Abstract: An apparatus is provided for cooling and granulating strands of thermoplastic material. The apparatus has a chute located below nozzles for producing the strands, a cooling water inlet for supplying cooling water to the chute, a safety gate forming the lower end of the chute and positioned to receive the strands from the chute and pivotable away from the strands, a pair of draw-in feed advance rollers arranged downstream of the pivotal gate and a cutting roller arranged downstream of the draw-in rollers. A sensor is actuable by the pivotal movement of the safety gate to stop the draw-in rollers and the cutting roller in response to tilting of the gate.