In an aspect, a braiding machine is provided, and has a set of spool shuttles that each dispense a strand of flexible material under tension. A strand retractor releasably retracts the strands from the spool shuttles. A plurality of shuttle stations at which the spool shuttles can be positioned are arranged in a circuit. At least one shuttle carriage, when driven, repeatedly selects an immediately previously unselected spool shuttle and moves the immediately previously unselected spool shuttle from an associated shuttle station to another shuttle station along the circuit spaced from the associated shuttle station by at least one shuttle station that is intermediate the associated shuttle station and the other shuttle station. At least one spool shuttle is parkable at the at least one shuttle station. A drive arrangement is coupled to the shuttle carriage to drive the shuttle carriage.

A braided, open structure composite made with large prepreg tow can be cured without bonding at the yarn crossovers and after removal from the mandrel, it can be used directly as a spring in which the spring constant in bending, torsion, tension or compression can be controlled by the geometry of the braided structure as well as the size of the structural elements. Alternatively the spring may be curved in multiple directions to form complex shapes and then crossovers can be re-bonded to make more rigid open structure composites that would be difficult or impractical to manufacture by conventional techniques.

A fishing line braided knotting device for attaching one fishing line to another includes a base to which a pair of posts is attached, with each post extending perpendicularly from the base proximate to one of its opposed ends. The post comprises lower and upper portions, with the latter being circumferentially smaller than the former. A pair of fasteners is attached singly to the posts. A first fishing line can be looped around the upper portions so that two loop sections of the first fishing line extend substantially in parallel between the posts. One of the fasteners attaches to the first fishing line and a first line tag to secure them in position. A second one of the fasteners selectively attaches to a second fishing line leaving a second line tag available to be positioned around the two loop sections to knot the fishing lines together.

A device comprising: (a) a body portion including: (i) a first end and ii. a second end; (b) a holder at the first end; (c) a holder at the second end; (d) a rotation device at the first end in communication with the holder at the first end; and wherein the holder is fixedly attached to a split gear having a channel therethrough so that one or more flexible mediums may be placed through the channel and removed from a work area located between the holder at the first end and the holder at the second end.

A device comprising: (a) a body portion including: (i) a first end and ii. a second end; (b) a holder at the first end; (c) a holder at the second end; (d) a rotation device at the first end in communication with the holder at the first end; and wherein the holder is fixedly attached to a split gear having a channel therethrough so that one or more flexible mediums may be placed through the channel and removed from a work area located between the holder at the first end and the holder at the second end.

In an aspect, a braiding machine is provided, and has a set of spool shuttles that each dispense a strand of flexible material under tension. A strand retractor releasably retracts the strands from the spool shuttles. A plurality of shuttle stations at which the spool shuttles can be positioned are arranged in a circuit. At least one shuttle carriage, when driven, repeatedly selects an immediately previously unselected spool shuttle and moves the immediately previously unselected spool shuttle from an associated shuttle station to another shuttle station along the circuit spaced from the associated shuttle station by at least one shuttle station that is intermediate the associated shuttle station and the other shuttle station. At least one spool shuttle is parkable at the at least one shuttle station. A drive arrangement is coupled to the shuttle carriage to drive the shuttle carriage.

In an aspect, a braiding machine is provided, and has a set of spool shuttles that each dispense a strand of flexible material under tension. A strand retractor releasably retracts the strands from the spool shuttles. A plurality of shuttle stations at which the spool shuttles can be positioned are arranged in a circuit. At least one shuttle carriage, when driven, repeatedly selects an immediately previously unselected spool shuttle and moves the immediately previously unselected spool shuttle from an associated shuttle station to another shuttle station along the circuit spaced from the associated shuttle station by at least one shuttle station that is intermediate the associated shuttle station and the other shuttle station. At least one spool shuttle is parkable at the at least one shuttle station. A drive arrangement is coupled to the shuttle carriage to drive the shuttle carriage.

A method is provided for producing a fiber preform for a composite fiber component. In the method, at least one first fiber structure is braided in a braiding process over the entire length of the fiber preform to be produced and at least one second fiber structure is wound in a winding process over part of the length of the fiber preform to be produced.

A method is provided for producing a fiber preform for a composite fiber component. In the method, at least one first fiber structure is braided in a braiding process over the entire length of the fiber preform to be produced and at least one second fiber structure is wound in a winding process over part of the length of the fiber preform to be produced.

Aspects herein are directed to braided articles and methods for their manufacture. The braided articles may include articles of footwear having braided uppers. The article of footwear may comprise a sole and a braided upper comprising a toe portion having a toe seam, a heel portion comprising a seamless braided structure, and a throat portion. The toe portion may comprise a base yarn. The throat portion may comprise a stretch yarn. Additionally, the heel portion may comprise both the stretch yarn and the base yarn.