A hand protector is disclosed that comprises flexible planar base in the general shape of an oversized palm of a person's hand. Five spaced apertures are provided towards edges of the planar base in positions that correspond to five fingers of the hand, the apertures sized to permit the fingers of the hand to be inserted therethrough to support the planar base against a palm of the hand. One or more of the apertures have cover flaps, each cover flap movable between a first position in which it generally extends in a plane of the base, and a second position in which it extends away from the plane of the base and abuts a base of the finger when a finger is inserted through the aperture.

An automatic apparel machine used in the manufacture of air suspension springs has two movable tables that move independently from each other on the rail system and where the raw material is placed. A movable winding mandrel moves up-down and forward-backward on the movable table by a servo motor. Automatic cutting bench grippers are positioned on the automatic rubber cutting bench perpendicular to the axis of the movable tables in the section where the movable winding mandrel is located so as to adjust the lengths of the cut raw material. An automatic rubber cutting bench cuts the raw material in the direction of the length and angles required for the finished product saved in the system.

A cutting blade, which is useable for cutting a reinforcing strip into reinforcing plies, includes one or more notches disposed at given intervals. When a volume of rubber separating two reinforcing threads is cut by the cutting blade, bridges of rubber are left between a rear edge of a first reinforcing ply and a front edge of a second reinforcing ply.