Patent Abstract:
A fiber sliver producing apparatus includes an arrangement for making a running fiber web; a transverse web gathering device gathering the fiber web; and a sliver trumpet through which the gathered fiber web passes for being densified and discharged thereby as a running sliver. The sliver trumpet has a cross-sectionally rectangular outlet opening which has a width that is at least 10 times greater than its height. The apparatus further has a calender roll pair formed of two calender rolls through which the sliver passes after being discharged by the sliver trumpet. The calender roll pair defines a bight in which the outlet opening of the sliver trumpet is disposed.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority of German Application Nos. 100 03 994.4 filed Jan. 29, 2000 and 100 51 998.9 filed Oct. 20, 2000, which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to an apparatus integrated in a carding machine or a roller card unit for forming a sliver from a fiber web. The apparatus has a roll assembly, formed of a doffer, a stripping roll and a crushing roll pair. The apparatus further has a web gathering and advancing unit as well as a sliver trumpet followed by a calender (pull-off) roll pair. The sliver trumpet densifies the web and discharges a sliver. The sliver exiting the trumpet is introduced into the calender roll pair. 
     In practice, in the fiber batt processing industry, roller card units and carding machines are used which, for forming a fiber web, have a transitional guide plate (open web triangle), a standing roll pair and a downstream-arranged calender unit. It is a disadvantage of these known arrangements that the cross section of the produced sliver significantly deviates from a rectangular shape. It is also a drawback that the fiber material is not uniformly distributed over the sliver cross section. The thus-produced intermediate product (sliver) leads to irregularities during further processing to obtain the final product, such as a hygiene item. 
     German patent document 22 50 834 describes a transverse web gathering device which has a conveyor belt and a conveyor roll, followed by a sliver trumpet to form a sliver from a fiber web. The fiber web, after being densified in a closed zone, leaves the transverse gathering device and runs through a sliver trumpet and calender rolls and is thereafter deposited into a sliver can. The roll nip in the transverse gathering device is narrow and the inlet of the trumpet is at a substantial distance from the outlet of the transverse gathering device. The outlet of the trumpet has a circular cross section, and thus the exiting sliver assumes a circular cross section as well. The trumpet outlet is situated at a distance upstream of the bight defined by the calender roll pair. Such an apparatus is not adapted to form a sliver having a rectangular—particularly sharp-edged—cross section. It is a further disadvantage of the known arrangement that because of the distances of the trumpet inlet from the transverse web gathering device, on the one hand, and the trumpet outlet from the calender nip, on the other hand, the processing of the fiber material having a significant amount of short fibers is not possible. Also, the above-noted relatively large distances do not allow a high delivery speed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus of the above-outlined type from which the discussed disadvantages are eliminated and which, in particular, produces an improved sliver having a rectangular cross section and which further permits a production rate higher than heretofore. 
     This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the fiber sliver producing apparatus includes an arrangement for making a running fiber web; a transverse web gathering device gathering the fiber web; and a sliver trumpet through which the gathered fiber web passes for being densified and discharged thereby as a running sliver. The sliver trumpet has a cross-sectionally rectangular outlet opening which has a width that is at least 10 times greater than its height. The apparatus further has a calender roll pair formed of two calender rolls through which the sliver passes after being discharged by the sliver trumpet. The calender roll pair defines a bight in which the outlet opening of the sliver trumpet is disposed. 
     By virtue of the measures according to the invention a sliver having a rectangular cross section may be produced which has a more uniform fiber distribution and a significantly increased output speed (at least 100 m/min) compared to prior art arrangements. In particular, the processing of the fiber material with a higher short-fiber proportion is advantageously feasible. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a carding machine incorporating the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic side elevational view of one part of the structure shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the sliver trumpet according to the invention. 
     FIG. 3 a  is a front elevation of the sliver trumpet, showing an adjustable wall element in the outlet region. 
     FIG. 3 b  is a cross-sectional view of the sliver exiting the sliver trumpet. 
     FIG. 4 a  is a schematic front elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention in which a crushing roll pair (only one roll is visible), a transverse gathering device, a sliver trumpet and a calender roll pair (only one roll is visible) are in a vertical arrangement. 
     FIG. 4 b  is a side elevational view of the construction illustrated in FIG. 4 a.    
     FIG. 5 is a schematic front elevational view of another preferred embodiment of the invention, including a conveyor belt and a conveyor roll, calender rolls arranged parallel to the conveyor roll and a deflecting roll. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic front elevational view of a further preferred embodiment of the invention having calender rolls oriented perpendicularly to the conveyor roll. 
     FIG. 7 a  is a schematic front elevational view of the gap region between the web conveyor belts which have an after-connected web spreading element. 
     FIG. 7 b  is a sectional view taken along line VIIb—VIIb of FIG. 7 a.    
     FIG. 7 c  is a schematic side elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 7 a  including an after-connected sliver trumpet and calender rolls. 
     FIG. 8 is a schematic front elevational view of a variant of the structure illustrated in FIG. 4 a.   
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a carding machine CM which may be, for example, a high-performance DK 903 carding machine manufactured by Trützschler GmbH &amp; Co. KG, Mönchengladbach, Germany. The carding machine CM has a feed roll  1 , a feed table  2  cooperating therewith, licker-ins  3   a,    3   b,    3   c,  a main carding cylinder  4 , a doffer  5 , stripping rolls  6 , cooperating crushing rolls  7 ,  8 , a web guiding element (transverse web gathering device)  9 , a sliver trumpet  10 , calender rolls  11 ,  12  and a travelling flats assembly  13  having slowly circulating flat bars  14 . The rotary direction of the carding machine rolls is indicated by curved arrows drawn thereinto. At the output of the carding machine a coiler device  16  is provided which deposits the sliver into a coiler can  15 . The working direction, that is, the advancing direction of the fiber material in the carding machine is designated with the arrow A. 
     Turning to FIGS. 2 and 3, the transverse web gathering element  9 , the sliver trumpet  10  and the calender rolls  11  and  12  rotating in the direction indicated by the arrows  11   a  and  12   a,  are arranged downstream of the crushing rolls  7  and  8  which rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows  7   a  and  7   b,  respectively. The sliver trumpet  10  and the calender rolls  11 ,  12  are mounted on a holding device  17  which may turn in the direction of the arrows B and C about a fixed shaft  18 . The inner passage of the sliver trumpet  10  converges in the working direction A. The height c of the inlet opening  10   b  is greater than the height b of the outlet opening  10   a.  The height b of the outlet opening  10   a  of the sliver trumpet  10  is approximately 2-3 mm. The width a of the outlet opening  10   a  of the sliver trumpet  10  is between approximately 20-100 mm, preferably 60-90 mm. The width a may be changed—as shown in FIG. 3 a —by a wall element  10   c  in the region of the outlet opening  10   a  by shifting it in the direction of the arrow D or E. The outlet opening  10   a  is rectangular and is bounded by sharp edges. As a result of this construction the flat sliver  19  exiting the sliver trumpet  10  has, as shown in FIG. 3 b,  a sharp-edged rectangular cross-sectional shape. As shown in FIG. 2, the outlet opening  10   a  of the sliver trumpet  10  is situated in the intake bight  11 ′ defined between the calender rolls  11  and  12 . The inlet opening  10   b  of the sliver trumpet  10  is chamfered and has an elongate shape. The inner trumpet walls  10   d  and  10   e  extending in the region of the trumpet outlet opening  10   a  along the width thereof, are parallel to one another. 
     As shown in FIGS. 4 a  and  4   b,  the axially parallel crushing rolls  7  and  8  are horizontally arranged and are followed perpendicularly downward by the transverse web gathering element  9 , the sliver trumpet  10  and the calender rolls  11  and  12 . 
     The transverse web gathering element  9  has two endless flexible conveyor belts  9   a,    9   b  supported by end rolls  9   1 ,  9   2  and, respectively,  9   3 ,  9   4 . In each instance, one end roll for each belt, for example, the end rolls  9   1  and  9   3  are driven by a respective shaft  9 * (shown in FIG. 2) by a non-illustrated, preferably common driving device. The belt flights of the conveyor belts  9   a,    9   b  move in directions illustrated by the arrows F, G and H, I. 
     The calender roll  12  is biased by a compression spring  20  and is radially movably supported relative to the radially stationary calender roll  11 , whereby the width d of the nip between the calender rolls  11  and  12  as well as the pressure on the sliver may be adjusted. The force of the spring may be adjusted, for example, by inserting washers  20   a,    20   b  of suitable thickness between a spring end and a spring support. If a subsequent doubling of the fiber web is effected prior to further processing, an excessive pressing of the calender rolls  11 ,  12  may cause damage whereas if an immediate further processing is carried out, then a greater compression force is desirable. 
     Turning to FIG. 5, the transverse web gathering element  9  is composed of a conveyor belt  9   a  and a conveyor roll  9   c  defining together a nip (exit gap) having a width e which has a clearance of preferably approximately 10 mm. The web material passes through the nip in direct contact with the conveyor belt  9   a  and the conveyor roll  9   c.  The axes of the end rolls  9   1 ,  9   2  (supporting the belt  9   a ), the conveying roll  9   c  and the calender rolls  11 ,  12  are arranged in a parallel orientation. By virtue of the parallel arrangement of the calender rolls  11 ,  12 , the web material lying on the belt  9   a  is packed in an even more pronounced manner into the rectangular cross-sectional shape of the web by the transverse web gathering element  9 . Downstream of the calender rolls  11 ,  12  a sliver deflecting roll  23  is arranged. 
     According to FIG. 6, in contrast to FIG. 5, the width of the sliver trumpet  10  and the axes of the calender rolls  11 ,  12  are perpendicular to the axes of the end rolls  9   1 ,  9   2  and the conveying roll  9   c.  The advantageous arrangement of the sliver trumpet  10  with respect to the transverse web gathering element  9  also depends from the width a of the outlet opening  10   a  and from the processed fiber material. 
     To obtain an optimal web structure for the consecutive material distribution in the rectangular trumpet  10 , the width e of the outlet nip according to FIGS. 4 a,    5  and  6  between the end roll  9   2  on the one hand and the end roll  9   4  or the conveying roll  9   c  on the other hand, has to have a minimum dimension, for example, at least 10 mm to avoid a premature compression of the web at that location. 
     Turning to FIGS. 7 a,    7   b  and  7   c,  subsequent to leaving the web gathering device  9 , a web widening prior to its entering the rectangular sliver trumpet  10  may be advantageous for a desired width a of the exiting sliver  19  (final sliver width). For this purpose an arcuate web spreading element  21  is provided which is arranged between the transverse web gathering element  9  and the inlet  10   b  of the sliver trumpet  10 . The web spreading element  21  is a bent bar having an approximately semicircular cross section as shown in FIG. 7 b.  The sliver  22  exiting the outlet nip of the web gathering device  9  runs over the upper, convexely bent region of the web spreading element  21  and is thus laterally spread thereby. The gathered web  22  subsequently passes through the sliver trumpet  10  and is pulled off the outlet opening  10   a  by the calender rolls  11 ,  12  as a flat sliver  19  having a rectangular, uniform cross section. 
     In a variant shown in FIG. 8, the conveyor belts  9   a  and  9   b  of the web gathering device  9 ′ are arranged at an oblique angle α 1  and α 2  with respect to the axis of the crushing rolls  7  and  8  (only the crushing roll  7  is visible). The oblique angle is approximately between 30° and 45°. 
     It will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 3