Abstract: Process for cooling a freshly extruded, incompletely solidified foil of a thermoplastic polymer by extruding said foil into a liquid cooling bath and directing against said foil below the bath surface along a line extending the entire width of said foil at least one narrow, unbroken stream of cooling liquid. The stream(s) respectively are directed angularly against a side of said foil at right angles thereto or in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of said foil into said bath, i.e., at an angle between 0.degree. and 60.degree. relative to a plane which is normal to said foil. The apparatus embodies an extrusion nozzle for extruding the foil downwardly into a body of cooling liquid in a tank directly below said nozzle. One or more tubes are normally immersed in said body of liquid and extend longitudinally parallel to and in juxtaposition to the foil entering said body of cooling liquid and also parallel to the upper surface of the cooling liquid.

Abstract: A generally cylindrical supporting body rigid with a rotating drive shaft carries an axially slidable sleeve controlling the selective entrainment of a pair of flanking gears through respective clutches interposed between these gears and the body, each clutch comprising an annular pressure plate limitedly rotatable and axially slidable with reference to the body. Rollers journaled on radial pins along the periphery of the supporting body coact with respective cam tracks of the plate surfaces to urge either of these plates toward the adjoining gear, thereby engaging the interposed clutch, upon retardation of the plate with reference to the body by incipient contact of the corresponding clutch elements.