Knife block for tufting machines

Claim 2

A knife block for a tufting machine comprising an elongated body member having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced flange portions, said flange portions being connected together by a pair of webs, said webs being laterally offset from and parallel to each other, said webs further being longitudinally offset from each other such that any plane extending substantially normal of the planes of said webs and to said flange portions intersects no more than one of said webs, means for slidably receiving at least one cutting knife between said flange portions laterally outwardly of each web, and means for slidably receiving at least one cutting knife between said flange portions laterally intermediate said webs.

Claim 3

A knife block as recited in claim 1 wherein the longitudinal offset between said webs defines an elongated slot extending substantially normal to the planes of said webs.

Claim 4

A knife block for a tufting machine comprising an elongated body member having a pair of spaced flange portions extending longitudinally and defining the outer extremities of the body member, said flange portions being connected together by a pair of laterally spaced apart web portions, each of said web portions extending longitudinally from an inner edge to an outer extremity, the inner edges being longitudinally spaced one from the other, means defining at least one pair of aligned facing grooves in the flanges adjacent each web laterally remote from the other web for slidably receiving a cutting knife in each pair of grooves, and means defining at least one pair of aligned facing grooves in the flanges laterally intermediate said web portions for slidably receiving a knife in each pair of grooves.

Claim 5

A knife block for a tufting machine comprising an elongated body member having a pair of spaced flange portions extending longitudinally and defining the outer extremities of the body member, said flange portions being connected together by a pair of laterally spaced apart web portions, each of said web portions extending longitudinally from an inner edge to an outer extremity, the inner edges being longitudinally spaced one from the other, means defining at least one pair of aligned facing grooves in the flanges adjacent each web laterally remote from the other web for slidably receiving a cutting knife in each pair of grooves, and means defining at least one pair of aligned facing grooves in the flanges laterally intermediate said web portions for slidably receiving a knife in each pair of grooves.

Claim 6

A knife block as recited in claim 3 wherein the outer extremities of said web portions are substantially coextensive with the corresponding extremity of the flange portions.

Claim 7

A knife block for a tufting machine comprising an elongated body member having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced flange portions, said flange portions being connected together by a web having first and second laterally facing sides, said web having at least one longitudinally extending slot formed laterally intermediate said sides from flange to flange to define two web portions for slidably receiving one cutting knife in each slot, and means for slidably receiving at least one cutting knife between said flanges adjacent each of said first and second sides.

Claim 8

A knife block for a tufting machine comprising an elongated body member having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced flange portions, said flange portions being connected together by a web having first and second laterally facing sides, said web having at least one longitudinally extending slot formed laterally intermediate said sides from flange to flange to define two web portions for slidably receiving one cutting knife in each slot, and means for slidably receiving at least one cutting knife between said flanges adjacent each of said first and second sides.

Claim 9

A knife block as recited in claim 5 wherein each of said web portions extends from an inner edge intermediate the extremities of said flanges longitudinally to a different one of the extremities of said flanges, the inner edge of one web portion being spaced longitudinally from the inner edge of the other web portion.

Claim 10

In a tufting machine having looper means for seizing loops from a yarn carrying needle and a cutting apparatus for cutting the loops of yarn seized by said looper means, said looper means including a multiplicity of oscillating loopers, each having one edge thereof forming a cutting edge, said cutting apparatus including a cutting knife corresponding to each looper and having a cutting edge disposed for cooperation with the cutting edge of the corresponding looper, means for initiating relative oscillating motion between said loopers and said knives such that the cutting edges on said loopers and said knives cooperate to cut a loop disposed on said loopers, said cutting apparatus further including a multiplicity of knife supporting blocks, each of said blocks comprising an elongated body member having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced flange portions connected together by a pair of laterally spaced apart parallel webs, said webs being longitudinally spaced apart such that any plane extending substantially normal to the planes of said webs and to said flange portions intersects no more than one of said webs, means for slidably receiving at least one knife between said flange portions laterally intermediate said webs and means for slidably receiving at least one knife between said flange portions laterally outwardly of each web, and means for clamping said knives in said block.

Claim 11

In a tufting machine having looper means for seizing loops from a yarn carrying needle and a cutting apparatus for cutting the loops of yarn seized by said looper means, said looper means including a multiplicity of oscillating loopers, each having one edge thereof forming a cutting edge, said cutting apparatus including a cutting knife corresponding to each looper and having a cutting edge disposed for cooperation with the cutting edge of the corresponding looper, means for initiating relative oscillating motion between said loopers and said knives such that the cutting edges on said loopers and said knives cooperate to cut a loop disposed on said loopers, said cutting apparatus further including a multiplicity of knife supporting blocks, each of said blocks comprising an elongated body member having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced flange portions connected together by a pair of laterally spaced apart parallel webs, said webs being longitudinally spaced apart such that any plane extending substantially normal to the planes of said webs and to said flange portions intersects no more than one of said webs, means for slidably receiving at least one knife between said flange portions laterally intermediate said webs and means for slidably receiving at least one knife between said flange portions laterally outwardly of each web, and means for clamping said knives in said block.

Claim 14

In the method as recited in claim 8 wherein said steps of cutting each pair of grooves comprise abutting both flange portions with a rotating disc-type cutting blade having an axis of rotation substantially normal to the planes of said web, and relatively feeding said blade and said block to progressively cut from the extremity toward the inner edge of the webs.

Claim 15

In the method as recited in claim 9 including the step of relatively reorienting the block and the blade after cutting to adjacent the inner edge of said first web, and thereafter cutting from said other extremity.