The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 1985
Filed:
Jul. 25, 1983
Ian Beverly, Blackburn, GB;
Spencer Wright Industries, Inc., Chattanooga, TN (US);
Abstract
A tufting machine has a broken yarn detector mounted intermediate the yarn feed mechanism and the needles, the detector having a multiplicity of yarn engaging fingers pivotably mounted in a support housing secured to a frame carried by the tufting machine. Each finger has an eyelet for receiving a strand of yarn which during normal operation of the tufting machine supports the finger in a raised position, but which drops when the yarn is broken. A signal generator and a signal receiver in the form of a light source and a photo-conductive receiver respectively are carried by the frame of the broken yarn detector at a disposition such that when a finger drops it interrupts the transmission of the light beam from the transmitter to the receiver to provide a signal which may be used to stop the tufting machine. The housing of the broken yarn detector supports a lifting member which may be raised to lock all the fingers in a raised position for threading of yarn therethrough and may be lowered during normal operation of the tufting machine and yarn detector. The frame also carries a support member for supporting selective non-threaded fingers in a remote position when such fingers are not being utilized.