Conventional carding apparatus used in the manufacture of textile yarn from short staple fibres comprises a cylinder having a surface which carries an array of carding points. As the cylinder rotates, the carding surface picks up fibres and carries them into engagement with a series of carding flats which are also provided with carding points. The carding flats are moved in the same direction as that part of the carding surface of the cylinder with which they engage, but at a lower speed. Fibres carried by the cylinder are therefore combed by the carding surfaces of the cylinder and flats, so that impurities or tangles in the fibre are removed on to the flats. The flats themselves are driven along an endless path and, on disengaging from the carding cylinder are driven past a brush which frees the surfaces of the flats from the waste material.
Hitherto, the surfaces of carding flats have been composed of a flexible web, which is secured to a rigid substrate, the points being in the form of staples projecting through the web from the side fixed to the substrate. Alternatively, the carding surfaces of the flats have been provided by metal strips having saw-tooth edges secured in the surface of a substrate. Both these constructions have suffered from the disadvantage that the fibres removed from the surface of the cylinder are difficult to separate from the carding flat because in the former case the points are of uniform cross section and in the latter case the saw tooth edges inevitably include burrs which trap the fibres.