Patent ID: 9657419
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: D05C

Claim:
1. A tufting machine, comprising: at least one needle bar having a series of needles mounted therealong; backing feed rolls feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine; a yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns to said needles; a series of gauge parts mounted below said needles and movable into engagement with said needles as said needles are reciprocated into the backing material to pick-up loops of yarns therefrom; and a backing support mounted along the tufting zone in a position wherein the backing material passes thereover as the backing material moves through the tufting zone, said backing support having a resilience biasing the backing material toward an elevated position; and a control system including programming for controlling said yarn feed mechanism to selectively control feeding of the yarns to said needles in a manner whereby selected loops of yarns picked-up by said gauge parts are drawn thereagainst so as to create tension in the yarns forming said selected loops of yarns, sufficient to overcome the resilience of said backing support and move the backing material toward a lowered position for forming tufts of yarns in the backing material at varying pile heights according to a pattern being formed.