segment supporting strip 20 is positioned which is preferably made of a low friction wear resistant plastic the segment supporting strip 20 has a convex supporting face 20a and a concave underface 20b which is positioned on the convex supporting surface face 19c in a circumferential groove 19 39 of the strip supporting component 19 the segment supporting strip 20 may be shiftable with respect to the strip supporting component 19 in the direction of arrows a b the displacement of the segment supporting strip 20 is effected by a displacing device which includes a drive such as a motor a gearing or the like as will be described later in conjunction with fig7 the carding segment 17 39 has at opposite ends engagement faces which lie on the convex surface of the respective segment supporting strip 20 only one is visible in fig2 the underside of a carrier 23 forming part of the carding segment 17 39 carries circumferentially consecutive carding elements 24a 24b having respective carding clothings 24a 39 and 24b 39 an imaginary circle on which the clothing points of the carding elements 24a and 24b lie is designated at 21 the main carding cylinder 4 carries on its circumference a cylinder clothing 4a for example a sawtooth clothing oriented toward the segment clothings 24a 39 24b 39 an imaginary.