variable speed roller mounted externally of the fabric the flat contact plate may extend for substantially the full width of the fabric and indeed can theoretically extend right up to the wire entry frame in a typical commercial embodiment however a reasonable degree of width adjustment is accommodated by providing a contact plate which is a slightly narrower than the maximum width setting of the spreader for that plate it is contemplated in this respect that any discontinuity in the control contact with the fabric be minimized by the provision of a series of contact plates in increments of about 5 mm in some instances it may be advantageous to provide for positive control contact with the fabric at the edge extremities of the spreader frame in such cases an arrangement as shown in fig5 may be utilized in the modified arrangement the plate mounting bracket 140 adjustably receives a contact plate 143 substantially in the manner described with respect to the apparatus of fig1 4 however the contact plate 143 is slightly shorter than the plate 43 in a typical case being perhaps 5 cm shorter in length measured in the transverse direction of the machine at the side edge extremities of the mounting brackets 140 are auxiliary contact plate sections 143a which are of the same cross section as the primary contact plate 143 but of relatively narrow width typically about 5 cm measured.