Rocky road to improvement

Apparatus for spreading a plurality of tows of continuous filaments into sheet form comprising a container for a liquid in which there are placed a series of pairs of nip rolls submerged in a liquid. Between each successive pair of nip rolls there are positioned in the liquid means for applying both longitudinal and transverse forces to the plurality of tows as they pass through the successive pairs of nip rolls. There is feed means at one end of the container and means for removing the tow in sheet form at the other end of the container. The removing means is preferably an inclined plane over which liquid from the container is flowing to apply diverging forces to the plurality of tows to further open them into sheet form.