Patent ID: 6964931

Claim:
A method of making a substantially continuous filament web, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of polymer extruders for supplying polymer streams of at least two different polymer compositions having differing melting points; providing a single spinneret assembly for receiving said polymer streams of at least two different polymer compositions, said single spinneret assembly including a plurality of orifices from which said polymer streams are extruded for formation substantially continuous filaments formed from said polymer compositions, wherein at least some of said substantially continuous filaments are formed as polymer filaments from a single one of said polymer compositions and other ones of said substantially continuous filaments are formed as polymer filaments from: a single different one of said polymer compositions, or plural ones of said polymer compositions, and thermal bonding said substantially continuous filaments to form said web, wherein the distribution of at least one of said polymer compositions within said spinneret assembly is selected to optimize selected physical characteristics of said web.