Carpet rolling machine

A carpet roll machine having a pair of drivable rollers arranged to define a supporting nip on which a roll of carpet can be formed. A lower deflector between the rollers and in sliding contact with at least one of them selectively presents an upwardly facing slide surface. An upper deflector is 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 carpet can be fed and constrained to follow a cylindrical path to form an incipient roll. 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. A gate is provided upstream of the lower deflector to direct the feed end to one or the other side of the lower deflector.