Patent ID: 6881047

Claim:
A melt spinning apparatus for spinning continuous polymeric filament comprising: (a) a spinneret having a plurality of capillaries; (b) a polymer delivery system which is arrange to communicate with said spinneret and deliver molten polymer there through to produce a continuously moving array of molten polymeric filaments corresponding to the arrangement of capillaries in the spinneret; (c) a quench zone positioned positioned below said spinneret and arranged to receive and cool the array of molten filaments as they move through by passing a cooling gas inward with respect to the array of moving filaments; and (d) a finish applicator positioned inside or below the quench zone to apply an amount of finishing liquid to the array, wherein said finish applicator comprises: (i) a base plate having a peripheral edge which corresponds to the cross-section of the array of moving molten filaments; and (ii) a tapered shaped body portion, the tapered shaped body having an angle beta (β) in the range of about 45 degrees to about 170 degrees for smoothly deflecting accumulated quench air from inside the filament array to outside the array and having a top and bottom concentric therewith and connected to said base plate, wherein said bottom corresponds in shape to the shape defined by the peripheral edge of the base plate, and having a surface formed by a plurality of lines drawn between said top and said bottom tapering outwardly with respect to the direction of movement of the filament array.