Prototype. Chapter text drafted from the research notes and not yet checked at the archives. Images awaiting permission are marked.

Card-Monroe Corp. (Mathews, Christman, Lovelady, Vetter), "Tufting machines and methods of tufting" (US12180632B2): the Hollow Needle machine

Patent · not yet checked at the source

Made by: Ricky E. Mathews; William M. Christman Jr.; Brian Lovelady; Jamie Vetter; Card-Monroe Corp.
Date: filed 21 Aug 2023 (appl. 18/235,917); published as US20240068144A1; grant date not seen
Number: US12180632B2
Themes: Machine tufting & Dalton, Tools & equipment

View at the source Cited in chapter 12, note 22

Cite this source

Card-Monroe Corp. (Mathews, Christman, Lovelady, Vetter), “Tufting machines and methods of tufting” (US12180632B2): the Hollow Needle machine, filed 21 Aug 2023 (appl. 18/235,917); published as US20240068144A1; grant date not seen. patents.google.com/patent/US12180632B2/en.

Research notes

A hollow-needle tufting machine for patterned articles in several yarn colours. Knives move between no-cut and cut positions to make loop and cut pile (Justia abstract). Card-Monroe's filings say earlier hollow-needle machines (the Kile, Davis and Tapistron line) used solenoid-controlled air cylinders to pick colours, but needle spacing limited how many colours each needle could take. A continuation is US12546042B2 (appl. 18/955,318), and a later EP application covers artificial turf. Card-Monroe's company timeline lists 'Hollow Needle 2023' (see co-card-monroe), and the August 2023 filing fits it, but no launch news was found. Why it matters: in 2023 the leading broadloom builder returned to the hollow-needle, individually fed yarn idea that Tapistron pioneered around 1990. Verified Oct 2026 by web search only: the filing date is from Justia and the identity from Google Patents snippets. Research note (Oct 2026): from search results; pages not opened.