US2928099A - Tufted pile fabric - Google Patents

Description

15, 1960 P. F. MOONAN EI'AL TUFTED FILE FABRIC Filed June 15, 1956 FIE.4.

Q QHHQHH HUN. i' g veg gye9999 INVENTORSZ PHILIP E -MOONAN JOHN E. SMIT? av 1 z ,ATT-Y.

3 Sheets-Sheet l March 15, 1960 MOONAN ETAL 2,928,099

TUFTED PILE FABRIC Filed June 15. 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5. Q

/ INVENTORSI PHILIP F MOONAN 1 JOHN E. SMIT BY ATTY.

March 15, 1960 MOONAN ETAL 2,928,099

TUFTED PILE FABRIC 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 15,1956

. mvzu'ronsz PHILIP E MOONAN JOHN E. SMITH ATT ' and drawings in which- 2,928,099 I I 'TUFTEID PILE FABfRic I I Philip F. Moonan, Philadelphia, an E. slain, Norristown, Pa., assignors to James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Penn'- sylvania r ApplicationJune 15, 1956, Serial No." 591,756

1 Claim. (Cl.'-2--'-278) This invention pertains to tufting machines of the t'ype used to manufacture tufted floor coverings and more par ticularly to an attachment for such a machine which enables a pattern to be made in the fabric.

I I 2,928,099 Patented 'Mar. 15, 1960 'tra'sting color with one color being threaded through .every other needle in the tufting machine and the other color being'threaded through alternate needles.

"Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which a loop pile fabric is illustrated by way of example,

- the leaf design shown in Fig. 1 comprises raised pile areas 10, 10 which form the leaves, and lower pile areas 11, 11 which form the background of the design. In the present case'the raised'areas 10, 10 are formed of high loops 12, 12 (Fig. 2) and the background areas 11, 11

are formed of intermediate height loops 13, 13. The

yarn for loops 12 and 13 should be of contrasting colors so that the loops;13', 13 in the high pile areas 10, 10 are effectively concealed by the higher contrasting color loops 12, '12. In a similar manner the intermediate'height loops 13, 13 conceal the low loops 12', 12' in the back- Various devices are currently employed for providing pattern effects in tufted carpet. Many such devices utilize means for varying the tension on selected warp pile ends to provide high and low pile areas in accordance with a predetermined design. I I

The present invention carries forward this idea by utilizing a constant feed device for selected'warpends which provides a background of pile at a uniform intermediate height. Other pile is intermingled with the ground area so that a two color design or effect is achieved without eliminating any of the face yarn. Itvwill be understood, of'course, that in a tufting machine operation all needles which are threaded continue to form pile during the tufting operation because it is impossible or impractical to cut-out certain needles in speified'design areas to provide a pattern. The results achieved have been highly satisfactory and it has been foundlthat substantially complete concealment of the lower pile. can be achieved in the above manner. The

uniform intermediate height pile so that'in high'pile' areas the intermediate height pile is hidden, and in lowerpile or background areas the intermediate pile in turn hides low pile. 7 I

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufted pile fabric having a series of differently coloredpile ends, one of the colors being hidden beneath the Either color in certain selected areas and vice versa in other areas.

A further object of the invention-is to provide a loop pile tufted-fabric having high-loop areas interspersed with intermediate height loop areas whereby colored high loops conceal the intermediate loops.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufted loop pile fabric in which high loops conceal intermediate height loops in certain areas and in other areas the intermediate height loops conceal intermingled low loops.

:1 method for weaving a multi-color pile fabric in which the variously colored pile ends alternately conceal each other. Further objects will be, apparent from the specification Fig. 1 is a top view of abfabric constructed in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional design as seen at 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view as seen at 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a view as seen at 4-4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the tufting ma chine mechanism to provide the fabric of Figs. 1-4,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of a part of the structure of Fig. 5, a

Fig. 7 is a rear view of the-tufting machine, and I I Fig. 8 is aside view of the structure of Fig. 7.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a pair of.feed rollers for a pattern tufting machine which I supply selected yarn ends to the tufting machine needlesv at a constant speed and tension, thus providing a series of pile tufts or loops of substantially equal height. An

additional pile height control apparatus varies theten sion on other selected pile ends to produce pile tufts or loops either higher or lower than the first uniform height loops and in accordance with a predetermined pattern. Preferably the two sets of pile are of con presence-of the lower pile in all of the areas adds weight and body to the fabric while at the same time permitting the visible 'face" color of the pile to alternate between two or more different: colors. To providev the high and low loops in selected pile endsas shown in Fig. 3, we utilize a pattern tension control mechanism to be described more fully hereinafter, the subject matter of which forms no part 1 of the present in-' vention. In addition to the high and low'pile shown in Fig. .3, we threadselected needles, which may be every other. needle, with yarn of a contrasting color to provide spaced rows of pile having uniform height as shown inFig. .4. The pile is tufted into a conventional backing fabric- 14 shown schematicallyin Figs. 2-4.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 5 and 6, the I conventional tufting machine for carpets and the like includes a 'needle motion consisting of a crankshaft 20 to 2 which a plurality of connecting rods 21, 21 are secured A stillfurther object of the invention is to provide- 45 suitable housing 26 which is mounted over. the bed 27 of the tufting machine. The backing fabric feeds from-a supply, not shown, around a tension roll 28, a pin feed roll 29, across the bed 27, over guide roll 30 and pin take up roll 31. From thence the fabric passes around a tension roll 32 to the take up (not shown). A plurality of loopers 35 mounted on a rock shaft 36 cooperate to form and/or cut the pile as it is inserted through the backing fabric 14 by needles 23.

The pile yarn is supplied from a creel, not shown,

through a feed and tensioning device 40 which comprises paddles having interdigitating blades 41 and 42., The pile yarn then passes through a separator guide 43 so that the yarn ends 44 of one color pass around and through a feeding reel '45 and individual tensioning elements 46.

The formation of to utilized a tension assembly 46 (Fig. 6 which comprises a stationary U-shaped channel 50 having yarn end guiding apertures 51 and 52. A movable block or sinker A 53 is free to travel up and down in the member 50 between limits determined by setscrews 54 and 55. The sinkers 53 are connected through springs 56 individually or in a group to a bank of solenoids one of which is designated 57 by means of cords 58. In a tie-energized condition solenoids 57 permit the sinkers 53 to drop, thus aligning the guide aperturesil and 52 with an aperture 59 in the sinker. Under these conditions no tension is applied to the yarn 44 and high pile is formed.

A pattern tape 69 (Fig. 5) is driven in timed relation to the operation of the tufting machine by means of one or two pattern rollers 61 and 62. Roller 61 is provided with pins 63, 63 for engaging one edge of the pattern tape and the tape is either cutout or provided with electrically conductive areas which permit an electrical cir-r cuit to be closed at certain intervals between contact arms 64 and 65.

relay 66 which has its armature winding 67 connected across transformer 68 which is in turn connected to a thus to. enhance control. The yarn 75 then passes through guides 47, 48, and 49 to alternate or designated needles 23. The constant speed rolls '76 and 77 are journaled in the tufting machine frame upright members. 88 and 81 (Fig. 7) and the driving connections for these rolls are shown in Fig. 8. A gear reduction unit 82. drives roll 76 and is adjustably held in position by a, turnbuckle 83 com nected to the loom frame member til. The main motor 85v drives pulley 86 through belts 87, pulleys 88, 89, and.

belt 90; This drive insures a constant speed for the rolls 76 and 77 but the speed of the rolls may be. adjusted by means of the variable speed pulley 86. Since the :yarn ends 75 by-pass the individual sinkers 53, 53, the height of the pile tufts or loops formed from yarn ends 75.

Closing of the circuit between contact arms 65 and d5 energizes selected solenoids 57 through seasons I "depends entirely on the rate of feed of rollers 76 and "77.

By threading the needles alternately with yarn ends 44 and 75, ample coverage for the lower height pile, whether it be intermediate or low, can be obtained.

1; The apparatus is simple, effective, and capable of accurate adjustment to provide whatever pattern effect may be desired. If felt to beimportant, the height of the intermediate loops can be adjusted so that it would be the same height as loops 12', 12 'to provide a moresque appearance to the background, or all high pile may be provided to give the same effect in the pile areas .10, 10. Obviously the invention is not necessarily limited to three pile heights but can be used with a greater number of pile heights should the design so specify.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

, A tufted pile fabric comprising a backing material haviug a plurality of warpwise rows of pile projections, a continuous uncut pile yarn end in each warpwise row, alternate continuous uncut pile yarns being of uniform height throughout the lengthQand width of the fabric, and intermediate continuous uncut pile yarns being of variable height, said variable height yarns having high pile projections extending in some areas higher than the uniform height projections and low pile projections in other areas lower than the uniform height loops, the uniform height loops in some of said areas being closely spaced to and overlapping the other projections in said areas to-provide a dense pile. structure and support for the hi ,er projections in said area therebypreventing crushirig of the pile.

Reterences Cited-in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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