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 carrier for supporting a yarn to be used by a braiding machine, has: a spool carrying the yarn; a motor drivingly engaged to the spool; at least one sensor for producing data about a condition of the yarn in the spool; and a controller operatively connected to the motor and to the at least one sensor, the controller having a processor and a computer-readable medium operatively connected to the processor and having instructions stored thereon executable by the processor for: receiving said data from the at least one sensor; determining operation parameters of the motor based on the received data; and operating the motor per the determined operation parameters to create the desired tension in the yarn.

A carrier for supporting a yarn to be used by a braiding machine, has: a spool carrying the yarn; a motor drivingly engaged to the spool; at least one sensor for producing data about a condition of the yarn in the spool; and a controller operatively connected to the motor and to the at least one sensor, the controller having a processor and a computer-readable medium operatively connected to the processor and having instructions stored thereon executable by the processor for: receiving said data from the at least one sensor; determining operation parameters of the motor based on the received data; and operating the motor per the determined operation parameters to create the desired tension in the yarn.

A braid separation apparatus for separating rope strands of a braided rope, thereby allowing reuse of the separated rope strands, is provided and may include an input assembly configured to move a braided rope made of at least three rope strands, into the apparatus. Further, the apparatus may comprise three or more winding carriers, each being coupled to one of the rope strands. The winding carriers configured to move about each other in serpentine path such that rope strands of the braided rope are separated. Each winding carrier may comprise a spool which is connected to the rope strand coupled to the winding carrier. Each winding carrier may further comprise a torque creating unit configured to provide a torque on the spool and to cause the spool to rotate such that the rope strand is wound around the spool.

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.