Improvements in Fabric Tufting Machines.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1896-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fabric Tufting Machines.
I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of London, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention (which has been communicated to me from abroad by William
Craig, of the City of Duluth, State of Minnesota, United States of America)
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a fabric tufting machine to be used by hand in the
manufacture of rugs and other like articles as I shall describe referring to the
accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, showing the machine in working position with
the needle in its uppermost, and the loop-holder in its lowest position.
Figure 2 is a similar view but with some parts removed and broken away.
Figure 3 is a view like Figure 1, but with the needle in its lowest and the loop-
holder in its uppermost position.
Figure 4 is a view with the parts in the same position as in Figure 3 but as seen
from the opposite side.
Figure 5 is a front elevation with the parts in the position shown in Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a vertical section, through the centre of the oscillating disk with
some parts removed;
Figure 7 is a horizontal section, through the needle and loop-holder clamps.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the needle carrying arm.
Figure 9 is a perspective view, of the tension device carried by the needle arm.
Figure 10 is a perspective view of a detail shewn in Figures 8 and 9.
Figure 11 is a perspective view and Figure 12 a longitudinal section of the
needle.
Figure 13 is a perspective view of the loop-holder.
a is part of the fabric to be tufted. This fabric or ground work which may be
of any suitable kind held properly stretched in a suitable support.
The frame of the machine consists of a base band a vertical standard . The
base 6 is cut away, at its central portion, to give passage 63, for such of the working
parts as move through the base. It is convex on its under surface, and turned up,
at its ends, to permit it to move freely over the fabric. The frame & b¹ may be
made by stamping it up from sheet metal, as shown in the drawings.
The central portion of the frame has various projecting parts hereinafter
referred to. c is the needle and c' the loopholder.
The groove on the face of the needle serves as a recess to cover the yarn so that
it may not make any opening except that made by the needle, in passing through
the fabric. The groove or guideway formed by the side ribs on the back of the
needle guides the lower end of the loop-holder c, which bears against the face of
the needle, when making its down stroke into the fabric.
The needle c and the loop-holder care secured, by clamping devices c², to the
lower ends of a pair of carrying arms c³. The clamping plates also serve as a
presser-foot. The arms ca are pivotted at their upper ends, by pins c, to the upper
ends of a pair of sliding plates co provided with antifriction rollers c mounted on
the pins and others below. The plates c bear against the back of the frame
plate and the rollers c work in vertical slots 6, cut through plate bl.
The

page_text: carrying arms bear against the face of the plate 61, and have slot and pin connec-
tion at e', with the lower ends of the sliding plates c. They are also subject to
spreading springs e each having one end secured to the arm and the other end to
the plate so that they urge the carrying arms forward, in respect to the frame.
The action of the spring e, applied to the needle carrying arm is limited by a stop
roller which can be laterally adjusted in a slot of 6 and secured by a clamping
nut so as to determine the forward throw of the needle due to the action of the
spring e thus fixing the length of the stitch. The needle carrying arm 3 has near
its lower end a cam surface clo to meet a roller cl mounted on the plate b. By the
cam surface co moving along the roller c" in the down stroke of the needle arm
the frame is moved forwards relatively to the needle.
The loopholder arm has in its lower part a cam slot es engaging with a stud o
projecting from the plate of the frame. This cam slot el is at the top contracted
to the width of the stud es but is wider in its lower portion. Its function is to
prevent the machine from moving forward until exactly the right time; that is to
say until the needle has made its feed and has re-entered the fabric for the next
stitch. This prevents slipping of the machine and secures uniformity of the
stitches.
one
The needle and loop holder arms o are connected by links with an oscillating
dise and mounted on a shouldered pivot stud f projecting from the plate
The stud is such as to hold the disc f at proper distance from the carrying
arms which it overlies. The disk f¹ is connected by a screw f3 to a lever
end of which is connected by a link to a fixed arm & its other end being
connected to the lower end of an arm carried by a hand piece. This hand
piece slides on a rod which is supported from the plate and has at its upper
end a hand piece by which the machine is held and guided with one hand, while
the hand piece f' is moved up and down on the rod 65 by the other hand. The
rod passes freely through an upper guide 67 and is screwed through a lower
guide 68 projecting from the back of the plate as shown in Figures 5 and 6.
also passes through a U shaped clamp which embraces the guide and has a
clamping screw 610 bearing against the outer end of 7. By this means the rod 6*
can be secured against rotary motion after it has been set in proper position. On
loosening the screw 610 the rod 6 can be screwed up or down to determine the
stroke of the carrying arms c³. The rod is shown as having a spring f for
cushioning the hand piece on its downward stroke. The upper end of for
f'
the lower end of 6e may be provided with a rubber buffer f for cushioning the up
stroke off.
It
The links which connect the arms c with the disk f¹ connect them at such
points that when the needle e is moving down, the loop holder e' is moving up and
conversely.
The yarn is supplied from spool g¹ mounted on a spindle g which runs from
an arm projecting rearward from plate b. The spindle g has a guard arm g
at its lower end, and is engaged, at its upper end, by the horizontal arm of a tension
device which is swivelled in a lug projecting from the plate b. The yarn g
passes through a coil eye, in the lower arm of g' and goes thence through the eye.
of a slack adjuster g which is carried by the disk f¹. The slack adjuster g³ has its
central part made with a projecting lip and engages over the stud on which the
disk is mounted as shown in Figure 6. A clamping screw 9 passes through the
central part of 9%, and is screwed into the stud f, so that it secures both the slack
adjuster and the disk to the plate 6, in their proper working positions on the.
stud. The slack adjuster g is engaged by a slot and pin g' to the disk, and
is urged upwards by a spring y. From the slack adjuster g, the yarn passes
through an eye g on the needle carrying arm ; and thence through the hook
eye on the clamping device c2 and through the eye of the needle. When the
needle is thus threaded, the yarn is subject to the action of a spring rod 9", the.
lower end of which is bent to form a hook which can be engaged under the yarn,
and affords a projecting tongue g¹ to ride in the groove on the face of the needle.

page_text: The stem of the rod g" passes up through the clamping device e; and is attached,
at its upper end, to an arm 9", pivotted on the central portion g of a flanged
segmental cap g. This cap gis is secured to the needle carrying arm by means
of a screw gl; and the lever g13 extends out through the gap in the cap flange, so
that the movement of the lever is limited by the ends of the gap. A spring g" has
its one end secured to the arm c³ it passes around the nave of the lever g¹³ and its
other end bent over the lever urging it downwards.
The action on the spring rod g is such that the tongue g thereof always bears
against the face of the needle holding the yarn to the needle with sufficient friction
to make the yarn move with the needle, instead of permitting the needle to move.
along the yarn. This always ensures enough yarn at the back of the needle, for
making the rearward half of the loop.
The machine operates as follows:-
The fabric a being stretched in a horizontal position, the operator holds and
guides the machine with one hand gripping 66, while with the other, he drives the
mechanism by moving the hand piece f up and down on the guide rod 6.
The clamping pieces which serve as presser-feet are moved down through the
passage of the base plate, and carrying down the fabric to a point below the
margins of the passage . When the needle and the loop holder are drawn
upwards the elasticity of the stretched fabric makes it follow them a little upwards.
Owing to this fact and the relative movements of the needle e and the loop-holder e',
the needle c never leaves the loop until the loop-holder cl has taken hold of the
bottom of the loop; and the loop-holder then holds the loop until the needle has
moved quite up, has made its forward throw, and has re-entered the fabric, for
forming the next loop. The loops are, therefore, of uniform depth.
While the loop-holder is down, as shown in Figure 1, the needle moves up, and,
as soon as it reaches a point where it is clear of the fabric, its spring will throw
its arm es forward against the stop e thus bringing the needle in proper position
for the next stitch. During this time, however, the frame cannot move forward
as it is held stationary by the pin c³, with the upper contracted part of the
groove 2. Hence no slipping of the frame can occur.
On the down stroke of the needle, the cam surface co on its arm, does not come
in contact with the roller " until after the needle has penetrated the fabric, and,
by this time, the loop holder has moved up sufficiently far to bring the pin into
the wide part of the slot c. Hence, under the continued downward movement of
the needle and while the presser foot is pushing the fabric down below the
base, the cam surfaces co and roller c co-operate to move the frame forward,
relatively to the needle. While the frame is thus moved forward, the loop-
holder is held by the fabric, but the wide part of 'the slot el permits the frame to
make the forward movement. After this has taken place, the loop-holder
continues to move up and, as soon as it clears the fabric, its spring c throws it
forwards, against the back of the needle, or into the position shown in Figure 3.
The loop-holder is then guided in its down stroke by the back of the needle, into
the loop just made by the needle. These actions are continuously repeated as the
hand piece is reciprocated.
As to the tension devices, on the up stroke of the needle, the slack adjuster g
unwinds from the spool g', a certain length of yarn g, which becomes slack, on the
down stroke of the needle and adjuster. This slack affords the yarn required for
the loop which the needle is making, and as the needle moves down, the yarn has
to move with it owing to the clamping action of the tongue g". Hence, whatever
part of the yarn was pulled through the eye of the needle, so as to be at the back
of the needle, when the needle was in its uppermost position, remains on the loop-
holder side of the needle, so as to be available for the rearward half of the loop.
Whenever the lower end of the spring rod g" touches the fabric, the whole tension
device g g yields permitting the needle to move on downward through the fabric.
As soon as the needle clears the fabric, on its upward movement, the spring g
throws down the tension device g" g" until it reaches its normal position relatively

page_text: to the needle. Throughout all these movements of the needle and the tension
device g g3, the tongue o yieldingly presses the yarn against the needle, for the
purposes and with the results above noted. Thus the described devices for controlling
the feed of the yarn, ensure the proper supply, at the proper times, and under the
required tension.
As the reciprocating motions to the arms c³, which carry the needle and the
loop-bolder are worked from a considerable leverage, the machine is easy to
operate, and the connections are such that there is no tendency to oscillate the
machine in a vertical plane; the machine being steadied and guided by the one
hand, while the mechanism is driven by the other. As the lever f4 is connected
to the arm and to the oscillating disc fl on opposite sides of the central line,
their points of connection moving in opposite directions, their motions nearly
compensate so that the motion of the reciprocating hand piece f' is substantially
straight.
The details of the driving mechanism might be varied while securing the same
results, but the arrangement shown is satisfactory, and the use of a lever such as f*,
or some equivalent is necessary, in order to give considerable leverage, and so render
the machine easy to work.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A fabric tufting machine carried on a base and frame moveable over the
fabric and operated by a reciprocating hand grip guided by a fixed rod rising
from the frame and serving as a handle to hold the machine, substantially as
described.
2. The combination with the frame and the reversely reciprocating needle and
loop-holder arms having a step-by-step advancing or feed movement, of a rod or
grip guide rising from the frame, a hand grip reciprocating on the guide and
connections for reversely reciprocating the needle and loop holder arms substantially
as described.
3. The combination with the frame and the reversely reciprocating needle and
loop holder arms of the oscillating disc having connections to these arms, a guide
rod rising from the frame, a hand grip movable on the guide rod, and a lever
pivotted to the disc and having its one end connected to the hand-grip and its other
end connected to the frame, substantially as described.
4. The combination with the frame b having the guide rod 6 of the needle
and loop holder arms c, mounted as described, the oscillating disk f', the links f
connecting the disc to the arms, the transfer lever pivotted to the disc, the
fulcrum link f and the hand grip f' mounted on the rod and having arms f
connected to the transfer lever 4, substantially as described.
5. In combination with the reversely reciprocating needle and loop holder arms,
having a step-by-step advancing movement, a spring tension device operating to
yieldingly clamp the yarn to the needle, substantially as and for the purposes set
forth.
6. In combination with the reversely reciprocating needle and loop-holder
carrying arms, having a step-by-step advancing movement, a spring tension
device carried by the needle arm, comprising a pivotted spring held arm having,
at its free end, a foot arranged to yieldingly clamp the yarn to the needle,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
7. In combination with a frame moveable over the fabric, reversely recipro-
cating needle and loop-holder carrying arms, means for reciprocating them, and
co-operating stops on the frame and the loop-holder arm, for preventing
movement of the machine until the needle penetrates the fabric, substantially as
described.
8. In combination with the frame the reversely reciprocating needle and loop-
holder arms, and means for operating these; a slack adjuster arranged on the

page_text: up stroke of the needle, to draw enough slack yarn for the loop to be made on the
down stroke of the needle, substantially as described.
9. In combination with a frame and the needle and loop-holder arms, mounted
as described, the oscillating disk, with connections to the arms for reversely
reciprocating them, and a spring urged slack adjuster carried by the oscillating
disk, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this First day of December 1896.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant