Patent ID: 8443743

Claim:
A yarn feed control system for a tufting machine of the type having a series of needles carrying a plurality of yarns into a backing material passing through the tufting machine, the yarn feed control system comprising: at least one yarn feed device including a series of motors and a series of yarn feed controllers for controlling operation of yarn feed motors; backing feed rolls for feeding the backing material through the tufting machine at a desired rate; and a system controller in communication with the tufting machine for controlling operation of the tufting machine, and with said yarn feed controllers for controlling operation of said yarn feed motors as needed to feed desired amounts of yarns at selected locations of the backing material; wherein said system controller is programmable with predetermined yarn feed profiles for selected yarn feed zones of selected stitches of a programmed pattern to be tufted, and can automatically feed yarns to selected needles for each stitch to be tufted according to said predetermined yarn feed profiles for said selected yarn feed zones of said selected stitches, and wherein each selected yarn feed zone of each selected stitch comprises a portion of at least one revolution of a main shaft of the tufting machine during which said selected stitch is formed.