Dewatering box cover

A method of dewatering a fabric used in a papermaking process, comprising the steps of:

• passing the fabric traveling in a machine direction over a dewatering box, wherein the dewatering box comprises a dewatering box cover, and the dewatering box cover comprises:
• a main body having a leading edge, a trailing edge opposite the leading edge, a first side edge, a second side edge opposite the first side edge, a fabric surface, and a box surface, the fabric and box surfaces defining a thickness of the main body;
• and
• a plurality of sets of holes or slots formed within the main body and having one or more protrusions that extend that extend at least partially around a perimeter of the holes or slots and from about 1mm to about 15 mm above an fabric surface of the dewatering box cover,
• wherein the holes or slots within each set are aligned with one another along an imaginary line that is angled from 30° to 70° relative to the fabric surface plane in the direction of fabric flow and the holes or slots extend downwards through the thickness of the main body at an angle of 20° to 45° relative to a line perpendicular to the fabric surface plane, and
• wherein the dewatering box cover is positioned so that the leading edge of the dewatering box cover is upstream in the machine direction relative to the trailing edge.