Apparatus and method for forming staple fibers and feeding the same to a picker

摘要

An apparatus and method wherein a tow of continuous filaments is fed to a tow cutter and severed into fibrous material of predetermined staple length while the fibrous material delivered from the tow cutter is fed to and through at least one textile picker. The fibrous material may be formed into laps at the picker for being subsequently processed through cards, or the fibrous material may be fed in loose fibrous form from the picker to a bank of cards. Means are provided for automatically controlling operation of the tow cutter and pickers and for controlling feeding of the fibrous material to the pickers.