Headbox for a paper machine

In stock flow alignment means for the headbox of a paper machine or the like, the combination of upstream and downstream apertured tube plates extending in the cross machine direction and spaced apart in the direction of stock flow, and a bank of laterally unsupported, composite tubes secured at their opposite ends in apertures in said respective tube plates and extending in the direction of stock flow, each of said composite tubes comprising a first tubular element of a given inner and outer diameter having one end secured in an aperture in said upstream tube plate and having a free end extending into the free end of a second tubular element with a greater inner diameter than the outer diameter of the first tubular element, the other end of said second tubular element being secured in an aperture in said downstream tube plate, and retaining means positioned between and retaining the overlapping free ends of each of said first and second tubular elements in telescoping, liquid tight relation to form a plurality of channels, each increasing stepwise in cross section in the direction of stock flow.