Buffing tools and methods of making

#This invention relates generally as indicated to a buffing tools and methods of making such tools, and more particularly to buffing tools having improved fabric or cloth greatly enhancing the efficiency, useful life, and productivity of the tool.

#Buffing tools probably are embodied most commonly in the form of a wheel. The wheel includes one or more discs or plates providing an arbor hole. The cloth or fabric is secured to and projects radially from the discs. The projecting edge of the fabric is the working face of the tool. Several layers or plys of fabric may be provided for each wheel and the fabric may be folded, bunched, puckered, or pleated so that the fabric edge zig-zags back and forth at the face, and the working face of the tool may be substantial axially wider than the discs or plates, from which the fabric projects.

#The wheels may be stacked on arbors with or without spacers to form buffing rolls or units which are mounted to the required axial length. The rolls may be of substantial axial length.

#FIG. 1 illustrates one form of apparatus for making the topographical fabric of the present invention using a moving topographical belt;

#FIG. 2 illustrates another form of apparatus for making the topographical fabric of the present invention using a rotating topographical drum;

#FIG. 3 is an illustration of a mini-herringbone topographical light weight high strength fabric used to form the tools of the present invention;

#Referring initially to FIG. 1 there is illustrated one form of apparatus for making the non-woven fabric of the present invention. The apparatus shown generally at 20 comprises a porous topographical belt 21 which is trained over two rolls indicated at 22 and 23. The selected fibers from bales are passed through a carding machine to form a relatively thick and somewhat lofty fleece layer of fibers shown generally at 25 passing onto the upper surface of the topographical belt 21. The continuously moving foraminous topographical belt supports the layer or fleece of fibers. The fleece initially passes beneath a nozzle 26 which wets the fleece. After being soaked the fleece passes beneath a series of spray boxes seen at 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 to which water under pressure is fed by manifold 35 from source 36. Each spray box includes a pressure adjustment valve 37 so that the pressure of the water within the boxes may be controlled.

#A vacuum manifold shown generally at 40 is positioned beneath the upper reach of the topographical belt below the spray boxes and removes excess water from the fabric being formed as it is subjected to the hydroentanglement process. The fabric is moving in the direction of the arrow 42 which is known as the machine direction (MD) of the fabric. The direction normal to the viewer in FIG. 1 is known as the cross-direction (CD).

#Each of the spray boxes has one or more rows of very fine diameter orifices, such as on the order of about 0.005 to about 0.008 inches with thirty or more orifices per inch in each row. Water is supplied to the spray boxes under a selected pressure and is ejected from the orifices in the form of a very fine substantially columnar non-diverging stream or jet as shown at 44. Preferably the jet pressure of the hydroentanglement process increases as the fibers move from right to left in FIG. 1. For example the pressure may increase from about 100 psi to in excess of 1,000 psi.