15 is quite elongated and extends approximately the entire horizontal width of the web 11 or of the screen 14 as is best seen in fig2 the top portion of the screen 14 upon which the web 11 is formed is adapted to move forwardly from the slice 15 toward a couch roller 16 as the screen 14 begins to move downwardly about the couch roller 16 and thence back toward the head box 12 the web 11 is delivered from the screen 14 to a plurality of web engaging rollers 18 which may comprise a part of the dryer section of the papermaking machine 10 while the web 11 is advancing on the screen 14 away from the slice 15 i e in the downstream direction excess water is permitted to drip through the screen 14 the couch roller 16 may be adapted to remove additional water from the web 11 as by applying a vacuum through the screen 15 to the underside of the web 11 in accordance with one aspect of the invention the slice 15 varies in vertical width at spaced locations along the horizontal width of the web 11 such that additional quantities of pulp are permitted to flow through the slice 15 to form regions or continuous bands 20 of increased thickness in the web 11 as compared to the normal thickness portions 21 since the increased thickness regions 20 are simultaneously formed with the normal thickness portions 21.