Universal textile machine for optionally manufacturing longitudinally oriented or randomly oriented fibre fleeces

In a carding machine the distance between the doffer roller and the main cylinder can be adjusted to a distance such that the card clothing of the doffer roller is no longer in its operating position with respect to the main cylinder. Further, there is provided an intermediate roller, which, when the doffer roller has been moved away from the main cylinder, is brought into a position such that its card clothing meshes with the card clothing both of the main cylinder and of the doffer roller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a universal carding machine for the optional 
production of either longitudinally fibred fleeces or tangle-fibred 
fleeces, having a main cylinder and associated carding elements, and also 
comprising a fibre intake mechanism and a doffer roller. 
Such carding machines are well-known in the art and are used to manufacture 
longitudinally oriented fibre fleece. In another type of textile machines 
for the production of randomly oriented fibre fleece, a drum following the 
main cylinder leads to an irregular or random pattern of the fibres by 
compaction (Melliand Textile Reports 6/1969, page 626). In such a machine, 
the compacting drum is larger than the doffer roller, and it is not 
possible to produce longitudinally oriented fibre fleeces with such a 
machine. 
It is also well-known in the art to produce tangled fleeces with the aid of 
centrifugal forces in small rollers. 
It is an object of the invention to provide a universal textile or carding 
machine, in which both longitudinally oriented and randomly oriented fibre 
fleeces may be manufactured. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This and other objects are achieved by a textile machine having a 
supplementary intermediate roller furnished with card clothing and the 
shaft of which may be positioned to two positions, by a setting mechanism 
for adjusting the distance between the doffer roller and the main 
cylinder, by selecting the two positions in such a way that when the 
doffer roller is put into its operating position relative to the main 
cylinder its card clothing is separated from the card clothings of the 
main cylinder and the doffer roller and when the doffer roller is 
separated from the main cylinder the card clothing of the intermediate 
roller is in the operating position relative to the card clothings of the 
main cylinder and of the doffer roller, and by rotating both the main 
cylinder and the intermediate roller in the same direction. 
Depending on the position of the intermediate roller and the doffer roller, 
therefore, either longitudinally fibred or tangle-fibred fleeces may be 
produced. 
The position of the clothing or the direction into which the tips of the 
clothing are pointing both of the main cylinder and of the intermediate 
roller should preferably be the same. 
It is also of advantage if the intermediate roller is partially surrounded 
by a cover plate in order to make sure that all fibres will be transferred 
on to the doffer roller via the intermediate roller. 
To attain the optimum tangled fleece formation it is of advantage to set 
the peripheral speed of the intermediate roller to between 80 and 200% of 
the peripheral speed of the main cylinder. 
The diameter of the intermediate roller should preferably be smaller than 
that of the main cylinder and the doffer roller. 
In a preferred embodiment the bearings of the shaft of the intermediate 
roller and the doffer roller are linked by a hinged connection and are 
guided in guide rails.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The carding machine shown in FIG. 1 comprises a mechanism for feeding in 
the fibres consisting of a table 4, adjacent to which is a grooved roller 
1, which lies against a fibre lap 2. The sheet of fibres 3 released from 
the lap 2 is drawn across the table 4 by a feed roller 5 and led to an 
opening roller 6, the surface of which is furnished with teeth, which 
catch in the fibre layer 3 and tear fibres or fibre threads out of it and 
pass them on to the main cylinder 10. During this operation only long 
fibres are caught, whereas short fibres and waste are being separated by 
scraper knives and by the centrifugal force generated by the opening 
roller 6. 
The teeth 11 of the main cylinder 10 receive fibres from the opening roller 
6, since the peripheral speed of the main cylinder is greater than that of 
the opening roller. 
Part of the circumference of the main cylinder is covered with at least one 
stationary carding flat 12, the teeth 13 of which are positioned at a 
short distance from the teeth 11 of the main cylinder. In FIG. 1 the 
clearance between the carding flat 12 and the main cylinder 10 has been 
exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Instead of stationary carding flats, 
similar devices common in the field of cards may be used, e.g. workers, 
stripping rollers, revolving flat cards and the like. 
After leaving the space between the main cylinder 10 and the cover 12 of 
the sawtooth wire clothing, the fibres are picked up by the doffer roller 
19 and thereafter stripped off and led to calender rolls 25 and 26 by a 
stripper 23 located at the delivery end of the doffer roller 19 and out of 
the machine as a fibre fleece 24. 
The shaft 21 of the doffer roller may be adjusted in the direction 
indicated by the double arrow 22 (FIG. 1). 
In the space at the outlet region of the main cylinder 10 and above the 
doffer roller 19 an intermediate roller 14 is provided, which is clothed 
with sawtooth wire 15 and which is partially covered by a cover plate 18 
on the side furthest from the rollers. The intermediate roller 14 may be 
adjusted in the direction shown by the double arrow 17 (FIG. 1). 
In the relative position of the rollers shown in FIG. 1 and schematically 
in FIG. 3, the intermediate roller is located in such a position that it 
does not affect the fibres carried by the main cylinder 10 and the doffer 
roller 19, and the doffer roller 19 is so close to the main cylinder 10 
that it picks up the fibres from it. In this operating position the 
machine operates like an ordinary card and the fibrous fleece 24 consists 
mainly of fibres lying longitudinally oriented and in parallel. 
In the other operating position, shown schematically in FIG. 3, the doffer 
roller 19 is distant from the main cylinder and not cooperating with it. 
Concurrently, the intermediate roller 14 has been brought nearer to the 
doffer roller 19, so that the card clothing of the intermediate roller 14 
picks up fibres from the card clothing of the main cylinder and passes 
them on to the doffer roller 19. 
As may be seen from FIG. 1, the main cylinder 10 and the intermediate 
roller 14 rotate in the same direction while the doffer roller 19 rotates 
in the opposite direction. 
The circumferential speed of the main cylinder is about 1000 m/min and that 
of the intermediate roller is about 800 m/min. 
It is apparent that in the first operating position, which serves to 
produce longitudinally oriented fleeces, the main cylinder 10 and the 
doffer roller 19 rotate in opposite directions and that in the other 
operating position, which serves to produce tangle-fibred fleeces, only 
the intermediate roller 14 and the doffer roller 19 rotate in opposite 
directions, whereas the main cylinder 10 and the intermediate roller 14 
rotate in the same direction. 
A particularly homogeneous random orientation of the fibres may be attained 
if the intermediate roller 14 rotates at a relatively high peripheral 
speed, for example at a speed higher than that of the main cylinder 10, 
since in that case the fibres are centrifuged off by the high centrifugal 
force of the main cylinder 10 and are collected by the intermediate roller 
14 and therefore intensively tangled. 
FIG. 4 shows a linkage for the coordinated adjustment of the shafts 16 and 
21 of intermediate roller 14 and doffer roller 19, respectively. The 
bearings of these shafts are guided in guide rails 27 and 28, 
respectively, which are oriented in the direction shown by the double 
arrows 22, 17 in FIG. 1. A link rod 29 (shown as a dotted line) is 
provided, which links the shafts, so that when the doffer roller 19 is 
moved away from the main cylinder 10 the intermediate roller 14 is brought 
closer to both the main cylinder 10 and the doffer roller 19. Other guides 
and hinged connections may of course also be used. 
The carding machine may be made from ordinary carding machines by applying 
only a slight modification and by the addition of another roller so that 
only minor constructional changes are required and existing carding 
machines may be easily converted.