BLIND STITCHING APPARATUS AND COMPOSITE MATERIAL MANUFACTURING METHODS

摘要

A composite component is made up by laying pre-forms one on top of the other and tacking the pre-forms together at spaced, discrete locations by blind stitches which tack an upper pre-form layer to the one beneath it, using a stitching head. The stitching head (16) includes a curved needle (18) reciprocally movable in one plane and a looper (30) reciprocally movable in a transverse plane. In use the looper catches the thread from the needle as it emerges from the material and draws it into a loop around the next entry point for the needle.