# US 2016/0354979 A1 · Unitary Deflection Member for Making Fibrous Structures Having Increased Surface Area and Process for Making Same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2016/0354979 A1 - Document ID: US20160354979A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/132,295 - Filed: 2016-04-19 - Published: 2016-12-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-05-01 - Assignees: The Procter & Gamble Company - Applicants: The Procter & Gamble Company - Inventors: John Allen Manifold; John Leslie Brent, JR.; James Michael Singer - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20160354979A1 ## CPC - B29C 64/118: using filamentary material being melted, e.g. fused deposition modelling [FDM] - B29C 64/106: using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material - B29C 64/112: using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads - B33Y 80/00: Products made by additive manufacturing - D04H 1/425: Cellulose series - D04H 1/732: by fluid current, e.g. air-lay - D04H 1/76: otherwise than in a plane, e.g. in a tubular way - D21F 1/009: {Fibre-rearranging devices} - D21F 7/086: {Substantially impermeable for transferring fibrous webs} - D21F 11/006: {Making patterned paper} - B33Y 10/00: Processes of additive manufacturing - B33Y 50/00: Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing - B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00) - B33Y: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING - D04H: MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL (weaving D03; knitting D04B; braiding D04C; net-making D04G; sewing D05B; tufting D05C; finishing non-woven fabrics D06); FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING {; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION}(non-woven fabrics having an intermediate or external layer of a different kind, e.g. of woven fabric, B32B) - D21F: PAPER-MAKING MACHINES; METHODS OF PRODUCING PAPER THEREON ## Abstract A unitary deflection member and a method for making a unitary deflection member is disclosed. The method can include the steps of: providing an additive manufacturing making apparatus; providing a material for the unitary deflection member, the material being compatible for use with the additive manufacturing making apparatus; generating a 3-D digital image of objects in a repeat element of the unitary deflection member, the objects including at least a reinforcing member and at least one protuberance of the unitary deflection member; assembling the objects into a digitized file including the at least one protuberance being on said reinforcing member; importing the digitized file to make numerical control file; and depositing the material using the additive manufacturing making apparatus to make the unitary deflection member. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for making a unitary deflection member, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing an additive manufacturing making apparatus; b. providing at least one material for the unitary deflection member, the material being compatible for use with the additive manufacturing making apparatus; c. generating a 3-D digital image of objects in a repeat element of the unitary deflection member, the objects including at least a reinforcing member and at least one protuberance of the unitary deflection member; d. optionally, assembling the objects into a digitized file including the at least one protuberance being on said reinforcing member; e. importing the digitized file to make a numerical control file of the additive manufacturing making apparatus; and f. depositing the material using the additive manufacturing making apparatus to make the unitary deflection member. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 1, wherein the additive manufacturing making apparatus is a 3-D printer. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 1, wherein the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member having at least two of said protuberances are adjacent one another and separated by a void defining a deflection conduit. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 1, wherein the objects further include transition portions and forming portions on said at least one protuberance, and the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member comprising a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances extending from said reinforcing member, at least two of said protuberances being similar in size and shape, each said protuberance having a transition portion having a transition portion width and a forming portion having a forming portion width, and wherein the transition portion width is less than the forming portion width. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 1, wherein the digitized file describes a reinforcing member defining an X-Y plane, and a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances, wherein each protuberance has a three-dimensional shape such that any cross-sectional area of the protuberance parallel to the X-Y plane has an equal or lesser area than any cross-sectional area of the protuberance being a greater distance from the X-Y plane in the Z-direction. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 5, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are discrete units disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration in both the MD and CD, each discrete unit having a cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional shape being selected from key-hole-shaped, mushroom-shaped, circular, oval, inverted triangle, T-shaped, inverted L-shaped, egg- or pebble-shaped, and combinations thereof. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 5, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration of discrete units in the X-Y plane and distributed in both the MD and CD in a regular, spaced pattern. ### Claim 8 A method for making a unitary deflection member, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing an additive manufacturing making apparatus; b. providing at least one material for the unitary deflection member, the material being compatible for use with the additive manufacturing making apparatus; c. generating a 3-D digital image of objects in an element of the unitary deflection member, the objects including at least a reinforcing member and at least one protuberance of the unitary deflection member; d. optionally, assembling the objects into a digitized file including the at least one protuberance being on said reinforcing member; e. importing the digitized file to make a numerical control file of the additive manufacturing making apparatus; and f. depositing the material using the additive manufacturing making apparatus to make the unitary deflection member. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 8, wherein the additive manufacturing making apparatus is a 3-D printer. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 8, wherein the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member having at least two of said protuberances are adjacent one another and separated by a void defining a deflection conduit. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 8, wherein the objects further include transition portions and forming portions on said at least one protuberance, and the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member comprising a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances extending from said reinforcing member, at least two of said protuberances being similar in size and shape, each said protuberance having a transition portion having a transition portion width and a forming portion having a forming portion width, and wherein the transition portion width is less than the forming portion width. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 8, wherein the digitized file describes a reinforcing member defining an X-Y plane, and a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances, wherein each protuberance has a three-dimensional shape such that any cross-sectional area of the protuberance parallel to the X-Y plane has an equal or lesser area than any cross-sectional area of the protuberance being a greater distance from the X-Y plane in the Z-direction. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 12, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are discrete units disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration in both the MD and CD, each discrete unit having a cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional shape being selected from key-hole-shaped, mushroom-shaped, circular, oval, inverted triangle, T-shaped, inverted L-shaped, egg- or pebble-shaped, and combinations thereof. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 12, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration of discrete units in the X-Y plane and distributed in both the MD and CD in a regular, spaced pattern. ### Claim 15 A method for making a unitary deflection member, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing 3-D printer apparatus; b. providing at least one material for the unitary deflection member, the material being compatible for use with the additive manufacturing making apparatus; c. generating a 3-D digital image of objects in an element of the unitary deflection member, the objects including at least a reinforcing member and at least one protuberance having transition portions and forming portions; d. optionally, assembling the objects into a digitized file including the at least one protuberance being on said reinforcing member; e. importing the digitized file to make a numerical control file of the additive manufacturing making apparatus; and f. depositing the material using the additive manufacturing making apparatus to make the unitary deflection member. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 15, wherein the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member having at least two of said protuberances are adjacent one another and separated by a void defining a deflection conduit. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 15, wherein the digitized file describes a unitary deflection member comprising a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances extending from said reinforcing member, at least two of said protuberances being similar in size and shape, each said protuberance having a transition portion having a transition portion width and a forming portion having a forming portion width, and wherein the transition portion width is less than the forming portion width. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 17, wherein the digitized file describes a reinforcing member defining an X-Y plane, and a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances, wherein each protuberance has a three-dimensional shape such that any cross-sectional area of the protuberance parallel to the X-Y plane has an equal or lesser area than any cross-sectional area of the protuberance being a greater distance from the X-Y plane in the Z-direction. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 17, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are discrete units disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration in both the MD and CD, each discrete unit having a cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional shape being selected from key-hole-shaped, mushroom-shaped, circular, oval, inverted triangle, T-shaped, inverted L-shaped, egg- or pebble-shaped, and combinations thereof. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The method for making a unitary deflection member of claim 17, wherein the plurality of regularly spaced protuberances are disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration of discrete units in the X-Y plane and distributed in both the MD and CD in a regular, spaced pattern.