing into the anvil recesses, and, for cut loop-tufts, cooperate with knife means in anvil recesses: for slitting the backing, the tufting blades may be fixed to a rotary member, or may be retractibly mounted on a rotary cutter member, fixedly attached to a reciprocating member, slidably mounted in a stationary member and operated by a cam or other means, or slidably mounted in a reciprocating member the tufting anvil may be a rotary structure or a belt structure, segmented or continuous, having upstanding recess-forming elements attached to the belt or integral therewith: means including mechanism for effecting adjustable step-by-step lengthwise feed of the backing means including novel mechanism for effecting relative motion between the backing and a row of tufting-needle means in direction laterally of the lengthwise feed of the backing.