Method and apparatus for fibrous article engagement and disengagement - including two different needle types

Fibrous article engagement and disengagement apparatus comprising a first type of needle having a free end and a barb, the barb facing away from the free end of the needle, the first type of needle being arranged to engage fibers of a generally planar article in a first orientation and to support the article during movement of the article to a second orientation and a second type of needle which is mounted to move relative to a fibrous article to push fibers through the plane of that article.

A method of forming a fibrous assembly including a plurality of fibrous layers using a plurality of fibrous sectors, the assembly having an axis, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) forming a stack of layers by rotating the stack about the axis during formation and adding the fibrous sectors and needling the sectors in the stack such that fibers from a more recently added sector extend down into previous layers of sectors;
• and
• (b) tacking down the most recently added sector prior to the needling of that sector into the previous layers with sufficient tacking force to substantially prevent radially-inward movement of the segment toward the axis as the segment passes into the needling.