Flocking machine and method

Claim 1

THE HEREIN DESCRIBED METHOD OF APPLYING A PILE COMPOSED OF ELONGATED FIBERS TO AN ELONGATED ARTICLE HAVING LONGITUDINALLY CONTIGUOUS ANGULARLY DISPOSED ADHESIVE PILE RETAINING FACES WHICH COMPRISES IMPRESSING AN ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL ACROSS TWO SUPERPOSED ELONGATED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL ELECTRODES, SUPPLYING SAID FIBERS TO A SUPPORTING SURFACE BETWEEN SAID ELECTRODES AND ADJACENT THE LOWER ELECTRODE TO CAUSE FIBERS TO BE ELECTRICALLY CHARGED AND PROJECTED TOWARD THE UPPER ELECTRODE, POSITIONING SAID ARTICLE ABOVE SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE AND PARALLEL TO SAID ELECTRODES, AND MOVING SAID ARTICLE ANGULARLY WITH RESPECT TO A LONGITUDINAL AXIS TO REPEATEDLY MOVE SAID ANGULARLY DISPOSED ADHESIVE FACES LATERALLY OVER SAID SUPPORTING SUFACE BETWEEN SAID ELECTRODES AND INTERMITTENTLY INTO AND OUT OF THE ELECTRIC FIELD BETWEEN THE ELECTRODES TO RELIEVE ELECTROSTATIC ATTRACTION BETWEEN FIBERS AND ANGULARLY TOWARD AND AWAY FROM POSITIONS NORMAL TO THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF SAID FIBERS.