Patent ID: 6990914

Claim:
A quilting apparatus providing an automatic variable sewing area greater than a fixed throat depth of a sewing machine, comprising in operative combination: a) a quilting frame including two opposed, longitudinally spaced end plates; b) at least one fabric payout roller and a rotatable take-up roller defining therebetween a sewing area; c) each said payout roller is mounted at its ends adjacent a forward end of said end plates to selectively pay out fabric to said sewing area; d) a laterally movable carriage mounted to each of said end plates, said carriage including an output shaft for rotating said take-up roller; and said take-up roller is mounted at each end to said output shafts for rotation and for lateral movement; e) a motor coupled to at least one of said output shafts to provided powered furling and unfurling of sewn fabric onto and off of said take-up roller; f) a take-up roller approach sensor system mounted in association with said take-up roller for actuating powered automatic rotation of said take-up roller in one rotational direction that moves said take-up roller laterally forward upon furling of fabric onto said take-up roller to move said take-up roller so that it does not interfere with forward motion of a sewing machine, and powered automatic rotation of said take-up roller in an opposite rotational direction that moves said take-up roller laterally backward upon unfurling of fabric rolled up onto said take-up roller so that it does not interfere with backward motion of a sewing machine; g) a tensioning system mounted in association with said carriage to maintain constant tension on the fabric in said sewing area as fabric is sewn; and h) said apparatus cooperatingly automatically maintains a variable sewing area that exceeds the fixed throat depth of the sewing machine.