Apparatus for regulating the supply of fibrous material fed to processing machines

Claim 1

Apparatus for regulating the supply of fibrous material fed to processing machines such as carding machines, opening and cleaning machines and beaters comprising a. a hopper having an inlet at the top thereof for receiving fibrous material, an outlet at the bottom thereof for dispensing fibrous material, and a plurality of opposed walls for containing said fibrous material between said inlet and outlet, at least one of said walls being pivotally mounted for movement towards and away from an oPposed wall, b. means biasing said one pivoted wall towards said opposed wall such that an increase in the amount of fibrous material in said hopper will cause deflection of said pivoted wall against the force of said biasing means and away from said opposed wall and a decrease in the amount of fibrous material in said hopper will cause said biasing means to move said pivoted wall towards said opposed wall, c. means adjacent said inlet for feeding the fibrous material towards said outlet, d. means for shaking said pivoted wall to direct said fibrous material downwardly, and e. regulating means operatively connected to said pivoted wall and responsive to the position of said pivoted wall for controlling the rate at which said fibrous material is fed by said feeding means, f. whereby any variations in the density of the fibrous material will cause said pivoted wall to move and said regulating means to control said feeding means such that said fibrous material may be maintained at a predetermined substantially constant density.