The present invention relates to a device for removing vegetable matter in a wool card, of the type including a pair of Morel rollers in a tandem configuration with each of which there co-operates at least one burr-beater, the second Morel of said pair turning at a peripheral speed which is substantially equal to that of the first Morel roller in order to enable the speed of the card as a whole to be increased.

A device of the above-mentioned type is known from EP-0 517 635 A.

In the device of this prior application the wool is conveyed from the first Morel roller to the second Morel roller by means of an intermediate conveyor roller having a peripheral speed which is greater than that of the two Morel rollers.

This device however does not satisfactorily solve the problem of conveying the fibres from the first to the second Morel roller, because the intermediate conveyor roller turns at a peripheral speed which is greater than that of said second Morel roller.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device of the type mentioned above, which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art.

This object is achieved by the device defined in the characterising part of claim 1.

The invention will now be described with reference to the appended drawing which is a schematic cross-sectional illustration of a device according to the invention.

A brush roller covered with radially-disposed bristles is indicated 1 and turns in an anti-clockwise sense to feed the web of wool from a pre-carder (not illustrated) to a Morel roller 2 which turns in a clockwise sense and is covered with a rigid cover having flat points facing in the clockwise sense. The Morel roller 2 turns at a peripheral speed about 40% greater than that of the roller 1. The brush cover of the roller 1 could be replaced by a different cover as long as it is functionally equivalent to a brush cover.

A burr-beater indicated 3 has radial blades and turns in a clockwise sense to collect some of the vegetable matter from the roller 2 and discharge it into a receptacle 3a.

The wool, following its course around the roller 2, is completely doffed by a roller 4 having a brush-like or equivalent cover which turns in an anti-clockwise sense with a peripheral speed approximately 60% greater than that of the roller 2.

The fibres collected by the brush 4 are entirely doffed by condensation, that is by vertical stratification of the fibres, on to a reverser roller 5 which turns in the anti-clockwise sense with a peripheral speed about 30% greater than that of the Morel roller 2. The roller 5 has a rigid cover with triangular points facing in the anti-clockwise sense.

A second burr-beater indicated 6 takes some of the vegetable matter from the fibres which had been reversed by the reverser roller 5 and discharges it into a receiver 6a. A roller with a brush-like or equivalent cover indicated 7 turns in the anti-clockwise sense with a peripheral speed about 30% higher than that of the Morel roller 2.

Reference numeral 8 indicates a second reverser roller, similar to the reverser roller 5, which collects and inverts the fibres, turning at a peripheral speed about 30% less than that of the brush roller 7.

A second Morel roller 9, having the same characteristics as the roller 2, strips the reverser roller 8 by turning in the clockwise sense with a peripheral speed about 30% greater than that of the reverser roller 8 and thus at a speed substantially equal to that of the first Morel roller 2.

Rollers 10, 11, 12 and 13 having technical characteristics and speeds of rotation identical to those of the rollers 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 described above cooperate with the Morel roller 9 and thereby carry out the same operations as those carried out by the rollers 3 to 7 which cooperate with the first Morel roller 2 as described above.

More particularly, the roller 10 is a third burr-beater and cooperates with a receptacle 10a, the roller 11 is a fourth brush roller which collects the fibres and doffs them by condensation on to the reverser roller 12, the roller 13 is a fourth burr-beater which cooperates with a receptacle 13a. A fifth roller indicated 14 has a brush-like or equivalent cover and conveys the fibres from the second Morel roller 9 to the drum (not illustrated) of the card.

The device described above enables the two successive Morel rollers in equipment including two or more Morel rollers in series to be maintained at the same peripheral speed. This enables the disturbance and the sucking in of air by the moving parts to be reduced drastically, consequently enabling the speed of the card as a whole to be increased considerably.

Moreover the conveyor device described above for conveying wool from the first Morel roller 2 to the second Morel roller 9 inverts the web of wool during this movement with the consequent cleaning of its entire surface.