with reference to fig1 , a flat card , for example , a flat card known as the tc 03 ( trade mark ), made by trützschler gmbh & amp ; co . kg . of mönchengladbach , germany , has a feed roller 1 , feed table 2 , licker - ins 3 a , 3 b , 3 c , cylinder 4 , doffer 5 , stripping roller 6 , squeezing rollers 7 , 8 , web - guide element 9 , web funnel 10 , take - off rollers 11 , 12 , revolving flat 13 with flat guide rollers 13 a , 13 b and flat bars 14 , can 18 and can coiler 19 . the directions of rotation of the rollers are shown by respective curved arrows . the letter m denotes the midpoint ( axis ) of the cylinder 4 . the reference numeral 4 a denotes the clothing and 4 b denotes the direction of rotation of the cylinder 4 . the letter a denotes the working direction . arrow b denotes the carding setting of the flat bars 14 and arrow c denotes the return transport direction of the flat bars 14 . fig2 shows one embodiment according to the invention . on each side of the card , a flexible bend 17 having several adjusting screws is secured laterally by screws to the machine frame . the flexible bend 17 has a convex outer surface 17 a and an underside 17 b . above the flexible bend 17 , there is a first slideway 20 , for example , of anti - friction plastics material , which has a convex outer surface 20 a and a concave inner surface 20 b . the second slideway ( on the other side of the machine ) is not shown . the concave inner surface 20 b lies on the convex outer surface 17 a . each flat bar 14 has at both ends a respective card flat head , to which two steel pins 15 *, 15 ** are secured axially and slide in the direction of arrow b on the convex outer surface 20 a of the slideway 20 . the flat clothing strip 16 is mounted on the undersurface of the support body 15 . the reference number 21 denotes the tip circle of the narrowest point of the flat clothings 16 . on its circumference , the cylinder 4 has a cylinder clothing 4 a , for example , saw - tooth clothing . the reference numeral 22 denotes the tip circle of the cylinder clothing 4 a . the distance between the tip circle 21 and the tip circle 22 is denoted by the letter a , and is , for example , 0 . 20 mm . the distance between the convex outer surface 20 a and the tip circle 22 is denoted by the letter b . the radius of the convex outer surface 20 a is denoted by r 1 and the radius of the tip circle 22 is denoted by r 2 . the radii r 1 and r 2 intersect at the mid - point m ( see fig1 ) of the cylinder 4 . fig3 a shows ( drawn exaggeratedly ) the decrease in the gap between the flat clothings 16 1 , 16 2 , 16 3 on the one hand and the cylinder clothing 4 a on the other hand in the direction of rotation 4 b of the cylinder 4 . with the spacing between the free tips of the clothing tips 16 b 1 , 16 b 2 , 16 b 3 of the flat clothings 16 1 , 16 2 , 16 3 and the cylinder clothing 4 a in mind , the widest spacing is marked with c 1 and the narrowest spacing is marked with c 2 . the spacings c 1 and c 2 appear in a radial direction in relation to the midpoint m ( see fig1 ) of the cylinder 4 . referring to fig3 b , which shows in enlargement one of the card flats of fig3 a , the clothing element 16 in the embodiment of fig3 a and 3 b has a top element 16 c , the top face 16 c 1 of which is in contact with lower face 15 c of the support body 15 , a bottom element in which clothing tips 16 are provided , and intermediate layer , of wedge - shaped configuration , between the top and bottom elements . the clothing tips 16 define a tip surface which in the embodiment of fig3 a and 3 b is a planar tip surface referred to herein as “ tip plane ”. referring to fig3 a and 3 b , the top face 16 c 1 of the top element 16 c of the clothing element 16 and the tip plane 23 of the flat clothing 16 b are not aligned parallel to one another . according to fig3 b , the tip plane 23 of the flat clothing 16 b and a notional surface 19 ″— arranged parallel to the tangent 19 ′ to the tip circle 22 of the cylinder clothing 4 a at the narrowest point c 2 — are arranged at an angle β to one another ( shown exaggerated in the drawing ). at each flat bar 14 the tip plane 23 of the flat clothing 16 b is consequently at an angle β of , for example , 0 ° 55 ′ in relation to the parallel surface 19 ″. what is known as an offset , also called a taper , is consequently formed . the gap formed by the angle β between the flat clothing 16 b and the cylinder clothing 4 a closes in the direction of rotation 4 b of the cylinder 4 . furthermore , according to fig3 b the top face 16 c 1 of the clothing element 16 and the tip plane 23 of the flat clothing 16 b are arranged at an angle α to another ( shown exaggerated in the drawing ). the wedge formation created by the angle α opens in the direction of rotation 4 b of the cylinder 4 . in the embodiment of fig4 , the flat bar 14 consists of a card flat support body 15 and a clothing element 16 . the clothing element 16 is detachably ( reversibly ) secured to the card flat support body 15 . the card flat support body 15 includes a profiled card flat body 15 ′, which comprises a card flat foot 15 a and a card flat back 15 b . at the two ends of the elongate profiled card flat body 15 ′, for example of extruded aluminium , moulded plastics or the like , there is a respective card flat head , which — in the embodiment according to fig2 and 3 , each comprise two card flat pins 15 * and 15 **. on the side remote from the flat bars 15 b , two webs 15 h , 15 i are provided on the card flat foot 15 a in the longitudinal direction , so that in the region of the bottom face 15 c there is a two - tier recess 15 d , 15 e . the card flat support body 15 furthermore includes a magnetic element 15 f , for example , a magnetic band , magnetic strip , magnetic rod or similar , which via its top face 15 f 1 is fastened , in the upper recess 15 d , by a layer of adhesive 15 g to the bottom face 15 c . the length of the card flat support body is , for example , 1 m . in the embodiment shown in fig4 , the clothing element 16 comprises a clothing strip 16 ′, which consists of a strip - form clothing carrier element 16 a , for example , of textile material , and the flat clothing 16 b . the flat clothing 16 b consists of clothing tips 19 ( wire hooks ), the wire hooks being approximately u - shaped and fixed in the carrier element 16 a by being pushed through the face 16 a 1 . the regions where the wire hooks change direction project beyond the face 16 a 1 . the ends of the wire hooks 19 , the clothing tips , are free . the wire hooks consist of steel wire . the clothing element 16 furthermore includes a top element 16 c , for example a steel plate strip , a steel band or similar , the bottom face 16 c 2 of which is fixed by way of a connecting intermediate layer 16 d , for example , an adhesive layer , to the top face 16 a 1 of the clothing carrier element 16 a . 16 d 1 denotes the top face and 16 d 2 denotes the bottom face of the intermediate layer 16 d , the top face 16 d 1 and the bottom face 16 d 2 being so arranged that they are not parallel to one another , so that the cross - section of the intermediate layer 16 d is wedge - shaped . the clothing element 16 is fixed with its components clothing strip 16 ′, intermediate layer 16 d and top element 16 c in the recess 15 e , so that only the flat clothing 16 b projects beyond the bottom face of the card flat foot 15 a . the fixing is so effected so that the top face 16 c 1 of the flat element 16 c ( steel band ) is in flat abutment with the bottom face 15 f 2 of the magnetic element 15 f ( assembly plane ). the positive - engaging connection between flat support body 15 and clothing element 16 is stable in operation . the carding forces that act on the flat clothing 16 b are absorbed and compensated for by the webs 15 h , 15 i in the flat foot 15 a . fig5 a shows a further embodiment of clothing element . the clothing carrier element 16 a has a wedge - shaped construction in cross - section , whilst the top element 16 c and the intermediate layer 16 d are plane - parallel . in yet another embodiment shown in fig5 b , the top element 16 c is of wedge - shaped construction in cross - section , whilst the clothing element 16 a and the intermediate element 16 are plane - parallel . in the embodiment of fig6 , the clothing carrier element 16 a consists of three layers 16 *, 16 ** and 16 ***, that is , layers , for example , of textile material and plastics . whereas the upper layer 16 * and the bottom layer 16 *** are of plane - parallel construction , the middle layer 16 ** is wedge - shaped in cross - section . the top face 16 a 1 may , for example , be adhesively secured to the bottom face 15 c . the carrier element 16 a shown in fig6 can also be arranged in place of the carrier element 16 a shown in fig5 a . although the foregoing invention has been described in detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of understanding , it will be obvious that changes and modifications may be practised within the scope of the appended claims .