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Miller et al., "Apparatus for manufacturing tufted rugs" (US5743200A)

Patent · not yet checked at the source

Made by: Miller et al. (assignee not seen)
Date: filed 1996 (appl. 08/623,248); listed among 1998 publications; expired (fee-related)
Number: US5743200A
Themes: Hand-tufting tools & the gun, Tools & equipment

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Miller et al., “Apparatus for manufacturing tufted rugs” (US5743200A), filed 1996 (appl. 08/623,248); listed among 1998 publications; expired (fee-related). patents.google.com/patent/US5743200A/en.

Research notes

A gantry tufting machine for rugs: a tufting head with cylinder, piston, needle and blade moves independently on a Z-axis, travelling along the X-axis on a gantry that moves along Y. A later turf patent (US7814850) describes it in these terms. It is the earliest US gantry 'robot tufter' patent found in this search. One search summary said its text names a Wilcom TM2417 machine and controller as comparable; a second search could not confirm this, so treat the Wilcom TM2417 reference as unverified. Verified Oct 2026 by web search only: the number, title and application number come from Google Patents snippets. The assignee and exact grant date were not seen. Research note (Oct 2026): from search results; pages not opened.