Apparatus for manufacturing non-woven fabric and method of manufacturing non-woven fabric

A method of manufacturing a non-woven fabric, the method comprising:

• using a diffusing shaft including:
• a first shaft portion disposed at an upper side of the shaft and provided with a slit-shaped air guide in which a longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped air guide is a machine width direction, wherein filaments are supplied together with air from an inlet side of the air guide to an outlet side of the air guide, and wherein the first shaft portion is configured so that an opening width along a machine direction of the first shaft portion gradually increases from the inlet side of the air guide towards the outlet side of the air guide;
• a second shaft portion disposed at a lower side of the shaft, having an inlet side that is communicated with an outlet side of the first shaft portion and an outlet side that is disposed to face a collecting unit that collects the filaments, wherein an opening width along a machine direction of the inlet side of the second shaft portion is larger than an opening width along a machine direction of the outlet side of the first shaft portion, and wherein the second shaft portion is configured so that the opening width along a machine direction of the second shaft portion gradually increases from the inlet side of the air guide towards the outlet side of the air guide;
• and a stepped portion provided at a connecting portion between the outlet side of the first shaft portion and the inlet side of the second shaft portion and connecting the outlet side of the first shaft portion to the inlet side of the second shaft portion in a manner in which a centerline along the machine direction of the second shaft portion is biased at one side along the machine direction relative to a centerline along the machine direction of the first shaft portion;
• and
• supplying the filaments together with the air from the inlet side of the first shaft portion, and collecting and depositing the filaments, which are jetted from the outlet side of the second shaft portion, in the collecting unit to produce a web to be manufactured into a non-woven fabric.