Textile carding machine feed assembly and method

Claim 1

Apparatus for feeding a lap of fibers to a carding machine of the type which includes a feed roll which feeds fibers to a licker-in roll and a feed plate over which a layer of said fibers are conveyed to the feed roll, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of individual segmented presser means carried adjacent said feed roll; and means mounting said presser means to be individually movable towards and away from said feed roll; said individual segmented presser means being arranged generally side-by-side continuously without interruption across the entire length of said feed roll for applying an even uniform pressure segmentally to segments of the lap of fibers continuously across the width of the lap for retaining control of fibers at the nip of said rolls should a fiber lump raise one of the presser means above the other presser means; and biasing means urging said presser means individually toward said feed roll exerting an even pressure against said lap of fibers along said feed roll regardless of the thickness of said layer of fibers.