Wet spinning process

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR WET-SPINNING A SOLUTION OF A FILAMENTFORMING MATERIAL WHEREBY THE AMOUNT OF SPLINTERS IN THE RESULTING FILAMENTS IS MARKEDLY REDUCED, WHICH PROCESS COMPRISES EXTRUDING SAID SOLUTION AT A LINEAR VELOCITY OF ABOUT 5 TO 50 METERS PER MINUTE INTO A SPIN BATH EXERTING A SWELLING ACTION THEREON TO FORM A PARTIALLY COAGULATED SWOLLEN FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, PASSING SAID SPIN BATH AND PARTIALLY COAGULATED FILAMENTARY MATERIAL THROUGH A FIRST ZONE IN WHICH SAID SPIN BATH TRAVELS AT A GREATER LINEAR SPEED THAN THE LINEAR SPEED OF SAID PARTIALLY COAGULATED FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, PASSING SAID SPIN BATH AND SAID PARTIALLY COAGULATED FILAMENTARY MATERIAL THROUGH A SECOND ZONE IN WHICH SAID SPIN BATH TRAVELS AT A LINEAR SPEED LESS THAN THAT OF SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, PASSING SAID SPIN BATH AND SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL THROUGH A THIRD ZONE IN WHICH SAID SPIN BATH TRAVELS AT A GREATER LINEAR SPEED THAN THAT OF SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, PASSING SAID SPIN BATH AND FILAMENTARY MATERIAL THROUGH A FOURTH ZONE IN WHICH SAID SPIN BATH TRAVELS AT A LINEAR SPEED LESS THAN THAT OF SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, AND WITHDRAWING SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL FROM SAID COLUMN AT A SPEED RANGING FROM ABOUT 3 TO 30 TIMES THE EXTRUSION SPEED, SAID SPIN BATH TRAVELLING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL IN SAID ZONES, THE LINEAR VELOCITY OF SAID SPIN BATH IN SAID FIRST AND THIRD ZONES BEING ABOUT 40 TO 90% OF SAID WITHDRAWAL SPEED AND AT LEAST TWICE SAID LINEAR VELOCITY OF EXTRUSION, THE LINEAR SPEED OF THE FILAMENTARY MATERIAL BEING AT LEAST 5 METERS PER MINUTE GREATER THAN THE LINERAR VELOCITY OF THE PSIN BATH IN SAID SECOND AND FOURTH ZONES.