Modular hook bar with gauge insert for tufting machine

Claim 1

A looper apparatus for a multiple-needle tufting machine including looper hooks, each hook comprising a neck portion having an upright rear shoulder, a shank portion projecting rearward from the neck portion, and a bill projecting forward from the neck portion, comprising: (a) a hook bar of solid material having a front face, a rear face, a bottom surface, and a transverse dimension, (b) an elongated recess opening through the front face of said hook bar, projecting rearward into said hook bar, and extending transversely of said hook bar, (c) said recess having a top surface and a bottom surface, (d) an elongated unitary gauge member having front, rear, upper and lower portions, and received within said recess, the longitudinal axis of said gauge member extending transversely of said recess, (e) a plurality of transversely spaced hook slots in said gauge member having the same gauge as the needles in the multiple-needle tufting machine, (f) said hook slots being disposed vertically and extending front-to-rear through said gauge member and opening through the front and lower portions of said gauge member, each of said hook slots being adapted to receive the shank portion of a corresponding looper hook projecting rearwardly into said recess, (g) said gauge member comprising an elongated continuously extending transverse top wall portion having a continuously solid, uninterrupted top surface and defining the closed upper surface of each of said hook slots, the upper surfaces of said hook slots being spaced from the bottom surface of said recess a height slightly greater than the height of the shank portion of the corresponding looper hook received in said corresponding hook slot in operative position; and (h) a set screw means for each hook slot, a threaded hole for each set screw extending at an angle upward from front-to-rear through the bottom portion of said hook bar, each threaded hole being in the same vertical plane as each of said hook slots and intercepting the bottom surface of said recess, so that a set screw threaded through each corresponding hole may be adjusted to bear against the bottom edge of the shank portion of a looper hook in the operative position for holding the top edge of the shank portion against the top surface of the corresponding hook slot within said guage member.