Fine gauge tufting machines
United States Patent 11 1 Collier et a1,  
  4 1 Apr. 22, 1975 1 FlNlI GAUGE TUFTKNG MACHINES [75] lnventors: James R. Collier; Randel R. Smith,  
 both of Chattanooga, Tenn.  
 [73] Assignee: The Singer Company, New York,  
 [22] Filed: Jan. 7, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 431,518  
 Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Scr. No. 232,836, March 8, 1972,  
 abandoned.  
 [52] US. Cl 112/79 R [51] lm. Cl. D051: 15/22 [58] Field of Search 112/79 R, 79 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,121,413 2/1964 Sigoda 112/162X 3,192,887 7/1965 Perl 112/162 3,402,686 9/1968 Rodstein et a1. 1 12/79 R 3,595,184 7/1971 Watkins 112/79 R 3,635,177 9/1970 Gable et a1 112/79 R 3,780,678 12/1973 Short 112/79 A Primary E.\&#39;aminer-Werner H. Schroeder Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Chester A. Williams, Jr.; Marshall .1. Breen; Alan Ruderman [57] ABSTRACT This disclosure relates to fine gauge tufting machines and in particular to improvements in the gauge parts thereof. A tufting machine looper construction is disclosed which permits the elimination of one-half the number of loopers normally used by providing a double hook construction on the looper for use with two needles while requiring the space for only one looper.  
 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures FllNE GAUGE TUFTING MACHINES This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 232.836. filed Mar. 8. I972. now abandoned.  
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The trend in the tufting industry today is toward finer gauge machines or machines wherein the rows of tufted loops are spaced closer together. As the gauges of the parts or the space therebetween decreases, problems arise because of spacing and supporting the gauge parts. For example. the loopers in a tufting machine are each usually supported in a groove in a looper block and secured therein by a set screw or similar means. In a broadlooam tufting machine there may be substantially in excess of 1.000 loopers supported in this manner in the block. As the loopers are spaced closer and closer together for finer gauge tufting. as for example one-twentieth or one twenty-fifth gauge. the loopers must necessarily be moved closer together. This results in less supporting material in the block being left between the loopers and less room is left for the set screw or the like for holding the looper in the block. As will be appreciated. eventually one comes to a point where there is not enough material left in the block to properly support the loopers or to maintain them in a fixed relationship with their associated needles.  
  It is a prime purpose of the present invention to provide a novel gauge part construction for fine gauge tufting machines wherein one-half of loopers usually required for the particular gauge machine may be eliminated thus permitting the loopers to be spaced at substantially twice the spacing of that which would usually have been required. In general a novel looper construction is provided wherein each looper is constructed with two bill portions. each said bill portion being ori ented to cooperate with one tufting needle. Thus each looper willserve to pick up loops from two adjacent tufting needles. Because of the novel looper construction. the needles may be spaced closer together to provide fine gauges. say one-twentieth or one twenty-fifth gauge. while still being able to properly locate and support the cooperating loopers.  
  Accordingly. it is one object of the invention to provide a novel and improved fine gauge tufting machine.  
  It is another object of the invention to provide a novel and improved fine gauge tufting machine including a novel looper construction.  
 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings. in FIG. 1 there is shown a cross sectional view of a tufting machine including a head portion containing the drive mechanism (not shown), a push rod 12 suitably reciprocated in an endwise relationship by the drive mechanism and a needle bar I4 attached to the push rod I2 for reciprocating the tufting needles 16 for endwise penetration through the backing fabric F. The backing fabric F may be fed across the tufting machine bed plate 18 by suitable rolls 20. 22. 24 and 26. Presser feet 28 and 30 are also provided to keep the fabric flat on the bed plate 18 during the return stroke of the needles l6. Yarn jerkers 32 and 34 are supported by the needle bar 14 and have yarn ends Y and Y&#34; threaded tlherethrough which yarn jerkers serve to take up the slack and even up the height of the loops during the return stroke of the needles.  
  Supported below the bed plate 18 is a rock shaft 36 which is driven in an oscillating manner from the main drive mechanism in a known manner. A looper block support 38 is bolted to the shaft 36 for movement therewith and carries a looper block 40 thereon which in turn has loopers 42 mounted in slots 44 therein. The loopers are stationarily secured in the slots 44 by set screws 46 shown in phantom in FIG. 1. In operation the backing fabric F is fed across the machine in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1 and the needles I6 are reciprocated to penetrate the backing fabric with loops of yarn. As the needles proceed through their downstroke the loopers are rocked into position for intercepting a leg of the yarn from the needles (FIGS. 2 &amp; 3) and hold the yarn during the return or upstroke of the needles. The loopers are then rocked back and the loops are then removed from the loopers as the fabric is fed and a pile surface is thus formed on the face of the backing fabric. Such a process as heretofore described is well known in the art.  
  As briefly described above. it is desirable to provide finer gauge fabrics such as one-twentieth or one twenty-fifth gauge. This means that the needles and loopers must be spaced closer together so that the resultant rows of tufts formed thereby will be closer together. As the needles and loopers are brought closer together for finer gauge tufting. the problems of providing adequate support and spacing for the needles and loopers increases. It is known that the needles may be staggered. that is. to provide more than one row of needles with the needles of each row being disposed between adjacent pairs of needles of the other row. The needles of each row are thus spaced in both the lateral and longitudinal direction. This permits closer rows of tufts to be produced while still being able to thread the needles and replace them etc.  
  However. such is not the case with the loopers since each looper must cooperate with an associated needle and its position and location is therefore determined in part by its associated needle. Although the loopers may be staggered as are the needles. substantially the same amount of space is required in the looper bar for the looper grooves and further each looper must be provided with a means for securing it in the looper bar. This has become increasingly more difficult as the gauges are reduced. Also the loopers must operate without interfering with one another in cooperating with their respective needles. So it can be seen that. as the gauges become finer. the problems become greater insofar as the loops are concerned.  
  The present invention provides a means for overcoming one of the problems arising in fine gauge tufting. in particular the looper problem discussed above. Referring again to the drawings. it will be seen that two rows of needles l6 and 16 are provided with the rows being parallel and spaced from one another. Further the needies of row R6 are laterally disposed so that each needle 16 lies between two needles 16&#39;. This is what is termed in the art as staggering the needles and allows for the rows of tuft to be formed by the needles to be spaced closer together. The loopers 42 are disposed in the looper bar 40 and are constructed such that a looper bill will cooperate with each needle. As shown. each looper 42 is provided with a shank portion 46 which forms the main body of the looper. the lower portion thereof being supported in the slot 44. A protrusion of lug portion 48 is also provided to aid in positioning and holding the looper in the looper bar 40. The looper 42 is further provided with two bill portions 50 and 52 which are substantially upright with respect to the shank portion 46 and include hook-like portions 54 and 56, respectively, at its outer end and throat portions 58 and 60 being formed between the upright portions and the hook-like portions of the looper. As the yarn is deposited on the looper it is grasped by a hook-like end of the bill and will be held in the throat portion thereof until removal.  
  In FIG. 2 it will be seen that the bills 50 and 52 are spaced from one another in the longitudinal direction or from front to rear and the bill 50 is offset in a lateral direction with respect to the bill 52 and shank portion 46. The bills 50 and 52 are formed such that for each looper 42 there will be a hook bill 50 and 54 for coopcrating with a needle in each of the rows 16 and 16. As viewed in FIG. 2 the bill 52 is shown as cooperating with a needle 16 while at the same time the bill 50 is cooperating with a needle 16. Thus each looper 42 cooperates with two needles at the same time and thereby makes it necessary to use only one-half as many loopers. Therefore. for example. in a machine having say L000 needles in a staggered relationship. there will be one 500 loopers caching having a bill 52 cooperating with each needle in a row of needles l6 and a bill 50 cooperating with each needle in a row of needles 16.  
  From the above description it will be apparent that a novel mechanism is provided for use in fine gauge tufting and which makes it possible to overcome a significant problem in construction of tufting machines for use in fine gauge tufting. The invention is simple in construction and also enables those operating such machines to repair them without any more difficulty than in repairing wider gauge tufting machines already in use.  
  While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment. it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.  
 What is claimed is:  
 l. A single piece looper for a tufting machine includ ing a shank portion for supporting said looper in a slot,  
 in a looper bar. at least two separate looper bills integral with and extending outwardly from said shank portion, said looper bills being spaced apart in the direction of the slot and disposed in spaced planes generally parallel to said shank portion such that each said looper bill is disposed for cooperation with yarn carrying needles spaced apart in the direction of the slot and dis posed in spaced planes generally parallel to said looper shank portion for seizing a loop of yarn therefrom to form a pair of tufts.  
  2. A looper as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of said bills includes a portion which extends between and intersects said spaced planes.  
  3. A looper as recited in claim 2 in which at lesat one of said bills is positioned in a common plane with said shank portion. 1  
  4. In a tufting machine. a plurality of laterally extending rows of closely spaced needles. said rows being substantially parallel with the needles of each row being laterally offset with respect to the needles of each other row. means for feeding a backing fabric across the tufting machine in a transverse direction relative to the rows of needles, means for reciprocating said needles in an endwise relationship for penetrating said backing fabric with loops of yarn, looper means for seizing a loop of yarn from each needle and for holding the loop of yarn during the return stroke of said needles. said looper means including a looper bar supported for reciprocating movement in timed relationship with each penetration of said needles. said looper bar having a plurality of spaced slots. a looper having a shank mounted in each said slot. each said looper comprising an integral unit having a plurality of transversely spaced looper bills with each bill of each looper being laterally offset with respect to the other bills. the bills of each looper being disposed for cooperation with a needle in a different row during each penetration thereof.  
  5. In a tufting machine. at least two laterally extending rows of closely spaced needles. said rows being substantially parallel with the needles of each row being laterally offset with respect to the needles of each other row. means for feeding a backing fabric across the tufting machine in a transverse direction relative to the rows of needles. means for reciprocating said needles in an endwise relationship for penetrating said backing fabric with loops of yarn. looper means for seizing a loop of yarn from each needle and for holding the loop of yarn during the return stroke of said needles, said looper means including a looper bar supported for reciprocating movement in timed relationship with each penetration of said needles. said looper bar having a plurality of spaced slots. a looper having a shank mounted in each said slot. each said looper comprising an integral unit having at least two transversely spaced looper bills. at least one bill including a portion deflected out of the plane of the shank into a plane parallel to and spaced therefromsuch that said bill is laterally offset with respect to the other bills. the bills of each looper being disposed for cooperation with a needle in a different row during each penetration thereof. l =i=