The invention relates to improvements in a process and apparatus for the manufacture of staple yarns from continuous filaments preferably formed of synthetic material.
The process involves the drawing of tow of continuous filaments so as to break the filaments while spinning them into a staple yarn. The apparatus, in common with other spinning devices wherein yarn is spun by machinery, includes a multiplicity of weighted rollers, succeeding sets of'rollers being operated at higher surface speeds than the preceding rollers. A characteristic feature of the present invention resides in the inclusion of process steps and mechanical means whereby tow may be continuously broken and drafted into filament yarns having a relative fineness in relation to the tow in the order of from two to one to several hundred to one.