Tape/capstan feed unit

A method of feeding yarn to textile machinery selectively under conditions of positive feed or at a rate dictated by demand from the said machinery, comprising the steps of:

• (1) winding a number of turns of said yarn in a yarn path extending around a feed wheel and a smooth straight-sided upstanding member that is positioned alongside said feed wheel and inclined to the rotary axis of said feed wheel;
• (2) driving said feed wheel by frictional contact with a flexible tape contacting a small arc of said feed wheel over only a part of the axial width of said feed wheel;
• and
• (3) selectively guiding the yarn turns to two distinct axial zones on said feed wheel, while maintaining axial spacing of said yarn turns, one such axial zone being a zone in which said yarn passes repeatedly on successive turns through the nip formed between said flexible tape and said feed wheel to achieve positive feed of said yarn, the other axial zone being a zone in which said yarn does not pass through said nip so as to achieve yarn feeding at a rate dictated by demand from the said machinery, and movement of the yarn turns from either axial zone to the other being accompanied by free and unobstructed re-positioning of the successive turns of yarn on said upstanding member.