Patent GB-1040619-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus and method for producing colours and patterns in manufactured articles
IPC: D03C19/00
Filed: 1963-10-10
Abstract: 1,040,619. Tufting machines. IMAGE DESIGNS Inc. Oct. 10, 1963 [Nov. 6, 1962], No.40070/63. Heading D1G. [Also in Division H4] A tufted carpet 10, Fig.1, is produced having the colours and pattern of a master colour transparency 11 which is scanned by photo-electric members 20R, 20G and 20B to derive from each elemental area red, green and blue component signals E R , EG, E B  which are translated by a logic computer 14 into further signals C R , C G , C B , C w , C B   K  which determine the selection of bits of material of predetermined colour to be inserted by needles 16 in the corresponding elemental areas of the carpet. The particular example described is based on the use of four bits of material in each elemental area which are selected from the five colours: red, green, blue, white and black. Typical operations are illustrated in Fig.2 where A, C, and E show original photo-electric signals, and B, D and F show the resulting combinations of four bits of material. It is intended that the carpet will be viewed at such a distance that the colours of the four bits forming one elemental area are not individually resolvable. Thus the combination of Fig.2F appears as a red purple in accordance with the original signals although formed of two reds, a blue and a black. The elemental area of the carpet is “" square. The carpet is nine feet wide and is formed line-byline by 88 needle heads 16 which extend across the carpet width at 1“" spacing, i.e. the spacing of five elemental areas. Only a single bit of material can be inserted by a needle at one time, so that the formation of one elemental area involves four operations as shown in Figs.11A-D, and these four operations must be repeated five times to fill up the five elemental areas allotted to each needle as shown in Figs.11E, and F. The production of each line thus involves 20 needle operations. Each needle head carries five needles each threaded with a different colour, the needle heads being rotated by means 24 for selecting the appropriate colour for insertion. The movement of the needles through the four positions A, B, C and D of each elemental area and the movements into the five areas allotted to each needle are effected by a mechanism (not illustrated) driving a slide 22 through which the needle bars all pass. At the completion of the formation of one line of the carpet the feed roll 23 is moved to advance the carpet through the width of one line. The master transparency 11 is mounted on a drum 17 with the line direction extending around the drum and is rotated with a common drive to a shaft 98 for the needle mechanism at such a speed that a complete line is scanned in a part of the time occupied by each needle operation. Twenty scans of a line are made during the production of one line of carpet (see above). The scanning head carrying photo-electric 20R, 20G, 20B is then advanced along the drum axis to permit scanning of the next line. The transparency is illuminated internally by a lamp 18 which is flashed 88 times during the scanning of each line, the phase of the flashing being advanced after every four line scans so as to cause illumination of the elemental picture areas in the sequence 1, 6, 11, 16.. . . 2, 7, 12, 17. . .3, 8 &c. in the same manner as needles form the elemental carpet area as shown in Fig. 11. The colour computer (see below) carries out logical operations to determine the selection of the colour of the four bits of material to be allotted to each elemental area and a converter 21 then translates the computer output signals into pulse signals. For each elemental area there are four pulses which appear in succession but distributed amongst the five channels C<SP>1</SP> G , C<SP>1</SP> B , C<SP>1</SP> R , C<SP>1</SP> 4,  C<SP>1</SP> BK  in accordance with the colours of the bits of material to be used. Thus to produce an elemental area as shown in Fig.2F, two pulses appears in the red channel C<SP>1</SP> R , one in the black channel C<SP>1</SP> BK  and one in the blue channel C<SP>1</SP> B . Although all four pulses appear during every scan of an elemental area, gating circuits pass only a different one in successive line scans in accordance with the four steps A-D, Fig. 11 involved in the building up of an elemental area of the carpet. The pulses pass into a static commutater 13 which is comprised of 88 rows of magnetic storage cores, one for each needle, with each row having five cores, one for each colour. The cores operate in series to pass a stored signal from one core to the next, and the operating procedure is such that at the completion of one line the whole commutater is occupied with one signal in each row in the core of that row appropriate to the colour it represents. The whole of the operation takes place whilst the needles are engaging the carpet to insert previously determined bits of material. The needles then withdraw and on the next down stroke are rotated by a cam and follower mechanism (not illustrated) through five positions at which they may take up a bit of material, each position being allotted a different one of the colours. Simultaneously with this rotation the stored signals are read from each commutater row to the associated needle and depending on which one of the cores in the row is occupied by the signal the needle rotation is stopped at the position to take up the appropriately coloured bit. The colour computer 14 comprises a group of circuits which compare the relative amplitudes of the photo-electric signals in each polarity, i.e. it derives G-R, R-G, G-B, B-G &c., and then with the aid of gating circuits and quantitizers performs logical operation to determine the magnitude to be allotted, in a range of four steps, to each of the five colours. For example, in response to zero input of each of E R , EG and E B , four units are allotted to black and nothing to each of red, green, blue and white; for maximum and equal inputs of E R , EG and E B , nothing is allotted to black but one unit each to red, green, blue and white; for maximum input of EG and zero input of E R  and E B , two units are allotted to green and two units to black, and so on. Twenty seven colour combinations are possible and the Specification includes a table and explains their development. An alternative arrangement, Fig. 12, is based on the use of eight colours, red, green, blue, white, black, cyan, magenta and yellow. The photo-electric signals EG, E R , E B  are quantitized in four steps by means of capacitor stages 180-183, which operate in conjunction with reference potentials from potentiometers 184, and the results are entered in registers 227 so that none or from one to four stage of each are occupied in accordance with the signal amplitude. The entries are then advanced through the registers stage-by-stage by pulses on lead 184 and appear on outputs 228G-B. If at any step zero appears at each output, thereby denoting a black colour content of the original colour, an "and" gate 187 is opened via inverters 188 to select output lead BK. If output appears simultaneously at each output, thereby denoting a white content, "and" gate 185 is opened to select output lead W. If outputs appear at only one of the register outputs, thereby denoting red, green or blue, signals pass through the appropriate ones of gates 186 and 188 to select output lead R, G or B. If outputs appear simultaneously at two of the outputs the appropriate one of gates 189 open to select output leads G, M and C. Inhibit connections extend between the various gates to ensure that only one can open at a time.