Abstract: Apparatus for manufacturing fibrous insulation includes a porous conveyor mounted for transporting fibrous material in a machine direction in the form of pack. A pack lift blower is positioned beneath the porous conveyor, in a direction transverse to the machine direction, to direct gases upwardly through the porous conveyor to fluff the fibers within the pack. The pack lift blower has a nozzle that is readily removable and replaceable for cleaning without requiring interruption in the motion of the conveyor. The nozzle may also include slots which allow the passage of air and a reciprocal member which cleans the slots.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for distributing reinforcement fibers includes a chute for supplying reinforcement fibers, the chute having an outlet end, and a metering belt mounted for endless travel along a first path at the outlet end of the chute. The metering belt has elongate members with tips extending outwardly from the metering belt, to define a volume between the tips and the metering belt. The tips of the metering belt pass sufficiently close to the chute so that fibers having penetrated the volume formed by the elongate members are carried away by the metering belt. The metering belt is also mounted for endless travel along a second path around a curved surface which causes adjacent elongate members to spread apart and diverge from each other, thereby causing the fibers to be discharged from the metering belt. A collection surface receives the discharged fibers.

Abstract: To make a bulky nonwoven web of low density and high uniformity with an apparatus comprising a toothed opening roller rotatable at a sufficient speed to throw off a stream of fibers centrifugally and deposit them on a revolving air-permeable collecting surface member which has a fiber-receiving portion and a suction box having an opening underneath this portion, a guide roller is spaced vertically from the fiber-receiving portion. The guide roller is rotated in a direction opposite to that of the opening roller and has a leading peripheral surface portion facing the opening roller and projecting into the stream of fibers to deflect a part of the fibers, and a trailing peripheral portion constituting a suction zone facing the fiber-receiving portion. A guide wall in the suction box opening controls the air stream sucked through the fiber-receiving portion in the direction of the movement of the collecting surface member.

Abstract: A coffee making machine of the type adapted to be connected to a mains water supply is provided with a reservoir having a level sensor controlling the water refill valve to the reservoir, and a heating element which is thermostatically controlled, the refill valve and the thermostat both being controlled by a single modular replaceable solid state circuit board. The level sensor functions to cause refill of the reservoir to the appropriate level for subsequent brewing of a full pot of coffee, irrespective of the mains water pressure and the route by which water may previously have been removed from the reservoir. The electronically controlled thermostat allows only small drops in temperature, e.g. 3.degree. F., before operating to reheat the water in the reservoir. The water can accordingly be stored at closer to the boiling point and delivered to contact coffee for brewing purposes at temperatures of not less than 200.degree. F.

Abstract: An apparatus to extract cotton dust from the high velocity discharge of a cotton cleaning device is disclosed. Means for reduction and removal of fine trash and dust from cotton fiber is provided. At the high velocity discharge exit is placed a perforated cylinder rotating about an open-end stationary tube with an opening across its width. Fine trash and dust pass through perforations into a low pressure area inside the stationary tube and are discharged through a blower or suction source. Means to remove the cotton fiber to an intake duct from the cleaning device is provided as well as internal and adjustable external baffles.

Abstract: An apparatus for increasing the width, or cross-machine-direction dimension of a fluid-entrained (e.g. air-entrained) stream of fibers prior to depositing the fibers on a foraminous forming surface to form a fibrous web structure. A rotatable spreading roll intercepts the open downstream end of a conveying duct through which the fluid-entrained stream of fibers is directed, and this roll includes a plurality of axially spaced disks providing flow-directing channels between them. The rotational axis of the spreading roll is oriented obliquely to the duct so that the lateral dimension of flow-directing channels between laterally spaced-apart duct sidewalls is greater than the width of the duct at its open downstream end, as measured generally normal to the direction of fiber flow through the duct.

Abstract: An apparatus for increasing the width, or cross-machine-direction dimension of a fluid-entrained (e.g., air-entrained) stream of fibers to form a fibrous web that is wider than the stream of fibers. A rotatable spreading roll having a foraminous outer surface obliquely intercepts the open downstream end of a conveying duct through which the fluid-entrained stream of fibers is directed, and an intermediate web, wider than the stream of fiber in the first conveying duct, is deposited on this foraminous surface. The spreading roll is rotated to direct the intermediate web into communication with the upstream end of a second conveying duct, and a pressure differential established through the apparatus functions to relaunch the fibers of the intermediate web into the second conveying duct, and ultimately onto a foraminous forming surface to form a fibrous web product that is wider than the initially formed stream of fibers in the first conveying duct.