Dry-laying a web of particulate or fibrous material

Claim 1

Apparatus for dry-laying particulate or fibrous material entrained in air onto a moving foraminous forming band to form a web thereon, the apparatus comprising, (A) a fibre distributor, said fibre distributor comprising a housing and including: (a) a vibratable planar screen forming a lower wall portion of said housing, (b) a rotatable brush roll comprising circumferentially spaced brushes arranged for rotation about an axis above and parallel to said screen such that the brushes, when rotating, contact and thereby vibrate the screen, (c) fibre inlet means for introducing fibre laden carrier air into said housing on one side of said brush roll, (d) said brush roll being arranged for rotation in a direction such that the brushes are rotated in a path from the fiber inlet means on said one side of said brush, into contact with said screen, and towards the other side of said brush roll whereby the fibre-laden carrier air introduced into said housing through said fibre inlet is moved towards said screen by the rotating brushes, (e) air inlet means for introducing air into said housing on said other side of said brush roll, (f) means for introducing air through said air inlet to direct air against fibres moved by said brushes towards said other side of said brush roll to prevent blocking of said screen, and (g) outlet means for removal of surplus air from said housing; (B) a moving foraminous forming band below the screen; and (C) a vacuum box below the forming band for drawing fibres down through the screen and onto the forming band to form a web thereon.