Needle plate member for a staggered needle tufting machine

Claim 1

In a staggered needle tufting machine having a front transverse row of uniformly spaced reciprocable front needles and rear transverse row of uniformly spaced reciprocable rear needles uniformly offset from said front needles, the front and rear needles being adapted to carry yarn through a base fabric movable longitudinally through the machine, and a looper hook for each needle having a bill for seizing and forming a loop in each yarn carried through the base fabric by the corresponding needle, fabric support means for supporting the base fabric between the staggered needles and the looper hooks, comprising: (a) an elongated needle plate having a longitudinal dimension and a transverse dimension and a free transverse edge portion, (b) means supporting said needle plate so that said free edge portion extends transversely of the machine and closely adjacent the reciprocable paths of the transverse row of said front needles, (c) a plurality of notches, there being one notch for receiving each said front needle as said needles penetrate the base fabric, (d) each said notch comprising a pair of opposed walls on opposite sides of the path of a corresponding reciprocable front needle, said side walls diverging rearward to form an opening through said transverse edge portion to permit the free rearward passage of the tufted pile loops formed by said front needles, (e) a plurality of finger members, each finger member projecting rearward from said edge portion between adjacent pairs of said notches, (f) each finger member comprising a shank portion projecting rearward from said free edge portion and terminating in a forked portion comprising a pair of rearward diverging tines spaced on each side of the path of a corresponding reciprocable rear needle, (g) said needle plate and said finger members supporting the adjacent portions of said base fabric stitched by said front and rear needles, (h) fabric shift means behind said finger members and engaging said base fabric, (i) means laterally shifting said shift means reciprocably to move said base fabric transversely relative to said needle plate, (j) said tines terminating in rear ends, each said rear end being transversely spaced from the adjacent rear end of an adjacent finger member to permit the rearward passage of the tufted pile loops formed by the front needle between said adjacent rear ends of adjacent finger members, and (k) said rear ends terminating adjacent a transverse line intersecting the vertical paths of said rear needles to disengage the loops formed by said needles when said loops move behind said rear ends and to permit free lateral shifting movement of the portion of the base fabric adjacent said rear needles.