Process and apparatus for producing fibrous structures

Claim 1

The process of producing a nonwoven self-bonded structure of randomly arranged synthetic fibrous material comprising first positioning a collection surface at a distance of from about 6 to 48 inches from a polymer extrusion nozzle, extruding through said nozzle toward said collection surface a substantially continuous filament-forming synthetic organic polymer material in liquid phase at a filament stream under conditions to form a fibrous material, attenuating the extrudate utilizing a plurality of converging substantially planar gas streams all having the major force component in the directioN of the filament stream, the planes of all the attenuating gas streams intersecting the axis of the extrudate stream at an angle of from less than 45* to more than 5*, the planes of all the gas streams intersecting each other at a point which is at a distance, B, measured perpendicularly from the axis of the extrudate stream at least equal to the diameter of the extrudate stream at a point along the extrudate stream in juxtaposition to the point of intersection of the gas streams, the perpendicular distance, A, from the extrusion nozzle to the point of intersection of the gas streams ranging from about 2 to 7 inches, the fibrous material when it hits said collection surfaCe being tacky and adhering to previous layers thereof and forming a self-bonded structure.