Cloth support and feed apparatus for cloth spreading machine

摘要

A cloth feed apparatus particularly adapted for feeding a heavy cloth roll mounted on a cloth spreading machine. The cloth feed apparatus includes a pair of freely rotatable transverse support rollers in a cloth support frame for supporting substantially the entire weight of a heavy cloth roll transversely of the spreading machine. A cloth feed roller element, in tangential engagement with the outer surface of the cloth roll without supporting any substantial part of the weight of the cloth roll, is driven to feed cloth from the roll. The feed roller element may include a plurality of transversely cleated gripping members and a plurality of transversely spaced belt members entrained about the feed roller element. The cloth feed apparatus also preferably includes a front dancer roller for controlling the speed of the cloth feed roller element and a rear retainer roller movable betweeen a lower loading position and an upper retaining position, to facilitate loading the cloth roll on the support rollers. The rear retainer roller and the dancer roller may be linked to lock the dancer roller in an upper threading position while the rear retainer roller is in a lower loading position.