Surface contoured press jacket for a shoe press

A press jacket in a shoe press in a press section of a paper making machine, wherein the press jacket moves in a travel direction between a sliding surface of a stationary shoe and a rotating counter roll and the counter roll forms a lengthened press nip with the slide surface of the shoe, the press jacket comprising:

• an elastomeric jacket material having an initially flat surface and an outer surface;
• reinforcement material being embedded in the elastomeric material of the press jacket and spaced away from the outer and the inner surfaces thereof;
• longitudinally extending grooves defined in the outer surface of the press jacket, as seen in a cross-section through the press jacket in the travel direction, the outer surface longitudinal grooves being spaced apart at intervals in the travel direction of the press jacket and each outer surface groove extending generally in the longitudinal direction and generally parallel to the axis of the press jacket and across the travel direction of the press jacket;
• the outer surface grooves in the press jacket being so placed and the elastomeric material of the press jacket being of such material and the reinforcement material being of such material and being so placed that upon the application of pressure to the inner surface of the press jacket by the press shoe, the inner surface is deformed by the pressure to assume a generally corrugated contour having a series of longitudinal grooves extending transversely to the direction of travel of the press jacket and the inner surface grooves having a depth of at most 0.25 mm, whereby the outer surface grooves are effectively transferred to the inner surface.