Composite yarn and its manufacture

A method of manufacturing comingled yarn of reinforcing and thermofusible fibers comprising:

• feeding a tow of thermofusible fibers from a first spool over and under a series of single guide rollers positioned to define a path in which the tow of thermofusible fibers is spread along a width of the path and to a blending roller, wherein the tow of thermofusible fibers is fed at a first tension;
• spreading the tow of thermofusible fibers through application of only static electricity to charge the tow of thermofusible fibers to induce electrostatic repulsion between individual fibers of the tow of thermofusible fibers to form spread thermofusible fibers;
• feeding a tow of reinforcing fibers from a second spool to the blending roller, wherein the tow of reinforcing fibers is fed at a second tension that is ten times greater than the first tension;
• spreading the tow of reinforcing fibers between the second spool and the blending roller by applying a first flow of air over the tow of reinforcing fibers to urge the tow of reinforcing fibers against first and second supporting surfaces over which reinforcing fibers of the tow of reinforcing fibers pass on a path to the blending roller to form spread reinforcing fibers;
• and
• combining the spread thermofusible and spread reinforcing fibers at the blending roller, wherein the blending roller has a linear speed of motion that is less than a speed at which the tow of thermofusible fibers and the tow of reinforcing fibers are fed to the blending roller.