arranged in the preliminary carding zone between the licker in 3 c and the rear card top deflecting roller 13 a of the revolving card top 13 as fig3 b shows the carrier 18 of each carding segment 17 is fastened to two fastening plates 27 a 27 b the fastening plates 27 a 27 b are attached by means of bolts 28 a 28 b to extension bends 29 a and 29 b respectively fig3 a shows only the extension bend 29 a on one side of the carding machine which are in turn fastened to the card plates 30 a and 30 b respectively on each side of the carding machine only 30 a is shown in fig3 a in the embodiment of fig4 the clothing 20 a of the carding element 19 a forms an acute angle u03b1 with the tangent at the cylinder clothing 4 b cf fig2 as a result of which the carding nip becomes narrower in the direction of rotation 4 a of the cylinder 4 the angle of inclination u03b1 is designated the so called u201c offset angle u201d the spacing between the clothing 20 a and the cylinder clothing 4 b is denoted by reference letter a at the entrance to the carding nip and by reference letter b at the exit from the carding nip a being greater than b the clothing 20 b of the carding element 19 b forms an acute angle u03b2 with the tangent at the cylinder clothing 4 b cf fig2 as a result of which the carding nip opens out in the direction of rotation 4 a of.