US3792509A

US3792509A - High speed carding engine

Info

Publication number: US3792509A
Application number: US00218697A
Authority: US
Inventors: T Morikawa; M Watanabe; M Matano
Original assignee: Daiwa Boseki KK; NOGOYA KINZOKU SHINPU KK
Current assignee: Daiwa Boseki KK; NOGOYA KINZOKU SHINPU KK
Priority date: 1969-06-14
Filing date: 1972-01-18
Publication date: 1974-02-19
Anticipated expiration: 1991-02-19
Also published as: FR2051025A5; CH525292A; JPS4930008B1; GB1289278A; DE2028317A1

Abstract

This carding engine is improved in an opening and dust extracting part and a doffer part. The opening and dust extracting part has an evener roller rotatably disposed adjacent the cylinder roller and the taker-in roller, and a perforated casing partially covering the underside of the taker-in roller. The doffer part has a stripping roller disposed above the doffer and its surface cooparates with the doffer surface and also has a pair of deflectors disposed between the stripping roller and a pair of press rollers to deflect both edges of a web travelling from the stripping roller toward the press rollers. In cooperation with these two parts, the spinning productivity is greatly enhanced.

Description

United States Patent [191 Morikawa et al.

[11] 3,792,509 [451 Feb. 19, 197.4

[ HIGH SPEED CARDING ENGINE [75] Inventors: Takashi Morikawa, I-Iyogo; Moriichi Watanabe, Aichi; Mikio Matano, Ishikawa, all of Japan [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 46,193, June 15,

I970, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority ,Data

[58] Field of Searchl9/105, 106 R, 65 CR, 98, 107,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 775,804 11/1904 Eastwood 19/150 3,077,641 2/1963 Aoki ..19 105 3,113,555 12/1963' Varga 1'9/106R 3,205,538

9/1965 Miller et al. 19/204 3,235,898 2/1966 Scowcroft 19/65 CR UX 3,550,214 12/1970 Watanabe 19/98 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,149 1877 Great Britain 19/106 R 400,971 11/1933 Great Britain i 19/113 841,609 7/1960 Great Britain 19/105 232,063 10/1969 U.S.S.R 19/105 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Japanese Patent Publication No. 402684 Published Feb. 12, 1965.

Primary ExaminerDorsey Newton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Eric H. Waters [57] ABSTRACT This carding engine is improved in an opening and dust extracting part and a doffer part. The opening and dust extracting part has an evener roller rotatably disposed adjacent the cylinder roller and the taker-in roller, and a perforated casing partially covering the underside of the taker-in roller. The doffer part has a stripping roller disposed above the doffer and-its surface coopamtes with the doffer surface and also has a pair of deflectors disposed between the stripping roller and a pair of press rollers to deflect both edges of a web travelling from the stripping roller toward the press rollers. In cooperation with these two parts, the spinning productivity is greatly enhanced.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB l 9 I974 SHEUZUFS PATENTE FEB 1 9 I974 SHEET 5 0F 5 HIGH SPEED CARDING ENGINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 46,193 filed June 15, 1970, now abandoned. The present invention relates to a carding engine and more particularly to a high speed carding engine having high productivity.

2. Description of the Prior Art For improving the productivity of a unit carding engine, it may be considered to increase the number of revolution of each component part of the engine, so as to increase the quantity of fiber processed per unit time. To increase the number of revolution of each component part makes it mandatory to increase the numbers of revolution of all component parts simultaneously uniformly. In the past, improvements have been make in the taker-in part of conventional carding engines to improve the fiber opening and dust extracting operation but no improvements have concurrently been made in the doffer part. Therefore, even though the operation efficiency of the taker-in part has been improved, the productivity of the engine has not been improved as a whole because a fiber web formed on a doffer could not smoothly be stripped therefrom at a high speed. It is known that to improve the productivity of the carding engine, there is a provision of a carding engine having stripping means for stripping a carded web from the doffer by its stripping roller, a pair of press rollers and a pair of calender rollers, said pair of press rollers being located between the stripping roller and the calender rollers to compress the web therebetween for crushing impurities contained in the web. Especially, the press rollers are widely used to improve sliver qualities. However, although such press rollers have the advantage mentioned above, they have a defeet that during continuous opetation, the fiber of web twines itself around therollers causing to make the carding engine unable to continue its operation. Such an unfavorable phenomenon mostly occurs in twining both marginal edges of web around the rollers. The twining frequency is increased with the increment of peripheral speed of the rollers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION to solve the aforesaid defect and enhance the smooth delivery of a carded web by a simple mechanism of the carding engine.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a flat carding engine in which the feed rate of fiber to a taker-in roller and the delivery rate of fiber from a doffer can be increased by increasing the numbers of revolution of a cylinder, the taker-in roller and the doffer.

It is another object of the invention to provide a flat carding engine of the character described above, in which an excessively large load is not imposed between a flat and the cylinder even when the quantity of the fiber fed to the taker-in roller is increased.

It is still another object of the-invention to provide a flat carding engine of the character described above, in which a stripping roller is used, instead of a fly comb, for stripping a fiber web from the doffer, whereby the web can smoothly be stripped from the doffer in a neat shape and the number of revolution of the doffer can be increased.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a flat carding engine of the character described above, in which a pair of confronting deflectors, each having blowing means, are located between said stripping roller and a pair of press roller so as to guide the web stripped from the dofler toward the press rollers in such a manner as to deflect both marginal edges of web inwardly, whereby to prevent twining phenomenon of web around the press rollers.

According to the present invention there is provided a flat carding engine including a rotatable carding cylinder, an opening and dust extracting assembly for feeding a lap to the carding cylinder and a doffer as sembly for receiving a carded web from said cylinder and deliverying said web to a pair of calender rollers disposed at the end of a downwardly inclined lower guide plate to make a sliver, said doffer assembly comprising a stripping roller having the axis thereof above and extending parallel to the axis of the doffer and further having a plurality of angle-shaped protuberances along the surface thereof for cooperation with the surface of the doffer, a web roller located between the doffer and the stripping roller in parallel relation and for cooperation therewith, a downwardly inclined upper web guide plate aligned with said lower web guide plate, a pair of press rollers located at the downwardly inclined lower end of said upper guide plate and between said web roller and said calender rollers, said press rollers compressing said web therebetween for crushing impurities remained in said web, and a pair of confronting deflectors located along both sides of said upper guide plate and between the web roller and the press rollers in such a manner as to be tapered therebetween, said deflectors having air blowing means respectively for flowing both edges of said web toward the center thereof to thereby fold said edges inwardly.

Furthermore, the evener roller, the taker-in roller and the feed roller of the opening and dust extracting assembly are covered with a unitary casing. The calender rollers condense the web and guide the same to a coiler, and each of the rollers is rotated about an axis at right angles to the web surface. Still further, the doffer assembly is provided with a cover extending over the doffer, the stripping roller, the web guide plate and the calender rollers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view showing in an enlarged scale the doffer assembly of the carding engine shown in FIG. 1; I

FIG. 4 and 5 are fragmentary side views showing the manner in which the stripping roller and the doffer cooperate in the operation of the carding engine;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view diagrammatically showing the saw teeth wire provided around the periphery of the stripping roller; and l FIG. 7 is a plan view taken along lines VII VII of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, a carding engine generally comprises a dish plate 1, a feed roller 2, a taker-in roller 3, a rotating flat 4, a carding cylinder 5 and a doffer 6.

According to the present invention, the opening and dust extracting capacity onthe taker-in roller side (hereinafter referred to as taper-in part or opening and dust extracting assembly) is improved to enable a lap to be fed at a higher rate, while improvements are also made on the doffer side (hereinafter referred to as doffer part or doffer assembly) so that the web of fiber may smoothly be stripped from the peripheral surface of the doffer 6 and formed into a sliver, which doffer 6 is rotated at a speed 5 to 7 times higher than the conventional speed to meet the increased lap feeding rate. In other words, the present invention contemplates the provision of a carding engine which comprises a high capacity, improved taker-in part and doffer part and which is capable of producing an excellent card sliver at the rate of 50 70 pounds per hour.

First of all, the construction of the taker-in part according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As shown, the taker-in part includes a taker-in roller 3 and. on the underside of the taker-in roller 3 are provided a perforated casing 7 covering a portion of the peripheral surface of said taker-in roller 3 adjacent the card cylinder 5, a mote knife 8 disposed between said casing 7 and the dish plate 1, and a dash board 9 hanging downward from its end 17 of said casing closed to the mote knife 8 to partition the space beneath the taker-in roller 3. On the other hand, above the taker-in roller 3 is provided an evener roller 11 in adjacent relation to the peripheral surfaces of the taker-in roller 3 and the card cylinder 5. The evener roller 1] has a saw teeth wire 10 provided around the peripheral surface thereof, similar to the taker-in rollers 3. A cover 12 is provided covering the evener roller 11 and another cover 14 is provided extending from one end of said cover 12 to cover the taker-in roller 3 and the feed roller 2, whereby a reduced pressure is produced in a space 13 above the taker-in roller 3 during operation of the carding engine. Further, a baffle board 15 is provided in a triangular-shaped space defined by the feed roller 2 and the taker-in roller 3.

The taker-in part constructed as described above operates in the following manner: A lap L supplied between the nose .of the dish plate and the feed roller 2 is opened and scraped by the saw teeth wire on the taker-in roller 3 rotating at a high speed and the resultant fiber is transferred onto the taker-in roller. As is apparent from FIG. 2, the underside of the taker-in roller 3 is exposed at a larger portion than the conventional one and the partition plate 9 is provided hanging downward from the end 17 of the casing 7, instead of the radial grid bars which have conventionally been used with the taker-in roller. Therefore, anair stream caused by the centrifugal force of the rotating taker-in roller 3 blows through the interspace between the dish plate 1 and the mote knife 8 and also acts on the upper surface of the perforated casing 7, with the accompanying result that air flows toward the peripheral surface of the taker-in roller 3 from between the end 17 of the perforated casing 7 and the mote knife 8. Namely, part of the air blown between the dish plate 1 and the mote knife 8 as indicated by the arrow p passes below the mote knife 8 and is again directed toward the peripheral surface of the taker-in roller 3 as indicated by the arrow q. Then, the air passes through the perforation 16 of the perforated casing 7 as indicated by the arrow r and part of the air passes around the lower end of the partition plate 9 and moves toward the mote knife 8 as indicated by the arrow s (such air stream will hereinafter be referred to as re-cycled air stream). A major portion of the fiber scraped by the teeth'of the taker-in roller 3 and transferred onto the peripheral surface of said taker-in roller passes through a gap between the mote knife 8 and the taker-in roller 3 and moves along the upper surface of the perforated casing 7 while being carried on the surface of the taker-in roller 3, and is transferred onto the peripheral surface of the card cylinder 5. During this period, the broken leaves, neps, naps and other impurities (hereinafter referred generally to as dust) present in the fiber and having a relatively large mass are separated from the peripheral surface of the taker-in roller 3 under the influence of the centrifugal force imparted thereto by the rotating taker-in roller and drop between the nose of the dish plate 1 and the mote knife 8 while being entrained in the air stream blowing in the direction of the arrow p. A por tion of the fiber having a small mass and concurrently separated from the surface of the taker-in roller 3 is carried to an opening 19 of the space defined by the perforated casing 7 and the taker-in roller 3, while being entrained in the aforesaid re-cycling air stream. The perforated casing 7 is positioned so as to define between it and the underside of the taker-in roller a space converging toward the card cylinder 5. Therefore, the velocity of the air stream flowing along the peripheral surface of the taker-in roller 3 becomes progressively high at the perforated casing 7 and accordingly the air blows through the perforation 16 intensely. By the action of the air streams flowing in the direction of the arrow q and flowing in the direction of the arrow r, the shorter fiber on the peripheral surface of the taker-in roller 3 is separated therefrom and exhausted through the perforation 16 along with air. In this case, part of the air flowing in the direction of the arrow r moves toward the opening 19 of the interspace between the perforated casing 7 and the taker-in roller 3 after passing around the lower end of the partition plate 9 as indicated by the arrow s, but the shorter fiber exhausted along with the air settles downward by being blocked by the partition plate 9.

In the manner described, the dust and the shorter fiber are sufficiently removed from the fiber material and the effective fiber only is transferred onto the peripheral surface of the card cylinder 5 to undergo the action of the evener roller 11.

Of the fiber transferred onto the peripheral surface of the card cylinder 5, the naps and neps which have not sufficiently been opened protrude from the surface of said card cylinder, or the fiber layer becomes relatively thick at portions where such naps and neps are present, under the influence of the centrifugal force and the resistance of air on the surface of the card cylinder. Such portions are subjected to the combing action of the teeth of the evener roller 11 which is rotating slowly in the direction of the arrow t. As a result, the fiber is partially transferred from the card cylinder 5 onto the evener roller 11 by an action similar to the carding action hitherto obtained by the flat and the card cylinder. The fiber thus transferred onto the evener roller 11 is stripped by the taker-in roller 3 at the point of engagement between said taker-in roller and said evener roller and flown into the reduced pressure space 13 to be accumulated in a space defined by the buffer board 15 and the upper surface of the feed roller 2. The fiber accumulated in the space is gradually discharged onto the lap L on the dish plate 1 through a gap 18 under its own weight and the action of the rotating feed roller 2 and again transferred onto the card cylinder 5 through the feed roller 2 and the taker-in roller 3 upon being subjected to the action of said taker-in roller. The pressure in the space 13 is lower than the pressure of the air stream on the surface of the taker-in roller 3 at a point upstream of the point of engagement between the evener roller 11 and said taker-in roller Therefore, the space 13 serves to weaken the air flow along the surface of the upperportion of the taker-in roller 3, whereby the aforesaid fiber discharging action is promoted and also the forcible air flow ejected through the gap between the taker-in roller 3 and the nose of the dish plate 1 is mitigated to prevent the effective fiber from .dropping andthereby to minimize the loss of the same.

Of the fiber which has been subjected to the opening and dust extracting action and transferred onto the card cylinder 5 in the manner described, those which have not sufficiently been opened or which form relatively thick portions in the fiber layer are opened by the evener roller 11 before they reach the flat 4. The portion of the fiber transferred onto the evener roller 11 is again returned onto the lap L in the same manner as described above to be subjected to the opening and dust extracting action. Therefore, the card cylinder 5 will not be partially overloaded during its carding action between it and the flat 4. This is advantageous in uniformalizing and consequently reducing the load on the flat 4 and in promoting the carding action without increasing the travelling speed of the flat 4. Therefore, the useful life of the flat 4 can be prolonged and the yield of the fiber upon completion of the carding can of the arrow 1 at a peripheral speed slightly lower than the peripheral speed of said doffer. The peripheral surface of the stripping roller 21 is covered with a saw teeth wire 22 of a structure as shown in FIG. 6. From the practical point of view, each tooth of the saw teeth wire 22 is preferably in the shape of an isosceles triangle having a round apex and having a working angle and a back angle of about 60. Downwardly of a point where the stripping roller 21 and the doffer 6 are closest to each other is provided aweb roller 23 which is rotated in the direction of the arrow m at a peripheral speed further lower than the peripheral speed of the stripping roller. An upper web guide plate 24 and a lower web guide plate 24a are provided in a plane extending tangentially of the doffer 6 from the point where the stripping roller 21 and the doffer 6 are closest to each other. The

guide plate

24 and 24a serve to guide a web or fleece 25 which is stripped from the peweb. The press rollers 29 are located at the lower end of the upper guide plate 24 and between the stripping roller 21 and the calender rollers 26. A pair of con- 1 fronting guide boards or deflectors 40 are provided along the plate 24 and between the stripping roller 21 and the press rollers 29 in such a manner as to be tapered between their front or lower ends downward and toward the press rollers 29. Each of said guide boards or deflectors 40 has a plurality of confronting nozzles 41 for blowing air therethrough toward-the travelling web 25 on the guide plate 24 to cause one side of edges or marginal streams to deflect toward the center portion of web. Numeral 42 designates a compressed air box to which compressed air is fed from a source (not shown) through a conduit 43. As explained previously, the press roller are used to compress the web therebetween thereby crushing impurities contained in the web to improve the sliver quality.

The doffer assembly of the construction described above is covered with a series of casing 34 so as to pre vent the occurrence of a turbulent air flow around the web which is travelling on the

web guide plates

24 and 24a from the doffer 6 to the calender rollers 26. The casing 34 is formed with an opening 35 at the mid portion, through which the interior of said casing is communicated with a duct 36.

The doffer part described above operates in the following manner: Namely, the fiber which has been subjected to the opening and dust extracting action of the previously-described taker-in part and to the carding action of the flat 4, is transferred onto the doffer 6 in the conventional manner and carried toward the stripping roller 21 on said doffer. At the stripping roller 21, the web of fiber is stripped from the peripheral surface of the doffer 6 by the stripping action of the saw teeth wire 22 on said stripping roller which is rotating in the direction of the arrow 1 at a peripheral speed slightly lower than the peripheral speed of the doffer. The fiber 25 thus stripped is curled and temporarily retained in a triangular-shaped space 37 defined by the doffer 6, the stripping roller 21 and the web roller 23, and then discharged onto the web guide plate 24 through the interspace between the stripping roller 21 and the web roller 23 by the coaction of said rollers, as indicated by 25' in FIG. 4. The leading edge of the web 25 is manually inserted into the nips of the press rollers 29 and then the calender rollers 26 and thereafter coiled in a can 31 through a coiler 30 in the conventional manner. in the present invention, since the peripheral speed of the stripping roller 21 is slightly lower than that of the doffer 6 as described above, the initially formed thin fiber fleece which has been transferred from the card cylinder 5 tothe doffer 6 and first arrived at the stripping roller 21, is curled helically from the end extremity by the action of teeth'2l on said stripping roller (FIG. 4). When the fleece has become thick to a certain degree, it is discharged onto the upper web guide plate 24 by the coaction of the

rollers

21 and 23 on the curl of fleece. Therefore, the phenomenon of the fiber fleece being intervolved which has been seen in the initial stage of the operation of a conventional roller doffing device can completely be eliminated. Thereafter,

the leading edge of the web 25. is discharged, as shown 3 in FIG. 5, manually condensed and guided into the can 31 through the coiler 30. Once the fiber web 25 has been discharged from between the

rollers

21 and 23, it is successively stripped from the peripheral surface of the doffer 6 by its own cohesion and the action of the stripping roller 21, and travels on the

web guide plates

24 and 24a to be fed into the pair of calender rollers 26. The resultant sliver 32 is stacked in the can 31.

During the operation describedabove, the web travels on the guide plates smoothly without undergoing any influence of the external air flow, because the doffer assembly is covered with the casing 34. A mild turbulence which occurs on the plate 24 is lightly sucked into the duct 36 through the opening 35 in the direction of the arrow n. Thus, there is no fear of the web being disordered or broken during the operation.

In the present invention, the high speed transfer to the web 25 is facilitated by the pair of calender rollers 26 provided at the lower portion of the doffer assembly. Therefore, the web 25 can positively be stripped from the doffer 6 and the stripped web can smoothly be fed to the calender rollers 26, even when the peripheral speed of said doffer is 7 times as fast as the conventional speed. Further, since the guide boards or deflectore 40 are disposed between the stripping roller 21 and the press rollers 29 and air is blown from the confronting nozzles 41 toward the web travelling between the deflectors, both marginal edges of the web are inwardly folded or deflected, causing to increase a fiber density along the portions of the edges. Thus, freely floatable fiber streams along both sides of the web are minimized. Accordingly, the fiber twining phenomenon around the opposite ends of the press rollers does not occur, whereby the smooth compressing operation of the press rollers 29 is effected'without interruption for hours.

In the present invention, it is also to be noted that the spinning operation is effected by rotating the card cylinder at an r.p.m. about twice as large as that of the conventional one. In order to prevent the fiber from separating upward from the peripheral surface of the card cylinder 5 rotating at such a high speed, fixed flats 33 are provided between the doffer 6 and the flat 4 as shown in FIG. 3. Each of the fixed flats 33 is provided, on the surface confronting the peripheral surface of the card cylinder 5, with teeth of obtuse working angle or needles. By the use of such fixed flats 33, it is possible to form a web of even structure.

The specifications of the component parts of the high speed carding engine according to the present invention are shown in the table below, in comparison with those of the conventional carding engine.

Peri- Conventional Diameter Number phcral Standard of Speed Number of mm. r.p.m. m/min. r.p.m. Fccd roller 57 Taker-in fuller 249 H00 450-550 Evcnur roller 94 80-100 Curd cylincr 1288 330 l6()l8() Duffel 705 3()-5O 8-l() Stripping roller [70 80% of doffer Web roller 54 r 50% of doffer Calender roller I00 100% of doffer As has been described in detail herein, in the present invent-ion improvements are made in the taker-in part and the doffer part of the carding engine so that the engine may be operated with a higher rate of feeding and a higher rate of delivery. Therefore, according to the invention the productivity of the engine can markedly be improved without degrading the quality of the product and the production cost can be reduced.

We claim:

1. A flat carding engine including a rotatable carding cylinder, an opening and dust extracting assembly for feeding a lap to the carding cylinder and a doffer assembly for receiving a carded web from said cylinder and delivering said web to a pair of calender rollers to make a sliver, said doffer assembly comprising a doffer rotatable about its axis and a stripping roller having the axis thereof extending parallel to and above the axis of the doffer, said stripping roller having a plurality of angle-shaped protuberances formed along the circumferential surface thereof for cooperation with the surface of the doffer, a web roller located between the doffer and the stripping roller in parallel relation and for cooperation therewith, a downwardly inclined upper web guide plate and a downwardly inclined lower web guide plate, a pair of press rollers located between the lower end of said downwardly inclined upper web guide plate and the lower guide plate and intermediate said web roller and said calender rollers, said press rollers being adapted to compress the web conveyed therebetween for crushing impurities remaining in said web, and a pair of confronting deflectors extending along both sides of said upper guide plate intermediate the web roller and the press rollers so as to fonn a tapered pathway therebetween, said deflectors having air blowing means forming an air stream for blowing both edges of said web toward the center thereof so as to laterally move said edges inwardly and fold said web, and enhance the compressive effect of the press rollers on said folded web.

2. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 1, wherein said calender rollers condense the web therebetween, each of said calender rollers rotating about an axis extending at right angles to the web surface.

3. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 1,

wherein said doffer assembly further comprises a casing covering the doffer, the stripping roller, the upper and lower web guide plates, the press rollers and the calender rollers. r

4. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 1, wherein said opening and dust extracting assembly comprises a take-in cooperating with the carding cylinder an evener roller disposed adjacent the carding cylinder and the taker-in roller and having a surface cooperating with the surfaces of said carding cylinder and said taker-in roller at the upper side of said taker-in roller, a mote knife disposed adjacent the underside of said taker-in roller, a perforated casing extending along a portion of the lower circumferential surface of said taker-in roller, one end of said casing converging toward the portion of cooperation between the taker-in roller and the carding cylinder and the other end thereof terminating between said portion of cooperation and a vertical plane passing the axis of the taker-in roller and at a point spaced from said mote knife, and

a dash board extending vertically downwardly from said other end of the casing to partition the upper portion of the space beneath the taker-in roller.

5. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 4, wherein said opening and dust extracting assembly further comprises a feed roller for conveying said web to said taker-in roller, a cover provided above said evener roller and another cover having one end thereof connected to one end of said first cover and the other end thereof terminating so as to cover the feed roller, said first and second covers together defining a reduced pressure air space above the stripping roller.

6. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 5, wherein a baffle board is provided within said reduced pressure air space at a location between the evener roller and the feed roller and adjacent the surface of the 10 taker-in roller for guiding the fiber delivered into the reduced pressure air space.

7. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 4, wherein said carding cylinder is provided with a movable flat at a location on the upper side thereof and adjacent the cylinder surface and a plurality of fixed flats at a location between the movable flat and the doffer and adjacent the cylinder surface for preventing the fiber from separating upward from said cylinder.

Claims

1. A flat carding engine including a rotatable carding cylinder, an opening and dust extracting assembly for feeding a lap to the carding cylinder and a doffer assembly for receiving a carded web from said cylinder and delivering said web to a pair of calender rollers to make a sliver, said doffer assembly comprising a doffer rotatable about its axis and a stripping roller having the axis thereof extending parallel to and above the axis of the doffer, said stripping roller having a plurality of angle-shaped protuberances formed along the circumferential surface thereof for cooperation with the surface of the doffer, a web roller located between the doffer and the stripping roller in parallel relation and for cooperation therewith, a downwardly inclined upper web guide plate and a downwardly inclined lower web guide plate, a pair of press rollers located between the lower end of said downwardly inclined upper web guide plate and the lower guide plate and intermediate said web roller and said calender rollers, said press rollers being adapted to compress the web conveyed therebetween for crushing impurities remaining in said web, and a pair of confronting deflectors extending along both sides of said upper guide plate intermediate the web roller and the press rollers so as to form a tapered pathway therebetween, said deflectors having air blowing means forming an air stream for blowing both edges of said web toward the center thereof so as to laterally move said edges inwardly and fold said web, and enhance the compressive effect of the press rollers on said folded web.

3. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 1, wherein said doffer assembly further comprises a casing covering the doffer, the stripping roller, the upper and lower web guide plates, the press rollers and the calender rollers.

4. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 1, wherein said opening and dust extracting assembly comprises a take-in cooperating with the carding cylinder an evener roller disposed adjacent the carding cylinder and the taker-in roller and having a surface cooperating with the surfaces of said carding cylinder and said taker-in roller at the upper side of said taker-in roller, a mote knife disposed adjacent the underside of said taker-in roller, a perforated casing extending along a portion of the lower circumferential surface of said taker-in roller, one end of said casing converging toward the portion of cooperation between the taker-in roller and the carding cylinder and the other end thereof terminating between said portion of cooperation and a vertical plane passing the axis of the taker-in roller and at a point spaced from said mote knife, and a dash board extending vertically downwardly from said other end of the casing to partition the upper portion of the space beneath the taker-in roller.

6. A flat carding engine as defined in claim 5, wherein a baffle board is provided within said reduced pressure air space at a location between the evener roller and the feed roller and adjacent the surface of the taker-in roller for guiding the fiber delivered into the reduced pressure air space.