Method of manufacturing a tow band

A method of manufacturing a tow band, comprising:

• a filament spinning step of spinning a plurality of filaments by extruding a spinning dope through a plurality of spinning holes, respectively;
• and
• a tow band forming step of forming a tow band by bundling the plurality of filaments together to form a yarn and crimping the yarn by a crimper, wherein
• each of the filaments spun in the filament spinning step has a filament denier of not less than 6.0 and not more than 11.0,
• the crimper includes:
• a pair of rollers pivotally supported such that peripheral surfaces of the respective rollers face each other;
• a pair of plate-shaped members positioned following the pair of rollers in a feeding direction of the yarn, the plate-shaped members being placed such that a gap is formed therebetween and such that plate surfaces of the respective plate-shaped members face each other;
• and
• an urging member disposed in the gap, the urging member urging the yam such that the yarn is pressed on the plate surface of one of the pair of plate-shaped members,
• in the tow band forming step, settings are made such that the tow band formed in the tow band forming step has a total denier of not less than 5,000 and not more than 15,000, and a Cv value of the number of crimps of the tow band is not more than 4%, and
• the settings made in the tow band forming step include:
• disposing at least a part of one of the pair of plate-shaped members, the part being adjacent to the pair of rollers, such that the gap increases gradually in the feeding direction of the yarn;
• disposing the one of the pair of plate-shaped members to form a slope that extends in the feeding direction of the yam and that is inclined relative to the feeding direction by an inclination angle greater than 0° and less than 4°;
• setting a smallest gap between the pair of plate-shaped members at the part of the one of the pair of plate-shaped members, the part being adjacent to the pair of rollers, to be not less than 2 mm and not more than 7 mm;
• and
• setting a gap between the pair of rollers to be not less than 2 mm and not more than 5 mm.