Lap′ping-ma-chine′.
（Cotton-manufacture.) a. A machine in which cotton is reduced to a downy condition, spread equally, subjected to a certain compacting pressure, and then wound in an even continuous wad (wadding) upon a roller, forming a lap. Prepared cotton may be spread upon the traveling apron a, in weighed quantities, covering a marked area, as between occasional black slats; or it may be formed into a lap, after a succession of scutching and blowing operations. See batting-machine. b. After cotton has undergone a preliminary carding in the breaker, from which it comes in the form of a thin fleece, several of these fleeces are joined to form one thickness. In another form of lapping-machine, several cans o o, filled with a narrow fleece from the breaker-card, are placed in two rows, and the ends of the fleeces brought together between two rollers, the lower one driven by a wheel and pinion and the upper one pressed down upon the former by weights.
