Carpet rolling machine

A carpet rolling machine has a pair of drivable rollers (14, 16), arranged to define a supporting nip on which a roll of carpet can be formed. A lower deflector (34) between the rollers (14, 16) presents an upwardly facing slide surface. An upper defector (20) is 3 moveable between a first position wherein it is disposed above the lower deflector and a rest position remote from the first position. In the first position the upper deflector presents a downwardly facing slide surface which together with the slide surface of the lower deflector and the adjacent rollers define a cylindrical space into which the end of a piece of carper can be fed and constrained to follow a cylindrical path to form an incipient roll with or without the use of a core (30). The lower deflector is pivotable between positions wherein it contacts one or the other of the rollers enabling a pile-in or pile-out roll to be formed (as in Figs. 6 and 7). A gate (70) is provided upstream of the lower deflector to direct the feed end to one or the other side of the feed roller (46) and lower deflector (34).