Abstract: The manufacture of yarn is disclosed by a machine which coats a filament with synthetic plastics material and then applies discrete textile fibres to the tacky layer. The fibres are obtained by tearing a sliver using toothed wheels. All those parts of the machine which are not essentially in the same environment as the wheels are on the opposite side of partitioning to the wheels. Thus the parts which are separated from the wheels by the partitioning are in a substantially fibre free atmosphere, and can be in a closed, pressurized room thus minimising the flow of fibres to these parts.