A fiber structure manufacturing apparatus that includes: a defibration unit that pulverizes and defibrates a raw sheet material that contains fibers; a transportation unit that transports a defibrated material after defibration by the defibration unit; a forming unit that forms a fiber structure from the defibrated material transported by the transportation unit; a temperature acquisition unit that acquires a temperature inside the defibration unit; and a control unit that controls a mass flow of gas that contains the defibrated material transported from the defibration unit in accordance with the temperature acquired by the temperature acquisition unit.

A fiber body forming apparatus including an accumulating unit that has a release unit that releases a material containing a fiber and that has an accumulating member on which the material released from the discharging unit accumulates, a sheet substrate supply unit that supplies a sheet substrate to a position vertically below the release unit, and a control unit that controls operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit, in which the control unit controls the operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit to selectively execute a first mode for causing the material to accumulate on the accumulating member and the second mode for supplying the sheet substrate to the position vertically below the release unit and causing the material to accumulate on the sheet substrate.

A fiber body forming apparatus including an accumulating unit that has a release unit that releases a material containing a fiber and that has an accumulating member on which the material released from the discharging unit accumulates, a sheet substrate supply unit that supplies a sheet substrate to a position vertically below the release unit, and a control unit that controls operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit, in which the control unit controls the operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit to selectively execute a first mode for causing the material to accumulate on the accumulating member and the second mode for supplying the sheet substrate to the position vertically below the release unit and causing the material to accumulate on the sheet substrate.

A powder collection unit includes a powder storage having an inlet through which powder including fibers enters and an outlet through which the powder exits, a delivery screw having an elongated shape, disposed in the powder storage, and configured to rotate about a rotation axis to send out and discharge the powder through the outlet, and a powder collection portion coupled to the outlet and having an inner space that collects the powder discharged through the outlet. An end portion of the delivery screw that is adjacent to the outlet protrudes outwardly from the powder storage through the outlet and resides in the inner space of the powder collection portion.

A method is provided for producing discrete three-dimensional cellulose products from an air-formed cellulose blank structure in a rotary forming mould system. The method includes providing an air-formed cellulose blank structure, wherein the cellulose blank structure is air-formed from cellulose fibres; transporting the air-formed cellulose blank structure to a the rotary forming mould system; feeding the air-formed cellulose blank structure to a position between a first mould part and a second mould part, and heating the air-formed cellulose blank structure; forming the three-dimensional cellulose products from the air-formed cellulose blank structure in the rotary forming mould system, by pressing the heated air-formed cellulose blank structure with a forming pressure.

A fiber body forming method includes a step of preparing a web which contains fibers and which has a bulk density of 0.09 g/cm.sup.3 or more; and a step of applying a liquid containing a binder which binds the fibers together to the web.

A sheet manufacturing apparatus includes a coarse crushing portion that crushes a raw material containing a fiber into coarse crushed pieces, a defibrating portion that defibrates the coarse crushed pieces into a defibrated material, a sieve portion that includes a plurality of openings, a sheet forming portion that uses the defibrated material passing through the opening of the sieve portion to form a sheet, and a transport passage that transports the defibrated material, which has not passed through the opening of the sieve portion, between the coarse crushing portion and the defibrating portion.

A material supply device includes a supply section that supplies a small piece made of a material containing a fiber, a weight measurement section that detects a weight of the small piece supplied from the supply section to a receiving portion, and a supply amount adjustment section that adjusts a supply amount per unit time of the small piece supplied by the supply section, based on a detection result detected by the weight measurement section. The supply section has a storage portion that stores the small piece, an outlet that discharges the small piece from the storage portion, and a shutter that opens and closes the outlet.

A method of making a molded paper web. The method includes forming a nascent web from an aqueous solution of papermaking fibers, moving a dewatered web on a transfer surface, and applying a vacuum at a molding zone defined between the transfer surface and a molding roll. The molding roll includes a permeable patterned surface on an exterior of the molding roll. The method also includes transferring the dewatered web from the transfer surface to the permeable patterned surface at the molding zone. The vacuum is applied during the transferring of the dewatered web, and the papermaking fibers of the dewatered web are (i) redistributed on the permeable patterned surface and (ii) drawn into a plurality of recess of the permeable patterned surface, in order to form the molded paper web.

A fiber body forming apparatus including an accumulating unit that has a release unit that releases a material containing a fiber and that has an accumulating member on which the material released from the discharging unit accumulates, a sheet substrate supply unit that supplies a sheet substrate to a position vertically below the release unit, and a control unit that controls operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit, in which the control unit controls the operation of the accumulating unit and the sheet substrate supply unit to selectively execute a first mode for causing the material to accumulate on the accumulating member and the second mode for supplying the sheet substrate to the position vertically below the release unit and causing the material to accumulate on the sheet substrate.