r card, appears near the far
end of the softening machine in Fig. 13.

A modern breaker card is illustrated in Fig. 14. The feed or back of
the card is on the extreme right, the delivery or front of the card
on the extreme left, while the gear side of the card is facing the
observer. The protecting cages were removed so that the wheels would
be seen as clearly as possible.

Some of the stricks of fibre are seen distinctly on the feed side of
the figure; they are accommodated, as mentioned, in a channel-shaped
stand on the far side of the inclined feed sheet, or feed cloth,
which leads up to and conveys the stricks into the grip of the
feeding apparatus. This particular type is termed a "shell" feed
because the upper contour of the guiding feed bracket is shaped
somewhat like a shell. There is a gradually decreasing and
suitably-sized gap between the upper part of the shell and the pins
of the feed roller.

The root ends of the pins in this roller lead, and the stricks of
fibre are gripped between the pins and the shell, and simultaneously
carried into the machine where they come into contact with the
points of the pins in the rapidly-revolving large roller, termed a
cylinder. The above-mentioned combing and splitting action takes
place at this point as well as for a distance of, say, 24 inches to
30 inches below. The fibres which are separated at this stage are
carried a little further round until they come into contact with the
points of the pins in the above-mentioned slowly-moving roller,
termed a "worker," and while the fibres are moving slowly forward
under the restraining influence of the worker, they are further
combed and split. A portion of the fibres is carried round by the
pins of the worker from which such fibres are removed by the
quicker moving pins of the second roller of the pair, termed a
"stripper," and in turn these fibres are removed from the pins of
the stripper by the much quicker moving pins of the cylinder.

[Illustration: FIG. 14 MODERN BREAKER CARD]

The above operations conducted by the first pair of rollers (worker
and stripper) in conjunction with the cylinder, are repeated by a
second and similar pair of rollers (worker and stripper), and ultimately
the thin sheet of combed and split fibres comes into contact with the
pins of the doffer from which it is removed by the drawing and pressing
rollers. The sheet of fibres finally emerges from these rollers into
the broad and upper part of