A device for uniformly laying fiber fleeces or the like delivered from a carding machine or the like onto a belt driven at a predetermined speed, said device comprising
- (a) a feed belt extending between rollers;
- (b) support means;
- (c) a storage car, a layer car and a balance car;
- (d) means mounting each of said cars on said support means for oscillating movement along respective substantially parallel paths, the path of said balance car being spaced from the end of said feed belt, the path of said storage car being below said feed belt and the path of said balance car, and the path of said layer car being below the path of said balance car;
- (e) a first continuous conveyor belt extending below the end of said feed belt between spaced rollers on said storage car for receiving and conveying fleece in one direction along a path from said feed belt;
- (f) a second continuous conveyor belt extending in said one direction from at least one roller on said balance car, about one end of the path of said first conveyor belt on a plurality of rollers on said storage car and then in the opposite direction to at least one roller on said layer car;
- (g) means for driving said feed belt and said first and second conveyor belts, said drive means being adapted to drive said feed belt and said first conveyor belt at the same speed;
- (h) flexible tension means connecting said balance car to said layer car, said flexible tension means passing over a roller on said storage car;
- (i) reversible drive means for oscillating said layer car along its path;
- (j) an endless member mounted for travel about at least two spaced rollers and being operatively connected through transmission means on said layer car to said at least one roller on said layer car, one run of said endless member extending along the path of said layer car, said transmission means being adapted to drive said at least one roller in a single direction as said layer car oscillates along its path;
- (k) further transmission means between said reversible drive means and one of said rollers about which said endless member passes, said further transmission means being adapted to drive said endless member such that said one run moves in one direction at twice the speed said reversible drive means moves said layer car as said layer car moves in said same one direction and to not drive said endless member as said layer car moves in the opposite direction;
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- (l) a common continuous drive member extending from a roller driven by said first driven means about rollers at opposite ends of said storage car and about a roller on said layer car and driven in one direction by said transmission means on said layer car;
- (m) whereby said storage car with said first conveyor belt oscillates along its path at half the speed said layer car oscillates along its path, when the speed of said layer car is the same as the speed of said feed belt said balance car remains stationary and when the speed of said layer car differs from the speed of said feed belt said common continuous drive member changes the speed of said storage car to maintain it at half the speed of said layer car and said balance car moves along its path in a direction opposite to that of said layer car to maintain said second conveyor belt under tension.