Patent ID: 7731876

Claim:
A method for spinning a multifilament thread from a thermoplastic material, the method comprising: extruding a melted thermoplastic material through a spinneret having a plurality of spinneret holes to form a filament bundle comprised of a plurality of filaments, winding the filaments as thread after solidifying, and cooling the filament bundle beneath the spinneret, the cooling being conducted in two steps, wherein a first step of the cooling is conducted in a first cooling zone and a second step of the cooling is conducted in a second cooling zone that is beneath the first cooling zone, wherein in the first cooling zone, the gaseous cooling medium is blown from a blowing device and a gaseous cooling medium flow is directed in such a way that it flows through the filament bundle transversely by sucking the gaseous cooling medium with a suction device after the gaseous cooling medium flows through the filament bundle, at least a portion of the filament bundle in the first cooling zone being disposed between the blowing device and the suction device, and wherein the gaseous cooling medium blown from the blowing device leaves the filament bundle substantially completely on a side opposite an inflow side within the first cooling zone, and wherein in the second cooling zone, the filament bundle is cooled further through self-suction of a gaseous cooling medium surrounding the filament bundle.