ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,546,042, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to Card-Monroe Corp. (Chattanooga, Tenn.).
"Tufting machines and methods of tufting" was invented by Ricky E. Mathews (Sale Creek, Tenn.), William M. Christman Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Brian Lovelady (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) and Jamie Vetter (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system, apparatus and methods for forming tufted articles can include a hollow needle tufting machine for forming patterned tufted articles including multiple colors of yarns. The hollow needle tufting machine can include a series of hollow needles arranged along a needle bar at a gauge spacing and will receive...