Nozzle for making meltblown filaments

An apparatus for making filaments, the apparatus comprising:

• a nozzle having a face extending in a longitudinal direction and transversely thereto in a transverse direction, the nozzle having melt openings and compressed-air openings on the face in a plurality of longitudinally extending rows and a plurality of transversely extending rows, all of the openings of alternate longitudinal rows being compressed-air openings and at least some of the openings of the longitudinal rows between the longitudinal rows wholly of compressed-air openings being melt openings, the melt openings in each of the longitudinal rows between the longitudinal rows wholly of compressed-air openings being separated longitudinally from one another by compressed-air openings;
• and
• means for supplying a polymer melt to the nozzle openings to extrude the polymer melt downstream from the melt openings as polymer filaments and for supplying compressed air to the compressed-air openings to form air jets issuing downstream from the compressed-air openings between the polymer filaments.