SHORT FIBRE PROCESSOR The short fibres (tow) produced by the scutcher still contain a lot of impureties, especially shives. A further purification, more often carried out by specialised companies, must make the short fibres suitable for their various applications. The raw tow is led through a series of shakers and cylinders of the card type, that open the fibre material and eliminate most of the shives. The intensity of the process - "semi-processed" or "processed" - depends on the field of application one has in mind.