Patent ID: 8677916

Claim:
A multi-needle, chain-stitch, quilting machine comprising: a needle plate assembly to support a web of multi-layered material for quilting; a plurality of needles arranged in an array supported on one side of the needle plate assembly; a corresponding plurality of loopers arranged in a corresponding array supported on the opposite side of the needle plate assembly from that on which the needles are supported; each of the needles corresponding to one of the loopers to form one of a plurality of chain-stitch forming elements, simultaneously operable to each sew a separate one of a plurality of series of chain stitches across the web of multi-layered material; a pressure foot assembly situated on the same side of the needle plate assembly as the needles; a drive motor having a rotatable output drive shaft extending transversely across the machine from one side thereof to the other; a needle drive assembly operable to reciprocate the needles simultaneously through a multi-layered material supported by the needle plate assembly; a looper drive assembly operable to oscillate the loopers simultaneously in a chain stitch forming relationship with the needles on the side of the needle plate assembly on which the loopers are supported; a presser foot drive assembly operable to reciprocate the presser foot assembly against and away from the material supported by the needle plate; and an off-center drive assembly comprising two common off-center drive elements, connected to the output drive shaft, one at each side of the machine, the common off-center drive elements each having a reciprocating motion in response to rotation of the output drive shaft; the needle drive assembly being coupled, on each side of the machine, to one of the common off-center drive elements so as to reciprocate the needles simultaneously through a multi-layered material in response to the reciprocating motion of the off-center drive assembly; and the looper drive assembly being coupled, on each side of the machine, to one of the common off-center drive elements so as to oscillate the loopers simultaneously in a chain stitch producing relationship with the needles in response to said reciprocating motion.