Patent ID: 6244203
Filing Date: 2001-06-12
Classification: D05B,D05C,D05D

Abstract:
In a multiple needle tufting machine adapted to feed a backing fabric from front to rear through the machine having a plurality of spaced needles aligned transversely of the machine for reciprocable movement through the backing fabric by operation of a rotary main drive shaft, a yarn feed mechanism comprising:(a) a support having a mounting surface;(b) a plurality of yarn feed mounting plates removably attached to said mounting surface;(c) at least one yarn feed roll on each of said yarn feed mounting plates;(d) a servo motor associated with each of said yarn feed mounting plates for rotating a yarn feed roll thereon independently of yarn feed rolls on other mounting plates;(e) a servo motor controller for processing ratiometric information, electronically connected to said servo motor;(f) a master controller which receives rotational position information for the main drive shaft by electrical connection to an encoder and sends corresponding ratiometric pattern information by electrical connection to the servo motor controller.