A method for increasing the filament count of a carbon fiber tow by forming a combined tow, said method comprising the steps of providing a first tow which comprises a plurality of first carbon filaments that extend in a first tow lengthwise direction, said first tow having a first tow filament count and a first tow width; providing a second tow which comprises a plurality of second carbon filaments that extend in a second tow lengthwise direction, said second tow having a second tow filament count and a second tow width; passing said first tow into a tow spreading/commingling zone in said first tow lengthwise direction, said tow spreading/comingling zone having an inlet, an outlet, a left side, a right side, a top and a bottom, wherein said first tow is passed through said inlet at a feed speed; passing said second tow into said tow spreading/commingling zone in said second tow lengthwise direction wherein said second tow is passed through said inlet at said feed speed, said second tow being aligned above said first tow wherein said second tow does not contact said first tow; providing a grating located at the bottom of the spreading/comingling zone, said grating comprising a plurality of bars that extend parallel to each other between the left side and right side of said spreading/commingling zone; providing a first gas stream flowing in a direction from the top of said spreading/commingling zone to said bottom; contacting said first tow with said first gas stream in order to spread said first carbon filaments apart a sufficient distance to provide a spread first tow that has a spread first tow width, wherein the ratio of said spread first tow width to said first tow width is from 5:1 to 25:1; contacting said second tow with said first gas stream in order to spread said second carbon filaments apart a sufficient distance to provide a spread second tow that has a spread second tow width, wherein the ratio of said spread second tow width to said second tow width is from 15:1 to 40:1 and wherein the spread second tow width is greater than the first spread tow width; contacting said spread first tow with said spread second tow to form contacted spread tows; providing a second gas stream flowing in a direction from the top of said spreading/commingling zone to said bottom wherein said second gas stream flows through said grating; passing said contacted spread tows over said grating in the presence of said second gas stream to provide commingling of said first filaments with said second filaments to form an entangled tow which has an entangled tow width; and forming said entangled tow into a combined tow that has a combined tow width and combined filament count, wherein the ratio of said entangled tow width to said combined tow width is from 5:1 to 40:1 and wherein the combined filament count is greater than said first tow filament count or said second tow filament count. providing a first tow which comprises a plurality of first carbon filaments that extend in a first tow lengthwise direction, said first tow having a first tow filament count and a first tow width; providing a second tow which comprises a plurality of second carbon filaments that extend in a second tow lengthwise direction, said second tow having a second tow filament count and a second tow width; passing said first tow into a tow spreading/commingling zone in said first tow lengthwise direction, said tow spreading/comingling zone having an inlet, an outlet, a left side, a right side, a top and a bottom, wherein said first tow is passed through said inlet at a feed speed; passing said second tow into said tow spreading/commingling zone in said second tow lengthwise direction wherein said second tow is passed through said inlet at said feed speed, said second tow being aligned above said first tow wherein said second tow does not contact said first tow; providing a grating located at the bottom of the spreading/comingling zone, said grating comprising a plurality of bars that extend parallel to each other between the left side and right side of said spreading/commingling zone; providing a first gas stream flowing in a direction from the top of said spreading/commingling zone to said bottom; contacting said first tow with said first gas stream in order to spread said first carbon filaments apart a sufficient distance to provide a spread first tow that has a spread first tow width, wherein the ratio of said spread first tow width to said first tow width is from 5:1 to 25:1; contacting said second tow with said first gas stream in order to spread said second carbon filaments apart a sufficient distance to provide a spread second tow that has a spread second tow width, wherein the ratio of said spread second tow width to said second tow width is from 15:1 to 40:1 and wherein the spread second tow width is greater than the first spread tow width; contacting said spread first tow with said spread second tow to form contacted spread tows; providing a second gas stream flowing in a direction from the top of said spreading/commingling zone to said bottom wherein said second gas stream flows through said grating; passing said contacted spread tows over said grating in the presence of said second gas stream to provide commingling of said first filaments with said second filaments to form an entangled tow which has an entangled tow width; and forming said entangled tow into a combined tow that has a combined tow width and combined filament count, wherein the ratio of said entangled tow width to said combined tow width is from 5:1 to 40:1 and wherein the combined filament count is greater than said first tow filament count or said second tow filament count.