A capstan includes a lift motor, a flexible lifting member, and a tether assembly. The lift motor is operatively connected to a shaft. The flexible lifting member includes a first end and a second end. The first end is connected to the shaft. The flexible lifting member connects a lift assembly to the lift motor via the shaft. The tether assembly includes a switch arranged between a portion of the flexible lifting member and a portion of the capstan. The second end is connected to the tether assembly. The switch acts as a safety in case of a broken flexible lifting member and allows for an automated unloading cycle.

A filament winding apparatus winds, around a workpiece, a fiber bundle formed by bundling a plurality of fibers. The filament winding apparatus includes a widening roller that rotates while making contact with the fiber bundle that is being conveyed. The widening roller has, provided on the peripheral surface, a plurality of projecting ridges extending in the axial direction, the projecting ridges being arranged side by side in the circumferential direction. The projecting ridges make contact with the fiber bundle to thereby widen the fiber bundle.

A filament winding apparatus winds, around a workpiece, a fiber bundle formed by bundling a plurality of fibers. The filament winding apparatus includes a widening roller that rotates while making contact with the fiber bundle that is being conveyed. The widening roller has, provided on the peripheral surface, a plurality of projecting ridges extending in the axial direction, the projecting ridges being arranged side by side in the circumferential direction. The projecting ridges make contact with the fiber bundle to thereby widen the fiber bundle.

The present invention provides: a carbon fiber bundle which exhibits excellent filament shape stability when forming a composite material, and a carbon fiber composite material which exhibits high tensile strength; and a method for producing the same. The provided carbon fiber bundle exhibits a tensile elasticity as a resin-impregnated strand of 265-300 GPa, a tensile strength as a resin-impregnated strand of 6.0 GPa or more, a knot strength of 820 N/mm.sup.2 or more, a filament number of 30,000 or more, and an average tear distance of 600-850 mm, wherein the rate of change in filament width is 8% or less when the carbon fiber bundle is unraveled under the conditions stipulated in the description, and there are four or fewer sections per 1,000 m which exhibit a filament width equal to or less than 75% of the average filament width when the carbon fiber bundle is unraveled under the conditions stipulated in the description.

A filament winding apparatus winds, around a workpiece, a fiber bundle formed by bundling a plurality of fibers. The filament winding apparatus includes a widening roller that rotates while making contact with the fiber bundle that is being conveyed. The widening roller has, provided on the peripheral surface, a plurality of projecting ridges extending in the axial direction, the projecting ridges being arranged side by side in the circumferential direction. The projecting ridges make contact with the fiber bundle to thereby widen the fiber bundle.

A filament winding apparatus winds, around a workpiece, a fiber bundle formed by bundling a plurality of fibers. The filament winding apparatus includes a widening roller that rotates while making contact with the fiber bundle that is being conveyed. The widening roller has, provided on the peripheral surface, a plurality of projecting ridges extending in the axial direction, the projecting ridges being arranged side by side in the circumferential direction. The projecting ridges make contact with the fiber bundle to thereby widen the fiber bundle.

A method of manufacturing multi-ply separable textured yarn, the method comprising, passing a multi-ply separable interlaced filament yarn through a texturizing unit to form a multi-ply separable draw textured yarn, wherein the multi-ply separable interlaced filament yarn is separable in to at least two separable interlaced filament yarn, wherein the interlacing of the filaments within each separable interlaced filament yarn is retained during further processing of the yarn to fabric and in the fabric.

An apparatus and method for manufacturing an elastic composite structure for an absorbent sanitary product includes at least one structure that guides web layers in a machine direction, an elastic thread combiner that combines a plurality of elastic threads to form a combined elastic thread assembly, and a bonding unit. The bonding unit bonds the web layers together via a bond pattern that includes bond lines that each have at least one pair of adjacent bonds, which anchor the combined elastic thread assembly within a passage defined by a pair of adjacent bonds in each of the plurality of bond lines. The passage is narrower than the combined elastic thread assembly in a non-tensioned state and wider than one of the plurality of elastic threads in a non-tensioned state.

An apparatus and method for manufacturing an elastic composite structure for an absorbent sanitary product includes at least one structure that guides web layers in a machine direction, an elastic thread combiner that combines a plurality of elastic threads to form a combined elastic thread assembly, and a bonding unit. The bonding unit bonds the web layers together via a bond pattern that includes bond lines that each have at least one pair of adjacent bonds, which anchor the combined elastic thread assembly within a passage defined by a pair of adjacent bonds in each of the plurality of bond lines. The passage is narrower than the combined elastic thread assembly in a non-tensioned state and wider than one of the plurality of elastic threads in a non-tensioned state.

Provided is a method for manufacturing a combined yarn bundle including the steps of bringing the two or more carbon fiber precursor yarns which travel approximately parallel to one another into contact with a first roller at a wrap angle of 20 or more. Then, the two or more carbon fiber precursor yarns are split into two and brought into contact with a pair of second rollers, so that the carbon fiber precursor yarns are rotated approximately 90 between the first roller and the pair of second rollers. Next, the carbon fiber precursor yarns delivered from one second roller are brought into contact with a third front roller and a third rear roller, and the carbon fiber precursor yarns delivered from the other second roller are brought into contact with the third rear roller without bringing them into contact with the third front roller, so that these carbon fiber precursor yarns are combined on the third rear roller. Thereafter, the carbon fiber precursor yarns delivered from the third rear roller are brought into contact with a fourth roller to obtain a combined yarn bundle. A ratio of a distance L between axes of the first roller and of the pair of second rollers to a yarn width W of the carbon fiber precursor yarn on the first roller, L/W, is 18 or more and a tension of the combined yarn bundle after delivered from the fourth roller is 0.11 cN/dtex or more.