A Hook for A Tufting Machine

Abstract

A hook (5) for a tufting machine to provide an enhanced J-cut effect. The hook comprises a shank portion (12) via which the hook is connected to the tufting machine, in use, and a working portion (4) extending from the shank portion. The working portion (4) comprises a cutting edge (6) on one side of a lower face of the working portion. A J-cut forming portion is formed at the working portion (4), in that the working portion in the region above the cutting edge has a greater thickness than the thickness of the shank portion (12).

Claims

1. A hook for a tufting machine, the hook comprising a shank portion via which the hook is connected to the tufting machine, in use, and a working portion extending from the shank portion and comprising a cutting edge on one side of a lower face of the working portion, wherein a J-cut forming portion is formed at the working portion, in that the working portion in the region above the cutting edge has a greater thickness than the thickness of the shank portion.

2. The hook according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the working portion in the region above the cutting edge is at least 1.2 times greater than the thickness of the shank portion;

3. The hook according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the working portion in the region above the cutting edge is at least 1.5 times greater than the thickness of the shank portion;

4. The hook according to claim 3, wherein the thickness of the working portion in the region above the cutting edge is 2 times greater than the thickness of the shank portion;

5. The hook according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the working portion in the region above the cutting edge is less than 4 times the thickness of the shank portion.

6. The hook according to claim 1, wherein in a cross section in a plane perpendicular to and passing through the cutting edge, the ratio of the maximum width of the hook to the maximum height is at least 0.3.

7. The hook according to claim 6, wherein in the cross section in the plane perpendicular to and passing through the cutting edge, the ratio of the maximum width of the hook to the maximum height is at least 0.4.

8. The hook according to claim 6, wherein in the cross section in the plane perpendicular to and passing through the cutting edge, the ratio of the maximum width of the hook to the maximum height is at least 0.5.

9. The hook according to claim 6, wherein in the cross section in the plane perpendicular to and passing through the cutting edge, the ratio of the maximum width of the hook to the maximum height is at least 0.6.

10. The hook according to claim 6, wherein in the cross section in a the plane perpendicular to the cutting edge, the ratio of the maximum width of the hook to the maximum height is less than 1.2.

11. The hook according to claim 1, wherein the working portion of the hook is devoid of a chamfer on the side of the hook opposite to the cutting edge.

12. The hook according to claim 1 is formed from a single piece of material.

13. The hook according to claim 1. wherein the J-cut portion is formed by an insert extending from a main body of the hook to provide the greater thickness.

14. The hook according to claim 13, wherein the insert also forms the cutting edge of the hook.

15. The hook according to claim 13, wherein the insert is movable with respect to the main body of the hook to vary the size of the J-Cut forming portion.

16. A hook for a tufting machine, the hook comprising a shank portion via which the hook is connected to the tufting machine, in use, and a working portion extending from the shank portion and comprising a cutting edge on one side of a lower face of the working portion, wherein a J-cut forming portion is formed at the working portion by an insert extending from a main body of the hook wherein the insert is movable with respect to the main body of the hook to vary the size of the J-Cut forming portion.

Description

[0035] Before describing the specifics of the present invention, the general operation of a hook in a tufting machine will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0036] A tufting machine is provided with a row of needles 1 extending across the width of the machine. Only one of these is shown in FIG. 2. The needles are arranged to reciprocate vertically to repeatedly penetrate a backing medium 2 to form loops of yarn (not shown in FIG. 2). As the needle 1 reaches bottom dead centre (as shown in FIG. 2) a hook 5 is rocked into the position shown in FIG. 2 in order to pick up the loop of yarn formed by the needle. Each hook 5 is associated with a knife 7 which is also reciprocally movable from a lower position shown in FIG. 2 to an upper position in which the knife cooperates with the cutting edge 6 on the hook in order to sever the loops of yarn on the hook in order to produce a cut pile carpet.

[0037] Each hook has a working portion 4 which is the part of the hook which includes the cutting edge 6 and a shank portion 12 via which the hook 5 is connected to the tufting machine. In this case, the shank portion 12 can have a conventional thickness and hence can be connected to a bar or block 13 via bolts 14 in a conventional fashion. Similarly, the knives 7 are mounted to a knife bar 15 such that a number of knives are reciprocated together.

[0038] The first example of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1B and FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0039] In most senses, the hook is conventional. In particular, in the side view of FIG. 2, the hook is resembles a conventional hook. The difference resides in the fact that the working portion 4 is thicker than the shank portion 12. In particular, in the vicinity of a throat 20 and the cutting edge 6 the hook is significantly thicker than a conventional hook.

[0040] FIG. 3B shows the side of the hook which cooperates with the adjacent knife. This has a knife chamfer 21 which helps defining the optimum path for the knife 7 onto the cutting edge 6 of adjacent hook. However, as is apparent from FIGS. 3A and 3B there is no anti-J chamfer on the side opposite to the cutting edge 6. Instead, the thicker portion is maintained for the majority of the working portion 4. However, as is particularly apparent from FIGS. 3A and 3B, the hook then tapers back to a more conventional thickness towards the tip 22 of the hook. This is the part of the hook which first engages with a loop of yarn and is therefore as thin as possible in order to reliably penetrate the loop. This portion does not need to be as thick as the working portion 4 in the vicinity of the cutting edge 6 as this does not contribute to the J-Cut effect.

[0041] As is apparent from FIG. 1B, the yarn path for the loop of yarn 3 around the right hand side of the working portion 4 of the hook 5 is significantly longer than the path around the opposite side of the hook 5. When the loop of yarn is cut by the knife 7 at the cutting edge 6, this results in a cut pile yarn as depicted on the right hand side of FIG. 1B where the long yarn 10 is significantly longer (typically 4-5 mm) than the short yarn 11 as compared to the conventional arrangement depicted in FIG. 1A.

[0042] In order to create the hook with the thicker working portion, conventional techniques can be used in terms of cutting, treating and grinding the hook. The only difference will be that the starting material required to make the hook will be thicker.

[0043] The second example of the hook is shown in FIG. 1C and FIGS. 4A to 4C.

[0044] In this case, rather than starting from an entire hook which is thicker and then removing the extra material in the shank area 12, the hook is made as a hook of a conventional or common thickness as best appreciated from FIG. 4C however, the increase in thickness of the working portion is provided by an insert 30 which extends around the throat 20 and into the shank portion 12 as shown in FIG. 4A. The insert is preferably made of a harder material than the main hook, such as tungsten carbide. As is apparent from FIG. 1C and FIG. 4C, the insert 30 provides the cutting edge 6 thereby improving the hook lifetime. The insert will be attached by means of spot welding, joining or bonding an additional profile piece.

[0045] As is apparent from FIG. 1C, the effect of the insert 30 is equivalent to the thicker hook of FIG. 1B in that it provides the increase differential between the yarn piles around the hook and hence a differential between the long yarn 10 and short yarn 11 which, in practice, is expected to be 4 to 5 mm.

[0046] The third example is shown in FIGS. 5, 5A and 5B. This discloses a slidable insert 40 which can be reciprocated independent of the yarn feed using a type of reciprocating mechanism which is known in the context of a hook with a sliding gate (see, for example, GB2354263 and GB2367305).

[0047] As can be seen in FIG. 5, the insert 40 can be moved from a retracted position (shown in solid lines and in FIG. 5A) to a forward position (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 5 and in FIG. 5B). In the retracted position, the insert 40 does not interfere with the loop, such that the loop in FIG. 5A extends only around the hook and this operation is effectively the same as the operation depicted in FIG. 1B. However, when the insert 40 is extended into the forward position, the loop also extends around the insert 40 as shown in FIG. 5B thereby further increasing the differential between the yarn paths around the hook resulting in an even greater differential between the long 10 and short 11 yarns. In the situation of FIG. 5B this example also has a working portion which is significantly thicker than the shank portion. Also the tip of the hook has more or less the conventional thickness. The insert 40 in FIG. 5 is shown having a straight lower edge. It could, however, have an inclined lower edge to provide further variation in the length of the yarn path.