Abstract:
A combing head comprises carrying and drive rollers for the lap roll, a cylinder, a detaching roller pair and nippers reciprocable between a drawn-back position and an advanced position. When the trailing end of the lap material runs off the winding tube, the combing machine is stopped at a time after the detaching roller pair have detached a fringe from the lap in the nippers and after the fringe has been separated from the lap. The lap trailing end and the empty winding tube are then removed and a new lap roll is placed on the carrying and drive rollers. Lap material is unwound from the new lap roll until the start of the lap has passed beyond the nip line of the nippers. The combing machine then restarts. The method can, if required, be performed substantially or completely automatically and calls for only a short machine down time.