Patent ID: 7143705

Claim:
A multi-needle quilting machine comprising: a frame for supporting a substrate web of material for quilting; a material drive selectively operable to move the substrate web longitudinally relative to the frame; one or more bridge assemblies selectively movable longitudinally relative to the frame; a plurality of stitching elements on the one or more bridge assemblies, each stitching element being operable to sew a series of stitches on the substrate web of material; a transverse drive selectively operable to impart transverse relative movement between the plurality of stitching elements and the substrate web of material; a controller operable to control the operation of the material drive, the movement of the one or more bridge assemblies, the operation of the stitching elements and the operation of the transverse drive to sew series of stitches on the substrate web of material while either: a) moving the web of material relative to the frame while the one or more bridge assemblies has zero longitudinal velocity relative to the frame, b) moving the one or more bridge assemblies longitudinally relative to the frame while the substrate web of material is stationary relative to the frame, or c) moving both the substrate web of material and the one or more bridge assemblies relative to the frame; and the one or more bridge assemblies including two or more rows of the stitching elements, each row being movable longitudinally relative to another one of the rows of stitching elements.