Method of felting fibrous elements

Claim 2

In the method of spreading a falling stream of particulate or fibrous material into a mat formed on a continuously moving collecting surface, the improvement comprising gathering the stream of particulate material into a compact downardly moving cylinder of material with its axis substantially coincident with that of the ingoing end of a rotating conveyor, rotating the conveyor about a vertical axis corresponding to the axis of the cylinder of material, said ingoing end being adapted to receive the stream of compacted particulate material, the outgoing end of said conveyor being adapted to successively feed increments of fibrous material in a non-cylindrical arrangement into circularly arranged contiguous inlets of distributing conveyors adapted to convey and deposit the material at non-contiguous positions across the collecting surface.

Claim 3

In the method of spreading a stream of particulate fibrous material into a wide mat formed upon a moving collecting surfAce, the improvement comprising gathering the stream into a vertically falling compact cylinder the axis of which coincides with that of the inlet at one end of a conveyor rotating about the same vertical axis and having an outlet spaced radially from the inlet whereby the compacted stream of particulate material passes through the inlet to the rotating conveyor for passage to the outlet, moving the outlet of said conveyor successively and continuously in a circular path for feeding said material to adjacent inlets of distributing conveyors, directing the outlets of the distributing conveyors with diametrically opposite inlets in the circular arrangement to the same longitudinal but nonadjacent crosswise portions of the moving collecting surface, whereby the uniformity of the mat across its width is minimally affected by non-uniform delivery or momentary fluctuations in the stream of material fed to the rotating cylinder.

Claim 4

In the method of spreading a stream of particulate fibrous material into a wide mat formed upon a moving collecting surfAce, the improvement comprising gathering the stream into a vertically falling compact cylinder the axis of which coincides with that of the inlet at one end of a conveyor rotating about the same vertical axis and having an outlet spaced radially from the inlet whereby the compacted stream of particulate material passes through the inlet to the rotating conveyor for passage to the outlet, moving the outlet of said conveyor successively and continuously in a circular path for feeding said material to adjacent inlets of distributing conveyors, directing the outlets of the distributing conveyors with diametrically opposite inlets in the circular arrangement to the same longitudinal but nonadjacent crosswise portions of the moving collecting surface, whereby the uniformity of the mat across its width is minimally affected by non-uniform delivery or momentary fluctuations in the stream of material fed to the rotating cylinder.

Claim 5

In the method of spreading a stream of particulate fibrous material to form a wide mat upon a moving collecting surface, the improvement comprising gathering the stream as it falls into a compact cylinder, the axis of which coincides with the axis of the inlet of a conveyor rotating about a vertical axis and having an outlet spaced radially from the inlet whereby the compacted stream of particulate material passes through the inlet to the rotating conveyor for displacement to the outlet, moving the outlet of said conveyor continuously about a circular path for feeding the material to adjacent inlets of distributing conveyors, spacing the outlets of said distributing conveyors above and across the portion of said surface upon which the mat is to be formed, systematically interspersing across the surface upon which the mat is to be formed the outlets of those distributing conveyors the inlets of which are adjacent to each other, whereby momentary irregularities in the flow of said stream of material to the rotating conveyor have no effect upon adjoining strips of the mat in the direction parallel to its movement, arranging the outlets of said distributing conveyor in a plurality of rows across the collecting surface with the outlets of diametrically opposed inlets in the circular arrangement of the distributing conveyor being placed over the same lengthwise strip of said surface whereby variations of volume or location of the axis of the falling stream of material to the rotating conveyor has minimum effect.

Claim 6

In the method of spreading a stream of particulate fibrous material to form a wide mat upon a moving collecting surface, the improvement comprising gathering the stream as it falls into a compact cylinder, the axis of which coincides with the axis of the inlet of a conveyor rotating about a vertical axis and having an outlet spaced radially from the inlet whereby the compacted stream of particulate material passes through the inlet to the rotating conveyor for displacement to the outlet, moving the outlet of said conveyor continuously about a circular path for feeding the material to adjacent inlets of distributing conveyors, spacing the outlets of said distributing conveyors above and across the portion of said surface upon which the mat is to be formed, systematically interspersing across the surface upon which the mat is to be formed the outlets of those distributing conveyors the inlets of which are adjacent to each other, whereby momentary irregularities in the flow of said stream of material to the rotating conveyor have no effect upon adjoining strips of the mat in the direction parallel to its movement, arranging the outlets of said distributing conveyor in a plurality of rows across the collecting surface with the outlets of diametrically opposed inlets in the circular arrangement of the distributing conveyor being placed over the same lengthwise strip of said surface whereby variations of volume or location of the axis of the falling stream of material to the rotating conveyor has minimum effect.

Claim 7

In the method of laying a fibrous mat upon a continuously moving collecting surface by feeding a stream of fibrous material continuously to the ingoing end of a moving conveyor which discharges the elements as increments into adjacent inlets of a series of distributing conveyors, the outlets of which are situated across said collecting surface, the improvement comprising arranging all of said outlets so that they discharge the fibrous increments from adjacent inlets to positions across the collecting surface spaced by the other outlets whereby any non-uniformity in the increments fed to adjacent inlets will be distributed over correspondingly spaced longitudinal portions of the deposited mat.

Claim 8

In the method of laying a fibrous mat upon a continuously moving collecting surface by feeding a stream of fibrous material continuously to the ingoing end of a moving conveyor which discharges the elements as increments into adjacent inlets of a series of distributing conveyors, the outlets of which are situated across said collecting surface, the improvement comprising arranging all of said outlets so that they discharge the fibrous increments from adjacent inlets to positions across the collecting surface spaced by the other outlets whereby any non-uniformity in the increments fed to adjacent inlets will be distributed over correspondingly spaced longitudinal portions of the deposited mat.

Claim 9

In the method of forming a mat of fibrous elements on a moving conveying surface by feeding a stream of the elements to the ingoing end of a horizontally revolving conveyor and continuously discharging increments of said elements to circularly arranged inlets of a plurality of a distributing conveyors whose outlets are situated across and above the width of the conveying surface upon which the mat is to be formed, the improvement comprising placing the locations of said outlets over any longitudinal portions across the width of the moving surface such that each portion receives increments from those said inlets that are situated diametrically opposite in their circular arrangement and that the outlets over adjoining strips have their respective inlets so spaced around their circular arrangement that other inlets of the distributing conveyors are located beTween them.

Claim 10

In the method of forming a mat of fibrous elements on a moving conveying surface by feeding a stream of the elements to the ingoing end of a horizontally revolving conveyor and continuously discharging increments of said elements to circularly arranged inlets of a plurality of a distributing conveyors whose outlets are situated across and above the width of the conveying surface upon which the mat is to be formed, the improvement comprising placing the locations of said outlets over any longitudinal portions across the width of the moving surface such that each portion receives increments from those said inlets that are situated diametrically opposite in their circular arrangement and that the outlets over adjoining strips have their respective inlets so spaced around their circular arrangement that other inlets of the distributing conveyors are located beTween them.

Claim 11

In the method of forming a mat of fibrous elements on a moving conveying surface by causing a stream of the elements to fall in a circular cross-sectional pattern and distributing portions of the elements from the circular cross-sectional pattern into inlets of a plurality of distributing conveyors arranged in a circle and having outlets situated in at least two rows above and across the portion of the conveying surface upon which the mat is to be formed, the improvement comprising placing the location of said outlets such that the portions of the conveying surface passing beneath outlets aligned in the direction of movement of the conveyor receive portions of the elements entering their respective inlets that are situated substantially diametrically opposite each other in said circular pattern, whereby any non-uniformity in the distribution of the stream of elements caused by diametrical irregularity of distribution is corrected.

Claim 12

In the method of forming a mat of fibrous elements on a moving conveying surface by causing a stream of the elements to fall in a circular cross-sectional pattern and distributing portions of the elements from the circular cross-sectional pattern into inlets of a plurality of distributing conveyors arranged in a circle and having outlets situated in at least two rows above and across the portion of the conveying surface upon which the mat is to be formed, the improvement comprising placing the location of said outlets such that the portions of the conveying surface passing beneath outlets aligned in the direction of movement of the conveyor receive portions of the elements entering their respective inlets that are situated substantially diametrically opposite each other in said circular pattern, whereby any non-uniformity in the distribution of the stream of elements caused by diametrical irregularity of distribution is corrected.