Patent ID: 7824169

Claim:
An apparatus adapted to stretch a web of thermoplastic synthetic resin on a peripheral surface of a drum rotating in a machine direction, said apparatus comprising: said peripheral surface defined by a plurality of first stretching members arranged in a circumferential direction of said drum; and said drum provided around its rotating shaft with rotatable members adapted to rotate in synchronization with said drum and to be rotated in said direction in which said drum rotates wherein said rotatable members are provided with the same number of second stretching members associated with said first stretching members; wherein said first and second stretching members associated with one another have surfaces which are opposite to each other in a radial direction of said drum and defined by convex portions and concave portions extending in parallel to said shaft and alternately arranged in said circumferential direction of said drum in a complementary fashion to each other so that said surfaces of said first and second stretching members may be engaged with and disengaged from each other; and at least one of said first stretching member and said second stretching member is movable in said radial direction so that said first and second stretching members sandwiching said web are capable of being engaged with each other.