CA2442500A1 - Printing and quilting method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A quilting machine (10, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) is provides 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). The printing station is located either in line and preferably upstream of the quilting station with a conveyor (520) extending through each of the stations to convey a web of quilting material through the machine, or is off of the quilting line such that the material with a pre-applied pattern thereon is transferred, preferably in web form, to the line of the second station for the application of a pattern in registration with the first applied pattern. At the quilting station, registration longitudinal and transverse registration is measured and skewing or rotation of the material is determined. Opposite transverse sides of the material are differently adjusted to orient and register the material. A nmaster 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. Ticking is preprinted with a plurality of different patterns, organized and communicated by the computer so that a print head can scan the material and printdifferent patterns of different panels (32) across the width of a web. Identifying data (40) for matching the panels of a mattress product can be provided in data files printed on the fabric. Cutting and slitting of the panels from each other and the quilting and combining of the panels for assembly of a mattress product can be carried out manually or automatically using the data.

Description

PRINTING AND OUIL'I'ING METHOD AND APPARATUS
This is a Continuation-In-Part of the cope»ding and co»nno»ly assigned U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 09/649,471, filed August 28, 2000, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 09/480,094, filed January 10, 2000, now IJ.S. patent No. 6,158,366, which is a Continuation-1»-Part of U.S.
Pate»t Application Serial No. 09/250,352, filed febru;»-y 16, 1999, »uw U.S.
Patent No. 6,012,403, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Patent Applicati<'~» Serial No. 09/070,948, filed May I, 1998, now IJ.S. Patent No. 5,873,315, all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
This is also a Continuation-1»-Part of the cope» di»g a»d co»nno»ly assigned PC1' application PCT/US01/00596, filed January 9, 2001, Whl(;h elaIIllS priority to U.S. Pate»t Application Serial No. 09/6=19.471.
filed August 28, 2000 and U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/480,094, filed January 10, 2000, now U.S. Patent No. 6,158,366, and also hereby expressly incorporated by reference herei».
Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to duilti»~" and p:uUicularly to the quilting of pattern beari»g products such l5 as mattress covers. -fhz invention Further relines to the »la»ufamure of quilted materials that bear pri»W d patterns.
The invention is particularly useful where the quiltiy~ is performed o» nnllti-needle quilti»g machines. where the quilting a»d printing :u~e applied to roll fed or web material or where difFeri»~T products are produced i» small quantities a»d in hatches.
Back>;round of the Invention:
Quilting is a special art i» the general field of sewin~~ i» which patterns are stitched through a plurality of layers of »material over a two din ~ensio»al area of the material. 'phe 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 hacki»~ sheet that may or may not be of a finished quality, and one or more internal layers of thick filler material, usually of ran dourly oriented fibers. The stitched patter»s maintain the physical relationship of the layers of »u»crial to each other as well as provide or»a»le»tal q»alities. In quilting, two differe»t approaches are. generally used.
Single needle quitters of the type illustrated and described i» U.S. patents nos. 5,640,916 and 5,685,250, and those patents cited and otherwise referred tc> therein are customarily used fur the stitchi»g of most comfc»Oers, some bedspreads and other products from pre-Pormed or pre-cut recta» ~ul,r panels. Some sin~~lmceclle quiltcrs,re used to Built patterns on fabric that carries a pre-woven or printed pattern, with the quilting addi»g to or e»hanci»
the appeara»cE of the pattern. Such q»ilters require that pre-patterned material be manually positioned i» the quilting apparatus so that the quilting can he re~_istered with the pre applied pattern cn~ a complicated visual positio»i»« system be used. With such systems, border quilti»g m coarse pattern quilti»g can be achieved but high quality uutli» a quilti» ~ are>u»d tile pre applied p;»ter»s or the quilti»« ut pattern details cal a fi;mUion of a» inch i» scale are ditticult to achieve, particularly autul»a»cally. Single needle quitters ore usually luck stimh machines.
Large scale quilti»g uperatio»s have been used Fur many years in the production of bedding products.
Mattress covers, which enclose and add paddi» ~ m 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 a»d camfmrtcharacteristics of a mattress, and an elongated side panel, which surrounds the periphery of the mattress to join the top and bottom panels around their edges to enclose the inner springs unit or other mattress interior.
Mattresses are made in a small variety of standard sizes and a much lamer variety of combinations of interiors and covers to provide a wide range of support and comfort feature;
and to cover a wide range of prtxluct prices. Tu provide variety of support and comfort requirements, the tip and bottom panels of mattress covers are quilted using an assortment of fills and a selection of quilted patterns. To accommodate different mattress thicknesscs, border panels of different widths are required with variations in the Pill fur border panels bein ~ less common. Border panels as well as top and bottom panels are usually made in different sizes to accommodate all of the standard otattress sizes.
Mattress covers are usually quilted un web-fed molt;-needle quitters. 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 till and backing material to produce the mattress cover products on a chain stitch iluiltiny machine which can use large spools of thread and Built on webs of material supplied em rolls. Multiple needle quitters of the type illustrated in U.S. Patents Nos. 5, I 54, I 30 and 5,544,599 are customari 1y used fur the stitching of mattress covers, some bedspreads and other such products which are commonly formed from molt;-layered web fed material. These molt;-needle quitters include hanks of mechanically ~~aneed needles that sew multiple copies of a recurring pattern on the fabric.
With such molt;-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 quitters are usually chitin stitch machines. Such quitters include banks of mechanically ganged needles that sew multiple copies of a recurring pattern.
The ornamental characteristics of the ticking that form the outer surface of .
mattress are regarded as important in the marketing of bedding products. Beddin~~~ nuutuiucturers stock a variety of tickin~~ nutterials ol~
different culcn:s and types, away having different sewn ur printed patterns.
M:untainin~ an adequate inventory of ticking requires the stocking of rolls of different widths ~>f materials of different colors and patterns. 'fhe cost itFsuch ?5 an inventory as well as the storable ;utd It;tmlliny of such.n invenmry contributes subst;tntially tct the ntanufacturin~
cost of bedding products.
Scone of these quilted patterns are highly ornate and contribute materially to the appearance of the quilted products, particularly tlt<tse that arc of Iti Biter qu.litv.nd u~st, and which :we made in snt,ller quantities. With smh 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 molt;-needle machines.
But other quilted products, such as those with simple zig-zag quilted patterns, ore 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 ur printed with different patterns. for such products, printed patterns are usually applied by the ticking supplier and rolls of ticking of each pattern ore inventoried by the mattress cover manufacturer.
~ Other quilting ma chines and methods employing some of the characteristics of bulb single needle panel type quitters ;tad web fed molt;-needle quitters are disclosed in U.S. patent application serial no. 08/831,060 of Jeff Kaetterhenry, et al. filed April 1, 1997 and entitled Weh-fed Chain-stitch Single-needle Mattress Cover Quitter with Needle Deflection Compensation, now U.S. patent no. 5,832,S49 and U.S. patent application serial no: 09/189,656 of Bondanza et al. , filed November 10, 1998 and entitled Web-fed Chain-stitch Single-needle Mattress Cover Quitter 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.
The production of quilts by oft-line processes, that is those involving both printing and quilting processes performed uu different production lines. has included specialty product production involving the uutlinin« or oUlter mu~rdinated stitcltiu ~ mttm material con wltie:h patterns have been preprinted. Stitching in ;uch processes is traditionally carried out with manually ~_uided sin~_le needle quilting_ m;mhine;. Proposed ,utumated systems uwn«
vision systems m follow a preprinted pattern or other schemes to automatically stitch on the preprinted material have been propt>sed but have nut proven successful. Registration mf 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 fcn' misalignment of quilted and printed patterns by repositioning of a quilting or printing head is inadequate if multi-needle quitters are to he used, particularly where angular mis-orientation is present.
Application of registration techniques to roll fed materials, where printin«
and quilting are performed ou 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 skewin« of the web as it is fed into the subseduent pattern applying m;ichine after removed from a machine in which the first pattern has been applied.
With off-line processes for applying one pattern and then another in registration with the first. one by printing and one by quilting, producticm of quilts in small batches of pattern cutnbinatiuus is partiwlar ly a prubl~m.
Lach batch can include one ur a Few quilted products of a common design made up of a printed pattern and . quilted pattern in combination, wiUt the products of different hutches, 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 p;tttern as the p;u-tially 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 producti<m delay.
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, utattress manufacturers who ;u-e 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 m:mufacturin?
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 manul'actureof bedspreads, comforters and otherquilted products where a variety of products in snwll quantities is desired.
Other off-line processes may involve the loadin~~ of rolls of tickin~~
nuoerials cnmmonlv hearings a pre-applied pattern onto the quilting machines. Lower cost ntattresscs are often nude by sewin~=generic quilted patterns onto printed pancrn material. l-luwever, Frequent cltan giug of the ticking material to produce products having a variety of appearances, requires interruption of the open:nicnt of the quilting machine fur manual replacenmnt and splicing of the material. This adds to lalonw;osts and Ic>wers equipment produ ctivity. Further, the spliced area of the material web which must he cut from the quilted material is wasted.
Furthermore, since mattress top and hutnnn 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 Built the top and bottom panels. Since border panels are usually preferred to match the top and bottom panels, the changing of ticking ou the top and bottom panel line is almost always accuntpanied 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.
Thereexistsaueedinmattresscovermanufacturingforacapabilityofefficientlyproduciu gsmallquantities of quilted fabric such as mattress covers, comforters, hedspre.ads and the like where different pre-applied patterns un the product are desired to be enhane;ed 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 desi~=ns without increasing, or while reducing, production COSTS.

_a_ Summary of the Invention:
An objective of the present invention is to provide quilt manufacturers, particularly mattress cover manut:n:mrevrs, with the ability m produce quilted products having a wide varietyotpatterns that include both qui Ring and printed or other images ur designs efficiently and eccmomically. 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.
A Further objective ut the invention is to provide for the intricate outline or other coordinated quilting of dcsi~=ns or patients on multi-layered nunerials in a hi~.:hly efficient, economical, high speed and autom;ued 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.
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 among items produced in small quantities. It is a particular objective of the present invention to provide flexibility in the production of mattress tickin~.nd quilted mattress covers Ilavin'~ patterns that ran differ from product to product.
A further objective of the present invention is to reduce quilting duwntinte due to the need to make ti~kin~~
IS or other material changes, pattern changes cm 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.
A particularobjective of the present invention is to aid the production of quilted material bycombinina both printed patterns and quilted patterns wherein multiple copies of the quilted patterns can be simultaneously applied using a ntulti-needle quitter. An additional particular objective of the present invention is to facilitate accurate, uuurdinated application of patterns by printing and quilting to web ur roll fed material. Another partimlarubjective of the present invention is to assist in the autcnnatic coordination of printed and quilted patterns of products produced successively in sutall batches of different products. 'these objectives are most particularly sought in systems in which a First pattern, such as a printed pattern, is applied oli'-line from the machine on which the second pattern. such as a quilted pattern, is to be applied in registration with the. first pattern.
An additional objective ut the present invention is W provide for the efficient arrangement of top, botUUn 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.
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 applic:aticm of a quilted pattern with the pattern that is applied sevond beings applied in registration with the First. I'reterably the printed pattern is applied first. Built the printed and the quilted patterns are printed from elec«~onic source files. 'the printing is curried out by a prcmess referred to as Direct Digital Printing" which is defined in the industry as commercial-duality 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. liven though the included printing may be from electronic source Files thin arc nay m>t be literally "digital" and the excluded into ~e a~uin ~ and plate-making may could be literally digital rather than analog as the terms di~Tital and unalo~~ are used in the electronics arts. Direct digital printing systems may be =40 hasecl c.~n lithc>~r.phic offset teclmolu~y ur Imer/umer technulo~y. 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.
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 =.tJ line, on separate pruduwiun lines, ur undCr the ~untrcol of ;I mmnu~n mavhine and pattern controller. On n single line system, multiple layers of the material for the forming a quilt are supported on a Frame on which a printing head and a quiltin~~ head ore also mounted. A mechanism is provided to impart relative movement of the supported material relative to the quilting and printing hems. Such a ntrcltanism can include a material conveyor that mcwes the material with respect to the frame, and/or head transpmrt mechanisms that nuwe the heads to and from the material when it is fixed relative to the frame. Either the supp c>rted material or the heads or both are moved relative to each Wltrr umler the vontrul of a programmed cuntpul r r«ntml W apply printed designs and quilted patterns us the material in mutual registration. Preferably, the prinW d clesi~ns are applied first unto the top layer or Facin ~ material.
then a pattern is quilted in registration with the printed desi~~ns.
Alternatively, printed designs can be applied ;titer the patterns are quilted.
According to certain embodiments, a quiltity 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, throuuh a series of starinns. Ar one station, a printed design is applied to the top or lltcin~~ 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 Pacing 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 ur design that has been applied first to the fabric under the control of a pro~~rammed controller. A curing 1J station ur oven may be further provided downstream ur as part of the printing station to cure the dye or ink applied at the printing station.
In certain machines ;recording to the invention, a printing station is provided on a frame and quilting station is located on the frame, preferably downstream frcam the printing apparatus. A
material conveyer is provided that brings fabric printed at the printin;~ station into the quilrin« station with the location of the printed pattern known so that cane or more quilting heads at the quilting station can l>r registered with the printed pattern.
Accurdin t to one preferred embodiment caf the invention. the printing=
station includes one ur more ink-jet printing or dye transfer headsmuve;tbleundercumputercontrolovertheouterorfacinglayerofmaterial.
tldditiunal layers of material art cunthined with the i~ut-rr layer, preferably dwvnstream 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 uF the printed pattern on a Fwin ~ material and of the relative location of the heads with respect to the facing= material.
1n embodiments where the material is moved on a conveyor successively throu~Th the printing and quilting stations. information of the location of the dcsi~~n ur pattern on the facing materi;tl and of the material on the conveyor is maintained by the controller. The material ntay 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, inturmation of the exact location of the design on the facing material is maintained as the material moves from the printings station, as the filler and backing layers of material are brought into contact with the outer layer or facie r 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 he applied, based on the maintained registration information of the pattern on the web moving through the apparatus.
In one preferred embodiment, exact registratim 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 c>1 the multi-layered material unto which the pattern is printed in some securin~~ structure ;u ;uul between the printing and quiltin« stations. The panel section can he a separate panel or a portion of a web of material. and nary be secured in place on a conveyor. In su ch au emlmoliment, the rC~~istratiun may be maintained tltrcm~~lmut the rmire printin ~ and quilting_ operation by side securements su ch as, fur example, a pin-tentrrin~ material transport that keeps the material fixed relative to the conveyor or securing structure through the printing process and the quilting process. A progrannned or process cuntrollercontrols the relative rnuvement ofthe tabric and printin« and quilting heads, and coordinates the muvemc:nt in synchrunizatiun with printings head control and quilting head control so that the printed and quilted patterns are applied in precise registration.

_6_ Ln other embodiments, the pattern is applied off-line, preferably the printing process. The printed pattern nary 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 re~_isu';nion 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 ctn opposite selv;yes or side edges c>f the material. Separate determinations are made from the plural marks as to the relative ;tli ~nment at two places on the nrtterial, such as ut both of the opposite side eddies. -Thus, two such ntarka can be located when the secetnd pattern is registered m the first. and determination can be made of the skewing or rotation of the material carrying the first or pre-applied pattern.
Adjustment to eliminate skewing or rotation of the I'abric, 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 a djustment. 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 re~~istration of the right and left sides of the material. Separate servo drives or separately controlled particle brakes can be used to control the feed rolls to I S steer the web. Feed rolls at the upstream end of the cluilter 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 slwinkage or stretch of the web longitudinally.
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 ?0 and deceleration than belt or other drive systems. Such servos provide accuracy chat enables printing to be carried out while the heads are accelerating or decelerating. Progrannned compensation is made for the variable head speed by the timin ~ of thejettin~~ of the ink. Thus, areas of the substrate having no printing can be skipped at hi~_h speed, ~~reatly impmvin~~ the speed and efficienevof the print operation by minimizin~~ the time clurin~T which the print hemp is not depositing ink on the substrate.
25 Preferably, the patterns are applied tct webs of material on wlticlt different products are to be quilted along the pen ~th of the m;tterial prior to the pmtels being sep.r;lted fmm the web.
Multi-needle quiltin ~ mmhines ;tre,Iso preferably used. Where the printing is applied m 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 cunmlative registration errors as the web is fed.
a0 In certain other embodiments, vision systems nary be employed to determine or verity the location of the printed pattern and to enhance or provide re ~isiration of the duilting with the printing. Such :t vision system may be employed in addition or in the ultern:ttive to the computer control of the material transport.
Printed patterns or designs and the quilted patterns nary be progrannned or stored in memory and, in a programmed or operator selected manner, printed designs and quilted patterns may be combined in different 3~ combinations to produce a wide variety of composite printed and quilted patterns.
In alternative embodiments, the material nary 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. 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 40 pattern after applying a printed design is preferred. However, aspects of the invention can be utilized to print designs onto material after quiltin~~ the material.
Preferably also, a bate h control autitmated system keeps (rack of the pmdums Ittuvin ~ tltrou~ h tltz pnmcs;.
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 crntu-ol matches the quilted pattern and the printed patterns 4O required by each product err batch of products. 'this can he carried out by maintainin~~ intol'Itl:ltl011 IIt. control system memory that will allow for the following of the product tlwetugh the system or can be assisted by automatically identifying the product on the second line, such as by readings a code, such as a bar code, applied to the product _7_ previously and correlated with the pattern that was printed onto the panel or product. Batch control systems are described in U.S. patent no. 5,544,599 and in U.S. patent applications serial nos. 09/301,653, filed April 28, 1999, and 09/359.539, filed July 22, 1999.
In the m;tnufucture of mattress covers, printed and quilted top and bottom panels can be produced alone 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 desi~.:ns and patterns that match or correspond to the top and bottom panels. This can be achieved according to one enthodiment of the invention by printing and quilting a strip of fabric alonl~ 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 connwl of a progrannned controller. preferably the sane controller that coordinates the applicaticnt of the printed designs and quilted patterns on the top and bottom panels.
The border panels so made are then cut ~r slit from the web that carries the top and bottom panels.
As an alternative to I~ormin~~ hor<ler panels mU ~~I tl~e same web ;ts the top and bottom panels, a separ;Ue hut smaller machine h;tvin~~ separate quilting and printings stations may be provided adjacent and linked to the main machine on which the mattress top and Imrton panels can be applied. The separate machine is supplied with material IS 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 a controllers that are in communication with each other to coordinate the making of the mattress cover units or batches of units with nuttchin~~
or com'dinated nip, bottom and border panels. Border panels are of different widths, correspondin;,~ 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 till layers, bein;~ in the range of from 1/4 to'/z inches thick, where the tap and bottom panels are usually fron'/z 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.
Accordin~~ 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 ane! may he referred to as digital printers, and include ink,jet printers, continuous and dot-on-demand printers, and other printers that print images by dispensin~~ ink or other printing medium in response to pattern int'ormation, which can usually vary from copy to copy, rather than from a physical mat, plate or mechanical transfer surface such as those connnonly used for printings multiple copies of the samr ima ~e.
i0 In the preferred application of such principles, an inkjet printer scans a web of ticking naterial transversely and prints on the web in response to signals from a pm<_rnnnned computer. In one preferred enhodiment 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 panzls that are,rr,n~ed ll';tIISVCI'JCIy ;mross the web of material. Lach panel c:an 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 he printed on different parts of the.
same or a different web.
Patterns on di Fferent panels of the same product, such as on adjacent top and side panels of a mattress cover, can be printed so as to he 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 mp panels, for example, of a mattress vover attached at their connnon seams, with the patterns on each panel varied in size, shape and orientation as is appropriate for the respective panel. In addition, material can be printed to produce visually coordinated products, such as sheets, pillow cores, drapes and ether 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 arran~~ed 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 he automatically scaled to accommodate shrinkable due to quilting, which can he bused on either measured or calculated information.

-S-After printing, the webs of ticking are usually quilted to one or more layers of fill material and usually a layer of hacking material. The ctuiltin~~ arty be applied to guilt different patterns un different panels u= different secticms of web containing nu~re than one panel. u= an entire web or length of web may be quilted with a generic pattern.
According to one aspect of the invention. .lacquard material (in which ornate patterns are woven into an otherwise plane material, are simulated by printing patterns un the same plane material background. In one application, for example, grei~~e goods of the same back =round 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. 1n this way, the less noticeable border panels need not he made up in each and every Jacquard material, but a sing=le print line um be set up to make, on demand, matching border panels in small lots to correspond to each product order.
After the printings and after the quilting, where applicable, different panels are separated from adjacent panels of the web by longitudinal slitting or transvei:se cutting. The cut panels are subsequently matched with other correspondin« 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.
Each panel is preferably identi tied 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 ran be contained in a computer file that is synchronized to each panel on the fabric. Such information can ;Ipso be printed cw coded cm the Fabric, un u= adjacent a panel, preferably in the same printing operation that applies the printed panels to the material, which cedin~~ 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 cuttings and slitting and the machine of panels and assembly into bedding products. Preferably, the infc.wmatiun is automatically read and signals are then generated in response to the information to control the quilting ofthe printed material, the cutting and slittingof the panels from the web, and the 2~ matching of corresponding panels for assembly into bedding products.
Product labels such as those identifying the manufacturer, a retailer or a bedding product type or model, as well as describin~~ the product, can he printed on the Pahric 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.
The present invention provides great flexibi pity in producing products of a wide variety of appearances and ready reduces the ticking inventories of a mattress manufacturer.
'fhe present invention also provides the ability m change printed patterns in the course of a quilting run.
and to chan«e both printed and quilted patterns to pmcluce quilted products in a wide variety of composite patterns.
With the invention, the number of base cloth supplies required to provide pattern variety is ~=reatly reduced. saving substantial costs to the quilted product manufaW urer. With the invention, the appearance of the outer layer van be embellished to provide variety and detail, and outline quilting can be va=ried out in Idyll quality and in c:hlse proximity m the printed desi~~n. Further, with the invention, these advantages are available with both single needle and nmltiplmeedl~ quiltcrs.
These :tad other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following_ detailed description of the drawings.
Brief Description of the Drawings:
Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a one embodiment of a web-fed mattress cover quilting machine embodying principles of the present invention.
Fig. IA is a dlagl'a111111afIC perspective view of a portion the machine of Fib. 1 illustrating one embodiment of the printing station thereof.
Fig. 2 is a diagrannnatic perspective view of a disvrete panel quilting machine which is an ;alternative embodiment to the machine of Fig. 1 that is more suitable for the production of comforters.

Fig. 3 is a top view of an alternative embodiment of the web-fed mattress cover yuiltin~~ machine of Fig. 1 that includes structure for making coordinated top and bottom panels and border panels for mattress covers.
Fig.3A is a diagram illustratin ~ one mannerof coordinating patterns between top, bottom and border panels of . mattress cover usin~~ various embodiments of the invention.
Fig. 3B is another diagram illustratin~~ another manner of arranging patterns on side and bottom panels of a mattress cover and forming the panels out of a cemti~~uous piece. of nuUerial.
Fig. 4 is a dia~rannnatic perspective view of an alternative embodiment to the machine of Fig. 3.
Fig. 4A is a diagram i Ilustrating one embodiment of a method ;recording to certain principles of the present invention.
Fig. i is a di;yTramnrUiv perspective view of an Wf-line alternative embodiment to the machine of Fig. 1.
I' ig. ~A is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the feed roll portion of the machine of Fig. 5.
Fig. f is a diagram of one embodiment of a mattress cover quilting system embodying other principles of the present invention.
Fig. 6A is a perspective view of a pattern printing portion of the system of Fig. f.
fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of a web of tickin ~ being printed at the print line of the system of Fig showing the transverse arrangement of a set of border panels bearing different patterns.
Fig. 7A is a fragmentary plan view of a web of ticking being printed at the print line of the system of Fig. 6 showin ~ 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:
Fig 1 illustrates a cambia;ttion printing and quilting machine 500 having a stationary frame S l I 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 Lacing material 515.
The facing material 515 is. in the illustrated embodiment of the machine 500, in the form of a web th;tt is Led into the front end 514 c>f the machine 500 from a supply roll 5 I G, which is rotatahly nu>unted to the frame 5 I 1. 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 ;tee also rotatably mounted to the frame 51 L. ~fhe 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 en~_;y~e.nd advance the materials through the machine 500, and control the position uF the material so that other machine elements that operate cm the material (print heads, quilting heads, 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 printin;~, sewin~~ or otherwise.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the conveyor system 520 includes, for example, pairs of opposed pin Centering belt sets 52l 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 5 15 of facing material is fed to the belts 521 at the front end 5 14 of the machine 500. The belt sets 521 retain the web 5l5 in a precisely known longitudinal position thereon as the belt sets 521 carry.the web 515 clung the pun ~itudin.l Cxtent of the nuwhine 500, prel~raloly with an accuracy of 0 to 1/4 inch. 'fhe longitudinal movement of the conveyor system 520 is controlled by a conveyor drive s22. The conveyor 520 may include alternative forms oFelements, including hut not limited to opposed cog belt side securements, longitudinally moveable positive side clamps chat engage and tension the material of the web 5 15, pin Centering elements or other securin ~ structure for holding the I'acing material web 515 in a conrmlled or fixed position relative to the cunveycw 520.
thong the conveyor system 520 are prmvidc:d a pluralityof stations, including sprinting station 525, adrying station 526, a quilting station 527 and a panel cutting station 528. The backing material 517 and filler material 518 are brought into contaW with the top layer 5l5 between the drying station 526 and the quilting station 527 to form a mufti-layered material 529 for quilting at the quiltin~T station 527. The layers 517 and 5l8 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 facing material 515 at the nil, 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 svnclcronism with the belt sets 521 and bull the webs 517 and 51S through thr machine 500 with tlcr web 5I5. Thr rollers 543 and 544 may be mechanically linked to the conveyor drive 522 or may he driven independently through differential drives ur motors 52 3. The drives 522 and 52 3 and the machine elements 521, 54 3 and 544 are preferably provided with sensing devices or encoders fc?r hrovidin~r conn'ol information feedback as to the location of the material in the machine.
Tlce printing station 525 includes one ur more printings heads 530 that are transversely moveable across the f cane 5 I I and may ;ipso hr Ic,n ~itudinally mcwrahle on the frame 51 I
under the power of a transverse drive 5 31 and an optional longitudinal drive 532. Alternatively, the head 530 may extend across the width of tl~e web 515 and be cunfi'ured to print an entire transverse line of points simultaneously onto the web 515. The bend 530 is provided with mnirml~ that allcwv for tlce selective operation of the head 530 to selectively print two dimensional designs 534 of one or nu?re 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 5 30 are pro~~ram controlled by a controller 535 to print patterns at loe:ations on the wel> 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 fur storing such information and for storin~~ pattern progrmns, 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.
'The drying station 526 is positioned relative to tlce conveyor system to dry the printed desi~~n 534 as the web 5 15 is conveyed longitudinally. In the embodiment shown, the dryings station is fixed to the frame 51 I . The drying station may he of whatever configuration is suitable to effectively dry the ink cu' dye brim applied :u the primin«
station 525. It nmyoperateci~ntinuouslyorheselectivelyc~ntrc~lled in accordance with the pattern, as is appropriate.
The print head 530 is preferably a digital dot printer ur ink jet printer with which the coordinates of each dot of the inw;~e printed is capable of loein~~ precisely located nn tlce we.b 515 and relative to the conveyor 520. Alternatively, screen printed, roll printed ur other types of printed images may be used while still realizin ~ some of the advanta«es of the invention. Where a print head 530 such as an ink jet print head is used, the head ncay be nu?ved transversely of the material by a carriage moveable on a transverse bridge with belts or chains driven by transverse drive servo 531, with tlcr transversely extendin ~ hrid~=a bein' nu?ve;ilole le>n~~itudinally on the Irame 5l I by a longitudinal drive SerVU 532.
In preferred embodiments, the heads 5 30 include inkjet print heads having at least one multiple jet head fur each of a plurality of, for example tour, colors. ~fl~e drives 53l and 532, and particularly the transverse drive 5 31, are preferably linear servo motors 531x, as illustrated in big. lA. A
transverse linear servo or servo motor 531a would include, fc?r example, a stator 561 that is fixed to and extends across the bridge 560. On the stator 56l 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, illusu~ated 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 nuwe the uu'ria~ a 563 and the print head 530 duivkly and previsely among various transverse dot positions across the sup?strate 515.
Linear motors such as the servo 53 to are eerier tc> 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 acceleratin ~ or decelerating, with programmed compensation in the timing of the jettin~~ of the ink hein~~
made by the cemtroller 535. This greatly improves the speed and efficiency of the print operation by allowing the print head 530 to skip across areas of tlce substrate 515 that are to have no printing to areas at which ink is to be deposited, minimizing the tine during which the print head is nut depositing ink on the substrate. Accordingly, linear servo nx?tors, at least to transversely move the print heals across the I>rid ~e. ,re preferred for the nmchine 500 and lcn' the print head drives of the other embodiments described below.

The cluiltin~~ station 527 is. in this illustrated embodiment, a single needle quilting station such as is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,S32,S49. Other suitable single needle type quilting machines with which the present invention may he used are disclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 5,G40,91G and 5,GS5,250. The quilting station 527 may alternatively include a multi-needle quilting structure such as that disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,154,130. With such multi-needle machines, often the needles are fixed in the transverse and longitudinal directions op' the m;aerial.
reciprocating only perpendicular to the plane of the material, with the material being shifted transversely and/or longitudinally relative to the frame 51 I 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 5 39 which is longitudinally moveable on the frame 5 I 1 so that the hemp 53S can stitch 3G0°
patterns on the tnulti-layered material 529. With 3G0"
pattern forming on multi-needle machines. the drives 522. 52 3 would be capable of reversin~~ the material in the loneitudinal direvtion.
~fhe controller 535 controls the position of head 53S relative to the naulti-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 tluough the stora«e and retrieval of positioning information in the memory 5 3G of the controller 535. In the quilting station 527, the quilting head 53S 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 im:yes c?n the material and the material relative to the frame of the machine are tracked in the memory 53G, and this information is used by the controller 535 to relatively position the material and needles of the Built head 5 3S to Built in re~_istration 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 53S
nwves both transversely, under the power of a transverse linear servo drive 541, :tad longitudinally on the frame 5 l l, under the power of a longitudinal servo drive 542, to stitch the 3G0°
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 53G.
t\Iternatively, the needles of a single or nmlti-needle quilting= head m:ty be nwved rel:uive to the web 529 by moving the quilting head 53S 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 5 35. Further. the quilting head, for example one containing a multi-needle array, may also he fixed transversely with the material being shifted transversely as well as moved longitudinally relative to the needles and the frame ~ I I.
In certain applicaticms, the carderc>ithe pr intin~_ awl quilting stations 525 ;tad 527 can be reverseil, with the printing station 525 loomed downstream of the quilting_ station 527, for example the station 550 as illustrated by phantom lines in big. 1. Wlten 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 52G would also be relocated to, point downstream of both the quiltin~~ station 527 and downstream of the printing station 550 or be included in the printing station 550.
The cutoff station 52S is located downstream op' the quilting and printing stations at the downstream end of the conveyor 520. 'fhe cutoff station 52S is also controlled by the controller 535 in synchronism with the quilting station 527 and the conveyor 520. 'fhe cut-off station 52S may be controlled in a manner that will compensate for shrinkage of the multi-layered material web 529 Burin ~ quilting at the quilting station 527, or in such other manner as described and illustrated in U.S. Patent No. 5.544,599 entitled Program Controlled Quitter 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 re~~istration with the printed pattern 534. For example, the dimensions of a quilted pattern or pattern component may be selectively reduced, and the sp:tcin~~s of pattern components nary be similarly altered, in relation m the dimensions and spacings of vomponents of the vorresponding printed pattern, so that exact correspondence and registration between the quilted and printed patterns is attained.

-12_ The panel cutter 528 separates individual printed and quilted panels 545 From the web 538. each hearings 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.
fig. Z illustrates an embexliment 100 of the inventiim that which employs a single-needle, frame-supported, discrete-panel iluiltiug machine such as those described in U.S. latent no.
5,832,849. Other machines of that type are disclosed in U.S. patents 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 nuulufacturin~~ comforters, for example. The machine 100 has an operator accessible stack 1 16 of preformed panels tl'Olll WI11CI1 tile panel 129 is taken and loaded into the machine L00. A conveyor or conveyor system 120 moves a set of panel supporting edge clamps or other edge securements 121 to brine the panel 129 into a fi xed position fur application of a combination pattern by printing onto the outer top layer I 15 of the multilayered fabric 129 and by euiltin'~
the multilayered fabric 129.
In the embodiment 100, a printin~T statiim 125. \VI11cI1 I11 CI11S
e111bOdllllelll IIleIndeS a combined drying station 126 and a euiltin~= station 127, is provided on moveable tracks 1 19 that the fixed relative to the machine franlr I I I. The printing station 125 includes one or more printing heads 130 that are transversely nloveahle across the frame 11 1 under the power of a transverse drive 132 and is lon~?itudinally moveable under the poN'er of a lun~itudinal drive 131. As with the embodiment 500 above, the drives I 31 and 132 may be linear servo drives ur other limas Illl.>tUl'S, 1CICI7 aS IIIUSC IIILISII';Iled IIl I' 1~. IA. ~hIIC heaCl I 30 I~ C:Ullll'OIIabIe SU :IS lU aIIUw tUl' lhC SCICI:IIVC ilpC1'atli>I1 of the head 130 tcl selectively print two dimensional designs l34 of one or more colol:s onto the top layer I l5. The drive 122 for the conveyor 120. the drives I 31 and 132 for the print head 130 and the operation of the head 1 30 are prugranl controlled W print designs us patterns at known locations un the f;tcin~~ mmeri,l I 15 by a runtroller I i5, which iwludes :1 memory I 36 for storing pro~~rammed patterns, nnlchine control prod=rams and real time data re'~'ardin~ the nature and long itudinal and transverse loc:uion of printed designs on the material l15 and the relative position of the panel 129 in the machine L00. The drying station 126 play be moveable with the printing station 125, independently moveable on the frame l 11, or fixed to the frame I I I in a position at which it can operate to cure the print medium applied by the printing bend l30 without interfering with the printing station 125 or euiltin~ station 127.
The quilting station 127, in this embodiment 100, is preferably a single needle quilting station such as is described in U.S. patent no. 5,832,849. The quilting station 127 has a single needle quilting head 138 which is transversely moveable on a carri:y~e l39 which is Iongitudinally moveable on the frame 1 1 1 so that the head 138 can a0 stitch 360° patterns on the multi-layered material 129. This is achieved, in the embodiment 100, by holding the panel 129 stationary while the quilting held 138 moves bioh transversely, under the power of a transverse servo drive 142, and the station 127 moves lon~_ituilinally on the frame I I I. under the lower of a longitudinal drive 141. The drives 141 and 142 nasty be a linear servo drive motors. The servos can be operated to stitch a 360° pattern. Alternatively, the head may be stationary and the panel moved high transversely and longitudinally to stitch a 360" pattern, or one drive nnly he employed tip move the head in one direction with the panel nulveable in the ocher perpendicular direction.
The controller 135 coordinates the nuUic>n and operation ut the printing station 125 and the quiltln station 125 to that one applies a pattern or deli ~n to panel 129 :uul then the other alolics a courdin;veil pattern us deli ~n in re ~istr;ltion. The nrlchine 100 wln 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.
Fig. 3 illustrates an embodinlenr 200 that is similar in certain respects to the machine 500 of Fig. 1, but which further includes the capability to apply clnnbinatiml panerns m different areas of ticking material 215 un a wide multilayered fabric 229 to produce top us huttc>m panels 25 I with nnltching or otherwise corresponding border panels 252 elf a mattress cover. In the preferred arrangement, a web of ticking or facing nnlterial 215 from a roll 216 is printed in an efficient arran ~enlent ~f panels on the facie<~ nulterial 215. The nrtchine 200 is provided with .
supply 217 of backing material and supplies 21 S and 219 i>f filler material, which is preferably, for this embodiment, _I;_ of different thicknesses at different positions across the width of the facing_ material 215, to t01'ul the Illtllll-layered fabric 229, on which the arran cement of panels is then quilted :u a yuiltin~~
suuion 227 in , way thW spati,ll~, corresponds to the printed patterns. The machine 200 is also provided with a slitting station 253 adjacent cumht station 225, to slit the harder panels 252 fri>m the m1 and hotu~m panels 25 I. and to otherwise cut the panels From the web of multi-layered fabric 229. the printing, quilting, rotting and slitting of the material :ts well as the movement of the nu«erial by operation of a drive 222 is controlled by a machine controller 235, which nary be simi par to those discussed previously.
'the pa«erns on the Fabric 229 ntay be wordinated in such a way that, when the mattress covers are assembled, the patterns align. 'this is illustrated in fig. 3f\, in which severed top and bottom panels 251 a, 251 b ;rod a continuous border panel 252 are illustrated, laid I'lat in the left side of the figure and folded Forjoining together as a mattress cover in the right side of the figure. The top and hc:>ttont panels 25I a, 25 I b have pattern features 26l-264 thereon while the side panel 252 has features 265-568 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 251x, X516 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 251 a, I b when the panels are assembled into the mattress cover 269. Coordination of the panels 251 and 252 and assembly of the mattress covers 269 nary he carried our 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 0l' fig. 3A.
20 Fig. 3B illustrates a mattress cover 270 having inte~~ral top and side panels 271-275 with pattern features 276-279 similar to Features 261-268 of Fig.3A printed and/or quilted onto tickin;~ material 2 15a. Mattress cover270 is particularly suitable for sin ale sided nr,Utresses. which are finished and lridded on the ups hut not on the Imttoms.
and which are not intended to he 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.
25 F if;. 4 illustrates an alternative emlmdiment 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 narrowea-version of machine 310x. The machine 3 l0a 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 l 18a of mattress size width and length. The machine 310b produces the matching or coordinated border panels from multilayered 329b that is dimensioned accordin« to the specific:uion for border panels, including a relatively thin filler I;tyer I 18b and narrower width that corresponds to the thickness of a mattress but Ureater len~~th 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 outer controller architec«we. 'the separate e011t1'Ollel's of the machines 3IOa,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 310. and 310b nary be controlled separately, in response to batch data, for example, which may be generated by a coordinated plant schedulin~~ system. Where separately controlled, the output of the machines 310a and 310b may he tracked throw=h computers that follow each mattress wver compcment mf each product and order through the plant, relyin ~ on coordinated data files or indicia printed on the panels or tooth. as, for example, described in connection with the system 10 of Fig. 6, described below.
In Fig. 4, the controller 335;1 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 printings head 325a and quilting head 327x, respectively, as with the machine 500 described above. Controller 335b controls the operation of the machine 310b tc> produce matchin« combination printzd deli ins and duilted patterns on border panels for the same mattress with printing head 325b and quilting head 327b, respectively. Master controller 335 coordinates the _ 14_ operation of the two controllers 335a and 3356. Similarly, each of the machines 3 I Oa and 3 I Ob can be separated onto two production lines, one a print line containin ~ a respective one of the printers 325a.325b and one a quilt line containing a respective one of the quitters 327a.327b. As with the machines 310x,3106, the print lines and the Built lines of each of the machine, may be separately controlled ur controlled together. 'l'he coordinating of the operations of the different machines and production lines and the coordination, hatching and scheduling ut the product components, may utilize features of system 10 ~I' Fig. l, described below.
The system 300 of 1' fig. 4 can be controlled to pn,duce the coordinated panels 2~ 1,22 with the coordinated pattern features 261-26S illustrated in Fig. 3r1. -lo produce the mattress cover'?6~1, machine ilUh would be controlled to produce the Ix,rder panel 2S2 It;mini the pattern features 265-26S while machine 310a would he l0 controlled to prc,duce the top and bottom panels 2~ Ia.251 b I~avin~~ the pattern f~e,tures 26l-264.
An efficient use of the system 300 of Fir. 4 is illusn~;Ued in and described in connection with FiE. 4A. In Fig. BA, . mattress cover production facility 600 is furnished with an inventory of different rolls of textile material 601-60 3, each hrin~ . for example, a .lau card m;oerial in which different decorative Jacquard patterns 604-606 are respectively woven into the f;tbric 60l-60,. In the manufacture of mattress covers by the facility 600, a process is implemented, which may cause the printing of various printed patterns unto the Jacquard fabric 601-603. For example, patterns 6I0 pray be printed onto material 602 with ink jet printing equipment 61 l 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 .lacquard patterns 605 on the fabric 602. With the batch controls described elsewhere herein, printed patterns may be changed from panel to panel alone the fabric 602, with one panel 613 of the fabrii: 602 imprinted with , pattern (i 12 and a following panel 6l3 printed with the pattern 610. The web containing the. printed panels 613 are then transferred to a quilting line 6I ~ on which a ipiilted pattern 616 is applied to the printed panels 6 t3. Similarly, patterns 620 may be printed~unto material 603 with printer 61 I in spatial relationship with the.lacquard patterns 606, and the web containing the printin~T then transferred ur fed directly to iluilting line 615 at which aquilted pattern 621 may be applied at a quilting station 627.
In the Facility 600 of Fig. 4A. the dilterent supplies of .lacquard material 601-603 have their respective woven patterns 604-60(i applied to the same back'round material 609. 'fhe background material 609 may be completely untreated ~rei ~e ~_ouds. ur ~~ray ~c>ods. ar may hs nriterial th;o is parti;filly treated so ;~s ti> be in . ready-u~-print condition. 'fhe inventory of the facility 600 is also made to contain a supply of border panel material 62~ i>f a background material 609 having the same appearance as the background of Jacquard material 601-603. The border panel material 62~ is subjected to a preliminary printin ~ process in which simulated Jacquard patterns 604x-606x, 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. 'phe border panel material printed m contain the different sinntlated .lacquard patterns 604x-606a is then transferred to a print line at which it is printed by a printer 631 similar to the printers 61 I with any decorative pattern, including the patterns 610, 6l2 aril 620. Alternatively. the simulated patterns 604x-606a and the decorative patterns 611,612,620 may be applied at the same print station in one ur more print head passes to apply combined printed patterns under the control of a progrannned controller. 'fhe printed border panels arc then sent to a quilting station 632 similar to the quilt line 6l5 at which the border panels are quilted.
'fhe process depicted in Fig. 4r~ has ailvanta~~es of reducing= inventory reduirements and m;uerial 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. f described below.
In the embodiment of' Fig. ~, a printin ~ and quilting system 400 is provided that includes separate print and quilting lines, smh as print line 401 and quilt line 402. Quilt line 402 is preferably a multi-needle quitting machine such as that described in IJ.S. Patent \ji>s. i. I s4. I 30 car i.~4=1.>99 .
The print line 401 include, ;i printin« st;oiun =l'_'s.
preferably of the jet printing type, and a curin~~ or ilryina static,n 426, usually an oven but which may be a UV light curing station or such other station as will cure the type of ink bein« used.
Mattress tickin~~ material or some other f~acin« sheet of nrtterial 416 is provided, preferably in web form, and fed successively thruu~Th the printin« station -IS-425 and curing station 426. The printin ~ station 425 ,)plies 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 un one or more successive panel lengths 432 along the web. The patterns may be changed from panel to panel in accordance with , schedule executed by a batch controller 435, which supplies product information to the print line controller 431. The print line 40l produces a plurality of printed panels preferably on a web 429 of the facing material from the supply 416.
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 re~~istration nru-ks 450 are preferably printed on the opposite selva«es or side ed yes of web 429 and are configured, for example in :r Z-sh.pe or such c)ther shape that, when deterred, can provide both lun~itudinal and transverse positioning references at each of the respective side eddies of the web 429. The c)pposite marks 450 are preferably aliened with each other and include one opposed pair of marks fur each panel, althuu«h more than one pair per panel nu~y be used for added accuracy. The marks 450 are printed in a predetermined relationship u) the location of the pattern being printed un the web 429, and data of this relationship is maimained in data files available to the controller 431 and to subsequent IS c ontrullers, such as quilt line controller437, for use in accurately positioning subsequent operations on the web 429, such as the application of a quilted pattern on the panels 450.
Further, associated with each panel there may 1)e printed on the web 429 coded intormatiun that can be automatically read by a sensor and provided to . 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 tiles 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.
After printing, the web of preprinted material 429 is preferably re-rolled and transported, or otherwise directed, to the quilting machine or Built line 402 into which it is loaded and on which it is combined with a backing liner web 417 and one or more filper material webs 4I8. The combined webs 429, 417 and 418 are engaged by front feed rolls 460 from which they are advanced throe ~h a quilting station 427 of the multi-needle type :ti which a plurality of pattern components are quilted onto the previously printed web 429 in registration with the patterns printed thereon.
The quilting machine 402 has, innnediately 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 edgy=a 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 duiltin~~
machine 402 can calculate the positions c)f the opposite edges of the web 429.
The controller 437 is prugrannned to determine the lon~~itudinal and transverse positions of the marks 450 and to derive therefrom the location of the printed patterns so that quilted patterns can be re ~ist~red with the printed patterns. The program of the cuntroller4 37 also calculates any rotation of the panel or skewing_ of the web 429 relative to the coordinates of the machine 402.
'fhe controller 437 can then use the rotation infcunnatiun to adjust the angular orientation of a quilted pattern in applyin ~ it to the substrate in registration with the printed pattern and properly oriented on the panels 450. Such adjustment of the pattern is practical when the quilting station 427 is a single needle quitter. 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 static)n is a multi-needle quilting station.
According to the embodiment of Fig. ~, 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 460:1 and a right half 460b, each of which is separately control led by an active or passive controllal)le element 461 a, 461 b such as a servo motor or brake.
'fhe controller 437 may, fur example, differently drive servo nu)IOrs 461x, 461b in response to skewing= of the wet) 429 that is calculated as a result of the analysis by the controller 437 of the outputs of the sensors 45I so as to adjust the orientation of the web 429 as it advances tltn~u~ h the line 402 and so as to affect the transverse pusirian of the web 429, eliminating the skew. As a result, a quilted pattern can be applied in angular re~istr;ttiun 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 eon be used to control longitudinal tension on the web 429 entering= the duilting station 427, and for this purpose, servo motors, or preferably brakes may be used to cause such tension to be applied, as expl;tined Further below.
In lieu of split feed rol Is 460, other types of separately controllable teed 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 Fib. 1, the edge feed conveyor belts 521 can be configured in a series of tlights, 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 ~ 35 of the actual orientation and position of the web 529 enterin«
the quilting station 527. 'this orientation may be determined by registration marks such as the nooks 450 of Fig. ~, from other sensing of the actual position and orientation of the web 529 or otherwise.
While Fig. 5 shows a split feed roll 460 having two halves 460a,460b that can be dit9erently controlled, l5 the feed elements can be divided into more than two separately operable sections across the width of the web 439.
For example, in Fig. ~A, a split feed roll 470 is illustrated that is divided into four sections, 470x-4704. The roll sections 470a and 4704 affect the opposite edges of the web 429 and are driven by separately controlled drives 47l a and 4714, 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 4704 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 470. and 4704 to conform to motion intermediate that of roll sections 470a and 4704 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 471 b and 471c that .Ire independently controlled by the controller 4 37.
In addition, as big. ~A illustrates, tltr sep;u~ate sections 470x-4704 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 shitted transversely to ~.'.enerally center the web 429 entering the quilting station 427 to generally align the printed pattern on the fabric with the duiltin~ head.
An alternative configuration of the embodiment 400 of Fig. ~ employs magnetic particle brakes I~or 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 quiltin;~ station 427. 'Che unequal tension on the opposite side edges of the web 429 affects the skew adjustment.
Further, by locatin« the split feed roll 460 upstream of a set of rolls (not shown) at which the backing.: and till layer webs 417 and 4lS arejmined to the facing web 429, shrinkage of the facing layer 429 hearing= the printed pattern can be controlled and limited, so tlru the printed pattern can be, in effect, lengthened relative to quilted pa«ern.
Typically, the longitudinal scale of the printed pattern at the printing station 425 takes into account predicted shrinka«e due to the ~~atherin~~ of materi;tl during quilting. Sometimes dimensional chancres 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 29 can reduce the shrinkage from that predicted and can brin« the longitudinal scale of the printed pattern ;tad the quilted pattern inrobettercorrespondence.
Alternatively.thequiltedpa«erncouldbeelectronicallyscaledatthequiltingstation42 by the controller 437, loo such settling is not always .esthetically acceptable anti, 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 exu-a material between the longitudinally spaced panels to acconnnodare variations in shrinkage, which extra material would have to be removed by trinnning, thus producing waste.

Fig 6 illustrates a mattress cover m:utul,cturin~ system 10 accordin~~ to other aspects of the present invention. The system 10 can be divided into foursuhsystems or production lines, including at least one print line I I.
at least one, and preferably two or nu>re, 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 I l-l4 may be located at a single beddin ~ manufacturing facility or distributed anion ~ different facilities of the same or different companies.
~fhe printing line I I includes an inkjet printing station 20 illusn~ated in more detail in Fig. ~A. 'the printin 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 :mother. Such printing may be referred to as digital or custom printings. although the control signals need not necessarily be, but preferably will be, di~~ital signals, that determine the patterns and images to be printed.
At the printing station 20, a print head carriage 21 is preferably provided havin~~ one or more print heads 22 thereon. The carriage 21 is moveable tr;msversely on a bridge 23, which is rigidly mounted to a frame 26 and spans the width of the printing line I l, which is wide enough to accommodate a print head path that traverses the 1 ~ width of the widest expected web 24 of mattress tickin~~, which may be nominally wider th;m the width of the king size mattress, which is 80 inches. The carriage 2l is preferably driven by a linear motor 27, which, along with the operation of the print heads 22, are controlled by a print line controller 25 to selectively print allot 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 aloe ~ the length of the web 24, altlmu~h the print heads 22 may be wmtrolled to scan in different x-y paths to also print patterns in area-by-area or otherwise.
'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 printin ~ station and method are described in the commonly ;tssi~med and uole.ndin~~ U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/ 190.57 I .
filed September 3, 1999, hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The print line controller 25 includes a di~~~ital memory in which may be stored a plurality of pattern data tiles. 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 contrc,ller 90. in certain preferred embodiments, sends connnands 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 mist 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 till, 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.
ImFig. C, for example, patterns for a series of king size top and bottom panels 30 are shown printed aloe 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 bollo111 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 chan'in~_ From one product to another for illustration purposes.
More typically, several products of each pattern will he printed in succession,ccordin~ m an order schedule. These patterns 30 are printed under the batch control of fllc Illaster controller 90 accordin~~ to :l schedLIIe th;lt assigns orders for proilucts bearing the patterns of panels 30a-c m. particular print line I
I, or to a particular series to be printed cm the web section 24a. The ~~roupin~~ of the products to he ma de of the panels 30a-c to the same section of web 24a is assigned by the master controller 90 nrtkin~_ the determination that these panels are to be quilted with similar quilted patterns and with the same fill components, sea that they can be run on the same Built 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 3 L for transfer to a quilting line 12a for quilting.

- IS-The controller 90 then batches bor der panels 32 for printin ~. These border panels 32 may be printed on the same or a different print line 1 I 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 rankle of from I F~ to 27 Feet I~m~~ in urcler to surn~uncl the perimeter of a m;nrrzss, althou~li they may b~ tornteel in slu,rter strips amp later sewn together. 'fhe 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, ur one mmcl~in~, the pattern of the panel 30a. Similarly, border panels 326 may be printed with patterns correspondin ~ to the pattern printed for the panels 30b, and border panels 32c may he printed with patterns currespundin ~ u) the pattern printed ti>r panels 30c.
'fhe 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 he rolled into a roll 33 for transfer to the quilting line 126, which is set up fur the cluiltin~~ of border panels.
ht the quilting of border panels 32, the long narrow panels 32 are arranged to most etticiently use the area of the web section 24b. For example, Five 16 inch hander 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 I J controller 2~ 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 nary be convenient. The patterns on the border panels across the width of the web 24b may be the same or each ntay 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.
The urran~ement of the patterns ,re printed on the wcI) groups of the panels such that rhiwe h,vin~.similar quilting parameters'are grouped together. i'anels having the scone duilted patterns and that call fur the same needle settings can be arranged contiguously on the material. f3urder panels. for example, of different products usually, hut nut necessarily, have the same Pill characteristics. Panels of similar characteristics can be grouped to~~ether, and particularly if they have the same guilt patterns, can be arranged side-by-side. Where possible, the arran ~~mcnts iof 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 arran Tin ~ criteria.
In addition to Lu.~rder panels 32, top and bottom panels 30d can also be arranged on the web section 24b, which may he desiral)le where such top and buttma panels are m be duilted to the same thickness as that of the border panels 32. In such a case, a top or bottom panel 30d, fur example, of a full rather than king size mattress, may be printed with the matching border panel std for the some mattress fit in along side of the top :cod bottom panels 30d.
Further, manufacturer or retailer labels, such as a retailer label 78, can be printed directly on the beddin~~
products by the print heads 21 at the printing station 20, as illustrated in Fig. 7A. Heretofore, labels hove been sewn onto bedding products. The retailer's label 78 can, instead, be printed ;Hong with the pattern on the. print line 11 at, fur example, the corner or ed~=a 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 heddin« fur a number of retailers, labels c;ut be custamized m designate different store brands or product models.
Even individual retail customer names con he applied for custom mattress orders. This can be clone on a batch or piece-by-piece basis, as products for various retailers are botched for yuiltin~.:. Such labels can be printed on a panel along with the pattern at the printin ~ station 20. Tlte labels can include machine readable inFormatiun such as par code encoded information identifying or describing the product, customer or order.
With the batch mode scheduling provided by the controller 90, provision is made for the communication of information to the duilting lines 12, the combinin« line I 3 and the assembly line 14 so that the top and butmm 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 log ~reneratin« inturnunion records. winch can be done in any of several ways. One method of coordinating information, and one of the more reliable, is by attaching inFonnation records to the mattress cover panels. This can he 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.
j Bar code labels are illustrated as areas 40 and 41 in the drawing's. The codes 40 are, for example, shown in Fig. ( as codes 40a-d, which contain information identifying the products for which top and bottom panels 30a-d belong, with bar codes 41 a-d identifying the products to which border panels 32a-d bek~n'~. 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 m;tnually matching components in a ntattrcss cover c:,r mattress assembly. or by oUhci:s in subsequent operations.
In ad<liti<-nt. . government required label or so-called "law tag", which discloses the content of a beddin product. can he calculated by the controller and printed at the time that the product is being m;mufactured. Such a 1.5 tag can, For example, be printed at the time. of the printin;~ of the labels 41c or 78. Such a tag 79 can he 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 dart files.
Rather than employ codes 40,41 printed on the material to identity the patterns, electronic tiles containing identifying information can be synchronized amon« the controllers of the various lines through the nutster computer 90. For example, the printin« of patterns at the print line I I can cause information as to where and what was printed tea 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 l2, L3,14 controlling and keeping track of each product component in the 2~ flow tlwough the system 10.
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 Invers of fill 36, 37 and one web of backing nrtterial 38. The layers are advanced tlwough a quilting st;uion 44;t at which tl~e layers are quiltec! to nether with. for example, a reneri~ quilted pattern.
such as a plurality of side-by-side continuc,us zi;~-z;t~~ patterns. ~I Yhiml patterns, as well as a multi-needle quilting nmchine suitable for use as the quiltin ~ statie>n 44a, are illustrated and described in U.S. Patent No. ~. I 14,130, hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
'fhe quilting station 44a is controlled by a controller 4~a wlticlt 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 nary be accomplished, for example, by a sensor 4Ga which reads the printed codes 40, or by signals from the controller 90, connnunicated to the quiltin;~ station controller 4sa.
'fhe quilting line 12a also includes a panel cuttings station SOa, which nary also be operated by the duilting station controller 4~a 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 cuttings station ~Oa 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 prc,duct size information from butch control product parameter data through the controller 90. The cuttinz of the panels may be controlled to acconnnodate for "shrinkable" that occurs as the material dimensions change in the quilting process. The cutting produces completed individual rectangular top and bottom mattress cover panels ~ l, which include, fur example, one pair of top and bottom panels S la bearin:; the printed patterns 30., one pair of panels s 1 b bearing the printed patterns 30b and a series of panels S lc bearing the printed patterns 30c. Panel cuttei:s are illustrated and described in U.S. Patent Nu. s.544.599 and in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/3~~),i35, tiled .poly 22, 1999.
These cut panels are then placed in .
suck 52a and transferred to an area, referred te, as a matchin~~ subsystem 59 of the combining line I 3, at which the corresponding top and bottom panels are matched with corresponding border panels to make up the mattress cover sets ~3 for each of the produws. 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.
Similarly, the roll 33 bearing the printed border panels 32 on 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 throu~~h a quilting station 44b at which the layers are quilted together with, for example, the same generic iluilted pattern or patterns as applied at the quilting station 44a of the line 12a. The quilting station 44h is also controlled by a controller 45b which also controls the quilting of the patterns under the control of the. master control per 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, connnunicated to the quiltin~~ station controller 4~b.
The quilting line l2b also includes a panel cutting station SOb, which is also operated by the quilting station controller 45b, and is similar to the cuttings station SOa of the iluilting line 12a. The cuttings station SOh can he controlled by the quilting line controller, throu~~h a master control per ~r independently by reading= codes, such as par codes, printed on the panels with the pattern. The cutter at the cutting station SOb uses coordination information from the controller 4_5b to determine where to transversely sever one set of transversely adjacent border panels 32 from another set. This transverse cuttine may take place before or after the individual border panels are slit to separate one border panel from another. The cuttings and slittin~~ processes produce completed individual rect;tngular border panel strips. The border panels 61, which include, for example, one panel 61a bearing the printed patterns 30a, panel 61 b hearings 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 stuck 52b and transferred to the matching subsystem 13 for matching with correspondin~~ top and bottom panels as described above.
PIO)VISIOn 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 slittin« station is illustrated in the quilting line 12b, where it is shown located between the quilting station 44b and the cutting station SOb.
The slitting station 60 has a plurality of transvel:rely:tdjustableandselectivelyoperaloleslittingortrinunin~elementsorkni feassemblies(notshown),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 frmn each other. 'fhe completed border panels 6l, so separated lay slitting and transverse cutting, are then set in stack 52b for transfer to the matching station 13. 'fhe separate individual rectan~~ular lu>rder panel strips 61 include, for example, border panel 6lu bearing the printed patterns matchin~~ top and bottom panels 5 I;I. border panel 6l b bearing the printed patterns nrttching top ;tad bottom panel 5 I b, ;tad bcnoler panels 61 c bearing the printed patterns matching top and bottom panels ~ Ic. 'hhese cut panels are then placed in a stuck 52b and transferred to the matching subsystem 13 for matching with corresp mtdin3 top and botW m panels as described above.
Trimming knife assemblies nary be made selectively operable and transversely moveable by motors or actuators under control of the quilting line controller 4~6. Re«istration of the cutting and slitting station elements with the printed patterns is carried out at the quiltin~~ lines 12 or c;u, be carried out on independent cutting lines on which the printed and quilted material is placed fi,r cutting and tl'Im111111g. Information for activating and/or positioning the trinnning knives, as well as the transverse cutting knives, may be connnunicated via electronic files from the master controller 90 to the quilting and cutting line controllers 45a, 45b, or may be contained in coded 4~ information and/cw separation lines 29 printed on the tickin ~ with the patterns at the print line l I. 1'he registration techniques and web alignment techniques of the parent applications identified above for registering the quilted and printed patterns may ;tlso be used for registering and ;tli~~niu« the. cutting and slitting operations with the patterns printed un the web uF tickin~~ nrtterial. In lacatin ~ tl~e cuts.ncl slits awomatically, direct sensing of printed a ut lines ow calculated shrinkage compensation ;ilun ~ with preciae truc:kinye c>f the material through the system sltould he employed.
After matching of the completed Ix~tder p.nels 61 with the top ;tad bottom p;tnels 51 at the nwtchin subsystem 59 of the comloinin~~ line I 3, the ~umpunents of a m;Utress cover set 53 are assembled onto an inner spring unit 65 in a conventional manner on the mattress assembly line 14 to Dorm the finished mattress products 70. The matchin~~ of the mattress cover sets 53 with the proper inner sprin~T units 65 are also carried out under the control of the master controller 90. 1~or proper nmtchin~~, the inner spring units 65 as well as the mattress cover sets 53 may he provided with sensor readable coded labels or nary be coordinated with electronic files by controller 90. The resulting products 70 nary 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 Serial No. 09/301,653, filed April 28, 1999.
The coordination ut printed patterns from component to component of a given product does not only combine components Itavin« identical pmterns, hut c;m ci~mbine products havin~~ scaled patterns varying prinuuily I S in size but otherwise m;aching, patterns varyin~~ in orientation, varying in color, or otherwise furmingcumplementary 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.
The above embodiments are described in the mmtext of mattress cover or I>edding product manufacturing.
but certain features of the invention have additional applications. For example, while described in the conte.et of a mattress numufacturin«, the certain ;tspects of the ntelhixl of arranging the printing of different patterns on nutttress covers cambe used for other applications where fabrics arc printed, such as in the production of upltulstery, bedspreads and cc,mforters, and caber textile and patterned fabric prixluc ion.
The productiim of home furnishings, in ~ eneral, can benefit from the coordinated manufacture of different articles havin~~ complementary printed patterns. Soft goods such as bedspreads, comforters, curtains and draperies, sheets and pi Ihaw cases, bed skirts or dust rattles, table cloths and napkins and furniture slip covers can be efficiently made usin~~ various aspects of the eduipment and methods set forth above.
Doing so can avoid the need for a manufaW
urertocarryseveraldifferentwidthsoffahrics,forexample,byarrangingandprintingthe differentpn,ducts from the same material sheet or web. A printing controller can, fur 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 an<I small prints of the same patterns can he 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 arr:uy~ed and oriented on the material to make must efficient use of the cloth. I3y 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 cc>rrectly on each product as the print head scans across the textile or fabric.
Fib. 7113 illustrates such a printing scheme fur the printing of large, medium and small floral patterns 6S l-6S3 on a bedspread 654, pillow roses 6S5 and a dust rutl'le 6S6 c>n . comnxm web of material 6S0.
Further, the principles involved in the coordination of printed patterns among the various panels of a nntttress cover as described in connection with Fig. 3rd above can be applied to the manufacaure of apparel. bur example., the sleeves and body panels of a shirt can he arran red efficiently un a sin~~le piece of f;thric and the fabriv can be printed with patterns differ from panel to panel or that are differently oriented from panel to panel, but that are placed un the different panrls so, that, when the panels are c:ut ;rod sewn together the pattern pare tmnn part of a coordinated desi~m. This is illustrated, for example, in Fig. 3I3.
While the above desc;riptiun is representative of certain preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and additiims may be made to the embodiments described above without delruUin~ from the principles of the present invention.

Claims (30)

We claim:

1. A method of forming coordinated panels useful in making a patterned quilted product comprising:
digitally applying printed ornamentation to one or more textile substrates, 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 textile product;

with a controller, controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation so that the appearance of the patterns on the different panels is coordinated among the panels of the product when the panels are combined to form the product.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the controlling includes controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation so that the locations of the patterns on the different panels align when the panels are joined to form the product.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
forming a textile product by joining the panels such that the locations of patterns on different panels align.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein:
the ornamentation includes a pattern for a top panel and a pattern for a side panel of the same mattress cover; and the controlling includes controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation so that a pattern on the top panel aligns with a pattern on the side panel when the panels are joined to form a mattress cover.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

combining the substrates with a layer of fill material and quilting the substrate to the fill material and forming quilted mattress cover panels thereby.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

joining a plurality of mattress cover panels with the patterns thereon in alignment to form a mattress cover with spacially coordinated patterns thereon.

7. A quilted mattress cover formed according to the method of claim 6.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the ornamentation includes patterns for at least two panels of the same garment; and the controlling includes controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation so that a pattern on one of said panels aligns with a pattern of another of said panels when the panels are joined to form a garment.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

forming a garment by joining the panels such that the locations of patterns on different panels align.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the substrates include at least two substrates of different materials that have appearances that differ prior to the applying of the printing to the one of the substrates;

the ornamentation includes ornamentation for at least two panels of the same textile product formed of the substrates; and the controlling includes controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation to one of said substrates so that panels formed of the substrates of the materials are imparted with a similar appearance.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein:

one of the substrates is formed of a Jacquard material having a pattern woven therein; and the controlling includes controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation to another of said substrates such that a panel formed thereof is imparted with an appearance substantially thatching that of a panel formed of the substrate for med of the Jacquard material.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

quilting a substrate so formed of the Jacquard material to form a mattress cover top panel; and quilting a substrate so imparted with the substantially matching appearance to form a mattress cover side panel.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
joining the quilted substrates to form a mattress cover having panels matching in appearance.

14. A mattress cover formed according to the method of claim 13.

15. A method of limiting inventory of ticking material in bedding manufacture comprising:
stocking ticking material having a woven pattern therein;

stocking generic ticking material;

printing the generic ticking material with a printed pattern simulating said woven pattern;
quilting mattress cover panels from ticking material having the woven pattern and the printed generic ticking material; and forming a mattress cover by joining the panel formed of the quilted printed generic ticking material to the quilted panel formed of the ticking material having the woven pattern.

16. A mattress cover formed according to the method of claim 15.

17. A method of forming a patterned quilted product comprising:

digitally applying printed ornamentation to one or more substrates, said ornamentation including patterns for each of a plurality of products, including at least one quilted textile product;

controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation to apply a printed pattern to a textile and quilting the textile to form a quilted textile having the printed ornamentation; and controlling the applying of printed ornamentation to at least one other substrate to apply a printed pattern matching the printed pattern applied to the textile product of the same or of a different scale.

18. A method of forming a patterned quilted product comprising:

digitally applying printed ornamentation to one or more substrates, said ornamentation including a pattern for at least one quilted textile product that is to be quilted with a sewn pattern;

controlling the applying of the printed pattern arid sewn patterns such that one is scaled in relation to the other in one or more dimensions to compensate for the shrinkage during the quilting of the quilted product.

19. A method of forming a patterned mattress cover comprising:

digitally applying printed ornamentation to a ticking material substrate;
controlling the applying of the printed ornamentation to arrange a top panel with a plurality of adjacent integral side panels having the printed ornamentation coordinated thereon.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

quilting the printed ticking substrate; and folding the quilted printed ticking material substrate to form a mattress cover having the top panel and the plurality of integral adjacent side panels having coordinated ornamentation printed thereon.

21. A mattress cover formed by the method of claim 20.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24, A method of manufacturing a printed and quilted product comprising:
digitally applying onto a layer of textile material printed ornamentation and printed machine readable codes;
and reading information from the machine readable codes and in response thereto controlling a subsequent process in the manufacture of the quilted product.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the controlling of the subsequent process includes registering the application of a quilted pattern in response to the reading of the machine readable codes.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the controlling of the subsequent process includes adjusting the angular orientation of the material during quilting in response to the reading of the machine readable codes.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the controlling of the subsequent process includes controlling the application of a quilted pattern in response to the reading of the machine readable codes.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the controlling of the subsequent process includes assembling the quilted product in response information from the reading of the machine readable codes.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein:
the controlling of the subsequent process includes identifying the bedding product or its properties or associating the product with an order in response to the reading of the machine readable codes.

30. A method of manufacturing a printed and quilted product comprising:
digitally applying onto a layer of textile material printed ornamentation on a printing machine; and printing a material content label on said layer of textile material while the material is on said printing operation.