Abstract: An oil spill recovery system deposits a polypropylene quilt onto an oil spill on water, the quilt being deposited at the speed of movement of a water craft so there is no relative motion between the quilt and the water. The quilt is allowed to rest for a given dwell time, then picked up at a speed to prevent relative motion between the quilt and the water. The quilt is retrieved and placed into a first scray. Squeeze rolls remove the quilt from the first scray and squeeze oil therefrom. A plurality of scrays and squeeze rolls may be used. A sewing machine or heat sealing apparatus may be disposed between two scrays so the quilt can be spliced as necessary during operation of the system.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatically severing individual towels from a length of material comprising a plurality of terry towels. The method includes the steps of measuring slightly less than the supposed length of a towel, then activating a sensor that detects the edge of a cutting space by the change in thickness of the material. The sensor causes feeding of the material to stop with a cut-line at a cutting blade. The first edge of the material is held while a second sensor located the same edge at the opposite side of the material, and the cutting blade is moved with the sensor. The material is stretched to straighten the cut-line, and the cutting blade is caused to cut the material. The apparatus includes feed rolls to move the material, and an encoder measures the length. A roller at one edge of the material detects the change in thickness at one edge, and similar rollers detect the change in thickness at the opposite edge.

Abstract: A safety net for use with a lavatory to catch small items inadvertently dropped into the lavatory. The safety net includes a piece of net material sized to extend completely across the lavatory bowl in both directions and to allow the net material to conform somewhat to the bowl. Rather rigid end pieces are fixed to the net material to hold the net in place. The end pieces may be hinged to allow the safety net to be folded.

Abstract: Elongated quilted webs which have line out flaws are moved from a first container at high speed in a downward direction in front of an operator, then laterally through a sewing station toward the operator, then downwardly away from the operator to a second container. When a flaw in the web is detected by the operator as the web moves at inspection speed in a downward direction toward the sewing station, the operator allows the flaw to move through the sewing station and then stops the movement of the web. The operator then reverses the direction of movement of the web so that the flaw moves back through the sewing station at sewing speed where one of several sewing machines which is closest to the flaw is energized at the sewing station and operates concurrently with the movement of the web to sew through the web.

Abstract: The side edges of a web of cloth are hemmed as the web moves from a supply along its length to a cutting station. The free end portion of the web of cloth is cut across its length with V-shaped notches cut at its side edges to form angled corners on the cut lengths of cloth. The cut lengths of cloth are moved through a U-shaped path with the cut ends extending along the path, and a connecting thread is attached to the cut lengths of cloth adjacent their cut ends and extends between adjacent lengths of cloth so as to connect together the cut lengths of cloth as they move sequentially through folding and sewing apparatus. The connecting thread extending between the adjacent cut lengths of cloth allows a preceding length to pull and guide a subsequent length through a hem folding device.