Abstract: A magnetic marker comprising a plurality of magnetized fibers oriented substantially parallel to each other is attached to a fringe of ground fabric for production of felt in the form of an endless belt for detecting the travel of the ground fabric and changing various production parameters according to the number of turns which the ground fabric makes around a series of rolls for causing the movement of the ground fabric. Since the magnetic marker consists of extremely thin magnetized fibers, it can withstand the repeated piercing by needles which is required for the production of felt for the purpose of entangling the fibers of fiber web with the ground fabric.

Abstract: An automatic cop changing device for a weaving machine in which a shuttle carrying a cop consisting of a bobbin around which a weft is wound is reciprocated between warps so as to weave the weft between the warps, comprising: a cop positioning unit for securing the shuttle stationary near a terminal point of its reciprocating movement when the weft of a current cop mounted on the shuttle is consumed by more than a precribed amount; a cop storage unit for storing a plurlaity of new cops; a robot arm carrying a weft gripping hand for drawing the weft from the current cop and a weft from one of the new cops stored in the cop storage unit, and crossing the two wefts, a cop engaging hand for moving the cop in the shuttle between its upright position and its retracted position, and a cop gripping hand for removing the old cop from the shuttle and carrying the new cop into the shuttle; a weft tying unit for tying the crossed part of the wefts; and a weft trimming unit for trimming an extraneous part of the tied weft