Tufted nonwoven fibrous web
AssigneeThe Dexter Corporation
InventorsBernard W. Conway, James Moran
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Abstract
A tufted nonwoven web material exhibiting high loft, bulk and absorbency is made by a papermaking technique using an apertured, plate-like, fiber collecting element having a structure appropriate to preventing entanglement between adjacent tufts prior to removal from the element. The tufted nonwoven fibrous web exhibits inwardly turned, spirally consolidated and entangled individual tuft head portions and substantially aligned and untwisted root portions interconnecting the head portion to the undisturbed planar main body of the web material.
Claims7
A tufted nonwoven water-laid fibrous web material exhibiting high loft, bulk, softness and absorbency comprised of a planar main body member of randomly arranged water dispersable fibers and a plurality of spaced unlooped fiber tufts integral with the main body member and extending freely from the surface thereof, the fibers within said planar body member exhibiting an orientation that is undisturbed from its as formed water-laid random configuration, said tufts being comprised of a puff-like head portion of consolidated fibers and a stem portion of substantially aligned fibers anchoring the head portion to the main body member, the fibers forming said stem portion having first ends extending into the main body member of the web material and opposite ends free of the main body and extending toward said head portion, the puff-like head portion being comprised of fibers spirally consolidated into a compressively resilient intorted and entangled bundle similar in appearance to a French knot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.