Inlet design for handling bulk textile fiber

A system for assembling a continuous stream of loose, highly lofted tufts of randomly oriented staple length textile fibers into a generally continuous fiber batt comprised of substantially elongated shingles suited for high speed delivery to textile processing equipment such as a carding machine, wherein the system comprises:

• a substantially perforate conveyor belt having an upper surface for receiving the tufts thereon thus forming the batt on said upper surface;
• means for moving said perforate conveyor belt along a predetermined path defining a machine direction;
• a generally vertically oriented chute arranged generally over top of said conveyor belt having generally open top and bottom portions, generally closed side and front and back walls, wherein said front and back walls are arranged to span said perforate conveyor belt and said side walls extend along the machine direction generally adjacent opposite edges of said perforate conveyor belt, and particularly wherein said chute defines a substantially open free fall path for the tufts to descend from the top portion to said perforate conveyor belt;
• means for delivering the tufts to said generally open top portion of said chute including a bin portion for receiving the fiber from a feed source to form a fiber bed, an inclined conveyor for lifting fiber continuously from the fiber bed in the bin portion and depositing the fiber into said vertically oriented chute,
• means for drawing air generally from above said upper surface of said substantially perforate conveyor belt down through said substantially perforate conveyor belt such that air transmission through the belt is substantially uniform along the machine direction taking into consideration that there will be more fiber nearer to said front wall of said chute as compared to said back wall of said chute;
• whereby the batt is formed of continuous overlapping shingles which are suited for being controllably administered to a carding machine with reduced likelihood of permitting an entire tuft to be taken into the carding machine at once, the improvement wherein means for delivering the fiber in an air stream from the feed source to the bin portion comprises at least one tapered transition duct having a main axis at an angle to the horizontal and having a small end and a large end with the large end connected to the bin portion and whereby the air stream in the transition duct undergoes a decrease in speed at the top of the bin portion and the stream is directed above and perpendicular to the fiber bed.

A combination of a carding machine and a chute feeder wherein the chute feeder receives a continuous stream of loose, highly lofted tufts of randomly oriented staple length textile fibers and creates a generally continuous fiber batt comprised of substantially elongated shingles for high speed delivery to said carding machine which combs and separates the fibers for subsequent treatment, wherein the combination includes:

• a substantially perforate conveyor belt having an upper surface for receiving the tufts thereon thus forming the batt on said upper surface;
• means for moving said perforate conveyor belt along a predetermined path defining a machine direction;
• a generally vertically oriented chute arranged generally over top of said conveyor belt having generally open top and bottom portions, generally closed side and front and back walls, wherein said front and back walls are arranged to span said perforate conveyor belt and said side walls extend along the machine direction generally adjacent opposite edges of said perforate conveyor belt, and particularly wherein said chute defines a substantially open free fall path for the tufts to descend from the top portion to said perforate conveyor belt;
• means for delivering the tufts to said generally open top portion of said chute including a bin portion for receiving the fiber from a feed source to form a fiber bed, an inclined conveyor for lifting fiber continuously from the fiber bed in the bin portion and depositing the fiber into said vertically oriented chute,
• means for drawing air generally from above said upper surface of said substantially perforate conveyor belt down through said substantially perforate conveyor belt such that air transmission through the belt is substantially uniform along the machine direction taking into consideration that there will be more fiber nearer to said front wall of said chute as compared to said back wall of said chute;
• whereby the batt is formed of continuous overlapping shingles:
• and
• a carding machine including a lickering roll, a main carding roll arranged to receive fiber from the lickerin roll, stripper and worker rolls for lifting fiber from the main card roll and combing the same and replacing the same back on the carding roll and a doffing means for taking fiber off the main card roll, wherein the batt fed onto the lickering roll is controllable administered so that an entire tuft is unlikely to be taken thereon at one time, the improvement wherein the means for delivering the tufts from the feed source to the bin portion comprises at least one tapered transistion duct having a main axis at an angle to the horizontal for transporting an air stream having a small end and a large end connected to the bin portion, and whereby the air stram in the transistion duct undergoes a decrease in speed at the top of the bin portion and the stream is directed above and perpendicular to the fiber bed.