Abstract: Laterally shiftable front and back needle bars are slideably mounted on a main needle bar, the front needle bar carries a front row of needles and a back needle bar carries a back row of needles. Cut pile loopers cooperate with the needles of the back row and cut-loop loopers cooperate with the needles of the front row. Needles in the front row are larger and handle larger size yarns than needles in the back row and a yarn feed control dictates whether yarns in the front needles make low loops or high cut piles.

Abstract: A conventional tufting machine is provided with front and back juxtaposed, laterally shiftable, needle bars positioned on a common needle bar support, the needles of the front needle bar cooperating with loop pile loopers and the needles of the back needle bar cooperating with cut-loop loopers. Yarn feed controls respectively feed yarns to the needles according to individual prescribed patterns. The needle bars are respectively shifted laterally according to individual prescribed patterns.Tufted fabric produced by the machine is illustrated in which the loop tufts produced by the front needles are of relatively small cross section while the selectively cut or loop tufts produced by the back needles are of relatively large cross section. The large loop tufts are interspersed with small loop tufts due in part to lateral shifting of the needles.

Abstract: A conventional tufting machine is provided with front and back juxtaposed, laterally shiftable, needle bars positioned on a common needle bar support, the needles of the front needle bar cooperating with loop pile loopers and the needles of the back needle bar cooperating with cut-loop loopers. Yarn feed controls respectively feed yarns to the needles according to individual prescribed patterns. The needle bars are respectively shifted laterally according to individual prescribed patterns.Tufted fabric produced by the machine is illustrated in which the loop tufts produced by the front needles are of relatively small cross section while the selectively cut or loop tufts produced by the back needles are of relatively large cross section. The large loop tufts are interspersed with small loop tufts due in part to lateral shifting of the needles.

Abstract: Laterally shiftable front and back needle bars are slideably mounted on a main needle bar, the front needle bar carries a front row of needles and a back needle bar carries a back row of needles. Cut pile loopers cooperate with the needles of the back row and cut-loop loopers cooperate with the needles of the front row. Needles in the front row are larger and handle larger size yarns than needles in the back row and a yarn feed control dictates whether yarns in the front needles make low loops or high cut piles.

Abstract: A cut pile tufting machine having a knife holder assembly. The knife holder assembly includes a knife bar bracket carrying a vertically adjustable knife bar slotted along its side. A tongue of an upstanding knife holder bracket is clamped in the slot and a knife holder is carried by the upstanding bracket. Spaced parallel slots, angled from the plane of the knife holder and angled from the plane of the loopers, carry knives which cut the loops of the yarn on the loopers.

Abstract: A cut pile tufting machine having a knife holder assembly. The knife holder assembly includes a knife bar bracket carrying a vertically adjustable knife bar slotted along its side. A tongue of an upstanding knife holder bracket is clamped in the slot and a knife holder is carried by the upstanding bracket. Spaced parallel slots, angled from the plane of the knife holder and angled from the plane of the loopers, carry knives which cut the loops of the yarn on the loopers.

Abstract: A yarn feed mechanism in which a counterlever frame extends forwardly from the tufting machine has high speed and low speed drive shafts driven, in synchronization, with the needle bar. Transversely aligned pairs of yarn feed rolls are suspended from the frame below each shaft and are driven through chains and sprockets from their associated drive shafts when the individual clutches of the rolls are energized. The rolls of transversely aligned pairs of rolls are spaced from each other with no intervening shaft so that intermediate portions of yarns extending between a coil and the rollers can be installed partially around the selected rolls without breaking or removing the yarns from the needles.

Abstract: A group of knives for a cut pile tufting machine are preassembled in a knife holder carried by a bracket, as the bracket is held in a jig. the bracket is then removed from the jig and inserted into one of a plurality of transverse parallel angling slots in a carrier member of the machine, the knives and bracket being moved in a linear path until a stop on the bracket engages the carrier member to indicate that the knives are in proper position for cutting action with respect to this loopers.

Abstract: The head of a tufting machine frame journals a plurality of transversely spaced push rods, the lower end of which carries a needle bar and its needles. The upper end of each push rod has an individual drive assembly which includes a sidewise extending drive pin pivotally connected to a connecting rod reciprocated by an eccentrically mounted pivot pin protruding from the face of a crank member which is removeably mounted on a driven wheel carried by a stub shaft. A timing belt, connected over the driven sprocket, is itself driven by one of a plurality of drive wheels on a main drive shaft.

Abstract: A laterally shiftable needle bar of a tufting machine, carrying a plurality of laterally spaced needles, is reciprocated in a vertical path for simultaneously inserting loops of yarn, carried by the needles, through a base fabric, the fabric being fed in a linear longitudinal path beneath the needles. Each needle has an individual looper below the base fabric, in registery and cooperating with the needle for engaging and temporarily holding the loop of yarn, inserted by the needle through the base fabric, as the needle is retracted.During a first portion of a cycle of the needle bar, prior to the insertion of the needles through the base fabric, a needle bar shifting assembly shifts the needle bar laterally, in one direction or the other.

Abstract: A laterally shiftable needle bar of a tufting machine, carrying a plurality of laterally spaced needles, is reciprocated in a vertical path for simultaneously inserting loops of yarn, carried by the needles, through a base fabric, the fabric being fed in a linear longitudinal path beneath the needles. Each needle has an individual looper below the base fabric, in registery and cooperating with the needle for engaging and temporarily holding the loop of yarn, inserted by the needle through the base fabric, as the needle is retracted.During a first portion of a cycle of the needle bar, prior to the insertion of the needles through the base fabric, a needle bar shifting assembly shifts the needle bar laterally, in one direction or the other.

Abstract: A group of knives for a cut pile tufting machine are preassembled in a knife holder carried by a bracket, as the bracket is held in a jig. The bracket is then removed from the jig and inserted into one of a plurality of transverse parallel angling slots in a carrier member of the machine, the knives and bracket being moved in a linear path until a stop on the bracket engages the carrier member to indicate that the knives are in proper position for cutting action with respect to their loopers.

Abstract: A conventional tufting machine is provided with a looper control cam which enables the machine to avoid tagging and sew through. The cam reciprocates loopers which face in the direction of movement of the backing material. Each looper moves beyond the needle as the needle descends, so that the looper bill tip is held beyond the needle as it passes along one side of the loops, then the looper is reciprocated to catch the loop before the needle is retracted.

Abstract: The head of a tufting machine frame journals a plurality of transversely spaced push rods, the lower end of which carries a needle bar and its needles. The upper end of each push rod has an individual drive assembly which includes a sidewise extending drive pin pivotally connected to a connecting rod reciprocated by an eccentrically mounted pivot pin protruding from the face of a crank member which is removeably mounted on a driven wheel carried by a stub shaft. A timing belt, connected over the driven sprocket, is itself driven by one of a plurality of drive wheels on a main drive shaft.

Abstract: A conventional tufting machine is provided with a looper control cam which enables it to sew chain stitched tufts. The cam reciprocates loopers which face in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the backing material, the looper being reciprocated once for each reciprocation of the needle. Each looper catches and holds the bight of the loop being sewn during the period of maximum penetration by the needle and then moves the bight of that loop beyond the needle so that the needle sews the next loop through the held loop, the looper releasing the held loop and catching the inserted loop, thereafter.

Abstract: A laterally shiftable needle bar of a tufting machine, carrying a plurality of laterally spaced needles, is reciprocated in a vertical path for simultaneously inserting loops of yarn, carried by the needles, through a base fabric, the fabric being fed in a linear longitudinal path beneath the needles. Each needle has an individual looper below the base fabric, in registery and cooperating with the needle for engaging and temporarily holding the loop of yarn, inserted by the needle through the base fabric, as the needle is retracted.During a first portion of a cycle of the needle bar, prior to the insertion of the needles through the base fabric, a needle bar shifting assembly shifts the needle bar laterally, in one direction or the other.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for forming a longitudinal row of stitching in a base fabric with a reciprocal needle and cooperating looper, in which the looper is driven through two or more strokes for each stroke of the needle in a stitch cycle. In the preferred form of the invention, the looper points in the opposite direction from the longitudinal direction of movement of the base fabric, for the formation of either loop pile or cut pile stitching. When loop pile is formed, the stitching results in a chain stitch.