Abstract: An apparatus is illustrated which is especially useful for cleaning the flats of a textile carding machine wherein a rotatable suction conduit has circumferentially spaced slots therein which are successively exposed in cleaning relation to successive flat or carding surfaces by means of a substantially imperforate flexible cover sheet extending about the rotatable suction conduit, being fixed on one end so that the cover extends as a shroud preferably extending in the direction of rotation of the conduit away from the fixed end so as to leave an opening between opposed ends of the shroud. The shroud covers the slots rendering them inactive so that only that slot portion between opposed ends of the shroud actively exert suction. Thus, the suction is concentrated at a specific area, between the ends of the cover, adjacent a limited portion of a flat while permitting rotation of the suction conduit without buildup of excessive lint accumulation as to interfere with the operation of the conduit.