U.S. patent application number 11/423794 was filed with the patent office on 2006-09-28 for printing and quilting method and apparatus.
This patent application is currently assigned to L & P Property Management Company. Invention is credited to Richard N. Codos, M. Burl White.
Application Number | 20060213417 11/423794 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25236995 |
Filed Date | 2006-09-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060213417 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Codos; Richard N. ; et
al. |
September 28, 2006 |
Printing and Quilting Method and Apparatus
Abstract
A quilting machine (10, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) is
provided with a printing station (20, 125, 225, 325, 425, 525, 611,
626, 631) and a quilting station (44, 127, 227, 327, 427, 527, 627,
632). A master batch controller (90, 135, 235, 335, 435, 535)
assures that the proper combinations of printed and quilted
patterns are combined to allow small quantities of different
quilted products to be produced automatically along a material web.
The controller also controls the printing so that patterns on
different panels of the same product are spatially or aesthetically
coordinated.
Inventors: |
Codos; Richard N.; (Warren,
NJ) ; White; M. Burl; (Jacksonville Beach,
FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WOOD, HERRON & EVANS, LLP
2700 CAREW TOWER
441 VINE STREET
CINCINNATI
OH
45202
US
|
Assignee: |
L & P Property Management
Company
South Gate
CA
|
Family ID: |
25236995 |
Appl. No.: |
11/423794 |
Filed: |
June 13, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10957862 |
Oct 4, 2004 |
7063028 |
|
|
11423794 |
Jun 13, 2006 |
|
|
|
10185324 |
Jun 27, 2002 |
6848846 |
|
|
10957862 |
Oct 4, 2004 |
|
|
|
09822794 |
Mar 30, 2001 |
6435117 |
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10185324 |
Jun 27, 2002 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
112/475.08 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D05B 11/00 20130101;
B41J 2/01 20130101; D05D 2305/22 20130101; D05B 33/00 20130101;
D06B 11/0059 20130101; B41J 15/04 20130101; B41J 11/002 20130101;
D05D 2305/12 20130101; B41J 3/4078 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
112/475.08 |
International
Class: |
D05B 11/00 20060101
D05B011/00 |
Claims
1. A method of forming coordinated quilted mattress cover panels
comprising: digitally printing ornamentation to ticking material,
said ornamentation including at least one of a plurality of
patterns for each of a plurality of panels that are to form
different panels of the same quilted mattress cover; with a
controller, controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation
so that the patterns on the different panels are coordinated
ornamentally and spatially among different panels across the
mattress cover when the panels are quilted and joined to form the
quilted mattress cover.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the controlling includes
controlling the printing of the ornamentation so that locations of
the patterns on each of the different panels align with each other
when the panels are quilted and joined to form the mattress
cover.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: forming a quilted
mattress cover by joining the panels such that the locations of
patterns on different panels align to form an integrated ornamental
design throughout the mattress cover.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein: the printed ornamentation
includes a pattern for a top panel of a mattress cover and an
ornamentally coordinated pattern for one or more side panels of the
same mattress cover; and the controlling includes controlling the
printing of the ornamentation on the panels so that the pattern on
the top panel spatially aligns with the pattern on the one or more
side panels when the panels are joined to form a mattress cover to
form an integrated ornamental design throughout the mattress
cover.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: combining the printed
panels with a layer of fill material and quilting the panels to the
fill material to form quilted mattress cover panels thereby.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising: joining a plurality of
quilted mattress cover panels so that the patterns thereon are in
mutual alignment to form a quilted mattress cover having spatially
coordinated patterns thereon that form the integrated ornamental
design.
7. A quilted mattress cover formed according to the method of claim
6.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein: the quilted mattress cover
includes at least two panels of different materials that have
appearances that differ prior to the printing the ornamentation on
one of the panels; and the controlling includes controlling the
printing of the ornamentation to the one of the panels so that the
mattress cover formed of the panels of the different materials have
a similar and matching appearance.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein: one of the panels is formed of a
Jacquard material having a pattern woven therein; and the
controlling includes controlling the printing of the ornamentation
to another of the panels to impart an appearance thereto that is
substantially matching that of a panel formed of the panel formed
of the Jacquard material.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: quilting a panel so
formed of the Jacquard material to form a mattress cover top panel;
and quilting a panel so imparted with the appearance substantially
matching that of the panel formed of the Jacquard material to form
a mattress cover side panel.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising: joining the quilted
panels to form a mattress cover having top and side panels matching
in appearance.
12. A mattress cover formed according to the method of claim
11.
13. A method of forming a coordinated quilted mattress cover having
a Jacquard pattern, the method comprising: providing a first
ticking material panel formed of a Jacquard material; digitally
printing ornamentation on a second ticking material panel that will
cause the second material to resemble the appearance of the
Jacquard material; and quilting the panels and joining the quilted
panels to form a mattress cover.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprising: joining the quilted
panels to form a mattress cover having a top panel formed of
Jacquard material and having one or more side panels printed to
match the top panel in appearance.
15. A mattress cover formed according to the method of claim
14.
16. A method of forming a single-sided, patterned mattress cover
comprising: digitally printing ornamentation on a ticking material;
controlling the printing of the ornamentation to integrally arrange
atop panel with a plurality of adjacent side panels on the same
continuous piece of the ticking material so as to coordinate the
printed ornamentation across the top and side panels to form a
mattress cover having an integrated ornamental design.
17. The method of claim 16 further comprising: quilting the printed
ticking material; and folding the quilted printed ticking material
to form a mattress cover having the top panel and the plurality of
integral adjacent side panels having coordinated ornamentation
printed thereon in the integrated ornamental design.
18. A mattress cover formed by the method of claim 17.
19. The method of claim 17 further comprising: covering an spring
interior assembly with the mattress cover to form a single-sided
mattress.
20. A single-sided mattress formed by the method of claim 19.
21. A method of forming a quilted product comprising: establishing
the dimensions of features of a product to be quilted from a
multi-layered material; and with a controller, controlling the
application of tension the multi-layered quilted material to
control the quilting induced shrinkage of the material to maintain
the established dimensions of the features of the product after
quilting.
22. A method of quilting a multi-layered material that includes a
facing material having a pattern thereon, the method comprising:
feeding the facing material into a quilting machine; adjusting the
facing material to eliminate the skewing thereof by differentially
applying force to opposite side edges of the facing material as it
is being fed by controlling servo motors or brakes linked to
elements engaging the side edges of said facing material.
Description
[0001] This application is a Continuation of Ser. No. 10/957,862,
filed Oct. 4, 2004, which is a Continuation of Ser. No. 10/185,324,
filed Jun. 27, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,846, issued Feb. 1,
2005, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/822,794, filed Mar.
30, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,117, issued Aug. 20, 2002, each
hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference, and to which
priority is claimed.
[0002] This application is also related to Ser. No. 09/649,471,
filed Aug. 28, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,816, of which Ser. No.
09/822,794 is a Continuation-in-Part, and which is a
Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 09/480,094, filed Jan. 10, 2000,
now U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,366, which is a Continuation-In-Part of
Ser. No. 09/250,352, filed Feb. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.
6,012,403, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/070,948, filed May 1, 1998, now U.S. Pat.
No. 5,873,315, all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by
reference herein.
[0003] This application is also related to Ser. No. 10/675,219,
filed Sep. 30, 2003, which is a Continuation of International
Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US02/09963, filed on Mar. 28,
2002: [0004] which is a continuation-In-part of the following prior
U.S. patent applications: [0005] U.S. application Ser. No.
09/932,427, filed Aug. 17, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,317, which
is a Continuation-In-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/824,517, identified below; [0006] U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/824,517, filed Apr. 2, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,438,
which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/823,268, identified below; and [0007] U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 09/823,268, filed Mar. 30, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No.
6,467,898, which is Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 09/390,571, filed Sep. 3, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.
6,312,123 and of International Application Serial No.
PCT/US001/24226, filed Sep. 1, 2000; [0008] and which claims the
benefit of provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/327,622,
filed Oct. 5, 2001, and Ser. No. 60/333,319, filed Nov. 26, 2001;
each hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention relates to quilting, and particularly
to the quilting of pattern bearing products such as mattress
covers. The invention further relates to the manufacture of quilted
materials that bear printed patterns. The invention is particularly
useful where the quilting is performed on multi-needle quilting
machines, where the quilting and printing are applied to roll fed
or web material or where differing products are produced in small
quantities and in batches.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0010] Quilting is a special art in the general field of sewing in
which patterns are stitched through a plurality of layers of
material over a two dimensional area of the material. The multiple
layers of material normally include at least three layers, one a
woven primary or facing sheet that will have a decorative finished
quality, one a usually woven backing sheet that may or may not be
of a finished quality, and one or more internal layers of thick
filler material, usually of randomly oriented fibers. The stitched
patterns maintain the physical relationship of the layers of
material to each other as well as provide ornamental qualities. In
quilting, two different approaches are generally used.
[0011] Single needle quilters of the type illustrated and described
in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,640,916 and 5,685,250, and those patents cited
and otherwise referred to therein are customarily used for the
stitching of most comforters, some bedspreads and other products
from pre-formed or pre-cut rectangular panels. Some single needle
quilters are used to quilt patterns on fabric that carries a
pre-woven or printed pattern, with the quilting adding to or
enhancing the appearance of the pattern. Such quilters require that
pre-patterned material be manually positioned in the quilting
apparatus so that the quilting can be registered with the
pre-applied pattern or a complicated visual positioning system be
used. With such systems, border quilting or coarse pattern quilting
can be achieved but high quality outline quilting around the
pre-applied patterns or the quilting of pattern details of a
fraction of an inch in scale are difficult to achieve, particularly
automatically. Single needle quilters are usually lock stitch
machines.
[0012] Large scale quilting operations have been used for many
years in the production of bedding products. Mattress covers, which
enclose and add padding to inner spring, foam or other resilient
core structure, provide functional as well as ornamental features
to a mattress. Mattress covers are typically made up of quilted top
and bottom panels, which contribute to the support and comfort
characteristics of a mattress, and all elongated side panel, which
surrounds the periphery of the mattress to join the top and bottom
panels around their edges to enclose the inner spring unit or other
mattress interior.
[0013] Mattresses are made in a small variety of standard sizes and
a much larger variety of combinations of interiors and covers to
provide a wide range of support and comfort features and to cover a
wide range of product prices. To provide variety of support and
comfort requirements, the top and bottom panels of mattress covers
are quilted using an assortment of fills and a selection of quilted
patterns. To accommodate different mattress thicknesses, border
panels of different widths are required with variations in the fill
for border panels being less common. Border panels as well as top
and bottom panels are usually made in different sizes to
accommodate all of the standard mattress sizes.
[0014] Mattress covers are usually quilted on web-fed multi-needle
quilters. Only one side of the quilted product need be finished for
a mattress cover, so one layer of ornamental top goods or ticking
is usually combined with fill and backing material to produce the
mattress cover products on a chain stitch quilting machine which
can use large spools of thread and quilt on webs of material
supplied on rolls. Multiple needle quilters of the type illustrated
in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,154,130 and 5,544,599 are customarily used for
the stitching of mattress covers, some bedspreads and other such
products which are commonly formed from multi-layered web fed
material. These multi-needle quilters include banks of mechanically
ganged needles that sew multiple copies of a recurring pattern on
the fabric. With such multi-needle machines, the combining of
quilting with pre-applied printed or woven patterns in the fabric
which would require registration of the quilting with the
pre-applied patterns is usually not attempted. Multi-needle
quilters are usually chain stitch machines. Such quilters include
banks of mechanically ganged needles that sew multiple copies of a
recurring pattern.
[0015] The ornamental characteristics of the ticking that form the
outer surface of a mattress are regarded as important in the
marketing of bedding products. Bedding manufacturers stock a
variety of ticking materials of different colors and types, many
having different sewn or printed patterns. Maintaining an adequate
inventory of ticking requires the stocking of rolls of different
widths of materials of different colors and patterns. The cost of
such an inventory as well as the storage and handling of such an
inventory contributes substantially to the manufacturing cost of
bedding products.
[0016] Some of these quilted patterns are highly ornate and
contribute materially to the appearance of the quilted products,
particularly those that are of higher quality and cost, and which
are made in smaller quantities. With such high-end products, the
combining of quilting with pre-applied printed or woven patterns in
the fabric may call for registration of the quilting with the
pre-applied patterns, which is difficult to achieve with
multi-needle machines. But other quilted products, such as those
with simple zig-zag quilted patterns, are more functional, and rely
on the varieties of the ticking material for the visual
distinctiveness of the product. The varieties of ticking materials
include those sewn or printed with different patterns. For such
products, printed patterns are usually applied by the ticking
supplier and rolls of ticking of each pattern are inventoried by
the mattress cover manufacturer.
[0017] Other quilting machines and methods employing some of the
characteristics of both single needle panel type quilters and web
fed multi-needle quilters are disclosed in U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 08/831,060 of Jeff Kaetterhenry, et al., filed Apr. 1,
1997 and entitled Web-fed Chain-stitch Single-needle Mattress Cover
Quilter with Needle Deflection Compensation, now U.S. Pat. No.
5,832,849 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/189,656 of
Bondanza et al., filed Nov. 10, 1998 and entitled Web-fed
Chain-stitch Single-needle Mattress Cover Quilter with Needle
Deflection Compensation, both hereby expressly incorporated by
reference herein. Such a machine uses one or more separately
controllable single needle heads that apply chain stitches to
panels or webs.
[0018] The production of quilts by off-line processes, that is
those involving both printing and quilting processes performed on
different production lines, has included specialty product
production involving the outlining or other coordinated stitching
onto material on which patterns have been preprinted. Stitching in
such processes is traditionally carried out with manually guided
single needle quilting machines. Proposed automated systems using
vision systems to follow a preprinted pattern or other schemes to
automatically stitch on the preprinted material have been proposed
but have not proven successful. Registration of pattern stitching
with preprinted patterns has been a problem. While efforts to align
printing and stitching longitudinally or transversely have been
made, angular orientation of the printed web and the angular
alignment printed patterns with the quilting head has been ignored.
Correction for misalignment of quilted and printed patterns by
repositioning of a quilting or printing head is inadequate if
multi-needle quilters are to be used, particularly where angular
mis-orientation is present.
[0019] Application of registration techniques to roll fed
materials, where printing and quilting are performed on the
material webs, presents additional problems. Registration errors
that are minor where patterns are applied to individual panels
produce cumulative errors when patterns are applied to webs. This
is particularly true where angular orientation errors result due to
skewing of the web as it is fed into the subsequent pattern
applying machine after removed from a machine in which the first
pattern has been applied.
[0020] With off-line processes for applying one pattern and then
another in registration with the first, one by printing and one by
quilting, production of quilts in small batches of pattern
combinations is particularly a problem. Each batch can include one
or a few quilted products of a common design made up of a printed
pattern and a quilted pattern in combination, with the products of
different batches, preferably to be consecutively made on the same
machinery, being made up of a different printed pattern in
combination with a different quilted pattern. As a result, the
matching of the second pattern to be applied with the correct
pre-applied pattern as the partially completed products are moved
from a first machine or production line to a second is critical and
a potential source of error as well as production delay.
[0021] For example, the outer layer of material used for mattress
covers that is referred to as ticking is supplied in a variety of
colors and preprinted or dyed patterns. Generally, mattress
manufacturers who are the customers of the quilted mattress cover
manufacturers or quilting machinery manufacturers require a wide
variety of ticking material patterns to produce a variety of
bedding products. Frequently, small quantities of each of the
variety of products must be made to supply their customers'
requirements, requiring the maintenance of inventories of a large
number of different patterns of ticking material, which involves
substantial cost. Further, the need to constantly match patterns as
well as to change ticking supply rolls when manufacturing such a
variety of products in small quantities can be a major factor in
reducing the throughput of a mattress making process and delaying
production. These and related problems continually exist in the
manufacture of bedspreads, comforters and other quilted products
where a variety of products in small quantities is desired.
[0022] Other off-line processes may involve the loading of rolls of
ticking materials commonly bearing a pre-applied pattern onto the
quilting machines. Lower cost mattresses are often made by sewing
generic quilted patterns onto printed pattern material. However,
frequent changing of the ticking material to produce products
having a variety of appearances, requires interruption of the
operation of the quilting machine for manual replacement and
splicing of the material. This adds to labor costs and lowers
equipment productivity. Further, the spliced area of the material
web which must be cut from the quilted material is wasted.
Furthermore, since mattress top and bottom panels are often
thicker, and vary in thickness more than border panels, border
panels are sometimes quilted on quilting lines that are separate
from those used to quilt the top and bottom panels. Since border
panels are usually preferred to match the top and bottom panels,
the changing of ticking on the top and bottom panel line is almost
always accompanied by a similar change of ticking material on the
border panel line. Coordination of the two production lines, as
well as the matching of border panels with the top and bottom
panels, requires well executed control procedures and can lead to
assembly errors or production delays.
[0023] There exists a need in mattress cover manufacturing for a
capability of efficiently producing small quantities of quilted
fabric such as mattress covers, comforters, bedspreads and the like
where different pre-applied patterns oil the product are desired to
be enhanced by combining the pre-applied and quilted patterns,
particularly where combinations of quilted patterns and printed or
other pre-applied patterns must vary with each or every few
products. Further, there is a need in mattress cover manufacturing
to improve the productivity and efficiency of making quilted
products, particularly mattress covers, having a variety of designs
without increasing, or while reducing, production costs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0024] An objective of the present invention is to provide quilt
manufacturers, particularly mattress cover manufacturers, with the
ability to produce quilted products having a wide variety of
patterns that include both quilting and printed or other images or
designs efficiently and economically. A particular objective of the
invention is to provide such ability without the need to inventory
material in a large number of different pre-applied designs.
[0025] A further objective of the invention is to provide for the
intricate outline or other coordinated quilting of designs or
patterns on multi-layered materials in a highly efficient,
economical, high speed and automated manner, particularly by both
applying the printed design or pattern and quilting the outline or
other coordinated quilted enhancement of the printed design or
pattern in sequence on the same manufacturing line.
[0026] Another objective of the present invention is to efficiently
provide for customizable printed and quilted patterns on mattress
covers, bedspreads and the like, which can be varied on an
individual piece basis or with items produced in small quantities.
It is a particular objective of the present invention to provide
flexibility in the production of mattress ticking and quilted
mattress covers having patterns that can differ from product to
product.
[0027] A further objective of the present invention is to reduce
quilting downtime due to the need to make ticking or other material
changes, pattern changes or machine adjustments. A more particular
objective of the present invention is to provide a quilting method
and apparatus with which quilted patterns and printed patterns may
be applied in registration and varied on a quilting machine.
[0028] A particular objective of the present invention is to aid
the production of quilted material by combining both printed
patterns and quilted patterns wherein multiple copies of the
quilted patterns can be simultaneously applied using a multi-needle
quilter. An additional particular objective of the present
invention is to facilitate accurate, coordinated application of
patterns by printing and quilting to web or roll fed material.
Another particular objective of the present invention is to assist
in the automatic coordination of printed and quilted patterns of
products produced successively in small batches of different
products. These objectives are most particularly sought in systems
in which a first pattern, such as a printed pattern, is applied
off-line from the machine on which the second pattern, such as a
quilted pattern, is to be applied in registration with the first
pattern.
[0029] An additional objective of the present invention is to
provide for the efficient arrangement of top, bottom and border
panels of different printed patterns on one or more webs or
sections of a fabric. A further objective of the invention is to
coordinate the matching and assembly of the different panels that
make up each of a plurality of differently patterned mattress
covers and other products.
[0030] According to principles of the present invention, a quilting
method and apparatus are provided for the manufacture of a quilted
product by a combination of printed pattern application and
quilting. The process provided includes the application of the
printed pattern and the application of a quilted pattern with the
pattern that is applied second being applied in registration with
the first. Preferably the printed pattern is applied first. Both
the printed and the quilted patterns are printed from electronic
source files. The printing is carried out by a process referred to
as Direct Digital Printing, which is defined in the industry as
commercial-quality printing in which the electronic source files
are processed directly on the printing press or printing system,
rather than through analog steps such as film imagesetting and
platemaking. Even though the included printing may be from
electronic source files that may not be literally "digital" and the
excluded image setting and plate-making may be literally digital
rather than analog as the terms digital and analog are used in the
electronics arts. Direct digital printing systems may be based on
lithographic offset technology or laser/toner technology. In the
preferred embodiment of the invention, the printing is carried out
by ink-jet printing processes. Further, in accordance with
preferred embodiments of the invention, the printing is applied
directly to the substrate without the use of an offset or transfer
process.
[0031] According to the various embodiments of the present
invention, the principles set forth above are achieved by applying
printed designs and coordinated quilted patterns to multilayered
material on either the same production line, on separate production
lines, or under the control of a common machine and pattern
controller. On a single line system, multiple layers of the
material for forming a quilt are supported on a frame on which a
printing head and a quilting head are also mounted. A mechanism is
provided to impart relative movement of the supported material
relative to the quilting and printing beads. Such a mechanism can
include a material conveyor that moves the material with respect to
the frame, and/or head transport mechanisms that move the heads to
and from the material when it is fixed relative to the frame.
Either the supported material or the heads or both are moved
relative to each other under the control of a programmed computer
control to apply printed designs and quilted patterns to the
material in mutual registration. Preferably, the printed designs
are applied first onto the top layer or facing material, then a
pattern is quilted in registration with the printed designs.
Alternatively, printed designs can be applied after the patterns
are quilted.
[0032] According to certain embodiments, a quilting apparatus is
provided with a supply of multiple layers of material to be quilted
and printed with a combination printed design and quilt pattern. An
outer or top layer is fed, preferably as a continuous web, through
a series of stations. At one station, a printed design is applied
to the top or facing layer of material. At another station,
preferably downstream of the printing station, a quilted pattern is
applied to the multiple layered fabric of material including the
facing material layer and filler and backing material layers.
Whichever pattern or design is applied second, preferably the
quilted pattern, it is applied in registration with the pattern or
design that has been applied first to the fabric under the control
of a programmed controller. A curing station or oven may be further
provided downstream or as part of the printing station to cure the
dye or ink applied at the printing station.
[0033] In certain machines according to the invention, a printing
station is provided on a frame and quilting station is located on
the frame, preferably downstream from the printing apparatus. A
material conveyer is provided that brings fabric printed at the
printing station into the quilting station with the location of the
printed pattern known so that one or more quilting heads at the
quilting station can be registered with the printed pattern.
[0034] According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the
printing station includes one or more ink-jet printing or dye
transfer heads moveable under computer control over the outer or
facing layer of material. Additional layers of material are
combined with the outer layer, preferably downstream of the
printing station and after a printed pattern is applied to the
outer layer at the printing station. In this embodiment, the
quilted pattern is then quilted onto the material in registration
with the printed pattern. Registration may be achieved by
maintaining information in a controller of the location of the
printed pattern on a facing material and of the relative location
of the heads with respect to the facing material.
[0035] In embodiments where the material is moved on a conveyor
successively through the printing and quilting stations,
information of the location of the design or pattern on the facing
material and of the material on the conveyor is maintained by the
controller. The material may be fed in separate precut panel
sections, as continuous patterns and designs along a web, or in
discrete panel sections along a continuous web. Where the printed
design is applied before the quilting, which is preferred,
information of the exact location of the design on the facing
material is maintained as the material moves from the printing
station, as the filler and backing layers of material are brought
into contact with the outer layer or facing material, and as the
material is fed to the quilting station. For example, outline
quilting the pattern in computer controlled registration with the
printed pattern can be carried out, or some other quilting pattern
can be applied, based on the maintained registration information of
the pattern on the web moving through the apparatus.
[0036] In one preferred embodiment, exact registration between the
design that is printed onto the material and the pattern that is
quilted on the material is maintained by holding a panel section of
the multi-layered material onto which the pattern is printed in
some securing structure at and between the printing and quilting
stations. The panel section can be a separate panel or a portion of
a web of material, and may be secured in place on a conveyor. In
such an embodiment, the registration may be maintained throughout
the entire printing and quilting operation by side securements such
as, for example, a pin-tentering material transport that keeps the
material fixed relative to the conveyor or securing structure
through the printing process and the quilting process. A programmed
or process controller controls the relative movement of the fabric
and printing and quilting heads, and coordinates the movement in
synchronization with printing head control and quilting head
control so that the printed and quilted patterns are applied in
precise registration.
[0037] In other embodiments, the pattern is applied off-line,
preferably the printing process. The printed pattern may include a
machine identifiable mark or other reference, such as may be
achieved by the printing of selvage edge registration marks on the
material that are uniquely positioned relative to the printed
pattern. The printed material is then transferred to a quilting
line at which a quilted pattern is applied in registration with the
printed pattern. Preferably, machine readable registration
information is produced on the material at more than one
transversely spaced points on the material, such as on opposite
selvages or side edges of the material. Separate determinations are
made from the plural marks as to the relative alignment at two
places on the material, such as at both of the opposite side edges.
Thus, two such marks can be located when the second pattern is
registered to the first, and determination can be made of the
skewing or rotation of the material carrying the first or
pre-applied pattern.
[0038] Adjustment to eliminate skewing or rotation of the fabric,
and thereby to achieve registration of the second pattern with the
first at transversely spaced locations on the material, is provided
by side-to-side material position adjustment. Preferably,
adjustment is provided by a split feed roll, with separately
rotatable right and left components that are separately controlled
in response to separate determinations of the registration of the
right and left sides of the material. Separate servo dives or
separately controlled particle brakes can be used to control the
feed rolls to steer the web. Feed rolls at the upstream end of the
quilter may be controlled with brakes to affect the tension of the
web through the quilting station with driven feed rolls at the
downstream end of the station, thereby controlling shrinkage or
stretch of the web longitudinally.
[0039] In the preferred embodiments, linear servos motors are
provided to drive the print heads, at least transversely, over the
substrate. Linear motors are easier to tune, require little
service, and have better acceleration and deceleration than belt or
other drive systems. Such servos provide accuracy that enables
printing to be carried out while the heads are accelerating or
decelerating. Programmed compensation is made for the variable head
speed by the timing of the jetting of the ink. Thus, areas of the
substrate having no printing can be skipped at high speed, greatly
improving the speed and efficiency of the print operation by
minimizing the time during which the print head is not depositing
ink on the substrate.
[0040] Preferably, the patterns are applied to webs of material on
which different products are to be quilted along the length of the
material prior to the panels being separated from the web.
Multi-needle quilting machines are also preferably used. Where the
printing is applied to the web off-line, side-to-side registration
that overcomes the effects of skewing or mis-orientation of the web
achieves equally good registration of the different pattern copies
being stitched simultaneously by the multiple needles and overcomes
cumulative registration errors as the web is fed.
[0041] In certain other embodiments, vision systems may be employed
to determine or verify the location of the printed pattern and to
enhance or provide registration of the quilting with the printing.
Such a vision system may be employed in addition or in the
alternative to the computer control of the material transport.
[0042] Printed patterns or designs and the quilted patterns may be
programmed or stored in memory and, in a programmed or operator
selected manner, printed designs and quilted patterns may be
combined in different combinations to produce a wide variety of
composite printed and quilted patterns.
[0043] In alternative embodiments, the material may be held
stationary, rather than moved relative to a fixed frame, and the
printing and quilting heads of the respective printing and quilting
stations may move relative to the frame and the material fixed on
the frame, under the coordination of a controller, to bring a
printing head or a quilting head into position over the portion of
the material on which a pattern is to be applied. In most
applications, quilting a pattern after applying a printed design is
preferred. However, aspects of the invention can be utilized to
print designs onto material after quilting the material.
[0044] Preferably also, a batch control automated system keeps
track of the products moving through the process. Where one pattern
applying process is off-line, such as where printing is carried out
on a line separate from the quilting line on which the stitched
pattern is applied, the control matches the quilted pattern and the
printed patterns required by each product or batch of products.
This can be carried out by maintaining information in a control
system memory that will allow for the following of the product
through the system or can be assisted by automatically identifying
the product on the second line, such as by reading a code, such as
a bar code, applied to the product previously and correlated with
the pattern that was printed onto the panel or product. Batch
control systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,599 and in
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/301,653, filed Apr. 28, 1999,
and Ser. No. 09/359,539, filed Jul. 22, 1999.
[0045] In the manufacture of mattress covers, printed and quilted
top and bottom panels can be produced along with strips of border
fabric that are to cover the border, including the sides and the
head and foot, of a mattress. Such border panels can be produced
with coordinated printed designs and patterns that match or
correspond to the top and bottom panels. This can be achieved
according to one embodiment of the invention by printing and
quilting a strip of fabric along a width of the same web material
of which the top and bottom panels are being made. The border panel
printing and quilting are carried out under the control of a
programmed controller, preferably the same controller that
coordinates the application of the printed designs and quilted
patterns on the top and bottom panels. The border panels so made
are then cut or slit from the web that carries the top and bottom
panels.
[0046] As an alternative to forming border panels out of the same
web as the top and bottom panels, a separate but smaller machine
having separate quilting and printing stations may be provided
adjacent and linked to the main machine on which the mattress top
and bottom panels can be applied. The separate machine is supplied
with material for forming the border panels that is narrower than,
but matches, the material supplied to the main machine for forming
the top and bottom panels. Both machines are controlled by the same
controller or controllers that are in communication with each other
to coordinate the making of the mattress cover units or batches of
units with matching or coordinated top, bottom and border panels.
Border panels are of different widths, corresponding to mattresses
of different thicknesses, and are of a length equal to the
periphery of the mattress rather than the length of the mattress.
In addition, border panels have thinner fill layers, being in the
range of from 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick, where the top and bottom
panels are usually from 1/2 inch to 3 or 4 inches thick. For these
reasons, the embodiment using the separate border panel machine is
preferred in that it provides for more efficient use of different
lengths of material and provides less process complexity.
[0047] According to certain other principles of the present
invention, webs of ticking or units of other fabric are printed
with patterns under the control of a computer controlled printer.
Such printers are typically digital printers and may be referred to
as digital printers, and include ink jet printers, continuous and
dot-on-demand printers, and other printers that print images by
dispensing ink or other printing medium in response to pattern
information, which can usually vary from copy to copy, rather than
from a physical mat, plate or mechanical transfer surface such as
those commonly used for printing multiple copies of the same
image.
[0048] In the preferred application of such principles, an ink jet
printer scans a web of ticking material transversely and prints on
the web in response to signals from a programmed computer. In one
preferred embodiment of the invention, each scan row need not
necessarily print only on the same panel, but can print one or more
lines of each of several panels that are arranged transversely
across the web of material. Each panel can be printed with the same
pattern, each with a different pattern or some with the same
pattern and others with one or more different patterns. Top and
bottom panels that match or correspond to each of the border panels
can be printed on different parts of the same or a different
web.
[0049] Patterns on different panels of the same product, such as on
adjacent top and side panels of a mattress cover, can be printed so
as to be coordinated such that the patterns or pattern parts align
when the mattress cover is assembled. Integrated panels can also be
produced, with the side and top panels, for example, of a mattress
cover attached at their common seams, with the patterns on each
panel varied in size, shape and orientation as is appropriate for
the respective panel. In addition, material call be printed to
produce visually coordinated products, such as sheets, pillow
cases, drapes and other products, with the patterns on the
different products printed to different scales as are appropriate
for the respective products. Such different products can then be
arranged and printed on the same material in the most material
efficient arrangement, with the print head scanning different ones
of the products across the web. On quilted products, the printed
patterns can be automatically scaled to accommodate shrinkage due
to quilting, which can be based on either measured or calculated
information.
[0050] After printing, the webs of ticking are usually quilted to
one or more layers of fill material and usually a layer of backing
material. The quilting may be applied to quilt different patterns
on different panels or different sections of web containing more
than one panel, or an entire web or length of web may be quilted
with a generic pattern.
[0051] According to one aspect of the invention, Jacquard material,
in which ornate patterns are woven into an otherwise plain
material, is simulated by printing patterns on the same plain
material background. In one application, for example, greige goods
of the same background as the Jacquard material, can be printed to
match the Jacquard material, with the actual Jacquard material
providing the top and bottom panels of a mattress cover and the
simulated material providing the border panels. In this way, the
less noticeable border panels need not be made up in each and every
Jacquard material, but a single print line can be set up to make,
on demand, matching border panels in small lots to correspond to
each product order.
[0052] After the printing and after the quilting, where applicable,
different panels are separated from adjacent panels of the web by
longitudinal slitting or transverse cutting. The cut panels are
subsequently matched with other corresponding panels to form a
mattress cover, which is matched with a spring interior unit and
one or more layers of padding for assembly into a bedding
product.
[0053] Each panel is preferably identified with a particular
bedding product and may be identified with a particular item of a
particular customer order. The identification and/or information
relating to the properties of the panel can be contained in a
computer file that is synchronized to each panel on the fabric.
Such information can also be printed or coded on the fabric, on or
adjacent a panel, preferably in the same printing operation that
applies the printed panels to the material, which coding can be in
the form of either manually readable information, machine readable
information or a combination of manually readable and machine
readable information. Such information can be manually read for
control of the quilting, the cutting and slitting and the machine
of panels and assembly into bedding products. Preferably, the
information is automatically read and signals are then generated in
response to the information to control the quilting of the printed
material, the cutting and slitting of the panels from the web, and
the matching of corresponding panels for assembly into bedding
products.
[0054] Product labels such as those identifying the manufacturer, a
retailer or a bedding product type or model, as well as describing
the product, can be printed oil the fabric in the same operation as
the printing of a panel with a pattern. Further, the government
required tag, called a law-tag, can be printed onto the substrate
and the content of the tag can be derived from information in the
system controller as to the content of the product being
produced.
[0055] The present invention provides great flexibility in
producing products of a wide variety of appearances and greatly
reduces the ticking inventories of a mattress manufacturer.
[0056] The present invention also provides the ability to change
printed patterns in the course of a quilting run, and to change
both printed and quilted patterns to produce quilted products in a
wide variety of composite patterns. With the invention, the number
of base cloth supplies required to provide pattern variety is
greatly reduced, saving substantial costs to the quilted product
manufacturer. With the invention, the appearance of the outer layer
can be embellished to provide variety and detail, and outline
quilting can be carried out in high quality and in close proximity
to the printed design. Further, with the invention, these
advantages are available with both single needle and multiple
needle quilters.
[0057] These and other objects of the present invention will be
more readily apparent from the following detailed description of
the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0058] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of one embodiment
of a web-fed mattress cover quilting machine embodying principles
of the present invention.
[0059] FIG. 1A is a diagrammatic perspective view of a portion of
the machine of FIG. 1 illustrating one embodiment of the printing
station thereof.
[0060] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a discrete
panel quilting machine which is an alternative embodiment to the
machine of FIG. 1 that is more suitable for the production of
comforters.
[0061] FIG. 3 is a top view of an alternative embodiment of the
web-fed mattress cover quilting machine of FIG. 1 that includes
structure for making coordinated top and bottom panels and border
panels for mattress covers.
[0062] FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating one manner of coordinating
patterns between top, bottom and border panels of a mattress cover
using various embodiments of the invention.
[0063] FIG. 3B is another diagram illustrating another manner of
arranging patterns on side and bottom panels of a mattress cover
and forming the panels out of a contiguous piece of material.
machine of FIG. 3.
[0064] FIGS. 4 and 4A are diagrams illustrating embodiments of
methods according to certain principles of the present
invention.
[0065] FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view of ca off-line
alternative embodiment to the machine of FIG. 1.
[0066] FIG. 5A is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment
of the feed roll portion of the machine of FIG. 5.
[0067] FIG. 6 is a diagram of one embodiment of a mattress cover
quilting system embodying other principles of the present
invention.
[0068] FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a pattern printing portion
of the system of FIG. 6.
[0069] FIG. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of a web of ticking being
printed at the print line of the system of FIG. 1 showing the
transverse arrangement of a set of border panels bearing different
patterns.
[0070] FIG. 7A is a fragmentary plan view of a web of ticking being
printed at the print line of the system of FIG. 6 showing the
printing of a bedding manufacturer's label along with the printing
of a pattern on a top panel of a mattress cover.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0071] FIG. 1 illustrates a combination printing and quilting
machine 500 having a stationary frame 511 with a longitudinal
extent represented by arrow 512 and a transverse extent represented
by arrow 513. The machine 500 has a front end 514 into which is
advanced a ticking or facing material 515. The facing material 515
is, in the illustrated embodiment of the machine 500, in the form
of a web that is fed into the front end 514 of the machine 500 from
a supply roll 516, which is rotatably mounted to the frame 511. A
backing material 517 and one or more layers of filler material 518
are also supplied to the machine 500, preferably in web form from
supply rolls that are also rotatably mounted to the frame 511. The
layers of material are directed around a plurality of rollers (not
shown) onto a conveyor or conveyor system 520, each at various
points along the conveyor 520. The conveyor system 520 includes
machine elements that engage and advance the materials through the
machine 500, and control the position of the material so that other
machine elements that operate on the material (print heads,
quilting leads, cutters, etc.) can be located relative to the
material or to features on the material, including edges or pattern
components previously applied to the material by printing, sewing
or otherwise.
[0072] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the conveyor system 520
includes, for example, pairs of opposed pin tentering belt sets 521
which may alone or in cooperation with other elements extend the
conveyor system 520 through the machine 500. In the machine 500,
the outer layer 515 of facing material is fed to the belts 521 at
the front end 514 of the machine 500. The belt sets 521 retain the
web 515 in a precisely known longitudinal position thereon as the
belt sets 521 carry the web 515 along the longitudinal extent of
the machine 500, preferably with an accuracy of 0 to 1/4 inch. The
longitudinal movement of the conveyor system 520 is controlled by a
conveyor drive 522. The conveyor 520 may include alternative forms
of elements, including but not limited to opposed cog belt side
securements, longitudinally moveable positive side clamps that
engage and tension the material of the web 515, pin tentering
elements or other securing structure for holding the facing
material web 515 in a controlled or fixed position relative to the
conveyor 520.
[0073] Along the conveyor system 520 are provided a plurality of
stations, including a printing station 525, a drying station 526, a
quilting station 527 and a panel cutting station 528. The backing
material 517 and filler material 518 are brought into contact with
the top layer 515 between the drying station 526 and the quilting
station 527 to form a multi-layered material 529 for quilting at
the quilting station 527. The layers 517 and 518 are, in the
embodiment shown, not engaged by the belt sets 521 of the conveyor
system 520 but rather are brought into contact with the bottom of
the web of lacing material 515 at the nip of a pair of rolls 543
upstream of the quilting station 527 and extended through the
quilting station 527 and between a pair of pinch rollers 544 at the
downstream end of the quilting station 527. The rollers 543 and 544
are elements of the conveyor system 520 and controlled to operate
in synchronism with the belt sets 521 and pull the webs 517 and 518
through the machine 500 with the web 515. The rollers 543 and 544
may be mechanically linked to the conveyor drive 522 or may be
driven independently through differential drives or motors 523. The
drives 522 and 523 and the machine elements 521, 543 and 544 are
preferably provided with sensing devices or encoders for providing
control information feedback as to the location of the material in
the machine.
[0074] The printing station 525 includes one or more printing heads
530 that are transversely moveable across the frame 511 and may
also be longitudinally moveable on the frame 511 under the power of
a transverse drive 531 and an optional longitudinal drive 532.
Alternatively, the head 530 may extend across the width of the web
515 and be configured to print an entire transverse line of points
simultaneously onto the web 515. The head 530 is provided with
controls that allow for the selective operation of the head 530 to
selectively print two dimensional designs 534 of one or more colors
onto the top layer web 515. The drive 522 for the conveyor 520, the
drives 531 and 532 for the print heads 530 and the operation of the
head 530 are program controlled by a controller 535 to print
patterns at locations on the web 515 that are preferably known in
advance or will be remembered by the program of the controller 535.
The controller 535 includes a memory 536 for storing such
information and for storing pattern programs, machine control
programs and real time data regarding the nature and longitudinal
and transverse location of printed designs on the web 515 and the
relative longitudinal position of the web 515 in the machine
500.
[0075] The drying station 526 is positioned relative to the
conveyor system to dry the printed design 534 as the web 515 is
conveyed longitudinally. In the embodiment shown, the drying
station is fixed to the frame 511. The drying station may be of
whatever configuration is suitable to effectively (dry the ink or
dye being applied at the printing station 525. It may operate
continuously or be selectively controlled in accordance with the
pattern, as is appropriate. The print head 530 is preferably a
digital dot printer or ink jet printer with which the coordinates
of each dot of the image printed are capable of being precisely
located on the web 515 and relative to the conveyor 520.
Alternatively, screen printed, roll printed or other types of
printed images may be used while still realizing some of the
advantages of the invention. Where a print head 530 such as an ink
jet print head is used, the head may be moved transversely of the
material by a carriage moveable on a transverse bridge with belts
or chains driven by transverse drive servo 531, with the
transversely extending bridge being moveable longitudinally on the
frame 511 by a longitudinal drive servo 532.
[0076] In preferred embodiments, the heads 530 include ink jet
print heads having at least one multiple jet head for each of a
plurality of, for example four, colors. The drives 531 and 532, and
particularly the transverse drive 531, are preferably linear servo
motors 531a, as illustrated in FIG. 1A. A transverse linear servo
or servo motor 531a would include, for example, a stator 561 that
is fixed to and extends across the bridge 560. On the stator 561
travels a transversely linearly moveable armature 562 to which is
fixed a print head carriage 563 on which the print head 530 is
mounted. The stator 561 includes a row of magnets, illustrated as
an array of electromagnets 564 that are actuated by signals from
the controller 535. Magnets 565 of the armature 562 exert forces on
the armature 562 to move the carriage 563 and the print head 530
quickly and precisely among various transverse dot positions across
the substrate 515.
[0077] Linear motors such as the servo 531a are easier to tune,
require little service, and have better acceleration and
deceleration than belt or other drive systems. Because of their
accuracy, printing can be carried out while the heads are
accelerating or decelerating, with programmed compensation in the
timing of the jetting of the ink being made by the controller 535.
This greatly improves the speed and efficiency of the print
operation by allowing the print head 530 to skip across areas of
the substrate 515 that are to have no printing to areas at which
ink is to be deposited, minimizing the time during which the print
head is not depositing ink on the substrate. Accordingly, linear
servo motors, at least to transversely move the print heads across
the bridge, are preferred for the machine 500 and for the print
head drives of the other embodiments described below.
[0078] The quilting station 527 is, in this illustrated embodiment,
a single needle quilting station such as is described in U.S. Pat.
No. 5,832,849. Other suitable single needle type quilting machines
with which the present invention may be used are disclosed in U.S.
Pat. Nos. 5,640,916 and 5,685,250. The quilting station 527 may
alternatively include a multi-needle quilting structure such as
that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,130. With such multi-needle
machines, often the needles are fixed in the transverse and
longitudinal directions of the material, reciprocating only
perpendicular to the plane of the material, with the material being
shifted transversely and/or longitudinally relative to the frame
511 under the control of the controller 535 to stitch patterns. In
FIG. 1, a single needle quilting head 538 is illustrated which is
transversely moveable on a carriage 539 which is longitudinally
moveable on the frame 511 so that the head 538 can stitch
360.degree. patterns on the multi-layered material 529. With
360.degree. pattern forming on multi-needle machines, the drives
522, 523 would be capable of reversing the material in the
longitudinal direction.
[0079] The controller 535 controls the position of head 538
relative to the multi-layered material 529, which is maintained at
a precisely known position by the operation of the drive 522,523
and conveyor 520 by the controller 535 and through the storage and
retrieval of positioning information in the memory 536 of the
controller 535. In the quilting station 527, the quilting head 538
quilts a stitched pattern in registration with the printed pattern
534 to produce a combined or composite printed and quilted pattern
540 on the multi-layered web 529. The precise locations of the
printed images on the material and the material relative to the
frame of the machine are tracked in the memory 536, and this
information is used by the controller 535 to relatively position
the material and needles of the quilt head 538 to quilt in
registration with the printing. This may be achieved, as in the
illustrated embodiment, by holding the assembled web 529 stationary
in the quilting station 527 while the head 538 moves both
transversely, under the power of a transverse linear servo drive
541, and longitudinally on the frame 511, under the power of a
longitudinal servo drive 542, to stitch the 360.degree. pattern by
driving the servos 541 and 542 in relation to the known position of
the pattern 534 by the controller 535 based on information in its
memory 536. Alternatively, the needles of a single or multi-needle
quilting head may be moved relative to the web 529 by moving the
quilting head 538 only transversely relative to the frame 511 while
moving the web 529 longitudinally relative to the quilting station
527, under the power of conveyor drive 522, which can be made to
reversibly operate the conveyor 520 under the control of the
controller 535. Further, the quilting head, for example one
containing a multi-needle array, may also be fixed transversely
with the material being shifted transversely as well as moved
longitudinally relative to the needles and the frame 511.
[0080] In certain applications, the order of the printing and
quilting stations 525 and 527 can be reversed, with the printing
station 525 located downstream of the quilting station 527, for
example the station 550 as illustrated by phantom lines in FIG. 1.
When at station 550, the printing is registered with the quilting
previously applied at the quilting station 527. In such an
arrangement, the function of the curing station 526 would also be
relocated to a point downstream of both the quilting station 527
and downstream of the printing station 550 or be included in the
printing station 550.
[0081] The cutoff station 528 is located downstream of the quilting
and printing stations at the downstream end of the conveyor 520.
The cutoff station 528 is also controlled by the controller 535 in
synchronism with the quilting station 527 and the conveyor 520. The
cut-off station 528 may be controlled in a manner that will
compensate for shrinkage of the multi-layered material web 529
during quilting at the quilting station 527, or in such other
manner as described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,599
entitled Program Controlled Quilter and Panel Cutter System with
Automatic Shrinkage Compensation. Information regarding the
shrinkage of the fabric during quilting, which is due to the
gathering of material that results when thick filled multi-layer
material is quilted, can be taken into account by the controller
535 when quilting in registration with the printed pattern 534. For
example, the dimensions of a quilted pattern or pattern component
may be selectively reduced, and the spacings of pattern components
may be similarly altered, in relation to the dimensions and
spacings of components of the corresponding printed pattern, so
that exact correspondence and registration between the quilted and
printed patterns is attained.
[0082] The panel cutter 528 separates individual printed and
quilted panels 545 from the web 538, each bearing a composite
printed and quilted pattern 540. The cut panels 545 are removed
from the output end of the machine by an out-feed conveyor 546,
which also operates under the control of the controller 535.
[0083] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment 100 of the invention that
employs a single-needle, frame-supported, discrete-panel quilting
machine such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,849. Other
machines of that type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,640,916 and
5,685,250. These single needle quilting machines apply patterns to
panels 129 that are often precut. Such machines are useful for
manufacturing comforters, for example. The machine 100 has an
operator accessible stack 116 of preformed panels from which the
panel 129 is taken and loaded into the machine 100. A conveyor or
conveyor system 120 moves a set of panel supporting edge clamps or
other edge securements 121 to bring the panel 129 into a fixed
position for application of a combination pattern by printing onto
the outer top layer 115 of the multilayered fabric 129 and by
quilting the multilayered fabric 129.
[0084] In the embodiment 100, a printing station 125, which in this
embodiment includes a combined drying station 126 and a quilting
station 127, is provided oil moveable tracks 119 that are fixed
relative to the machine frame 111. The printing station 125
includes one or more printing heads 130 that are transversely
moveable across the frame 111 under the power of a transverse drive
132 and are longitudinally moveable under the power of a
longitudinal drive 131. As with the embodiment 500 above, the
drives 131 and 132 may be linear servo drives or other linear
motors, such as those illustrated in FIG. 1A. The head 130 is
controllable so as to allow for the selective operation of the head
130 to selectively print two dimensional designs 134 of one or more
colors onto the top layer 115. The drive 122 for the conveyor 120,
the drives 131 and 132 for the print head 130 and the operation of
the head 130 are program controlled to print designs or patterns at
known locations on the facing material 115 by a controller 135,
which includes a memory 136 for storing programmed patterns,
machine control programs and real time data regarding the nature
and longitudinal and transverse location of printed designs on the
material 115 and the relative position of the panel 129 in the
machine 100. The drying station 126 may be moveable with the
printing station 125, independently moveable on the frame 111, or
fixed to the frame 111 in a position at which it can operate to
cure the print medium applied by the printing head 130 without
interfering with the printing station 125 or quilting station
127.
[0085] The quilting station 127, in this embodiment 100, is
preferably a single needle quilting station such as is described in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,849. The quilting station 127 has a single
needle quilting head 138 which is transversely moveable on a
carriage 139 which is longitudinally moveable on the frame 111 so
that the head 138 can stitch 360.degree. patterns on the
multi-layered material 129. This is achieved, in the embodiment
100, by holding the panel 129 stationary while the quilting head
138 moves both transversely, under the power of a transverse servo
drive 142, and the station 127 moves longitudinally on the frame
111, under the power of a longitudinal drive 141. The drives 141
and 142 may be linear servo drive motors. The servos can be
operated to stitch a 360.degree. pattern. Alternatively, the head
may be stationary and the panel moved both transversely and
longitudinally to stitch a 360.degree. pattern, or one drive may be
employed to move the head in one direction with the panel moveable
in the other perpendicular direction.
[0086] The controller 135 coordinates the motion and operation of
the printing station 125 and the quilting station 127 so that one
applies a pattern or design to panel 129 and then the other applies
a coordinated pattern or design in registration. The machine 100
can apply either the printed design first and then register the
quilted pattern to it, which is the preferred order, or can apply
the quilted pattern first and then register the printed design to
the quilted pattern. The controller 135 controls the operation of
these stations.
[0087] FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment 200 that is similar in
certain respects to the machine 500 of FIG. 1, but which further
includes the capability to apply combination patterns to different
areas of ticking material 215 on a wide multilayered fabric 229 to
produce top or bottom panels 251 with matching or otherwise
corresponding border panels 252 of a mattress cover. In the
preferred arrangement, a web of ticking or facing material 215 from
a roll 216 is printed in an efficient arrangement of panels on the
facing material 215. The machine 200 is provided with a supply 217
of backing material and supplies 218 and 219 of filler material,
which are preferably, for this embodiment, of different thicknesses
at different positions across the width of the facing material 215,
to form the multi-layered fabric 229, on which the arrangement of
panels is then quilted at a quilting station 227 in a way that
spatially corresponds to the printed patterns. The machine 200 is
also provided with a slitting station 253 adjacent cutoff station
228, to slit the border panels 252 from the top and bottom panels
251, and to otherwise cut the panels from the web of multi-layered
fabric 229. The printing, quilting, cutting and slitting of the
material as well as the movement of the material by operation of a
drive 222 is controlled by a machine controller 235, which may be
similar to those discussed previously.
[0088] The patterns on the fabric 229 may be coordinated in such a
way that, when the mattress covers are assembled, the patterns
align. This is illustrated in FIG. 3A, in which severed top and
bottom panels 251a,251b and a continuous border panel 252 are
illustrated, laid flat in the left side of the figure and folded
for joining together as a mattress cover in the right side of the
figure. The top and bottom panels 251a,251b have pattern features
261-264 thereon while the side panel 252 has features 265-268
thereon. The features 261-268 may be printed, quilted or both. The
features 265 are positioned on the side panel 252 so as to align
with the features 261 on the top and bottom panels 251a, 251b when
the panels are assembled into a mattress cover 269. Similarly, the
features 266-268 are positioned on the side panel 252 to align with
the features 262-264, respectively, on the top and bottom panels
251a,251b when the panels are assembled into the mattress cover
269. Coordination of the panels 251 and 252 and assembly of the
mattress covers 269 may be carried out as described in connection
with the system 10 of FIG. 6, described below. The other
embodiments described herein may be operated and controlled to
produce mattress covers having the characteristics of mattress
cover 269 of FIG. 3A.
[0089] FIG. 3B illustrates a mattress cover 270 having integral top
and side panels 271-275 with pattern features 276-279 similar to
features 261-268 of FIG. 3A printed and/or quilted onto ticking
material 215a. Mattress cover 270 is particularly suitable for
single sided mattresses, which are finished and padded on the tops
but not on the bottoms, and which are not intended to be turned.
Such mattress covers 270 are trimmed from a multi-layered printed
and/or quilted web or panel, folded and sewn over a spring interior
assembly to form the mattress cover 270.
[0090] FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment 300 for
producing matching top and bottom panels and border panels for
mattress covers. The embodiment 300 includes a machine 310a of the
type similar to the machine 500 described in connection with FIG. 1
above in combination with a machine 310b, which is similar to but a
narrower version of machine 310a. The machine 310a produces the top
and bottom panels from multilayered fabric 329a that is dimensioned
according to the specification for such panels, including a
relatively thick filler layer 118a of mattress size width and
length. The machine 310b produces the matching or coordinated
border panels from multilayered fabric 329b that is dimensioned
according to the specification for border panels, including a
relatively thin filler layer 118b and narrower width that
corresponds to the thickness of a mattress but greater length that
corresponds to the perimeter of the border of the mattress. The
matching of the combination patterns applied to the fabric
329a,329b is controlled either by a single controller, by a master
controller 335 (as illustrated) which controls separate similar
machine controllers 335a,335b of respective machines 310a,310b, or
through other controller architecture. The separate controllers of
the machines 310a,310b may be linked together such that they work
in unison or such that the controller of one machine 310a,310b
controls the other. Alternatively, the machines 310a and 310b may
be controlled separately, in response to batch data, for example,
which may be generated by a coordinated plant scheduling system.
Where separately controlled, the output of the machines 310a and
310b may be tracked through computers that follow each mattress
cover component of each product and order through the plant,
relying on coordinated data files or indicia printed on the panels
or both, as, for example, described in connection with the system
10 of FIG. 6, described below.
[0091] In FIG. 4, the controller 335a controls the operation of the
machine 310a to produce combination printed designs and quilted
patterns on the top and bottom panels of a mattress with printing
head 325a and quilting head 327a, respectively, as with the machine
500 described above. Controller 335b controls the operation of the
machine 310b to produce matching combination printed designs and
quilted patterns on border panels for the same mattress with
printing head 325b and quilting head 327b, respectively. Master
controller 335 coordinates the operation of the two controllers
335a and 335b. Similarly, each of the machines 310a and 310b can be
separated onto two production lines, one a print line containing a
respective one of the printers 325a,325b and one a quilt line
containing a respective one of the quilters 327a,327b. As with the
machines 310a,310b, the print lines and the quilt lines of each of
the machines may be separately controlled or controlled together.
The coordinating of the operations of the different machines and
production lines and the coordination, batching and scheduling of
the product components, may utilize features of system 10 of FIG.
6, described below.
[0092] The system 300 of FIG. 4 can be controlled to produce the
coordinated panels 251,252 with the coordinated pattern features
261-268 illustrated in FIG. 3A. To produce the mattress cover 269,
machine 310b would be controlled to produce the border panel 252
having the pattern features 265-268 while machine 310a would be
controlled to produce the top and bottom panels 251a,251b having
the pattern features 261-264.
[0093] An efficient use of the system 300 of FIG. 4 is illustrated
in and described in connection with FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4A, a mattress
cover production facility 600 is furnished with an inventory of
different rolls of textile material 601-603, each being, for
example, a Jacquard material in which different decorative Jacquard
patterns 604-606 are respectively woven into the fabric 601-603. In
the manufacture of mattress covers by the facility 600, a process
is implemented, which may cause the printing of various printed
patterns onto the Jacquard fabric 601-603. For example, patterns
610 may be printed onto material 602 with ink jet printing
equipment 611 of the types described elsewhere herein. The patterns
610 may be located on the fabric 602 to coincide with or bear a
spatial relationship to the Jacquard patterns 605 on the fabric
602. With the batch controls described elsewhere herein, printed
patterns may be changed from panel to panel along the fabric 602,
with one panel 613 of the fabric 602 imprinted with a pattern 612
and a following panel 613 printed with the pattern 610. The web
containing the printed panels 613 is then transferred to a quilting
line 615 on which a quilted pattern 616 is applied to the printed
panels 613. Similarly, patterns 620 may be printed onto material
603 with printer 611 in spatial relationship with the Jacquard
patterns 606, and the web containing the printing then transferred
or fed directly to quilting line 615 at which a quilted pattern 621
may be applied at a quilting station 627.
[0094] In the facility 600 of FIG. 4A, the different supplies of
Jacquard material 601-603 have their respective woven patterns
604-606 applied to the same background material 609. The background
material 609 may be completely untreated greige goods, or gray
goods, or may be material that is partially treated so as to be in
a ready-to-print condition. The inventory of the facility 600 is
also made to contain a supply of border panel material 625 of a
background material 609 having the same appearance as the
background of Jacquard material 601-603. The border panel material
625 is subjected to a preliminary printing process in which
simulated Jacquard patterns 604a-606a, resembling the woven
Jacquard patterns 604-606, are printed onto the background or
greige good material 625 to produce a border panel supply that has
the appearance of any of the Jacquard materials 601-603. The border
panel material printed to contain the different simulated Jacquard
patterns 604a-606a is then transferred to a print line at which it
is printed by a printer 631 similar to the printers 611 with any
decorative pattern, including the patterns 610, 612 and 620.
Alternatively, the simulated patterns 604a-606a and the decorative
patterns 611,612,620 may be applied at the same print station in
one or more print head passes to apply combined printed patterns
under the control of a programmed controller. The printed border
panels are then sent to a quilting station 632 similar to the quilt
line 615 at which the border panels are quilted.
[0095] The process depicted in FIG. 4A has advantages of reducing
inventory requirements and material handling in the mattress cover
production facility 600. The method may be integrated into the
methods described elsewhere herein, particularly those in
connection with FIG. 6 described below.
[0096] In the embodiment of FIG. 5, a printing and quilting system
400 is provided that includes separate print and quilting lines,
such as print line 401 and quilt line 402. Quilt line 402 is
preferably a multi-needle quilting machine such as that described
in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,130 or 5,544,599. The print line 401
includes a printing station 425, preferably of the jet printing
type, and a curing or drying station 426, usually an oven but which
may be a UV light curing station or such other station as will cure
the type of ink being used. Mattress ticking material or some other
facing sheet of material 416 is provided, preferably in web form,
and fed successively through the printing station 425 and curing
station 426. The printing station 425 applies patterns to the web
of material 416 in accordance with pattern programs controlled by a
print line controller 431. For the printing of top and bottom
mattress cover panels, for example, patterns are printed on one or
more successive panel lengths 432 along the web. The patterns may
be changed from panel to panel in accordance with a schedule
executed by a batch controller 435, which supplies product
information to the print line controller 431. The print line 401
produces a plurality of printed panels preferably on a web 429 of
the facing material from the supply 416.
[0097] In one preferred embodiment of the system 400, the printing
performed on the print line 401 prints, in addition to a series of
panel patterns, a series of registration or reference marks 450.
The registration marks 450 are preferably printed on the opposite
selvages or side edges of web 429 and are configured, for example
in a Z-shape or such other shape that, when detected, can provide
both longitudinal and transverse positioning references at each of
the respective side edges of the web 429. The opposite marks 450
are preferably aligned with each other and include one opposed pair
of marks for each panel, although more than one pair per panel may
be used for added accuracy. The marks 450 are printed in a
predetermined relationship to the location of the patter being
printed on the web 429, and data of this relationship is maintained
in data files available to the controller 431 and to subsequent
controllers, such as quilt line controller 437, for use in
accurately positioning subsequent operations on the web 429, such
as the application of a quilted pattern on the panels 459.
[0098] Further, associated with each panel there may be printed on
the web 429 coded information that can be automatically read by a
sensor and provided to a subsequent controller, such as controller
437 of quilting line 402, to identify a panel or bedding product
component, to describe properties of the bedding product component,
or to correlate with information in data files accessible to such
controller that will provide process control or product
information. Examples of the use of such data are set forth in the
description of the system 10 illustrated in FIG. 6.
[0099] After printing, the web of preprinted material 429 is
preferably re-rolled and transported, or otherwise directed, to the
quilting machine or quilt line 402 into which it is loaded and on
which it is combined with a backing liner web 417 and one or more
filler material webs 418. The combined webs 429, 417 and 418 are
engaged by front feed rolls 460 from which they are advanced
through a quilting station 427 of the multi-needle type at which a
plurality of pattern components are quilted onto the previously
printed web 429 in registration with the patterns printed
thereon.
[0100] The quilting machine 402 has, immediately upstream of the
quilting station 427, a pair of sensors 451, one over the right
edge of the web 429 and one over the left edge of the web 429. The
sensors 451 may be photo electric detectors that are capable of
sensing the respective positions of the marks 450 so that a
controller 437 of the quilting machine 402 can calculate the
positions of the opposite edges of the web 429. The controller 437
is programmed to determine the longitudinal and transverse
positions of the marks 450 and to derive therefrom the location of
the printed patterns so that quilted patterns can be registered
with the printed patterns. The program of the controller 437 also
calculates any rotation of the panel or skewing of the web 429
relative to the coordinates of the machine 402. The controller 437
can then use the rotation information to adjust the angular
orientation of a quilted patter in applying it to the substrate in
registration with the printed pattern and properly oriented on the
panels 459. Such adjustment of the pattern is practical when the
quilting station 427 is a single needle quilter. Alternatively, the
angular orientation information is used to reorient the material
429. The reorientation of the material 429 is particularly more
practical where the quilting station is a multi-needle quilting
station.
[0101] According to the embodiment of FIG. 5, the quilting machine
402 is provided with a split feed roll 460 upstream of the quilting
station 427. The split feed roll 460 includes a left half 460a and
a right half 460b, each of which is separately controlled by an
active or passive controllable element 461a,461b such as a servo
motor or brake. The controller 437 may, for example, differently
drive servo motors 461a, 461b in response to skewing of the web 429
that is calculated as a result of the analysis by the controller
437 of the outputs of the sensors 451 so as to adjust the
orientation of the web 429 as it advances through the line 402 and
so as to affect the transverse position of the web 429, eliminating
the skew. As a result, a quilted pattern can be applied in angular
registration with the printed pattern. Multiple needles of the
quilting station can maintain equal alignments with their
respectively corresponding printed patterns. The skew correction,
which may also be combined with a longitudinal and transverse
adjustment of the web 429, results in high accuracy registration of
the plurality of quilting needles with a plurality of components
of, or location on, the printed patterns. The elements 461 can be
used to control longitudinal tension on the web 429 entering the
quilting station 427, and for this purpose, servo motors, or
preferably brakes may be used to cause such tension to be applied,
as explained further below.
[0102] In lieu of split feed rolls 460, other types of separately
controllable feed elements that can feed or otherwise move the
material in a way that will rotate or redirect the material to
adjust the skew of the material can be used. For example, in system
500 of FIG. 1, the edge feed conveyor belts 521 can be configured
in a series of flights, with a short flight downstream of the
printing and drying stations 525 and 526 and upstream of the
quilting station 527. The short flights of the conveyor belts 521
on each side of the web 529 can be separately controlled by the
controller 535 based on information provided to the controller 535
of the actual orientation and position of the web 529 entering the
quilting station 527. This orientation may be determined by
registration marks such as the marks 450 of FIG. 5, from other
sensing of the actual position and orientation of the web 529 or
otherwise.
[0103] While FIG. 5 shows a split feed roll 460 having two halves
460a,460b that can be differently controlled, the feed elements can
be divided into more than two separately operable sections across
the width of the web 429. For example, in FIG. 5A, a split feed
roll 470 is illustrated that is divided into four sections,
470a-470d. The roll sections 470a and 470d affect the opposite
edges of the web 429 and are driven by separately controlled drives
471a and 471d, respectively. Central sections of the roll 470,
namely sections 470b and 470c, may be made to idle so that the web
between the rolls 470a and 470d can freely adjust its position and
orientation, or the rolls 470b and 470c can be geared in relation
to the end sections of the roll 470a and 470d to conform to motion
intermediate that of roll sections 470a and 470d in proportion to
their distances from the respective end sections. Alternatively,
the intermediate roll sections 470b and 470c can be separately or
differentially driven by separate motors 471b and 471c that are
independently controlled by the controller 437.
[0104] in addition, as FIG. 5A illustrates, the separate sections
470a-470d of roll 470 can be provided with relative transverse
position adjustments, driven by controller controlled servos 472a
and 472b, for example, to affect the transverse stretch or tension
on the web 429. Such transverse adjustment can be coordinated with
transverse tension applied to the web 429 by side securements (not
shown) at the quilting station. Additionally, the feed roll 470 can
be shifted transversely to generally center the web 429 entering
the quilting station 427 to generally align the printed pattern on
the fabric with the quilting head.
[0105] An alternative configuration of the embodiment 400 of FIG. 5
employs magnetic particle brakes for the controllable elements 461
in place of servo motors. With such brakes, differential tension is
applied on the opposite side edges of the web 429 as the web is
pulled by drive rolls 420 upstream of the quilting station 427. The
unequal tension on the opposite side edges of the web 429 affects
the skew adjustment. Further, by locating the split feed roll 460
upstream of a set of rolls (not shown) at which the backing and
fill layer webs 417 and 418 are joined to the facing web 429,
shrinkage of the facing layer 429 hearing the printed pattern can
be controlled and limited, so that the printed pattern can be, in
effect, lengthened relative to quilted pattern. Typically, the
longitudinal scale of the printed pattern at the printing station
425 takes into account predicted shrinkage due to the gathering of
material during quilting. Sometimes dimensional changes occur that
result in a longitudinal shortening of the web 429 after it is
printed and before it is fed to the quilting line 402. Controlling
longitudinal tension of the web 429 can reduce the shrinkage from
that predicted and can bring the longitudinal scale of the printed
pattern and the quilted pattern into better correspondence.
Alternatively, the quilted pattern could be electronically scaled
at the quilting station 427 by the controller 437, but such scaling
is not always aesthetically acceptable and, where the quilting
station 427 employs a multi-bar multi-needle array is not always
practical. Further, panel centric designs that must correspond to
standard panel dimensions cannot be so freely scaled. Therefore,
the ability to control the amount of shrinkage to either increase
or decrease the panel width (which lies in the longitudinal
direction on the web) is desirable. This ability eliminates the
need to provide extra material between the longitudinally spaced
panels to accommodate variations in shrinkage, which extra material
would have to be removed by trimming, thus producing waste.
[0106] FIG. 6 illustrates a mattress cover manufacturing system 10
according to other aspects of the present invention. The system 10
can be divided into four subsystems or production lines, including
alt least one print line 11, at least one, and preferably two or
more, quilting lines 12, illustrated as two quilting lines 12a and
12b, a mattress cover combining line 13 and a mattress assembly
line 14. These production lines 11-14 may be located at a single
bedding manufacturing facility or distributed among different
facilities of the same or different companies.
[0107] The printing line 11 includes an ink jet printing station 20
illustrated in more detail in FIG. 6A. The printing station 20 is
operable to print an image from a memory, or otherwise in
accordance with a programmed controller, onto mattress cover
material. By so printing, the image can be controlled and varied
from product to product along the material or from one portion of
the material to another. Such printing may be referred to as
digital or custom printing, although the control signals need not
necessarily be, but preferably will be, digital signals, that
determine the patterns and images to be printed.
[0108] At the printing station 20, a print head carriage 21 is
preferably provided having one or more print heads 22 thereon. The
carriage 21 is moveable transversely on a bridge 23, which is
rigidly mounted to a frame 26 and spans the width of the printing
line 11, which is wide enough to accommodate a print head path that
traverses the width of the widest expected web 24 of mattress
ticking, which may be nominally wider than the width of the king
size mattress, which is 80 inches. The carriage 21 is preferably
driven by a linear motor 27, which, along with the operation of the
print heads 22, is controlled by a print line controller 25 to
selectively print a dot pattern image on the web 24. The print
heads, in the illustrated embodiment, scan individual lines across
the entire transverse extent of the web 24 to print line-by-line
along the length of the web 24, although the print heads 22 may be
controlled to scan in different x-y paths to also print patterns in
area-by-area or otherwise.
[0109] The printing station may include a UV curing station 26, at
which UV curable ink is cured with ultraviolet light and/or a
drying oven 28, which can further cure or dry UV inks or solvent
based inks. A suitable printing station and method are described in
the commonly assigned and copending U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/390,571, filed Sep. 3, 1999, hereby expressly incorporated
herein by reference.
[0110] The print line controller 25 includes a digital memory in
which may be stored a plurality of pattern data files. Pattern and
other data from these files, and/or from a master system controller
or computer 90, can be printed at selected locations on the web 24.
The master controller 90, in certain preferred embodiments, sends
commands to the print line controller 25 to coordinate the printing
of different mattress cover patterns onto the web 24 that are
grouped together in batches that will be quilted in the most
efficient sequence on the same quilting line 12, with a minimum of
needle changes, material changes or other adjustments or operator
interventions. Typically, this would mean that the top and bottom
panels of a mattress cover would be grouped separate from the
border panels, because the top and bottom panels are usually
thicker, having more fill, than the border panels. Furthermore, top
and bottom panels vary more in thickness from one mattress product
to another while border panels often are of the same thicknesses
for many different mattress products.
[0111] In FIG. 6, for example, patterns for a series of king size
top and bottom panels 30 are shown printed along a length 24a of
the web 24. These include: two panels 30a, a top panel and a bottom
panel of a first printed pattern; two panels 30b, a top panel and a
bottom panel of a second printed pattern to be printed; and a panel
30c of the next pattern to be printed. These patterns are shown as
changing from one product to another for illustration purposes.
More typically, several products of each pattern will be printed in
succession according to an order schedule. These patterns 30 are
printed under the batch control of the master controller 90
according to a schedule that assigns orders for products bearing
the patterns of panels 30a-c to a particular print line 11, or to a
particular series to be printed on the web section 24a. The
grouping of the products to be made of the panels 30a-c to the same
section of web 24a is assigned by the master controller 90 making
the determination that these panels are to be quilted with similar
quilted patterns and with the same fill components, so that they
can be run on the same quilt line 12 without interruption to make
machine adjustments or material or needle changes, for example.
When all panels 30 that are to be quilted consecutively on the same
quilting line 12 are printed on the web section 24a, the web
section 24a is preferably cut and separately wound in a roll 31 for
transfer to a quilting line 12a for quilting.
[0112] The controller 90 then batches border panels 32 for
printing. These border panels 32 may be printed on the same or a
different print line 11 on which the top and bottom panels 30 were
printed. The border panels are long narrow strips typically 10 to
20 inches wide, but which may be wider or narrower, and usually in
the range of from 18 to 27 feet long in order to surround the
perimeter of a mattress, although they may be formed in shorter
strips and later sewn together. The border panels 32 will be
printed to match the top and bottom panels 30 that are printed onto
the web section 24a and rolled in the roll 31. The border panels 32
may include, for example, a border panel 32a, which is printed of
the same pattern as, or one matching, the pattern of the panel 30a.
Similarly, border panels 32b may be printed with patterns
corresponding to the pattern printed for the panels 30b, and border
panels 32c may be printed with patterns corresponding to the
pattern printed for panels 30c. The corresponding patterns can be
printed in the same or a different orientation or size. These
border panels 32 are printed on a web section 24b to be rolled into
a roll 33 for transfer to the quilting line 12b, which is set up
for the quilting of border panels.
[0113] In the quilting of border panels 32, the long narrow panels
32 are arranged to most efficiently use the area of the web section
24b. For example, five 16 inch border panel strips can be printed
across the width of an 80 inch web section 24b, as illustrated in
FIG. 7. For this arrangement, the print head 22 is controlled by
the print line controller 25 to scan the entire transverse width of
the web, line-by-line, to print one row of dots of the different
patterns of each of the five panels across the width of the web
section 24b, then to print another row of dots, and so forth, until
each consecutive row of dots is printed similarly as the web
section 24 advances in one direction through the printing station
20. Alternatively, the print heads 22 can be moveable in a plane
relative to the material and can be controlled to print selected
areas of different patterns in various orders, as may be
convenient. The patterns on the border panels across the width of
the web 24b may be the same or each may be different, as
illustrated. Cut lines 29 may also be printed to indicate where the
panels 32 are to be slit or transversely cut from one another.
[0114] The arrangement of the patterns are printed on the web
groups of the panels such that those having similar quilting
parameters are grouped together. Panels having the same quilted
patterns and that call for the same needle settings can be arranged
contiguously on the material. Border panels, for example, of
different products usually, but not necessarily, have the same fill
characteristics. Panels of similar characteristics can be grouped
together, and particularly if they have the same quilt patterns,
can be arranged side-by-side. Where possible, the arrangements of
the printed patterns on the material is carried out to minimize
material waste and production inefficiency. Pattern arrangements
can be made automatically by a batch mode controller or scheduling
computer that is programmed to implement some arranging
criteria.
[0115] In addition to border panels 32, top and bottom panels 30d
can also be arranged on the web section 24b, which may be desirable
where such top and bottom panels are to be quilted to the same
thickness as that of the border panels 32. In such a case, a top or
bottom panel 30d, for example, of a full rather than king size
mattress, may be printed with the matching border panel 32d for the
same mattress fit in along side of the top and bottom panels
30d.
[0116] Further, manufacturer or retailer labels, such as a retailer
label 78, can be printed directly on the bedding products by the
print heads 21 at the printing station 20, as illustrated in FIG.
7A. Heretofore, labels have been sewn onto bedding products. The
retailer's label 78 can, instead, be printed along with the pattern
on the print line 11 at, for example, the corner or edge of top
panel 30a, as the carriage 21 scans the print head 22 across the
web 24 to print the pattern for the panel 30a of a mattress
identified to a specific order. Where a bedding manufacturer makes
bedding for a number of retailers, labels can be customized to
designate different store brands or product models. Even individual
retail customer names can be applied for custom mattress orders.
This can be done on a batch or piece-by-piece basis, as products
for various retailers are batched for quilting. Such labels can be
printed on a panel along with the pattern at the printing station
20. The labels can include machine readable information such as bar
code encoded information identifying or describing the product,
customer or order.
[0117] With the batch mode scheduling provided by the controller
90, provision is made for the communication of information to the
quilting lines 12, the combining line 13 and the assembly line 14
so that the top and bottom panels 30 are correctly matched with
border panels 32 and the resulting mattress cover is matched with
the correct inner spring unit. This may be carried out by
generating information records, which can be done in any of several
ways. One method of coordinating information, and one of the more
reliable, is by attaching information records to the mattress cover
panels. This can be achieved by printing product codes at the
printing station 20 along with the printing of the patterns on
panels 30 and 32. Such printed records can be in the form of bar
codes or other machine readable records.
[0118] Bar code labels are illustrated as areas 40 and 41 in the
drawings. The codes 40 are, for example, shown in FIG. 6 as codes
40a-d, which contain information identifying the products for which
top and bottom panels 30a-d belong, with bar codes 41a-d
identifying the products to which border panels 32a-d belong. These
codes are then read by sensors at subsequent stations so that
subsequent operations can be automatically carried out that are
appropriate for the particular products. In addition, or in the
alternative, to the printing of machine readable indicia or codes,
the printer can also print manually readable information that can
be used by a quilting machine operator, by those manually matching
components in a mattress cover or mattress assembly, or by others
in subsequent operations.
[0119] In addition, a government required label or so-called "law
tag", which discloses the content of a bedding product, can be
calculated by the controller and printed at the time that the
product is being manufactured. Such a tag can, for example, be
printed at the time of the printing of the labels 41c or 78. Such a
tag 79 can be permanently printed on the product, as illustrated in
FIG. 7A. The text of such a tag 79 can vary with the content of the
particular product, and can be calculated by information made
available to the print line controller from the product or batch
control information data files.
[0120] Rather than employ codes 40,41 printed on the material to
identify the patterns, electronic files containing identifying
information call be synchronized among the controllers of the
various lines through the master computer 90. For example, the
printing of patterns at the print line 11 can cause information as
to where and what was printed to be passed by the print line
controller 25 to the master controller 90. The master controller 90
then transmits the printed pattern information along with
information tracking the location of the printed patterns through
the system 10 to the various controllers of the lines 12,13,14
controlling and keeping track of each product component in the flow
through the system 10.
[0121] For the quilting part of the operation, the roll 31 bearing
the top and bottom printed panels 30 on the web 24a of ticking is
loaded onto the quilting line 12a, where the web 24a is combined
with, for example, two layers of fill 36, 37 and one web of backing
material 38. The layers are advanced through a quilting station 44a
at which the layers are quilted together with, for example, a
generic quilted pattern, such as a plurality of side-by-side
continuous zig-zag patterns. Typical patterns, as well as a
multi-needle quilting machine suitable for use as the quilting
station 44a, are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No.
5,154,130, hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. The
quilting station 44a is controlled by a controller 45a which
controls the quilting of the patterns under the control of the
master controller 90 which selects the proper pattern for the
product to which the patterns of the panels 30 relate. Coordination
between the printed and quilted patterns may be accomplished, for
example, by a sensor 46a which reads the printed codes 40, or by
signals from the controller 90, communicated to the quilting
station controller 45a.
[0122] The quilting line 12a also includes a panel cutting station
50a, which may also be operated by the quilting station controller
45a or a controller on the panel cutter in response to coordinating
signals from a master controller, the quilting station controller
or from codes read from the product such as by independently
reading a bar code on the product. The cutter at the cutting
station 50a uses coordination information from the controller 45a,
which may include information read from the product, to determine
where to sever the individual panels 30. Different panels may be
cut to different lengths in accordance with product size
information from batch control product parameter data through the
controller 90. The cutting of the panels may be controlled to
accommodate for "shrinkage" that occurs as the material dimensions
change in the quilting process. The cutting produces completed
individual rectangular top and bottom mattress cover panels 51,
which include, for example, one pair of top and bottom panels 51a
bearing the printed patterns 30a, one pair of panels 51b bearing
the printed patterns 30b and a series of panels 51c bearing the
printed patterns 30c. Panel cutters are illustrated and described
in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,599 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/359,535, filed Jul. 22, 1999. These cut panels are then placed
in a stack 52a and transferred to an area, referred to as a
matching subsystem 59 of the combining line 13, at which the
corresponding top and bottom panels are matched with corresponding
border panels to make up the mattress cover sets 53 for each of the
products. The matching may be coordinated manually or with the
batch mode control by the system controller 90, directly, or
through a separate matching controller or computer 55.
[0123] Similarly, the roll 33 bearing the printed border panels 32
oil the web 24b of ticking is loaded onto the quilting line 12b,
where the web 24b is combined with, for example, one layer of fill
47 and one web of backing material 48. The layers are advanced
through a quilting station 44b at which the layers are quilted
together with, for example, the same generic quilted pattern or
patterns as applied at the quilting station 44a of the line 12a.
The quilting station 44b is also controlled by a controller 45b
which also controls the quilting of the patterns under the control
of the master controller 90 which selects the proper pattern for
the product to which the patterns of the panels 32 relate.
Coordination between the printed and quilted patterns at the
quilting line 12b may be accomplished, for example, by a sensor 46b
which reads the printed codes 40, or by signals from the controller
90, communicated to the quilting station controller 45b.
[0124] The quilting line 12b also includes a panel cutting station
50b, which is also operated by the quilting station controller 45b,
and is similar to the cutting station 50a of the quilting line 12a.
The cutting station 50b can be controlled by the quilting line
controller, through a master controller or independently by reading
codes, such as bar codes, printed on the panels with the pattern.
The cutter at the cutting station 50b uses coordination information
from the controller 45b to determine where to transversely sever
one set of transversely adjacent border panels 32 from another set.
This transverse cutting may take place before or after the
individual border panels are slit to separate one border panel from
another. The cutting and slitting processes produce completed
individual rectangular border panel strips. The border panels 61,
which include, for example, one panel 61a bearing the printed
patterns 30a, panel 61b bearing the printed patterns 30b, and
panels 61c bearing the printed patterns 30c, are similarly cut from
the material. These cut panels are then placed in a stack 52b and
transferred to the matching subsystem 13 for matching with
corresponding top and bottom panels as described above.
[0125] Provision for the slitting of transversely arranged panels
is made by equipping one or all of the quilting lines 12 with a
slitting station 60 for longitudinally separating panels 30, 32 or
other panels one from another, or to trim the selvage or other
material from the edges. Such a slitting station is illustrated in
the quilting line 12b, where it is shown located between the
quilting station 44b and the cutting station 50b. The slitting
station 60 has a plurality of transversely adjustable and
selectively operable slitting or trimming elements or knife
assemblies (not shown), which can be positioned and operated to
selectively slit the web 24b. In the embodiment shown, the knives
can be operated to longitudinally slit the web 24b in four places
to separate the five border panels 32 from each other. The
completed border panels 61, so separated by slitting and transverse
cutting, are then set in stack 52b for transfer to the matching
station 13. The separate individual rectangular border panel strips
61 include, for example, border panel 61a bearing the printed
patterns matching top and bottom panels 51a, border panel 61b
bearing the printed patterns matching top and bottom panel 51b, and
border panels 61c bearing the printed patterns matching top and
bottom panels 51c. These cut panels are then placed in a stack 52b
and transferred to the matching subsystem 13 for matching with
corresponding top and bottom panels as described above.
[0126] Trimming knife assemblies may be made selectively operable
and transversely moveable by motors or actuators under control of
the quilting line controller 45b. Registration of the cutting and
slitting station elements with the printed patterns is carried out
at the quilting lines 12 or can be carried out on independent
cutting lines on which the printed and quilted material is placed
for cutting and trimming. Information for activating and/or
positioning the trimming knives, as well as the transverse cutting
knives, may be communicated via electronic files from the master
controller 90 to the quilting and cutting line controllers 45a,45b,
or may be contained in coded information and/or separation lines 29
printed on the ticking with the patterns at the print line 11. The
registration techniques and web alignment techniques of the parent
applications identified above for registering the quilted and
printed patterns may also be used for registering and aligning the
cutting and slitting operations with the patterns printed on the
web of ticking material. In locating the cuts and slits
automatically, direct sensing of printed cut lines or calculated
shrinkage compensation along with precise tracking of the material
through the system should be employed.
[0127] After matching of the completed border panels 61 with the
top and bottom panels 51 at the matching subsystem 59 of the
combining line 13, the components of a mattress cover set 53 arc
assembled onto an inner spring unit 65 in a conventional manner on
the mattress assembly line 14 to form the finished mattress
products 70. The matching of the mattress cover sets 53 with the
proper inner spring units 65 are also carried out under the control
of the master controller 90. For proper matching, the inner spring
units 65 as well as the mattress cover sets 53 may be provided with
sensor readable coded labels or may be coordinated with electronic
files by controller 90. The resulting products 70 may then include
mattresses having covers and inner springs specified by product
description parameters in data files processed by computer 90.
Examples of such files are described in U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 09/301,653, filed Apr. 28, 1999.
[0128] The coordination of printed patterns from component to
component of a given product does not only combine components
having identical patterns, but can combine products having scaled
patterns varying primarily in size but otherwise matching, patterns
varying in orientation, varying in color, or otherwise forming
complementary components of an overall design. For example, border
panel features may be scaled reductions of features printed in
larger scale on the top and bottom panels. Further, different
product components may be printed on the same material with the
patterns oriented differently.
[0129] The above embodiments are described in the context of
mattress cover or bedding product manufacturing, but certain
features of the invention have additional applications. For
example, while described in the context of a mattress
manufacturing, the certain aspects of the method of arranging the
printing of different patterns on mattress covers can be used for
other applications where fabrics are printed, such as in the
production of upholstery, bedspreads and comforters, and other
textile and patterned fabric production.
[0130] The production of home furnishings, in general, can benefit
from the coordinated manufacture of different articles having
complementary printed patterns. Soft goods such as bedspreads,
comforters, curtains and draperies, sheets and pillow cases, bed
skirts or dust ruffles, table cloths and napkins and furniture slip
covers can be efficiently made using various aspects of the
equipment and methods set forth above. Doing so can avoid the need
for a manufacturer to carry several different widths of fabrics,
for example, by arranging and printing the different products from
the same material sheet or web. A printing controller cal, for
example, carry a single data file of a given pattern or set of
patterns with a scale factor stored in the product descriptions
files for coordinated products. For example, a large print for bed
coverings and small prints of the same patterns can be used for
drapes, curtains, dust ruffles, pillow shams and other products.
The various complementary products can be printed across the width
of a wide material, and arranged and oriented on the material to
make most efficient use of the cloth. By using data of one or more
selected reference points on each product, the printing controller
can scale and orient or otherwise modify each pattern so that the
patterns appear correctly on each product as the print head scans
across the textile or fabric. FIG. 7B illustrates such a printing
scheme for the printing of large, medium and small floral patterns
681-683 on a bedspread 684, pillow cases 685 and a dust ruffle 686
on a common web of material 680.
[0131] Further, the principles involved in the coordination of
printed patterns among the various panels of a mattress cover as
described in connection with FIG. 3A above can be applied to the
manufacture of apparel. For example, the sleeves and body panels of
a shirt can be arranged efficiently on a single piece of fabric and
the fabric can be printed with patterns differ from panel to panel
or that arc differently oriented from panel to panel, but that are
placed on the different panels so that, when the panels are cut and
sewn together the pattern parts form part of a coordinated design.
This is illustrated, for example, in FIG. 3B.
[0132] While the above description is representative of certain
preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art
will appreciate that various changes and additions may be made to
the embodiments described above without departing from the
principles of the present invention.
* * * * *