Patent Application
20240093417
The present invention relates to hollow needle tufting machines specifically adapted and methods of use for tufting artificial grass yarns to produce field turf, artificial lawn and/or other products.
Hollow needle tufting was originally conceived of by Tapistron Company many years ago as U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,027 discusses an improvement which is incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, some companies, have used independently controlled needles (ICN) tufting machines such as those having multiple tufting heads positioned in series so as to individually and sequentially tuft different colors of artificial grass yarn through a primary backing to make an artificial grass product, in particularly those having integral logos, yard markers and/or other indicia or effects on artificial grass products. For instance, one head may have white, one head may have green, etc. In those machines, the yarns only tuft where that particular color goes (all the green is tufted, then all the white is tufted, then sequentially the other colors are tufted, etc.). As one might expect, this takes a very long tufting machine to create artificial grass products. This structure used by Shaw is an improvement over prior art technology of tufting an artificial grass product and then using a waterjet or other system to cut out a particular shape and then have that same corresponding shape cut out of another product and then joined together to provide a finished product which can potentially deteriorate at seams in an undesirable fashion. For years team logos and other effects have been provided on artificial grass fields in this manner when they are not painted onto the artificial grass itself.
In spite of the prior art improvements, particularly those provided on YouTube as discussed herein, still additional improvements of these prior technologies are believed to be desirable.
It is object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved artificial grass manufacturing machine and process of making artificial grass.
It is another object of many embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved hollow needle tufting machine configured to advantageously tuft, for at least some embodiments, artificial grass products and more particularly artificial grass products having logos or other multi-color effects.
Accordingly, in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, the applicant's technology employs a hollow needle tufting machine specifically modified to tuft artificial grass products having multiple yarns selectively provided through hollow needles.
When attempting to utilize existing hollow needle sampling machines to manufacture artificial grass products having multiple colors, the applicant ran into many difficulties. Specifically, the needles presently utilized did not offer a high enough grass extending from the primary backing when tufted. Due to this longer grass product which is significantly longer than cut loop pile or other tips sheared carpet products, the applicant discovered a need for a taller needle such as well in excess of the 2¾ inch needles utilized in the applicant's prior art tufting machines. The needle height needed to be at least 4½ inches and certainly over 4 inches to create a satisfactory height of artificial grass product. A need also existed for a larger distance between the head of the tufting machine and the backing plate or bed which required either the head to be raised, which for many embodiments would be difficult because then the machine would not fit within a container for shipment. Thus, instead of just raising the head, the applicant lowered the bed at least about an inch and a half if not two inches or more. Larger diameter bores in guide tubes were believed to be desirable over prior art carpet technology designs so as to accommodate the different types of yarns utilized in manufacturing artificial grass such as slit tapes, monofilament fiber wraps such as those having tracers and other yarn types not normally utilized in carpets. In fact, the tracer yarns would routinely get caught up in guides and hang up.
Guides that do not pinch would be particularly desirable for many artificial grass manufacturing systems.
By utilizing shifting backing systems and/or shifting needle bar systems, the gauge and density can be changed so that denser hollow needle tufting areas may “pop” to the observer.
A tip shearing apparatus integral with a tufting machine may also be desirable to prevent an extra shearing step.
Larger diameter yarn feed rolls may also be desirable to feed more yarn for each stroke of the needle tufted through the backing. While a ¾ inch diameter feed roll worked satisfactorily, less rotation would be required of a two inch diameter or three inch diameter roll. Larger diameters may prove to be easier to control and/or provide greater precision.
The particular features and advantages of the inventions with other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
A tufting machine 10 disclosed in
In order to generate and put in coder signals for the backing shifting mechanism 23 corresponding stroke of the needles 20 and coder 34 or other device indicate positional information which the tufting machine controller can determine the position of the needles in the tufting cycle. Alternatively, drive motors may use commentators to indicate the motor position in which positions the associated driven components may be extrapolated by the controller. Operator controls 24 may also interface with the tufting machine controllers to provide necessary pattern information to the storage associated with the various tufting machine controllers before machine operation.
On a broadloom tufting machine, these components can be operated in a fashion to provide pixel-addressed yarn placement as described in various prior patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,439,141; 7,426,895; and 8,359,989 and continuations thereof. Pixel controlled yarn placement in connection with ICN machines is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,382,723 and 5,143,003; while pixel controlled placement of yarns utilizing hollow needle tufting machines is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,496 and 5,738,030. All these patents are incorporated herein by reference. Software to facilitate such pixel mapped designs ha been available from NedGraphics since at least about 2004 in the form of its Texcelle and Tuft programs, from Tuftco Corp. in the form of its Tuftco Design System, and from Yamaguchi in the form of its design system for similar lengths of time.
Improved hollow needle tufting machines 10, as discussed herein, are particularly well adapted to manufacture artificial grass products. Using a prior art carpet sampling machine, the applicant attempted to use hollow needle tufting machines to manufacture artificial grass products but quickly realized improvements were necessary whether it be to make fields or artificial lawns, landscape products, etc. One principal reason of this is a hollow needle machine set up for carpet is not well adapted for use with artificial grass. Accordingly, the applicant realized that many changes were desirable in order to make a hollow needle artificial grass machine.
For hollow needle tufting machines which are typically capable of selectively tufting at least two color yarns to the same needle 20, the applicant discovered that not only can traditional artificial grass for landscape or turf products be tufted, but also those which integrate specific field lines or logos or other effects for fields or even different patterns of different colorations and/or patterns of grass products for artificial lawns. At least two yarns can be provided per needle. Three or more can certainly be provided as well which is particularly helpful when tufting logos such as at the middle of the field or school names in end zones and/or other effects.
Tube such as tubes 53 can advantageously take advantage of a larger diameter such as changing from a quarter inch inner diameter to five-sixteenths or other inner diameter to accommodate yarn constructions than prior art yarns used to manufacture carpet. Specifically, when manufacturing artificial grass products, not only are flat yarns utilized for at least some embodiments but also slit tape products which may tend to roll or fold, as well as multiple monofilament fibers such as up to six, or more, monofilament fibers with a tracer yarn wrap 56, etc. Of course, thatch yarn 56 flat yarns 57, etc., may be utilized and/or various combination of these and/or other yarns or yarn types that are utilized in the manufacture of artificial grass products whether it be landscape products, field based products, etc.
While certainly artificial grass products are tufted with prior art tufting machines with a single yarn fed to a single needle, the applicant is unaware of any attempts to manufacture artificial grass products with tufting machines having hollow needles 20 fed by multiple yarns or selectively fed through the needles 20 depending on the pattern and/or design designed at any particular location of tuft of the needle 20.
When tufting these, the applicant discovered a number of issues when attempting to utilize prior art technology. Specifically, the guide 60 feeding with yarn feed rolls 61,62 tended to pinch and bind tracer yarns on monofilament wrapped yarns, thus creating a tangle and relatively quickly requiring machine to be stopped. Accordingly, improved guide 60 could replace the prior art guides 60 having a smooth inner bore 63 extending from rear 64 to front 65 along a channel 66, guides 60 may have a slot 67 preferably with a jog 68 so as to retain yarns within the channel 66 but allow for easy insertion through the slot 67. A channel 66 may have a radius of curvature along the inner surface 63 but preferably no sharp edges or interface faces where one part meets with another in a sharp angle or along a pivot so as to potentially catch or retain a tracer yarn or other portion of a yarn. For the preferred embodiment, the guides 60 can be molded, 3D printed or driven or manufactured by other techniques.
Additionally, inline shear 70 may be useful with the tufting machine 10 for many preferred embodiments to selectively tip shear at least some ends.
When utilizing the hollow needles 20 and selecting which color yarn is fed and selectively tufted through the backing 22, not only can logos be tufted into carpets but also the density of individual stitches at a specific location can also be selected or varied so that logos and/or other portions or the field are artificial tuft can “pop” relative to other portions. As improved tufting machines 10 become commercially available in the marketplace, still further improvements may be developed and/or recognized as the machines implement the improvements described herein and/or possibly others.
Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will present themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/408,216 filed Sep. 20, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63408216 | Sep 2022 | US |
