Apparatus for feeding a fiber batt to a needle loom

Apparatus for feeding a fiber batt to a needle loom, in which a gusset gap is filled between the reversing roller of an upper pre-compression conveyor band and an upper supply roller by means of a slim transmission roller, which is suspended at its length at several locations, in order to avoid sagging. The suspensions can consist of ribbons, which carry the transmission roller, or they can be formed by holding fingers which are integrally formed with guide fingers of a finger roller and which are located in respective circumferential grooves in the transmission roller. In an alternative the transmission roller is divided into several segments and roller bearings are provided at the connection positions of the segments and are suspended from above (FIG. 1).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to an apparatus for feeding a fiber batt to a needle 
loom. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Such feed devices for needle looms are to feed a batt of staple fibers or 
endless fibers coming from a batt laying device in a possibly 
draft-reduced way to the first needle row of the needle loom for the 
subsequent needling operation. Drafts have harmful effects on the batt 
uniformity and thus on the batt quality. Each draft increases the 
differences in the mass distribution. Thick areas remain thick, thin areas 
are drawn even thinner. 
A well known feed apparatus consists of an endless base conveyor band, on 
which the fiber batt is situated, an endless precompression conveyor band 
which is arranged above it and two so-called finger rollers, i.e. supply 
rollers, arranged downstream of said bands and having a plurality of 
circumferential grooves distributed in longitudinal direction of the 
rollers, in which plastic rings are slidably arranged at which fingers are 
formed, which extend in tangential direction of the rings in direction 
towards the needle loom and thus bridge over the gusset gap between the 
roller nip of the pair of finger rollers and the needle loom, more 
precisely the holding-down appliance and the needle board of the needle 
loom, so that the fiber batt in a compressed condition slides through 
these fingers, without suffering considerable drafts. A similar gusset gap 
bridge-over, which is formed by wires, which extend through grooves in the 
supply rollers, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,540. 
These devices for feeding a fiber batt, however, have the disadvantage, 
that between the pre-compression device, which is usually formed of said 
two approaching endless conveyor bands, which are running over reversing 
rollers, as described above, and the finger rollers, upper and lower 
gusset gaps remain which have a triangular cross-section and which are not 
bridged-over, and into which the bulky fiber batt bulges in and thereby 
affect the fiber batt transport. The fiber batt elastically widened into 
the gusset gaps has to be drawn out of them, which results in the known 
disadvantageous drafts. 
For the improvement of this situation it is already known to bridge-over 
the lower gusset gap, which is formed between the lower base conveyor 
band, running around a respective reversing roller, and the lower finger 
roller, by means of a transmission roller of a smaller diameter, which is 
situated in the gusset gap and essentially fills it. This transmission 
roller simply leans on the base conveyor band and the lower finger roller 
under friction and is supported by them at its total length, so that it 
cannot bend through. It is preferably driven individually, in order to 
release the fiber batt from the base band at its way from the base band to 
the lower finger roller and to transmit it to the finger roller. No 
solution has so far been offered for bridging-over the upper gusset gap, 
which remained between the pre-compression conveyor band and the upper 
finger roller. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is based on the object, to provide a feed apparatus of the 
above mentioned kind, in which the above mentioned gusset gap is 
bridged-over in a way, in that no batt bulge occurs which disrupts the 
batt transport. 
According to the invention an apparatus for supplying a fiber batt to a 
needle loom is provided, comprising a pre-compression means including a 
batt support means and an endless pre-compression conveyor band arranged 
above it and revolving endlessly, which extends in transport direction of 
the fiber batt at the outlet end of the pre-compression means via a 
reversing roller, and a pair of supply rollers, which are arranged above 
each other, forming a nip and located between the pre-compression means 
and an intake of the needle loom, with the upper supply roller being close 
to said reversing roller, so that between the pre-compression band guided 
around the reversing roller and the upper supply roller a gusset gap of 
approximately triangular cross-section is formed, wherein a slim 
transmission roller of low surface friction is located in the gusset gap, 
the circumference of said transmission roller being close to the surface 
of the pre-compression conveyor band and the upper supply roller or at 
least contacts one of the pre-compression conveyor band and the supply 
roller, several bearing means being distributed along the transmission 
roller by which the transmission roller is suspended for avoiding sagging 
said transmission roller (19) being driven in the same direction as the 
upper reversing roller and the supply roller. 
The invention makes use of the idea already known from the bridge-over of 
the lower gusset gap, to essentially fill the gusset gap by means of a 
transmission roller. While, however, in respect to the support of the 
lower transmission roller no problems are occurring, since it contacts the 
base conveyor band situated on the lower reversing roller with its entire 
length and the lower finger roller, the problem occurs with respect to a 
transmission roller arranged in the upper gusset gap, in that this roller, 
due to its slim shape, has a sag, which can be quite considerable at 
working widths of up to 13 m and more. The invention provides solutions, 
namely in the form of bearing means, which are distributed along the 
length of the transmission roller and at which the transmission roller is 
suspended. 
According to an embodiment of the invention, the transmission roller 
consists of several segments, axially arranged after one another and 
fixedly connected to one another, and at the connection portions the 
transmission roller is provided with a rotational bearing, preferably a 
roller bearing, the outer bearing bush of which is suspended at a 
suspension means extending through the gap between the finger roller and 
the pre-compression conveyor band in upward direction. 
Surprisingly it was found, that bearing means can be realized in a simple 
way by narrow suspension ribbons of poor friction coefficient, in which 
the transmission roller is directly located and which are suspended 
through the gap between the pre-compression conveyor band and the upper 
finger roller from above and which also contact the pre-compression 
conveyor band and the upper supply roller, without troubles occurring. The 
friction between the transmission roller or the suspension ribbons on one 
hand and the upper finger roller on the other hand can be considerably 
deleted as soon as the upper supply roller is generally formed as a finger 
roller having guide fingers, with the rings supported in the 
circumferential grooves of the finger rollers and provided with the guide 
fingers, having a somewhat larger outer diameter than the finger roller 
supporting them. The ribbons thus are contacting these rings and the 
transmission roller thus has a lesser distance to the circumferential 
surface of the finger roller. Alternatively, the transmission roller can 
comprise flat circumferential grooves in which said ribbons are located, 
and it contacts the rings, so that a pinching of the ribbons between the 
transmission roller and the circumference of the finger roller is avoided. 
In an alternative embodiment at least some, but preferably all fingers of a 
correspondingly equipped upper finger roller are elongated backwardly, 
i.e. opposite to the supply direction of the fiber batt and their ends are 
bent hook-like in upward direction. They form support fingers having 
receptions for the transmission roller, which is provided with 
corresponding circumferential grooves, into which these support fingers 
engage. In case of a respective elasticity of the material of the finger 
it can be provided, that the transmission roller is held by the hook-like 
ends of the holding finger in a locked way. Alternatively the mentioned 
hook-like ends can be flexibly arranged at the holding fingers and are 
drawn upwardly by suspension means engaging them. The holding fingers can 
be elongated projecting over the transmission roller opposite to the feed 
direction of the fiber batt, in order to at least partially bridge over 
the remaining gusset-like gap between the pre-compression band and the 
transmission roller. 
It is furthermore advantageous if the circumference of the transmission 
roller is slightly projecting between the holding fingers over the plane 
defined by the lower side of the holding fingers in downward direction, in 
order to improve the batt transport.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
In FIG. 1 the intake area of a needle loom 1 with a needle plate 2, a 
holding down appliance 3 and a needle bar 4 able to move up and down can 
be seen, to which a plurality of needles 5 are attached, with only two 
being shown in the example for reasons of simplification. On the intake 
side of the needle loom 1, two supply rollers are arranged, i.e. a lower 
supply roller 6 and an upper supply roller 7. They are formed as so-called 
finger rollers, i.e. they have a plurality of grooves 8, formed at regular 
spacings in longitudinal direction to their circumference (FIG. 3) in each 
of which an open, elastic ring 9 and 10, respectively, is loosely located 
which consists of a low friction plastic material, on which a finger 11 
and 12, respectively is formed, which extends in the tangential direction 
away from ring 9, and 10, respectively in direction towards the intake of 
the needle loom 1 between the needle plate 2 and the holding down 
appliance 3. 
In the direction towards the pair of finger rollers 6, 7 there is a 
pre-compression means generally characterized by the numeral 13, 
consisting of a lower base conveyor band 14, which runs over a lower 
reversing roller 15, and of an upper pre-compression conveyor band 16, 
which runs over an upper reversing roller 17. In the gusset gap formed 
between the base conveyor band 14 and the lower finger roller 6, said 
gusset gap having an approximately triangular cross-section, there is a 
lower transmission roller 18 which is driven in the same direction as the 
base conveyor band 14 and the lower finger roller 6, e.g. via a chain 
drive, which drivingly connects the lower finger roller 6 with the lower 
transmission roller 18. 
This construction is known so far. 
In the upper gusset gap, which is formed between the pre-compression 
conveyor band 16 at the upper reversing roller 17 and the upper finger 
roller 7, there is an upper transmission roller 19 according to the 
present invention, which is driven in the same direction as the 
pre-compression conveyor band 16 and the respective finger roller 7. The 
drive of the upper transmission roller 19 is preferably carried out via a 
chain drive 20 by the upper finger roller 7, said chain drive 20 
connecting the latter drivingly with the upper transmission roller 19. In 
order to enable a certain radial movability of the upper transmission 
roller 19, which is necessary to adjust the distance to the base conveyor 
band 14 by lowering the pre-compression band 16, the power transmission of 
chain drive 20 to the upper transmission roller 19 according to FIG. 3 is 
carried out preferably by the aid of a joint shaft 21 including universal 
joints 22. 
In the embodiment according to FIG. 1, a section of which is shown in 
enlarged scale in FIG. 2, the upper transmission roller 19 is suspended at 
various positions in the longitudinal direction thereof by narrow flexible 
ribbons 23, which surround the transmission roller 19 and which directly 
contact its surface. These ribbons 23 extend through the gap between the 
pre-compression band 16 located at the reversing roller 17 and the upper 
finger roller 7 and are suspended by a spring means 24 located at a 
carrier 25 fixedly connected with the machine. The spring means 24 support 
the upper transmission roller 19 and the ribbons 23 are in contact with 
the pre-compression conveyor band 16 and the finger roller 17 and at the 
same time enable a vertical movement of the transmission roller 19 in case 
it is necessary to adjust of height of the upper reversing roller. 
The surface of the upper transmission roller 19 is preferably 
friction-reduced, it can be a polished or plastic-coated roller, with 
polyethylene and polytetrafluoroethylene being especially advantageous as 
coating materials. The ribbons 23, by which the upper transmission roller 
is suspended, also consist of a friction-reduced material, e.g. 
polyethylene, especially highly drawn polyethylene or 
polytetrafuoroethylene or polyethylene coated with this material. These 
ribbons can under certain circumstances be reinforced with a tissue. The 
ribbons 23 are preferably arranged with regular spacing, which can be in 
the range of 50 cm. Other spacings are also possible. They depend upon the 
rigidity and the length of the upper transmission roller 19 which, as 
already mentioned, can be up to 13 meters or even longer. The width of the 
each ribbon 23 can be approximately 10 mm. 
Surprisingly, it was observed, that despite this kind of suspension of the 
upper transmission roller 17, the rotation thereof with friction as well 
as of the pre-compression conveyor band 16 and of the upper finger roller 
9 at the ribbons 23 does not have any negative influences. On the other 
hand, it is possible to reduce the frictional influences even more when 
the rings 10, which surround the upper finger roller 7, have an outer 
diameter which is slightly larger than that of the finger roller 7 in 
question. 
Embodiments of the above described invention are shown in FIG. 3 and 4. In 
the embodiment according to FIG. 3, the ribbons 23 are arranged at such 
locations of the transmission roller 19 which are opposite rings 10. Thus, 
the ribbons contact the non-rotating rings, so that a rotational 
frictional movement influences only the interior surface of the ribbons 
23, i.e. from the transmission roller 19. In this solution the 
transmission roller 19 does not directly contact the finger roller 7 at 
all. 
In the embodiment according to FIG. 4 the transmission roller 19 contacts 
the fingers 10, thus, not contacting the surface of the finger roller 7, 
and since the rings 10 consist of a friction-reduced material, better 
conditions also result as if the transmission roller 19 contacted the 
finger roller 7. The ribbons 23 can be located in flat circumferential 
grooves in the transmission roller, so that they can never be pinched 
between the transmission roller 19 and the finger roller 7. 
An alternative embodiment of the support of the transmission roller 19 is 
in sectional view schematically shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, some, 
preferably all of the rings 10 bearing the guide fingers 12 on the upper 
finger roller 7 are provided with holding fingers 26, which extend 
opposite to the guide fingers 12 towards the back, i.e. opposite the feed 
direction of the fiber batt and which end in upwardly bent, hook-like ends 
27. The upper transmission roller 19 is inserted in these receptions of 
hook-like ends 27 and has for this purpose circumferential grooves 28 at 
the suitable locations, in which the hook-like ends 27 are located. The 
holding fingers 26 are located in one line, which is a tangent to the 
finger roller 7 and to the pre-compression band 16 guided over the 
reversing roller 17. The circumference of the upper transmission roller 19 
can be situated in this tangent. It is, however, also advantageous, if it 
projects downwardly with respect to the tangent, so that the batt material 
can more effectively contact the transmission roller 19 and be transported 
by it. It can be seen, that the holding fingers 26 in addition to their 
holding function, can also take over a task comparable to that of the 
guide fingers 12, i.e. to bridge-over the gusset-like residual gap between 
the transmission roller 19 and the finger roller 7, so that, as can be 
seen, in the case of this embodiment only a minimum gusset gap remains at 
the reversing roller of the precompression band 16, which is not filled. A 
possible bulging of the fiber batt is so minimal that it is of no 
influence. 
FIG. 6 shows a modification of FIG. 5, in which the hook-like ends are 
formed as bows 27a flexibly arranged at pivot bearings 29 at the holding 
fingers 26, which are each suspended by a suspension means at their upper 
end, e.g. by means of a wire 23a, with the wire 23a extending through the 
gap between the pre-compression band 16 and the finger roller 7 in an 
upward direction and which are suspended at a spring means 24, which in 
turn is suspended at 25 at the machine frame, also compare FIG. 1. In this 
embodiment no attention need be paid to a minimum elasticity of the 
material of the existing units each comprising a ring 10, guide fingers 
12, and holding fingers 26, since by pivoting down the bows 27a, the 
receptions for the transmission roller 19 formed by them can be slightly 
opened. 
The material of these units can be selected under consideration of the 
weight of the transmission roller 19 supported thereby. 
A further modification of the last two mentioned embodiments of the 
invention is shown in FIG. 7. The same parts are characterized by the same 
reference numerals, so that the description only refers to the 
differences. In this embodiment the bows 27a flexibly attached to the 
holding fingers 26 each have a flap 27b which projects over the 
transmission roller 19 opposite to the feed direction of the fiber batt. 
The lower rim of this flap lies in a line with the lower rim of the 
respective holding finger 26, so that all holding fingers 26 and flaps 27b 
form a continuous guide means for the fiber batt, in the middle section of 
which the transmission roller 19 is located. The circumference of which 
advantageously projects slightly downward between the holding fingers 26 
and the flaps 27b, as shown, in order to improve the batt transport. The 
flaps 27b are formed in such a way that they bridge over-the gusset-like 
residual gap between the pre-compression band 16 and the transmission 
roller 19 to largest possible extent. 
The drive of the transmission roller 19 can be carried out in one of the 
above mentioned kinds via chain drives. 
The transmission roller 19 has a diameter in all embodiments of the 
invention which is sufficiently large to fill the gusset-gap to the 
largest possible extent. It is advantageously dimensioned in a way, that a 
deepest location on the circumference of the transmission roller 19 is 
located at least approximately in a line, which tangentially connects the 
finger roller 7 with the pre-compression conveyor band 16 surrounding the 
reversing roller 17, but preferably lies beneath this line, as can 
especially be seen in FIG. 7. 
FIG. 8 shows in sectional view an embodiment of the above described 
invention, in which the transmission roller is divided into a plurality of 
segments 19a, 19b, 19c, which are arranged axially behind one another and 
which are fixedly connected to one another. The connection can e.g. be 
provided by means of journals 30, with feather keys 31, as shown, or cross 
bolts excluding a mutual turning of the segments 19a, 19b, and so on. At 
the connection positions of the roller segments 19a, 19b and so on, 
bearing means 32 are each attached on the transmission roller 19, which 
are preferably put over the connection journals 30. The bearing means 32 
are preferably roller bearings and their outer bearing bushes 32a are, as 
shown in FIG. 9, comparable to the embodiments according to FIGS. 6 and 7 
suspended upwardly by means of wires 23a through the gap between the 
pre-compression band 16 and the finger roller 7. The advantage of this 
embodiment lies in the special lack of friction. This embodiment can for 
this purpose be combined with the lateral supports of the transmission 
roller 19 on the rings 10 according to FIG. 4, but is is also possible, to 
have the outer bearing bushes 32a contact the rings 10, in order to avoid 
a friction of the surface of the finger roller 7. In this case the 
transmission roller 19 does not contact the finger roller 7.