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:
Mar. 31, 1987
Filed:
Apr. 14, 1986
Arthur Bagnall, Whitefield, GB;
Spencer Wright Industries, Inc., Chattanooga, TN (US);
Abstract
A tufting machine has a needle bar shifter for moving the needle bar transversely of the direction of the movement of the backing fabric, a pattern cam determining the amount and frequency of the shifts. The cam is driven in timed relationship with the reciprocation of the needle bar at a cyclically variable speed. The drive for the cam includes an epicyclic gear arrangement having a constant speed input motion applied to the ring gear and an oscillatory motion applied to the planet gears. The output is taken at the sun gear and applied to the pattern cam. The same drive may also be used for driving the feed rollers to feed the base material at a cyclically variable speed when the needles are above the base material.