Tufting machine yarn feed roller assembly

摘要

A yarn feed roller assembly for a tufting machine for selectively controlling the speed at which yarn is fed to each needle of the tufting machine so that different pile heights may be produced by each needle. The assembly has a pivotable control arm corresponding to each needle and carrying a pair of narrow width feed rollers. Each control arm is a thin plate so as to reduce the amount of space required and to permit each needle to be individually controlled. Each feed roller associated with an arm correponds to a different pile height and is adapted to engage and be driven by a corresponding drive roller rotatably driven from the tufting machine at a different speed from each other drive roller. A yarn strand directed to a corresponding needle is first guided between the drive rollers and the feed rollers of the control arm. Each control arm may be pivoted about a fulcrum to engage a selected feed roller with its corresponding drive roller to feed the yarn to the needles at a corresponding speed. The mounting of each control arm permits simple removal and replacement in the assembly for ease of maintenance.