A History of Tufted Rugs

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

Hartmut Scholz, "Device for Providing Rugs and the Like with Tufts" (US4029031A)

Hartmut Scholz, "Device for Providing Rugs and the Like with Tufts" (US4029031A)

Patent · checked at the source

Made by
Hartmut Scholz, Allersberg, Germany
Date
filed 10 Mar 1976; patented 14 Jun 1977 (German priority 14 Mar 1975, DE 2511266)
Number
US4029031A
Themes
Hand-tufting tools & the gun, Tools & equipment

Cite this source

Hartmut Scholz, “Device for Providing Rugs and the Like with Tufts” (US4029031A), filed 10 Mar 1976; patented 14 Jun 1977 (German priority 14 Mar 1975, DE 2511266). patents.google.com/patent/US4029031A/en.

Research notes

Checked against the USPTO document: H. Scholz, "Device for Providing Rugs and the Like with Tufts", No. 4,029,031, patented June 14, 1977; filed Mar. 10, 1976; German priority Mar. 14, 1975 (2511266). What it is: a MANUAL tufting tool with two arms side by side, worked alternately against the backing. One arm carries a fixed needle (with a curved point) that guides the yarn; the other carries a blade that slides along the needle and cuts the yarn after each loop, opened by a guide and closed by a spring. The drawing shows a two-handled tool fed from a yarn cone. Why it matters: it is the same two-part, alternate-stroke principle as Ebenezer Ross's 1891 "Turfing Implement" and the Susan Burr, now with a cutting blade, from the co-founder of the firm that became Hofmann Handtuft-Technik. It cites Roberts (US 739,447, 1903), Doubler (US 1,976,709, 1934), Miller et al. (US 2,226,632, 1940), Hurley (US 2,605,727, 1952; already in this database), German 2,402,811 (1975) and British 473,702 (1937).