Method and apparatus for detwisting cloth

An apparatus for detwisting a randomly twisted but flattenable textile web, said apparatus comprising:

• a container adapted to hold a supply of said web;
• an upstream guide adjacent said container and a downstream guide spaced from said upstream guide;
• a deflector having a curved deflecting guide surface having a center or curvature and defining with said guides a path having a straight upstream leg between said surface and said upstream guide and a straight downstream leg between said surface and said downstream guide and misaligned with said upstream leg;
• means downstream of said downstream guide for pulling said web from said supply along said path to pass sequentially through said upstream guide, over said surface, and through said downstream guide;
• detwisting means along said upstream leg for twisting said web in said upstream leg about the longitudinal axis of said upstream leg in either rotational sense;
• support means for said deflecting surface including a pivot defining an eccentric pivot axis for pivoting of said deflecting surface about said eccentric pivot axis from a center position in which said surface, said legs, and said pivot all generally lie in a plane, said pivot being spaced in said plane in said center position to the upstream side of a straight line equiangularly spaced between said legs and passing through said center of curvature, whereby any twist in said web where it engages said deflecting surface will pivot same from said center position about said pivot axis;
• and
• control means connected between said detwisting means and said support means for twisting said web in said upstream leg in response to pivoting of said deflecting surface from said center position in a rotational sense that detwists said web in said upstream leg and returns said surface to said center position.