Transport in combing means mainly the shifting of laps from the lap former to the comber.
Two automation systems are available in this case:
- semi-automatic transport and
- fully automatic transport.
The semi-automatic solution operates with lap trolleys as shown in Fig. 66. With this system trolleys are automatically loaded with laps at a filling station (a) in front of the lap former. The operator than takes the trolley (b) to the combers, where unloading is performed semi-automatically.The fully automatic system operates with an overhead transport device (Fig. 68) to carry the laps in groups of 8 at a time to the combers. An additional installation is required between lap former and combers – the lap turnstile as shown in Fig. 67 – to load the laps into the overhead carriers in the right direction (i.e. prepared for automatic piecing on the comber). The whole loading, unloading and transportation operation is performed without intervention by an operator.
Fig. 66 – Transport scheme with semi-automated lap trolleys (4 combers are shown (2 left and two right) with the lap former in-between)
Fig. 67 – Fully automatic lap transport system, showing the lap turnstile required to present the lap end in the correct position for the combers
Fig. 68 – The overhead transport system
