Method for stabilizing a moving low-strength sheet

A method of stabilizing a moving low-strength sheet having a width and a top surface, which moving sheet is moving a first direction at a rate sufficient to impart a layer of air adjacent to a surface of the sheet a momentum which is in the direction of motion thereof, giving rise to an entrained boundary layer of air, which method comprises:

• transferring the sheet in a first direction over an open draw from a first supported location to a second supported location at a rate sufficient to entrain air;
• and
• passing the sheet under an apparatus located in the open draw, the apparatus comprising an airfoil extending along the top surface of the sheet, which airfoil comprises:
• a bottom surface extending;
• along a portion of the top surface of the sheet;
• a first surface extending a first distance from the bottom surface at a first juncture;
• a second surface extending a second distance from the bottom surface at a second juncture;
• and
• a top surface extending from the first surface at a third juncture to the second surface at a fourth juncture;
• and
• a deflector positioned near the first surface of the airfoil, which deflector directs the substantial portion of entrained boundary layer of air in a desired direction, in which:
• the first distance is less than the second distance;
• the apparatus is oriented in a manner such that the portion of the apparatus which first encounters the entrained boundary layer of air is the first surface of the airfoil;
• and
• the first surface is directing a substantial portion of the entrained boundary layer of air away from the sheet.