Abstract: Needle for use in the rodless dispensing of plastic fasteners of the type comprises a flexible filament and a cross-bar disposed at one end of the flexible filament. In one embodiment, the needle comprises a solid elongated member terminating at its front end in a tip adapted to penetrate a desired article of commerce and a chamber adapted to receive a cross-bar of a plastic fastener. The chamber includes a front end, a rear end, an open top and an open bottom. The open top, which is spaced rearwardly a distance from the tip, is appropriately sized and shaped to permit the insertion and removal of a cross-bar into and from the chamber.

Abstract: A needle bar is made from a support member and a carrier. The needle bar can be made with a plurality of needle grooves. The bar is made by adhering the support member to the carrier. Then the support member is divided into a plurality of individual segments of predetermined length, after the support member is adhered to the carrier. Adjacent ones of the individual segments (a) can be spaced to form a gap narrower in width than the needle grooves, and (b) can have opposing edges shaped to form a concavity having a width equivalent to the needle grooves.

Abstract: A suture device including a hook needle, a body portion which fits within a wound site and a handle portion pivotally attached to the body portion. The needle is J-shaped with a long straight part and short curved part terminating in a pointed end. The long part of the needle slides in a channel in the handle portion and the pointed end moves axially toward and away from the handle with the curved part of the needle facing internal organs during closure of a wound site in an abdominal cavity.

Abstract: A sewing machine needle is manufactured without producing any burrs on a blade by subjecting the whole blade to die pressing. A needle blank (10) is subject to double swaging, resulting in it being formed with blade sections (14, 16). Then, the needle blank is formed with an elongated portion (22) for subsequently forming a clearance-above-eye above a needle eye. The die pressing permits both side surfaces of a long groove (28) to be spread so as to be spaced from each other at a predetermined angle, and permits the clearance-above-eye (40) and eye portion (33) to be formed. The sewing machine needle thus formed exhibits sufficient rigidity and provides an increased space between the blade and a sewing thread, resulting in a sewing operation being carried out stably and at an increased speed.

Abstract: A method for scoop stitching includes the steps of changing the angle of attack of a curved needle before and after penetration of the needle into a fabric. The needle moves along an arc around an axis. The axis is reduced prior to needle penetration and is increased after penetration to assure good penetration depth in thick fabrics.

Abstract: A sewing machine needle has a piston for clamping the needle into a sewing machine, a needle shaft comprised of a shaft portion and an end piece with a tip, whereby the needle shaft has a needle eye between the shaft portion and the end piece for receiving a sewing thread. A conical portion connected to the piston forms a transition into the needle shaft. The end piece, between the tip and the needle eye, has a triangular radial cross-section with rounded corners, whereby the size of the triangular cross-section increases from the tip toward the needle eye, and whereby the triangular cross-section has its greatest size in the vicinity of the needle eye. The needle shaft, in the area of the needle eye, has an essentially circular cross-section, and this circular cross-section has a size that is smaller than the greatest size of the triangular cross-section.

Abstract: A tufting machine has a plurality of needles, each needle having a pair of eyes and cooperating with a pair of loop pile loopers seizing loops of yarn from a respective eye. The needle has an elongated yarn receiving groove extending along the surface of the needle facing the direction in which backing material is being fed. Each eye opens into the groove for receiving yarn guided along the groove. The point of the needle is offset relative to the longitudinal axis of the needle so that the needle does not enter loops previously shed by the loopers when relatively high pile height fabric is produced. The loopers of each pair of loopers have bills which point in the direction the backing material is being fed, the bills converging in the direction in which they point. The loopers of each looper pair are laterally spaced apart and each looper of the pair enters a clearance above a respective eye for seizing loops of yarn presented through the eye.

Abstract: An apparatus for threading a needle used in a sewing machine that forms a longitudinal seam in a tie. The needle has an open hook and a shank adjacent its pointed end. A thread gripper movable about two mutually perpendicular axes grips and loops the thread at least partially around the shank of the needle. The thread is received or threaded upon a retracting movement of the needle. In an alternative embodiment, a tined fork loops the thread about the needle.

Abstract: A needle for a tufting machine has its bottom end pointed and has its lower half portion flattened. The flattened portion has one edge thereof chamferred to form a tapered face. An elongated yarn insert hole is formed above the pointed tip. The hole is inclined at a predetermined angle so that its lowermost point is offset toward the tapered edge relative to a central longitudinal axis of the needle and so that its uppermost point is offset away from the tapered edge relative to the central longitudinal axis.

Abstract: A self-threading needle includes a slot extending from the outer surface into the eye of the needle that is continuous and uninterrupted for the entire length thereof. The slot is highly angled so that the thread, once in the eye, is not likely to exit that eye via the slot. The slot includes various wall shapes, such as curved, straight or compound.

Abstract: A needle for forming the longitudinal stitching seam of a necktie has a needle point to which a wire is attached, the wire being capable of being rolled up on the needle spool of the necktie sewing machine. To reduce the complexity of the device required to thread a yarn into the needle point, the latter is formed with a hook whose outer surface is flush with the surface of the needle point and beneath which is provided a recess extending beyond the hook in the direction of the wire.

Abstract: A pleating machine having a frame supporting two pairs of rollers formed with intermeshing teeth. Each pair is comprised of upper and lower intermeshing rollers, with a roller of the first pair intermeshing with a roller of the second pair to form a continuous train of gears. Each roller is provided with registering circumferential grooves along the length thereof. A needle having a pointed tip end and an eye end is disposed in "floating" relation in the machine with its pointed end positioned between the first pair of rollers (entrance rollers) and with its eye end extending just beyond the second pair of rollers. The needle is provided with a predetermined length which extends from the pointed tip to the eye end of the needle which is disposed proximate an arc prescribed by rotation of a point on the outer periphery of the lower of the second set (exit) of rollers.

Abstract: An improved shuttle embroidery machine having an attachment, corresponding to each needle, for the selective application of sequin-like decoration onto a cloth where a sequin strip is indexed by a rotary coin-feed wheel through a feed member for severance by a cylindrical sleeve of the needle at appropriate times.

Abstract: A bearded needle for bookbinding machines, embroidery machines and other similar machines comprising a needle shank having a neck portion, a beard, and a needle head supporting the beard. The needle head is connected to the neck portion and has an essentially conical needle tip. The beard and the shank are connected to the needle head to form a needle eye having a rounded fillet at the side of the eye facing the needle tip. The needle tip has a portion in a region of the fillet which has an upright essentially rectangular configuration with rounded edges and two narrow sides each having a center with the longitudinal plane of symmetry intersecting the centers of the narrow sides. The needle head at least in a region of the needle eye has a first laterally smooth taper thereby forming a thread travel area on each side of the longitudinal plane of symmetry.

Abstract: A mechanical needle carrier is provided which can grasp and carry a surgical needle through a cannula, position the needle and set a stitch at the remote location and then release the needle and be withdrawn from the cannula.

Abstract: A needle including a shank (11) having a portion (12) adapted to be clamped in the needle holder of a sewing machine on one of its ends and a point (13) on the other of its ends, an eye (14) passes through the shank and relieved portions forming scarfs (15) are provided on each of the two opposite sides of the needle on the side of the eye opposite the point. The needle can properly sew in each of two positions in the needle holder angularly spaced by 180.degree..

Abstract: A sewing machine needle is capable of vertically reciprocating between upper and lower dead points and swinging laterally within a predetermined amplitude between two extreme lateral positions to form zigzag stitches on a fabric material in cooperation with a hook of a rotary loop taker. The needle comprises a relatively thick upper base portion by which the needle is attached to a needle bar of the sewing machine and a shank formed integrally with the upper base portion and adapted to reciprocatingly pass through the fabric material.

Abstract: In a tufting needle with an eye (7) elongate in the direction of the needle axis (8), one side face is bevelled at one longitudinal edge by a land (6) and at the other longitudinal edge by a bias grind (14) reaching into the zone of the eye. The uppermost zone of that edge (9) of the eye, which zone is furthest from the needle point (13), is offset towards the land (6) relatively to the central axis (8) of the eye (7) to facilitate trouble-free co-operation between the looper (2) on the one hand and the needle and yarn (5) on the other hand.

Abstract: The invention relates to suturing instrument for joining two edges of biological tissue together. The instrument includes a housing (1) in which there is movably arranged an arcuate suture needle (16) having a point (17) arranged to penetrate the tissue, and the suture thread (18) connected to the suture needle. Drive means (3,8,11,12,13) are provided for causing the needle (16) to move in a manner such as to pass the thread thereon through one of the tissue edges and up through the other of the tissue edges, to join the two edges together with a firm suture. The novel feature of the instrument resides in the fact that the end of the suture needle remote from the point (17) thereof is connected to the suture thread and is arranged to be driven in the direction of the point (17) in a closed path by the drive means.

Abstract: Needles for constituting the needle bar of the tufting machine. Each of needles provides at the base portion of the needle shaft with a chamfered portion which is brought into contact in a face-to-face relationship with a face of grooves which are formed in a gauge plate for receiving and securing the needles therein, respectively.

Abstract: A needle for use in a sewing machine having a one-way needle clamp, in which the needle is formed with a shank having a minor portion adjacent the free extremity which cooperates with the one-way needle clamp to properly orient the sewing needle, and a major portion extending between the minor portion and the blade which includes a reference surface for locating the blade with respect to the sewing machine looptaker.

Abstract: A needle for tufting, sewing, stitching the like machines, the needle including a shaped elongate blade having at one end thereof a shank and at the other end thereof a point to which is positioned a needle eye, the elongate blade having a shaped longitudinal input recess in one side of the blade above the eye, the input recess having a sloped floor region immediately above the eye which is in the same plane as any bias on the shank of the needle and wherein the angle of the floor relative to the sides of the needle eye is outside the range of 85.degree.-95.degree. degrees.

Abstract: In a tufting needle for tufting machines comprising an operative shank portion of oblong cross-section and containing a thread guide and eye and an anchoring shank portion by which the needle is embedded in a needle module, said anchoring portion is of elliptical or rhombic cross-section and the major axes of the cross-sections of both portions are disposed in substantially the same plane.

Abstract: A sewing machine needle has a chamfer portion formed in its shaft which defines an interspace between the needle shaft and a thread running in an upward direction parallel to the needle shaft to permit a thread loop catching device to enter into the interspace during machine operation. The chamfer portion is formed by a portion of the needle shaft which is displaced with respect to the axis of the needle which extends substantially parallel thereto and yet which has substantially the same transverse cross-section as other portions of the shaft and by shaft transition portions which adjoin the displaced shaft portion which extend at an angle with respect to the needle axis. In this manner, a deep chamfer portion is obtained so as to increase the interspace between the needle shaft and sewing thread so that a reliable engagement of the sewing thread by the thread loop catching device can be achieved without the necessity of a so-called loop stroke.

Abstract: An improved needle construction for use in tag attachers. The needle includes an elongated body having a mounting end and a piercing end. The mounting end of the body is releasably securable to the tag attacher. The piercing end of the body includes a sharp point for piercing the article to be tagged. The elongated body includes an enlarged collar proximate the mounting end of the body which abuts against the front surface of the tag attacher when the needle is secured thereon.

Abstract: A suturing machine for suturing incised parts of a patient by producing continuous stitches by means of a curved needle and a shuttle includes a pair of grips terminated with jaws adapted to hold the curved needle which forms a thread loop on the parts to be sutured. A shuttle holder is slidably positioned on one of the grips to move the shuttle with a shuttle thread towards the curved needle to produce a lock stitch with the thread loop. The shuttle holder functions when the needle is standstill.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for sewing cover halves together around a baseball core or the like. The method includes the steps of advancing first and second needles in one direction over an edge of a first cover half and under and through an edge of an adjacent second cover half. The needles carry first and second double threads through the second cover half. The ball cover is then indexed forward and the first and second needles are advanced in an opposite direction over the edge of the second cover half and under and through the edge of the first cover half for carrying the first and second threads over the edge of the second cover half and through the edge of the first. Prior to the second step of advancing, the second thread is positioned between the first and second needles and above the first needle so that a regular herringbone stitch pattern between the first and second cover halves is achieved as the steps are sequentially repeated.

Abstract: A device for thread stitching layers to form a book wherein the stitching apparatus comprises a conveying mechanism for transporting a plurality of open layers in spaced relation to each other, the conveying device transporting the layers with respect to at least one spiral sewing needle which is rotationally driven, the point of the spiral needle penetrating into the layer backs and exiting the layer backs to stitch the layers together in sequence.

Abstract: An embroidery needle comprising a hollow handle member within which is received a spring biased push-rod operating member. A push-button is carried at one end of the rod and a clasp is threaded to the other end. The clasp includes expandable spring fingers which close on each other to form a clutch or vise grip on the end of a needle carried thereby. The needle supports one or more boot gauge members for gauging the height of an embroidery loop to be formed. An axial passageway extends through the entire assembly to allow the embroidery thread to be passed therethrough to the eye of the needle.

Abstract: A machine for producing a textile product, the machine having a needle provided with a leading end portion which extends non-axially with respect to the main portion of the needle, means for reciprocating the needle, in a predetermined needle reciprocation stroke, into and out of backing material and for effecting relative traversing movement therebetween, and means for ensuring that the leading end portion is inclined away from the direction of the said relative traversing movement throughout the latter, the said leading end portion having an axial length at least as great at the length of the needle reciprocation stroke.

Abstract: A needle for tufting, sewing, stitching and the like machines, which needle comprises a suitably shaped elongate blade having at one end thereof a shank and at the other end thereof a point adjacent to which is positioned a needle eye which is shaped and dimensioned to allow unimpeded movement of yarn therethrough particularly when the needle is withdrawn in an upward direction with a loop of yarn held on a looper.

Abstract: A tufting needle having a pair of eyes, an upper and a lower, spaced apart vertically wherein the needle when penetrating the backing fabric the upper eye does not penetrate the backing fabric in the lowermost position.

Abstract: A tufting needle for use in a module having a generally flat elongate element including a yarn receiving eye adjacent one end and an enlargement at the other end with the needle having a small twist between the ends.

Abstract: Process for smoothing the eye of a needle during maufacture using high power density radiation from a laser to melt the surfaces of the eye area and subsequently permitting the melted surfaces to solidify giving smoother surfacing.

Abstract: A hardened wear spot on a textile element is formed by applying high energy heat to a selected small area of the element which has been previously hardened and tempered to provide the proper spring characteristics for an operating textile element. The intensity and time of application of the high energy heat and the cooling after heat cut-off are carefully controlled to provide a small area of full hardness which is completely separated from the remaining tempered portion by a buffer zone of less hardness than either the tempered portion or the full hardness area.The new textile element made by this new method is a textile element with the major portion having a predetermined spring characteristic for an operating textile element. A small area of full hardness is located at a predetermined location to provide wear resistance. A buffer zone having less hardness than either the full hardness area or the major tempered portion completely separates the full hardness area from the major portion.

Abstract: A sewing machine needle is disclosed in which the needle blade including the long groove and the eye portion with a thin eye-accommodating web is cold formed in one finless flow pressing operation. Regardless of the diameter of the needle blade a uniform relation thereof with the needle orienting flat on the needle butt is achieved by lateral displacement of the needle blade axis relatively to the axis of the needle butt. In addition, the side flanges of the long groove, particularly in the eye portion are flared to facilitate threading.

Abstract: A sewing machine needle with special construction in the locality of the eye of the needle. The construction is such that the needle may be used in needle operations where there is very little space available between the needle and the other sewing machine elements.

Abstract: Disclosed is a novel combination of a sewing machine needle having a rectangular eye and a monofilament sewing thread of a synthetic material having a width to thickness ratio of approximately 3.0:1 to about 4.0:1.

Abstract: A dual color coding system is disclosed for sewing machine needles in which the color appearing on one area of the needle denotes the needle type, whereas that appearing on another area denotes the needle size. A dye which leaves no discernable surface coating is applied to the needle shank to denote one of the characteristics, preferably needle type; whereas a narrow band of pigmented material is applied as a surface coating over the dye colored surface at the juncture of the needle shank and blade to denote another characteristic, preferably needle size.

Abstract: A hollow needle for a tufting machine using fluid means to insert the yarn through a backing material. The needle has a fairly sharp point and is ground to merge the walls of the point of the needle into the base diameter to provide a gradual spread of the yarns in the backing material through which the needle is inserted.

Abstract: An improved sewing machine needle provided with tapered flat surfaces on both sides of the needle, beginning at a point slightly rearward of the needle's eye and converging towards the point of the needle.

Abstract: A tufting needle construction in which the axis of the eye and point portion of the needle is parallel but offset relative to the axis of the needle and the blade of the needle just above the needle eye is parallel but offset relative to the eye and point portion to form the clearance above the eye portion of the needle. The axis of the eye and point portion passes into the clearance above the eye. The construction is such that the cross section of the needle at the eye is less than that of known needles of similar gauge and the clearance above the eye may be equal to or greater than that of such known needles.