US2990792A - Industrial apparatus - Google Patents

Description

July 4, 1961 H. F. NOWlCKl ET AL INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed March 12, 1958 YARN FEED CONTROL FIGL SELECTOR MECH.

INVENTORS: HENRY F. NOWICKI Esau; QA M 'YZ July 4, 1961 H. F. NOWICKI ETAL INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS Filed March 12, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet? FIG. IO. 90 9/ 9/ 7 92 92 95 95 95 w x M L9 W aw W A FIG. 3.

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y 1961 H. F. NQWlCKl ETAL INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 12, 1958 ma m3 ma F I615.

INVENTORS HENRY E NOWICKI FRANK QUINNELL JOHN E. SMITg ATTY.

United States Patent 2,990,792 INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS Henry F. Nowicki, Norristown, Frank Quinnell, Abington, and John Smith, Norristown, Pa., assignors to James Lees and Sons "Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 12, 1958, Ser. No. 721,041 12 Claims. (Cl. l l2 -79) This invention relates to method and apparatus for simultaneously and/or selectively producing cut and un tcut pile in a tufted pile fabric .such as a floor covering.

Since the introduction and increased acceptance of tufted rugs and carpets, efforts have been made to produce such a fabric having both cut and uncut pile without the necessity :of passing the fabric through a tufting machine more than once. Because the loopers for producing uncut pile are differently shaped and face in the opposite direction than the loopers for producing the cut pile, no easy solution for this problem has been proposed. Tufted fabrics having cut and uncut pile but all pro duced with non-cutting loopers are disclosed and claimed in copending Thomas T. J-anney and Adolph Klein application Serial No. 497,534 and copending Henry F. Nowicki application Serial No. 639,042, now Patent Nos. 2,876,525 and 2,884,680, respectively, which are illustrative of the development of the above desired fabric and method. It may he pointed out that while there are some advantages in a shearing operation to produce cut tufts in accordance with the teaching of the above applications, there are .at least two very serious disadvantages; namely, the cost involved in running the fabric through an entirely separate apparatus which in turn require-s maintenance, extra handling, etc.; second, there is a substantial waste in the expensive pile yarns since all the yarn which is sheared from the fabric .is a total loss. The present invention completely overcomes these two disadvantages.

The present invention contemplates a tufting machine having a double looper arrangement operatively associated with a single set of tufting needles. Two separate pile yarn ends are stitched into the fabric either through a single eye or double eyes in each needle and the looper or loopers cooperate with the yarns .fed to single needles to selectively form cut or uncut pile with one yarn and controllable height uncut pile projections with the other yarn. .In a preferred form of the invention the loopers have oppositely facing bills and are actuated in timed relation to each other to simultaneously engage yarn ends'threaded through separate eyes on each needle. In another form of the invention a single looper is provided with two bills one of which controls the cut pile and the other the uncut pile.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide in a pile fabric tufting machine looper, bills which cooperate with a plurality of yarn ends on the same needle to simultaneously produce cut and uncut pile projections.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a tufting machine of the type described means for selective'ly disengaging the cut pile looper.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a tufting machine of the type described means for selectively disengaging the cut pile looper and means for controlling the height of the uncut pile projections.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a cut pile 'tufting machine an articulated cut pile looper having means for selectively retaining the looper from engaging pile yarn.

A further object of the invention is to provide a double hill looper and a pile cutting element cooperating with 'one of the bills on said looper.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel Patented July 4, 1961 method 'for simultaneously producing cut and uncut pile projections in the same row.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method of producing controllable height uncut pile projections in the same row.

Further objects will be and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic sectional view of a preferred form of the invention showing simultaneously actuated but separate cut and uncut pile loopers,

FIGURE 2 is a detail showing the actuating mechanism for the .looper shafts of FIGURE 1,

FIGURES 3 and 4 show successive steps in the operation of the loopers of FIGURE 1 when producing cut and uncut pile simultaneously,

FIGURES 5 and 6 show the operation of the loopers of FIGURES 3 and 4 when producing only uncut pile,

FIGURE 7 is a perspective of the cut pile looper of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 8 ShOWs a tufting needle in which the loopers engage the yarns from opposite sides of the needle,

FIGURE 9 shows a needle similar to FIGURE 8 but with loopers operating on the same side of the needle,

FIGURE 10 is a fabric diagram taken on a longitudinal section illustrating the various types of pile projections which can be produced in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 11 is a schematic diagram showing a modiiied form or dual bill looper,

FIGURES 12 and 13 are enlarged details showing successive steps in the operation of the looper of FIGURE 11,

FIGURE 14 is a perspective of the looper of FIG- URES 11-13, and

FIGURE 15 is a sectional view of a fabric produced with the mechanism of FIGURES 11-14.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of one or more tufting needles in a tufting machine for pile fabrics at least some of which carry two pile yarn ends simultaneously through a backing fabric where each yarn end is engaged by one or two loopers depending upon whether it is desired to simultaneously tuft cut and/or uncut pile projections in the same row with each of the said yarn ends. A cut pile looper is positioned to en gage one of the yarns carried by the needle, and in one form of the invention, means are provided for selectively retracting the cut pile looper in accordance with a predetermined pattern when it is desired to provide completely uncut pile in a chosen area. In addition, an uncut pile looper without a knife is positioned to engage the other of the yarn ends carried by the needle to provide uncut pile projections at all times, but the uncut pile projections are controllable as to height in accordance with a predetermined pattern. The cut and uncut pile loopers may work in opposite directions or in the same direction in accordance with the invention.

A conventional tufting machine shown schematically in FIGURE 1 is provided with a vertically reciprocating needle bar 20 carrying one or more needles 21. In a broad tufting machine there may be as many as 1200 of the needles carried in the same needle bar. A ground fabric F is fed over a throat plate 22 having a throat 23 where it is pierced by the needles 21 to produce the pile projections P on one side of fabric F. The machine is provided with the customary presser foot 24, yarn guides 25 and 26 for the cut pile yarn Y and the uncut or loop pile yarn ends Y which are drawn from a source not shown such as a creel. A conventional pattern attachment 27 is used for supplying loop pile yarn Y such devices being well known in the art, examples of which may be found in United States Patent No. 2,782,905 and British .Patent No. 780,370.

All or a selected number of the needles 21 are provided with two eyes 28 and 29 through which the loop yarn apparent from the specification ends Y and the tuft yarn ends Y are threaded respectively. The eyes 28 and 29 are in spaced vertical relation to each other on the needle so that the uncut yarn looper 30 engages the yarn Y carried through the needle eye 28, whereas the cutting yarn looper 31 normally engages the yarn Y carried through needle eye 29. Loopers 30 and 31 are mounted in looper brackets 32 and 33 respectively both of which are journaled on a shaft 34 under the throat 22 of the tufting machine. The loopers oscillate in timed relation with each other so that they engage the yarns Y and Y at substantially the same time when the needles 21 are inserted through the fabric F. The detailed operation and cooperation of the loopers with the pile yarns Y and Y will be explained more fully in connection with FIGURES 36.

Actuation of the brackets or rocket arms 32 and 33 is achieved by means of connecting links 35 and 36 attached to the brackets 32 and 33 respectively by pins 37 and 38. The opposite end of link 35 is connected to a crank 40 clamped to shaft 41 by means of a capscrew 42. A pin 43 provides pivoting connection between the link 35 and crank 40. In a similar manner link 36 is connected to a crank 45 by means of pin 46 and the crank 45 is clamped to shaft 47 by means of capscrew 48. It will be understood that we have shown and described the mechanism associated with a single needle 21. However, the identical apparatus is duplicated for as many of the needles on the tufting machine as it may be desired to operate in accordance with the present invention. A driven shaft 50 of the tufting machine is provided with a barrel cam 51 having a cam track 52 which controls cam follower 53 attached to lever 54 (FIGURE 2). Lever 54 is keyed to shaft 47 at "55 and also actuates shaft 41 through a connecting link 56 pivotally attached to lever 57 on shaft 41 and lever 58 on shaft 47. It will thus be apparent that oscillation of lever 54 simultaneous- 1y rocks shafts 41 and 47 in opposite directions so that the oppositely engage yarns Y and Y The cutting loopers 31 cooperate with oscillatable knives 60 which are mounted in the bracket 61 clamped to rockshaft 62 by capscrew 63.

The mounting of the cut pile and uncut pile loopers shown in FIGURE 1 insofar as the facing directions of bill 65 on looper 30 and bill 66 on looper 31 is generally conventional since these bills face in opposite directions, It will be understood that all pile projections in the form of loops engaged on the bill 66 of looper 31 must be cut in order to permit the fabric to progress from right to left as shown in FIGURE 1. Where, however, it is desired to omit the cut pile in selected areas, we provide means for retracting t-he loopers 31 or any selected number of them so that the bill 66 will not engage any newly formed pile loops. For this purpose we utilize an articulated looper assembly shown clearly in FIGURE 7 in which the main looper body 67 is provided with a dimple or lancing 68 which presses against the side of a slot in looper bracket 33. The upper edge of the looper body 67 is provided with two retracted limit stops 69 and 70 and one extended stop 71. These stops permit limited travel of the looper 67 in the looper bracket 33. An articulated extension 75 is connected to the looper body 67 at 76 so that limited up and down pivotal move ment of the extension 75 with respect to the looper body 67 is permitted. A lower limit stop 77 is provided on extension 75 together with an upper limit stop 78. A hearing 79 provides sliding contact between the extension 75 and the bottom of a slot in stationary bracket 80. The extremities of element 75 are pivotally and resiliently connected to a small solenoid 76 by means of a spring loaded link 76a.

The solenoids 76 are in turn energized and de-energized by a conventional pattern attachment 81 inaccordance with well-known practice. When a solenoid 76 is energized, extension 75 is elevated as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1 so that limit stop 78 is hooked under and in back of bracket 80. This holds the looper 67 in a retracted position so that the oscillation of looper bracket 33 will not carry such a retracted looper forward to engage yarn Y carried by needle 21. The support for the looper extension 75 is shown as a bracket 82 secured to the bottom of throat plate 22 by means of bolts 83. The solenoids 76 are supported from the throat plate by means of a bracket 84 and angle iron 85. The tufted fabric is carried over the section of the bed plate 86 which supports the members 82-85 so that no interference with the pile projections takes place.

Referring now to FIGURES 3 and 4, when the needle or needles 21 are inserted to their maximum depth through the fabric F, the loop yarn Y on each needle is engaged by its associated looper and the cut yarn Y is engaged by the cutting looper 31, the latter looper oscillating in an arcuate path below the path of oscillation of looper 30. When a series of loops of the yarn Y has been engaged on the bill 66 of looper 31, the oscillating action of knife 60 severs the farthest loop or loops to produce cut pile in the conventional manner. FIGURE 3 shows the knife retracted and FIGURE 4 shows the knife 60 advanced to cut the farthermost loop to form tufts 90. During this relatively normal operation of the loopers yarn Y may be controlled to produce any height pile as shown in FIGURE 10. Also, the loopers 31 oscillate with their brackets 33 so that all of the yarn tufted through the needle eye 29' is converted into tufts 90 of facing loopers 30 and 31 simultaneously substantially the same height.

Where the pattern requires no cut pile projections, a pattern tape or other selector mechanism 81 energizes solenoid 76 to lock the extension 75 behind the bracket thus holding the cuttinglooper 31 in a stationary retracted position while the bracket 33 continues to oscillate against the friction of the dimple 68. As long as loops of yarn Y still remain on the bill 66 of looper 31, they will be gradually cut by knife 60 as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 even though the looper itself fails to engage more yarn. FIGURE 5 shows the bill 66 of looper 31 missing the first loop on the needle 21 of yarn Y However, since yarn Y is not caught by looper 31, it will be picked up by the bill 65 of looper 30 so that when we are not producing cut tufts for pile, the uncut loops, whether high, low, or intermediate, will be the same height in each row since they are both caught by the same looper. Both effects are shown in FIGURE 10. Cut tufts are stitched in the same longitudinal row as are high loops 91, intermediate loops 92, and low loops 93. Where the cutting looper 31 for this particular row is retracted, then we have double low loops 94, 94, double high loops 95, 95, and double intermediate loops 96, 96. This permits a wide range of pattern effects to be accomplished particularly in view of the fact that the range occurs or may occur in each row of stitches. Under certain circumstances it may be desirable to thread the needles so that every other row, every third row, or every row is capable of simultaneously producing cut and uncut pile or variable height uncut pile with two loops per row.

A similar but somewhat more achieved with the use of a single looper (FIGURE 14) having an upper non-cutting bill 101 and a lower cutting bill 102. This looper is held in oscillating looper bracket 103 which is in turn bolted to bracket 104, journaled on shaft 34, and actuated by link 35 and pin 37. A knife 105 is adjustably mounted in a bracket 106 which in turn is controlled by shaft 62 in much the same manner illustrated and described in FIGURE 1. However, in FIGURE 11 the knife 105 cooperates with the looper 100 on the opposite side of the needle and, contrary to usual practice, the cutting looper bill 102 faces in the direction of fabric travel rather than against it.

The standard yarn feed control 27 is used to provide uncut pile in the form of loops of different controllable h ghts shown in FIGURE 15 as high loops 107, 107,

limited result may be intermediate loops 108, 108, and low loops 109, 109. In effect, the operation and control of the height of the uncut pile supplied or made up from yarn Y is generally conventional. Simultaneously, however, cut tufts are made with the yarn Y fed through the lower eye 29 of needles 21. The bill 102 of looper 100 picks up one loop at a time and the presser foot 24 assists in holding the stitches of the cut pile ends Y from pulling'through. In addition, the tufting machine is so timed that the needles 21 are substantially withdrawn from the fabric before the cut is made. This is shown in FIGURES 12 and 13 in which both loopers are brought into engagement with their respective yarns Y and Y The bills 101 and 102 on the looper 100 remain engaged with the loops until the needle 21 has been fully raised, whereupon the knife 10S oscillates to cut the particular pile yarn which has just been tufted. The height of the tip of needle 21 at the time the yarn Y was cut is sufficient to provide enough slack yarn between the eye 29 and the top of fabric F to provide the next tuft without substantially pulling back the previously cut tuft. In this way it is possible to produce a fabric having constant height high tufts and loops in the same row of contrasting color yarn as well as differential in height.

The invention is relatively simple and satisfactory in operation, provides a wide variety of pattern effects to be achieved, and above all, permits the production of cut and uncut tufted pile selectively and simultaneously.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. Apparatus for simultaneously producing cut and uncut tufted pile fabric comprising a reciprocating needle bar, a plurality of pile yarn needles carried in said needle bar adapted to insert two pile yarns through a ground fabric, two eyes near the extremity of each of said needles through which the pile yarns are threaded an uncut pile looper oscillatably mounted to engage the yarn threaded through one of said eyes, a cut pile looper oscillatably mounted to engage the yarn threaded through the other one of said eyes in each needle, means for oscillating said loopers in timed relation to reciprocation of the needles, and a knife operatively associated with the cut pile looper for severing pile yarns engaged on said cut pile looper.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which both of the loopers comprise integrally formed bills facing in the same direction and mounted on an oscillating looper rockshaft, and cutting means operatively positioned with respect to one of said bills to cut pile loops engaged by said bill.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the loopers are positioned to engage the pile yarn carried by the needle from the same side.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the loopers are positioned to engage the pile yarn carried by the needle from opposite sides.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having means for oscillating the knife.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the loopers are individually journaled on a common shaft,

and link means for oscillating each of the loopers simultaneously on said common shaft.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having means for retracting selected cut pile loopers from engaging the yarn carried by the needles in accordance with a predetermined pattern.

8. App-aratus in accordance with claim 7 in which the looper disengaging means comprises an articulated extension connected to each looper, a friction driving connection between each looper and its associated oscillating means, a solenoid for pivoting the articulated extension with respect to the looper, a latch engageable by the extension on energization of the solenoid to retain the looper and extension in a retracted position, and a pattern selector mechanism for energizing the solenoid in accordance with a predetermined pattern.

9. Apparatus for simultaneously producing cut and uncut tufted pile fabric comprising a reciprocating needle bar, a plurality of pile yarn needles carried in said needle bar adapted to insert two pile yarns through a ground fabric, two eyes near the extremity of each of said needles through which the pile yarns are threaded said eyes being in axial spaced relation to each other on the shank of the needle, an uncut pile looper oscillatably mounted to engage the yarn threaded through one of said eyes, a cut pile looper oscillatably mounted to simultaneously engage the yarn threaded through the other one of said eyes in each needle, means for oscillating said loopers in timed relation to reciprocation of the needles, and a knife operatively associated with the cut pile looper for severing pile yarns engaged on said out pile looper.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 having means for oscillating the knife.

11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 in which the loopers are individually journaled on a common shaft, and link means for oscillating each of the loopers simultaneously on said common shaft.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 having means for retracting selected cut pile loopers from envgaging the yarn carried by the needles in accordance with a predetermined pattern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,909,530 Gladish May 16, 1933 2,782,905 Smith Feb. 26, 1957 2,796,654 Ashcroft June 25, 1957 2,876,441 Boyles Mar. 3, 1959 2,879,728 McCutchen Mar. 31, 1959 2,879,729 McCutchen Mar. 31, 1959 2,882,845 Hoeselbarth Apr. 21, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,111 Great Britain of 1891 6,792 Great Britain of 1902 166,675 Germany Dec. 30, 1905 7,107 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1907 635,817 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1950 520,373 Canada Jan. 3, 1956

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