Patent ID: 6945184

Claim:
In a multiple needle tufting machine adapted to feed a backing fabric longitudinally from front to rear through the machine having a plurality of spaced yarn carrying needles aligned transversely of the machine for a reciprocal movement through the backing fabric to form a tufted carpet, a yarn feed mechanism comprising: (a) an array of sequentially designated yarn drives each configured to carry a first yarn and a second yarn proceeding from a yarn supply to a first and a second needle respectively of the plurality of spaced apart yarn carrying needles; and (b) a tube bank intermediate the array of yarn drives and plurality of yarn carrying needles wherein the tube bank directs first yarns from the array of sequentially designated yarn drives to the first needles comprising a first sequential group of the spaced yarn carrying needles to form a first repeat and directs second yarns from the array of sequentially designated yarn drives to the second needles comprising a second sequential group of the spaced yarn carrying needles to form a second repeat; wherein the first repeat of the tufted carpet may be separated from the second repeat of the tufted carpet to form first and second rugs.