US Patent 7845262 Process and apparatus for producing yarn and gland packing

A process for enabling a yarn formed by filling the interior of a tubular member configured by knitting or braiding a fibrous material with expanded graphite as a base material, to be produced in a state of a high productivity in order to enable the yarn to be actually used in an economical manner is provided. The process has: a fine cutting step of successively cutting an expanded graphite sheet which is continuously supplied in a state where the sheet has a predetermined width, to a small width along the width direction of the sheet; and a supplying and filling step of guiding and supplying a strip-like expanded graphite material which is produced by the fine cutting step, into the tubular member to be filled into the tubular member.