Apparatus for cleaning fibers

An apparatus for cleaning fibers by means of revolving rollers, the fiber mass being divided, expanded, and recombined while being successively transferred over at least three rollers, the outer surface of at least one of said at least three rollers revolving in close proximity to, but spaced apart from remaining rollers of said at least three rollers, to form a substantially triangular enclosure therebetween, said apparatus comprising:

• a first roller of said at least three rollers, driven at peripheral speed faster than said remaining rollers, arranged as a moving source of fiber supply at the beginning of the process and to receive and card fibers from one of said remaining rollers;
• a second, condenser roller of said at least three rollers, driven at a peripheral speed slower than said first roller, arranged to receive at least a part of said fiber mass from said first roller and to transport said fibers to one of said remaining rollers;
• a third, opening roller of said at least three rollers, driven at a peripheral speed relatively slower than said first roller, arranged to receive fibers from said second condenser roller and to transport said fibers back to said first roller;
• and
• a stationary fiber stream separator body positioned within said triangular enclosure, said body being of substantially triangular cross-section, for directing fiber streams and preventing turbulent interaction between said streams within said substantially triangular enclosure.