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US 4,590,114 AGranted
Stabilized absorbent structure containing thermoplastic fibers
AssigneePersonal Products Company
InventorDennis C. Holtman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A batt including a major percent of thermo-mechanical wood pulp fibers is stabilized by the inclusion of a minor percent of thermoplastic fibers, which latter fibers are heat fused to one another and to the thermo-mechanical wood pulp fibers at fiber intersections to provide a supporting network which inhibits collapse and agglomeration of the thermo-mechanical wood pulp fibers.
Claims21
A stabilized batt comprising:
- a batt of non-delignified wood pulp fibers, said fibers providing a plurality of fiber intersections throughout said batt;
- and a minor proportion of at least about five percent (5%) of bonding fibers consisting of thermoplastic fibers substantially evenly distributed throughout said batt and having been rendered tacky by heat to provide bond sites throughout the thickness of said batt, at least some of said bond sites being present at said fiber intersections to retain said non-delignified wood pulp fibers in a fiber network to thereby stabilize said batt.
The method of stabilizing a batt formed predominantly of non-delignified wood pulp fibers comprising the steps of:
- uniformly blending a minor amount of thermoplastic fibers with a major amount of non-delignified wood pulp fibers to form a web, and heating said web to a temperature sufficient to bond at least some of said thermoplastic fibers to one another and to at least some of said non-delignified wood pulp fibers at fiber intersections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.