To provide an apparatus and a method for producing a staple fiber capable of easily identifying an abnormality in a tow arising in a stretching process at the upstream side of a crimping machine, and of highly certainly and efficiently carrying out automatic separation of a fiber even if the change in the shape of the fiber is difficult to discern due to the lack of a change in the color thereof in a cutting process.
The method and apparatus for producing a staple fiber comprises processes of identifying an abnormal tow by virtue of a displacement sensor and an acceleration sensor attached to the upstream side of a crimping machine, spraying ink that dries super quickly onto the surface of the tow, detecting the ink sprayed onto the tow at the upstream side of a cutting process, and downgrading the tow having been cut, by automatically switching a damper.