Needles in the tufting machine that are pushed aside by a warp end in the backing cloth causing a streak or “grinning” running lengthwise because of off-standard tuft spacing across the width. The real mechanism of most so-called needle deflection is the pushing aside of backing fabric warp yarns by tufting needles during tuft insertion. When the needles withdraw, warp yarns move back to their original positions, thus pushing tuft rows off gauge and creating wide gaps between them.
