A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A TUFTED CARPET AND A CARPET COMPRISING BOTH TUFTED AND UNTUFTED PORTIONS

PROCEDE DE FABRICATION DE MOQUETTE TUFTEE ET DE MOQUETTE COMPRENANT DES PARTIES TUFTEES ET NON TUFTEES

English Abstract

The present invention refers, in general, to a process for manufacturing
tufted carpets or rugs, which are used, for instance, as decoration in homes,
and also to carpets or rugs produced by this process. Said process comprises
the following steps: obtaining a piece of carpeting (6), prior under-
finishing, from a roll of carpeting (1) manufactured by a large-scale
production machine; removing the tufts (3) from a surface region of the base
web (2) of the piece of carpeting (6), said region comprising an outer border
region and a central region of said piece of carpeting (6); and retufting said
surface region of the base web (2) with tufts (9) of a different nature by
using a hand-operated tufting machine. The manufacture of the carpet or rug
ends with a starching step which is characterized by placing a base onto the
bottom surface (11) of the base web (2), to fix the tufts (3, 9) definitively
on the base web (2). A carpet or rug is then obtained that has excellent
quality and finish, comparable to any rug made by a semi-artisanal process,
but with the advantage of having a much lower manufacturing cost, by virtue of
the fact that advantage is taken of large scale production carpeting.

French Abstract

La présente invention concerne de manière générale un procédé de fabrication de moquettes et de tapis tuftés, utilisés notamment pour décorer les maisons, ainsi que des moquettes et des tapis produits par ce procédé. Ce procédé consiste d'abord à obtenir à partir d'un rouleau de moquette (1) fabriquée par une machine de production en série un morceau de moquette (6), avant l'opération de pré-finissage, puis à arracher les touffes (3) d'une surface de la bande continue de base (2) du morceau de moquette (6), la surface précitée comprenant une surface périphérique externe et une surface centrale appartenant au morceau de moquette précité (6), et enfin, à retufter la surface de la bande continue précitée (2) avec des touffes (9) de nature différente, en utilisant une machine de tuftage manuelle. Par ailleurs la fabrication de la moquette ou du tapis s'achève par une opération d'empesage consistant à placer une base sur la surface inférieure (11) de la bande continue (2) pour fixer sur cette dernière les touffes (3, 9) de manière définitive. On obtient ainsi une moquette ou un tapis caractérisés par une excellente qualité et des finitions irréprochables, comparables à n'importe quel tapis de fabrication semi-artisanale, mais avec l'avantage d'un coût de fabrication beaucoup plus bas, en raison de la fabrication en série des moquettes.

Claims

-6-
Claims
1. A process for producing a tufted rug comprising a base web and tufts, the
bottom side of the base having been subjected to under-finishing,
characterized by the
following steps:
- obtaining a piece of carpeting (6) prior to under-finishing;
- removing the tufts (3) from a surface region of the base web (2) of the
piece of
carpet; and
- retufting said surface region of the base web (2) with tufts (9) of a
different
nature.
2. A process according to claim 1, characterized by the additional step of
applying
a stitch line (7;8) which delimits said region prior to the step of removing
the first
mentioned tufts.
3. A process according to claim 2, characterized in that said stitch line is
applied
in zigzag.
4. A process according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the removal of
the
first tufts is carried out by pulling them out of the region delimited by the
stitch line.
5. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in
that
the application of said other tufts is carried out by using a hand-operated
tufting machine.
6. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in
that
said region comprises the outer border of said piece of carpeting (6), so that
the said other
tufts define the border of the carpet.
7. A process according to claim 6, characterized in that there is more than
one
region from which the tufts are removed and in which other tufts are applied.
8. A carpet or rug comprising a base web and tufts, characterized in that it
is
produced by the process according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

-7-
9. A carpet or rug comprising a base web and tufts, characterized by
comprising
a piece of carpeting (6) having an outer border tufted by a hand-operated
tufting machine.
10. A carpet or rug in accordance with claim 9, characterized by having an
inner
region away from said border, said inner region being tufted by a hand-
operated tufting
machine.

Description

CA 02315204 2000-06-14
WO 99/31310 PCTBR98/OO1D1
Title: "A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A TUFTED CARPEIi AND A CARPET
COMPRISING BOTH TUFTED AND UNTUFTED PORTIONS"
The present invention refers, in general, to a process for manufacturing
tufted
carpets or rugs which are used, for instance, in decorating homes.
Processes for the semi-manual manufacture of carpets or rugs are known, in
which gauze webs are tufted in hand-operated machines, thus receiving a high
quality fin-
ish. This also provides the possibility of producing a variety of colors and
patterns. However,
production continues to be basically artisanal, which impairs production
capacity and main-
twins costs relatively high.
Tufted carpeting can also be made in large-scale production machines without
individual needle command, the carpeting being produced in rolls at a reduced
cost, but
with the limitation that it is not possible to produce carpets having a large
variety of colors
and patterns along the length of each roll.
Finally, there is a technique of producing rugs by joining pieces of rugs and
car-
pets and making a base in order to join the pieces into a single rug thereon.
Although this
method is practical, it results in a product of doubtful quality, since the
lack of continuity at
the joins between the various pieces of rug results in folds and cracks.
The present invention provides an intermediate solution for the production of
carpets or rugs, so as to take advantage of both the high degree of
mechanization and the
low cost provided by the production of carpets in rolls, and also the quality
of semi-manual
production associated with hand-operated carpet tufting machines.

CA 02315204 2000-06-14
WO 99/31310 PGTBR98/00101.
-2-
According to the present invention, a process for producing tufted carpets or
rugs having a base web and tufts, the bottom side of the base having been
subjected to
under-finishing and optionally other finishing steps, comprises the following
steps:
- obtaining a piece of unfinished carpeting, which may come from a roll of car-
peting tufted by a large-scale production machine;
- removing the tufts from a surface region of the base web of the piece of car-
peting; and
- retufting said surtace region of the base web with other tufts of a
different na-
ture.
The step of applying other tufts may be carried out by using a hand-operated
tufting machine.
In a preferred embodiment, the region mentioned above comprises the outer
border of the piece of carpeting, so that the other tufts will define the
border pattern. There
may be more than one region from which tufts are removed and substituted by
other tufts.
For the purposes of the present specification and of the claims only, "tufts
of a
different nature" means tufts of any color, type, material, texture or other
characteristic
which differentiates them from the original tufts of the carpet or rug.
Preferably, in particular when the tufts are either in "loop" or in "boucle",
the step
of applying a stitch line delimiting said region is included, prior to the
step of removing the
first mentioned tufts. Said stitch line, preferably in zigzag, serves to
prevent tufts from being
removed outside the chosen area, besides reducing the risk of these tufts
loosening during
the later steps. Thus, the removal of the tufts is carried out by pulling them
from the region
delimited by the seam line.
The present invention further refers to a carpet or rug produced in accordance
with the above-defined process.
Further according to the invention, a carpet or rug having a base web and
tufts
comprises a piece of carpeting produced on an automatic tufting machine,
surrounded by a
border tufted by a hand-operated tufting machine.

CA 02315204 2000-06-14
WO 99/31310 PCTBR98/00101.
In one embodiment, the carpet or rug may have an inner region away from, the
border, tufted by a hand-operated tufting machine.
The process described above enables one to obtain a rug of any size from a
piece of carpeting, with the option of varying colors, shapes, textures and
patterns, at a cost
and production capacity that are between those of large-scale production and
semi-manual
production, by virtue of the fact that advantage is taken off a piece of
already tufted carpet-
ing produced on a large scale.
Another important improvement introduced is the fact that the new tufts are ap-
plied immediately after the stitch line, which ensures a natural continuation
of the existing
tufting, without the occurrence of any division or crack in the tufting.
To end the process of manufacturing the carpet, starching (or latexing) and
maybe other finishing is applied thereto. For instance, among others, a layer
of latex foam
may be applied to the bottom surface of the rug to provide an anti-skid
effect.
The invention will be better understood from the following detailed
description,
given by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a roll of unfinished carpeting;
Figure 2 is a detailed view of the tufts of the roll of carpeting of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a front view of a piece of carpeting cut out of the roll of Figure
1,
showing stitch lines;
Figure 4 is a front view of the piece of carpeting showing the regions from
which
tufts have been removed;
Figure 5 is a detailed view of Figure 4, showing the tufted region and the un-
tufted region with the base web being visible; and
Figure 6 is a front view of the carpet with tufts of a different nature,
tufted in the
region in which the base web was visible, as shown in Figure 4.
Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a roll of carpeting 1, produced
by
the conventional process in a large-scale production tufting machine.
Carpeting 1 may be of

CA 02315204 2000-06-14
WO 99/31310 PCTBlIt98/00101
-4-
any type. However, the illustrated example is formed from a polypropylene base
2 with tufts
in "loop" (or in "boucle") 3, as shown in greater detail in Figure 2.
As already mentioned, the present invention deals with a new technique of ef
festively transforming a piece of carpeting 6 into a semi-artisanal carpet or
rug. For this pur-
pose, the roll of carpeting 1 is cut out along lines 4 and 5, precisely in
accordance with the
dimensions of the carpet or rug to be manufactured.
The process of manufacturing the carpet or rug from a piece of carpeting 6 cut
out of the roll comprises a first step of defining the region or regions of
the piece that should
be subjected to the semi-artisanal process. This is done by the zigzag
stitching of lines 7
and 8, which mark the region or regions to be worked. As can be seen from
Figure 3, the
stitch line 7 delimits the outer border region of piece 6, where the border of
the rug will be
made. Similarly, stitch line 8 delimits a central triangular region where a
decoration may be
applied in the center of the rug, if desired.
Once the stitch lines have been applied, the tufts 3 in the delimited border
and
center region are pulled out, either by hand or by any adequate means, stitch
lines 7 and 8
serving to prevent the tufts from being removed outside these regions and to
reduce the risk
of the tufts on the other side of these lines falling out later.
After the tufts have been removed from the delimited regions, the base web 2
remains visible in said regions, as shown in Figure 4 and in greater detail in
Figure 5, where
the stitch line 7 surrounding the tufted region 3 is also visible.
In this way, the regions where the base web 2 is visible are ready for the
appli-
ration of new tufts 9, different from those that were removed, so as to
differentiate the end
product "rug" or "carpet" 10 from the original "carpeting", as shown in Figure
6. Thus, for
instance, one can use a hand-operated tufting machine to tuft base webs in the
defined
regions with tufts that are different from those used in carpeting 1. Since
the retufting begins
at stitch lines 7 and 8, there is continuity of tufting throughout the whole
carpet or rug, with-
out any spacing at the edges of the differently tufted regions.
At the end of the manufacture of the carpet or rug, under-finishing is carried
out
for the definitivey gluing or fixing of tufts 3 and 9 to the base web 2. One
can also apply, for
instance, a base onto the bottom surtace 11 of base web 2. This base may be
any layer

CA 02315204 2000-06-14
WO 99/31310 PCTBR98/00101
_5_
which imparts more resistance to the product, and/or may include, for
instance, a layer of
synthetic or natural foam to provide the rug with anti-skid characteristics.
Another embodiment of the present invention consists in that the tufts 3 are
"cut", in which case the formation of stitch lines 7 and 8 can be substituted
by the simple
marking of the base web 2 by means of a pen or pencil, by virtue of the fact
that the tufts
are substantially loose in the base web 2 prior to the under-finishing (for
example, latexing)
step, for which reason pulling out the tufts by hand and delimiting the
regions to be worked
on become simpler.
It will therefore be understood that the process according to this invention
en-
ables one to obtain carpets or rugs of excellent quality and with many of the
features of a
semi-artisanal rug, but with the advantage of having a substantially reduced
manufacturing
cost, by virtue of the fact that one makes use of large scale production
carpeting.
It will also be understood that the present invention is not limited to the
embodi-
menu described in detail with reference to the drawings, but rather solely to
the -scope of
the claims. For instance, the invention also relates to the production of
carpets or rugs
adorned only with outer borders of a single color or texture, rugs with border
designs, rugs
with inner regions of different colors or textures, rugs with inner regions
carrying designs
and the like, provided that one does not depart from the principal concept of
the invention,
namely the combination of large scale production techniques used for
manufacturing car-
peting with the semi-manual techniques used in the production of carpets or
rugs.

Representative Drawing