Apparatus for preparing flocked fabric

Claim 1

Apparatus for distributing flock fibers on a moving web comprising vertically spaced, parallel, elongate hoppers supported transversely of the web, each hopper having a substantially half-cylindrical bottom wall, a helical screw having a continuous blade rotatably supported longitudinally within the upper hopper with the blade concentric with and spaced from the bottom of the hopper, and a helical brush having radially disposed bristles arranged in a helix rotatably supported longitudinally within the lower hopper with the bristles concentric with and in brushing engagement with the bottom, said bottom of the upper hopper comprising a smooth, nonforaminous structure containing longitudinally thereof at uniformly spaced intervals discharge holes through which equal quantities of fibers are adapted to be dropped onto the brush situated in the lower hopper at equally spaced intervals therealong, said helical screw having a smooth polished surface operable to advance fibers from one end of the upper hopper therealong toward the other and in sufficient quantity to maintain a substantial equal quantity of fibers above each of the discharge holes in the bottom throughout operation and providing sufficient clearance between its lower side and the bottom of the hopper to permit movement of fibers along the bottom without cutting and/or curling of the fibers, said bottom of the lower hopper comprising a foraminous structure containing uniformly distributed apertures through which fibers are adapted to drop and said helical brush operating to distribute the uniform quantities of fibers dropped thereon from the discharge holes in the upper hopper uniformly over the foraminous structure of the bottom wall of the lower hopper for discharge through the apertures therein.