Textile processing equipment

Claim 2

A web former for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having a plurality of vertically extending sides forming at their upper ends an inlet opening for receiving open fibers and forming at their lower end a discharge opening of thickness smaller than said inlet opening so as to form in said shaft a wedged shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending shaft sides, means for shaking down said fiber column throughout its height by oscillating said shaker plate to vary said discharge opening generally in a horizontal direction between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing substantially coextensively with the height of said shaft a multiplicity of discrete, constantly open perforations of such size as to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft and to prevent clogging or bridging Of the perforations for removing air from the fiber column while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at said discharge opening, and means for filling said shaft and constantly keeping it full and removing excess therefrom including means for introducing fibers into said shaft through said inlet opening with a uniform packing force so as to cause the fibers in said fiber column to be of constant height and continually under the same compressing forces from said introducing means and shaker plate to cause constant downward and sideward pressures to taper said column into a packed uniformly dense web of approximately said minimum thickness dimension at said discharge opening, wherein the uniform packing force introducing means includes: continuously operating means for supplying a substantially constant amount of substantially uniformly open fibers, and means for taking a substantially constant amount of said open fibers from said supplying means and throwing those open fibers into said shaft to keep it full but not overly full and with a constant throwing force by which said uniform packing force is developed, wherein said uniformly open fiber supplying means includes: fiber opening means including a continuously operating fiber lift apron and cooperating comb near its upper end, a fiber reserve hopper adjacent said apron and from which said apron lifts the fibers toward said comb, and means for maintaining the fibers in said reserve hopper at substantially a predetermined amount whereby said lift apron continuously supplies the aforesaid constant amount of combed, uniformly opened fibers at its upper end, said taking and throwing means including a rotary doffer adjacent the upper end of said lift apron for receiving said combed, uniformly opened fibers therefrom and throwing them into said shaft inlet opening with said constant throwing force which develops said uniform packing force as aforesaid and for removing from said shaft any excess fibers so as to maintain said fiber column at a constant height.

Claim 3

A fiber blending line including: a plurality of web formers each as in claim 1, a conveyor, said web formers being disposed along said conveyor to provide respective uniform webs thereto, and means for moving said conveyor in synchronism with each of said web formers for forming a continuous and uniform stack of said webs on said moving conveyor.

Claim 4

Web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply fibers from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides the said discharge opening, and means for oscillating said shaker plate about its said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, the thickness dimension of said inlet opening being at least about twice the said minimum thickness dimension of said discharge opening, at least one of said sides containing throughout the height of said fiber column a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plAte shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, continuously operating fiber opening means comprising an inclined spiked apron having first and second sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable continuously with its first side moving upwardly and its second side moving downwardly, means including the first side of said spiked apron for defining a fiber reserve hopper of predetermined dimensions, means for feeding fibers to said reserve hopper and thereby toward said lower reach of the spiked apron for upward lift and opening, said shaft forming means being adjacent the said second side of said spiked apron, doffing means continuously operating and at a higher surface speed than said apron for causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed therefrom and packingly thrown into the said inlet opening of said shaft, means for controlling said fiber feeding means to cause the amount of fibers in said hopper to remain substantially constant so that the amount of fibers doffed from the apron and thrown by said doffing means into said shaft remains substantially constant and causes the packing force of the so thrown fibers to be substantially constant, means forming a fiber overflow return channel generally extending along the said second side of said apron and communicating with the said reserve hopper, said doffing means including a rotary doffer located adjacent the said upper reach of said apron and on the second side thereof and operable to rotate in the same rotary direction as said spiked apron for not only packingly throwing doffed fibers into said shaft inlet opening as aforesaid, but also for removing excess fibers from the upper end of said fiber column and directing same into said overflow return channel.

Claim 5

Web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply fibers from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides the said discharge opening, and means for oscillating said shaker plate about its said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, the thickness dimension of said inlet opening being at least about twice the said minimum thickness dimension of said discharge opening, at least one of said sides containing throughout the height of said fiber column a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plAte shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, continuously operating fiber opening means comprising an inclined spiked apron having first and second sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable continuously with its first side moving upwardly and its second side moving downwardly, means including the first side of said spiked apron for defining a fiber reserve hopper of predetermined dimensions, means for feeding fibers to said reserve hopper and thereby toward said lower reach of the spiked apron for upward lift and opening, said shaft forming means being adjacent the said second side of said spiked apron, doffing means continuously operating and at a higher surface speed than said apron for causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed therefrom and packingly thrown into the said inlet opening of said shaft, means for controlling said fiber feeding means to cause the amount of fibers in said hopper to remain substantially constant so that the amount of fibers doffed from the apron and thrown by said doffing means into said shaft remains substantially constant and causes the packing force of the so thrown fibers to be substantially constant, means forming a fiber overflow return channel generally extending along the said second side of said apron and communicating with the said reserve hopper, said doffing means including a rotary doffer located adjacent the said upper reach of said apron and on the second side thereof and operable to rotate in the same rotary direction as said spiked apron for not only packingly throwing doffed fibers into said shaft inlet opening as aforesaid, but also for removing excess fibers from the upper end of said fiber column and directing same into said overflow return channel.

Claim 6

A web former as in claim 3 in combination with: the aforesaid subsequent textile processing equipment which is disposed to receive said web of fibers directly from the lower end of said shaft, said processing equipment having at least relatively fast and relatively slow speeds and means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, and means coupled between said speed indicating means and said oscillation means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment oeprates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 7

The combination in claim 4 wherein: the said means for feeding fibers to the lower reach of said spiked apron includes feed roll means operated in synchronism with the speed of said textile processing equipment.

Claim 8

An arrangement comprising: web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment, including means forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive fibers at its said upper end and being adapted to supply fibers from its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a web of uniform density and thickness, and means for regulating the oscillation speed of said shaker plate, said apparatus being in combination with the aforesaid subsequent textile equipment which is disposed to receive said web of fibers directly from the lower end of said chute and which has as its purpose the further processing of said web, means in said equipment for causing the processing of said fiber web to be either at a relatively fast speed or at a relatively slow speed, including meAns indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, and means coupled between said speed indicating means and said oscillation means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 9

An arrangement comprising: web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment, including means forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive fibers at its said upper end and being adapted to supply fibers from its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a web of uniform density and thickness, and means for regulating the oscillation speed of said shaker plate, said apparatus being in combination with the aforesaid subsequent textile equipment which is disposed to receive said web of fibers directly from the lower end of said chute and which has as its purpose the further processing of said web, means in said equipment for causing the processing of said fiber web to be either at a relatively fast speed or at a relatively slow speed, including meAns indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, and means coupled between said speed indicating means and said oscillation means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 10

An arrangement as in claim 6 including: means for regulating the length of stroke of each oscillation of said shaker plate.

Claim 11

An arrangement as in claim 6 including: means for adjusting a dimension of the said upper end of said shaft to regulate the opening receiving said fibers.

Claim 12

An arrangement including: web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment comprising: an inclined spiked apron having front and rear sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable with its front side moving upwardly and its rear side moving downwardly, means for feeding fibers to said lower reach of the spiked apron, means adjacent the said rear side of said spiked apron for forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, doffing means for causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed into the upper end of said shaft, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, at least one of said sides being perforated, and means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to remove air from the fibers in the shaft through said perforated side to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a web of uniform density and thickness, said apparatus being in combination with the aforesaid textile processing equipment disposed to receive said web of fibers directly from the lower end of said shaft, said processing equipment having at least relatively fast and relatively slow speeds and means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, and means coupled between said speed indicating means and said oscillation means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 13

An arrangement including: web forming apparatus for feeding fibers to subsequent textile equipment comprising: an inclined spiked apron having front and rear sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable with its front side moving upwardly and its rear side moving downwardly, means for feeding fibers to said lower reach of the spiked apron, means adjacent the said rear side of said spiked apron for forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, doffing means for causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed into the upper end of said shaft, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, at least one of said sides being perforated, and means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to remove air from the fibers in the shaft through said perforated side to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a web of uniform density and thickness, said apparatus being in combination with the aforesaid textile processing equipment disposed to receive said web of fibers directly from the lower end of said shaft, said processing equipment having at least relatively fast and relatively slow speeds and means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, and means coupled between said speed indicating means and said oscillation means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 14

An arrangement as in claim 9 including: means forming a fiber overflow return channel generally extending along the said rear side of said apron and communicating with the front side thereof, said doffing means being a single rotary doffer located adjacent the said upper reach of said apron and on the rear side thereof and operable to rotate in the same rotary direction as said spiked apron for not only doffing fibers from said spiked apron as aforesaid but also for removing excess fibers from said shaft and directing same into said overflow return channel.

Claim 15

An arrangement as in claim 9 including: means for regulating the length of stroke of each oscillation of said shaker plate.

Claim 16

An arrangement as in claim 9 including: means for adjusting the position of one of said vertical sides at the said upper end thereof to regulate the size of the opening receiving fibers from said doffing means.

Claim 17

The combination in claim 18, wherein: the said means for feeding fibers to the lower reach of said spiked apron includes feed roll means operated in synchronism with the speed of said textile processing equipment.

Claim 18

A web former for feeding a compact fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having a plurality of vertically extending siDes forming at their upper ends and inlet opening for receiving open fibers and forming at their lower end a discharge opening of thickness smaller than said inlet opening so as to form in said shaft a wedged shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending shaft sides, means for shaking down said fiber column throughout its height by oscillating said shaker plate to vary said discharge opening generally in a horizontal direction between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing along at least much of the height and breadth of said shaft a multiplicity of discrete, constantly open perforations of such size as to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft and to prevent clogging or bridging of the perforations for removing air from the fiber column while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at said discharge opening for processing by said subsequent textile equipment; means for filling said shaft and constantly keeping it full and removing excess therefrom including means for introducing fibers into said shaft through said inlet opening with a uniform packing force so at to cause the fibers in said fiber column to be of constant height and continually under the same compressing forces from said introducing means and shaker plate to cause constant downward and sideward pressures to taper said column into a packed uniformly dense web of approximately said minimum thickness dimension at said discharge opening, wherein the uniform packing force introducing means includes: continuously operating means for supplying a substantially constant amount of substantially uniformly open fibers, and means for taking a substantially constant amount of said open fibers from said supplying means and throwing those open fibers into said shaft to keep it full but not overly full and with a constant throwing force by which said uniform packing force is developed, wherein said uniformly open fiber supplying means includes: fiber opening means including a continuously operating fiber lift apron and cooperating comb near its upper end, a fiber reserve hopper adjacent said apron and from which said apron lifts the fibers toward said comb, and means for maintaining the fibers in said reserve hopper at substantially a predetermined amount whereby said lift apron continuously supplies the aforesaid constant amount of combed, uniformly opened fibers at its upper end, said taking and throwing means including a rotary doffer adjacent the upper end of said lift apron for receiving said combed, uniformly opened fibers therefrom and throwing them into said shaft inlet opening with said constant throwing force which develops said uniform packing force as aforesaid and for removing from said shaft any excess fibers so as to maintain said fiber column at a constant height, and further including: oscillation speed regulation means connected to said shaking means and adapted to be responsive to the said speed indicating means of said subsequent equipment for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 19

A web former for feeding a compact fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having a plurality of vertically extending siDes forming at their upper ends and inlet opening for receiving open fibers and forming at their lower end a discharge opening of thickness smaller than said inlet opening so as to form in said shaft a wedged shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending shaft sides, means for shaking down said fiber column throughout its height by oscillating said shaker plate to vary said discharge opening generally in a horizontal direction between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing along at least much of the height and breadth of said shaft a multiplicity of discrete, constantly open perforations of such size as to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft and to prevent clogging or bridging of the perforations for removing air from the fiber column while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at said discharge opening for processing by said subsequent textile equipment; means for filling said shaft and constantly keeping it full and removing excess therefrom including means for introducing fibers into said shaft through said inlet opening with a uniform packing force so at to cause the fibers in said fiber column to be of constant height and continually under the same compressing forces from said introducing means and shaker plate to cause constant downward and sideward pressures to taper said column into a packed uniformly dense web of approximately said minimum thickness dimension at said discharge opening, wherein the uniform packing force introducing means includes: continuously operating means for supplying a substantially constant amount of substantially uniformly open fibers, and means for taking a substantially constant amount of said open fibers from said supplying means and throwing those open fibers into said shaft to keep it full but not overly full and with a constant throwing force by which said uniform packing force is developed, wherein said uniformly open fiber supplying means includes: fiber opening means including a continuously operating fiber lift apron and cooperating comb near its upper end, a fiber reserve hopper adjacent said apron and from which said apron lifts the fibers toward said comb, and means for maintaining the fibers in said reserve hopper at substantially a predetermined amount whereby said lift apron continuously supplies the aforesaid constant amount of combed, uniformly opened fibers at its upper end, said taking and throwing means including a rotary doffer adjacent the upper end of said lift apron for receiving said combed, uniformly opened fibers therefrom and throwing them into said shaft inlet opening with said constant throwing force which develops said uniform packing force as aforesaid and for removing from said shaft any excess fibers so as to maintain said fiber column at a constant height, and further including: oscillation speed regulation means connected to said shaking means and adapted to be responsive to the said speed indicating means of said subsequent equipment for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 20

Web forming apparatus for feeding a fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operating comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to reCeive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply said fiber web from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile processing equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides of the said discharge opening, means for oscillating said shaker plate about the said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillating means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 21

Web forming apparatus for feeding a fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operating comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to reCeive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply said fiber web from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile processing equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides of the said discharge opening, means for oscillating said shaker plate about the said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillating means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 22

Web forming apparatus for feeding a fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply said fiber web from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile processing equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides the said discharge opening, means for oscillating said shaker plate about its said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing throughout at least most of the height of said fiber column a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, continuously operating fiber opening means comprising an inclined spiked apron having first and second sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable continuously with its first side moving upwardly and its second side moving downwardly, means including the first side of said spiked apron for defining a fiber reserve hopper of predetermined dimensions, means for feeding fibers to said reserve hopper and thereby toward said lower reach of the spiked apron for upward lift and opening, said shaft forming means being adjacent the said second side of said spiked apron, doffing means continuously operating and at a higher surface speed than said apron for Causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed therefrom and packingly thrown into the said inlet opening of said shaft, means for controlling said fiber feeding means to cause the amount of fibers in said hopper to remain substantially constant so that the amount of fibers doffed from the apron and thrown by said doffing means into said shaft remains substantially constant and causes the packing force of the so thrown fibers to be substantially constant, means forming a fiber overflow return channel generally extending along the said second side of said apron and communicating with the said reserve hopper, said doffing means including a rotary doffer located adjacent the said upper reach of said apron and on the second side thereof and operable to rotate in the same rotary direction as said spiked apron for not only packingly throwing doffed fibers into said shaft inlet open as aforesaid, but also for removing excess fibers from the upper end of said fiber column and directing same into said overflow return channel, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillation means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 23

Web forming apparatus for feeding a fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at either a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a downwardly tapered shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of only immovable and controllably movable vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive non-compacted fibers through an inlet opening at its said upper end to form in said shaft a wedge shaped column of fibers having a given width and a downwardly tapering thickness and being adapted to supply said fiber web from a discharge opening at its said lower end to said subsequent textile processing equipment, said shaft forming means including as one of said vertically extending sides a controllably movable shaker plate pivoted at its upper end for swinging movement and having its lower end forming with the lower end of the other said sides the said discharge opening, means for oscillating said shaker plate about its said pivot to cause its said lower end to move generally in a horizontal direction to vary said discharge opening between predetermined maximum and minimum thickness dimensions, at least one of said sides containing throughout at least most of the height of said fiber column a multiplicity of discrete constantly open perforations small enough to prevent escape of fibers from the shaft for removing air from fibers in the shaft while said plate shakes the fibers down the shaft and compresses them into a compact web of uniform density and thickness available at the said lower end of the shaft, continuously operating fiber opening means comprising an inclined spiked apron having first and second sides and lower and upper reaches about which the apron is endlessly movable continuously with its first side moving upwardly and its second side moving downwardly, means including the first side of said spiked apron for defining a fiber reserve hopper of predetermined dimensions, means for feeding fibers to said reserve hopper and thereby toward said lower reach of the spiked apron for upward lift and opening, said shaft forming means being adjacent the said second side of said spiked apron, doffing means continuously operating and at a higher surface speed than said apron for Causing the fibers at the upper reach of said apron to be doffed therefrom and packingly thrown into the said inlet opening of said shaft, means for controlling said fiber feeding means to cause the amount of fibers in said hopper to remain substantially constant so that the amount of fibers doffed from the apron and thrown by said doffing means into said shaft remains substantially constant and causes the packing force of the so thrown fibers to be substantially constant, means forming a fiber overflow return channel generally extending along the said second side of said apron and communicating with the said reserve hopper, said doffing means including a rotary doffer located adjacent the said upper reach of said apron and on the second side thereof and operable to rotate in the same rotary direction as said spiked apron for not only packingly throwing doffed fibers into said shaft inlet open as aforesaid, but also for removing excess fibers from the upper end of said fiber column and directing same into said overflow return channel, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillation means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 24

Apparatus as in claim 16 wherein: the said means for feeding fibers to the lower reach of said spiked apron includes, feed roll means and means adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means for operating said feed roll means in synchronism with the speed of said textile processing equipment.

Claim 25

Web forming apparatus for feeding a compact fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive fibers at its said upper end and being adapted to supply a fiber web from its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment for processing thereby, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, at least one of said sides containing a multiplicity of perforations, means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a said compact web which has uniform density and thickness, means for regulating the oscillation speed of said shaker plate, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillation means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means of said subsequent equipment for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 26

Web forming apparatus for feeding a compact fiber web to subsequent textile processing equipment of the type which is capable of processing the web at a relatively fast speed or a relatively slow speed and which has means indicating which of those speeds is presently operative, comprising: means forming a shaft having upper and lower ends and a plurality of vertically extending sides, said shaft being adapted to receive fibers at its said upper end and being adapted to supply a fiber web from its said lower end to said subsequent textile equipment for processing thereby, said shaft forming means including a movable shaker plate as one of said vertically extending sides of the shaft, at least one of said sides containing a multiplicity of perforations, means for oscillating said shaker plate generally in a horizontal direction to cause fibers removed from the said lower end of said shaft to be a said compact web which has uniform density and thickness, means for regulating the oscillation speed of said shaker plate, and oscillation speed regulating means connected to said oscillation means and adapted to be responsive to said speed indicating means of said subsequent equipment for causing said shaker plate to operate at a given speed when said textile equipment is operating at its said fast speed, and for causing said shaker plate to operate at a slower speed when said textile equipment operates at its said relatively slow speed.

Claim 27

Apparatus as in claim 18 including: means for regulating the length of stroke of each oscillation of said shaker plate.

Claim 28

Apparatus as in claim 18 including: means for adjusting a dimension of said upper end of said shaft to regulate the opening receiving said fibers.

Claim 29

A web former as in claim 18 wherein said shaker plate contains said multiplicity of perforations, the remaining shaft sides being substantially solid.

Claim 30

A web former as in claim 18 wherein said shaft forming means has one of its said sides disposed as an outside wall opposite said shaker plate and wherein said outside wall contains said multiplicity of perforations which are disposed at spaced points substantially over at least most of the width and length of the column portion of such wall to allow air in fibers disposed in said column to escape when the shaker plate squeezes the fibers against said outside wall.

Claim 31

A web former as in claim 22 wherein all shaft sides including said shaker plate are solid (imperforate), except for said outside wall.

Claim 32

A web former as in claim 18 including: means for causing the amplitude of oscillation of said shaker plate to be a fixed amount in a range of adjustable stroke lengths.

Claim 33

A fiber blending line including: a plurality of web forming apparatuses each as in claim 18, a conveyor, said forming apparatuses being disposed along said conveyor to provide a respective uniform webs thereto, and means for moving said conveyor in synchronism with the speed of said shaker plates for forming a continuous and uniform stack of said webs on said moving conveyor,

Claim 34

The forming apparatus of claim 18 in combination with a lap winder for receiving the uniform fiber web from said shaft directly, comprising: a pair of spaced lap drive rolls, a plurality of stack rolls, and a plurality of feed rolls receiving said web directly from said chute and supplying same to said stack rolls, which in turn feed the web to said drive rolls to form a lap thereon.

Claim 35

Apparatus as in claim 18 including means for filling said shaft with substantially uniformly open fibers and constantly keeping it full but not overflowing including means for introducing fibers into said shaft through said upper end with a uniform packing force so as to cause the fibers in said fiber column to be of constant height and continually under the same compressing forces from said introducing means and shaker plate to cause a constant downward and sideward pressure to taper said column into a packed uniformly dense web of approximately said minimum thickness dimension at said lower end.