Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for the combining of strands comprises swinging a hollow shaft about an axis without rotating this shaft while guiding the strands to an assembly point substantially at the pivot of the shaft. The strands are then spread to pass through a cluster of holes on a distributor plate carried by the shaft before being collected again at a closing point, the points lying substantially along a straight line including an acute angle with the axis about which the cycloidal path is generated.