in the plates 14 15 typically the drum 2 and the roller 3 in the apparatus shown in fig1 to 5 may be set to produce helically wound needle stitched non woven fabric tubing 4 to 12 cm in diameter the needle plate 4 may carry about 1300 needles arranged in 13 rows extending axially of the drum 2 one needle of each row being aligned with a groove in the drum 2 and with one row of needles passing through the center line of the drum in a radial direction while the other rows are spaced from the center line in parallel planes depending on the requirements the needle plate carrier 5 may be reciprocated approximately 100 to 1000 times per minute the thickness of the tube 7 depends on the characteristics of the web 6 and on the pitch of the helix in which the web is wound over the drum 2 and the roller 3 the helix pitch is determined by the rotary speed of the take up roll 24 at fixed rotary speed of the drum 2 and thus by the relationship of the speeds of the motors 19 and 29 which can be adjusted in a non illustrated conventional manner the tubing produced on the aforementioned apparatus is being used successfully as a surface cover on cylindrical rollers employed in the.