the molten thermoplastic is fed under pressure into a head 6 having a plurality of lines and rows of orifices or spinnerets causing extrusion of a plurality or bundle of spaced filaments 8 the filaments are introduced into the inlet opening 12 of a slot draw attenuator 10 the attenuator 10 comprises a downwardly tapering passage and a high velocity flow of air is also forced downwardly causing elongation or attenuation of the filaments which are shown beyond the exit 14 of the slot 10 at 16 upon exit from the slot device 10 the solid filaments are free of any substantial tension and are deposited on a moving conveyor 18 to form a continuous web 20 the web 20 is typically further processed such as by bonding and by rolling up into a finished roll the present invention is not limited to any particular method of filament formation as long as the filaments to be processed are arranged in a generally parallel arrangement and preferably in one or more lines such as is available from the slot drawing device as will be described hereinafter in detail the electrostatic treatment of the filaments can take place in a zone after the filaments have been completely attenuated and are not under any significant tension the invention is also applicable to any polymer capable of being spun into filaments and capable of holding an electrostatic charge with polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene and polyesters being most commonly employed as shown in fig1 3 an electrode bar 22 made of a high dieletric material such as a polycarbonate resin is positioned beyond or beneath the slot exit 14 and is coextensive with the width of the row of filaments 16 the bar 22 has an electrode face.