Knife holder for tufting machine

Claim 1

A tufting machine of the type having needles for inserting yarns through a backing material and wherein loopers catch and hold the loops of yarns as they are inserted through backing material by the needles, and a knife assembly supporting means is reciprocated for moving knives for cutting action with respect to the loops caught by the loopers; wherein the improvement comprises: a knife assembly between said knives and said knife assembly supporting means, said knife assembly including a knife bar carried by said supporting means, said knife bar having a sidewise opening recess, knife holder means carried by said knife bar, said knife holder means having tongue means protruding into said recess, said tongue means having increments spaced from each other and received at spaced locations in said recess for preventing relative rotational movement of said knife holder means in such recess, said knife holder means being moveable into and out of engagement with said supporting means, and detent means for locking said tongue means in place, said knife holder means having a plurality of equally spaced parallel slots each being disposed at an angle to the plane of said loopers and at an angle to the horizontal, whereby said knife holder holds said knives with their cutting edges against and cooperating with said loopers.