Wet crepe throughdry process for making absorbent sheet and novel fibrous product

A wet crepe, throughdry process for making sheet comprising the steps of:

• (a) depositing an aqueous fibrous furnish on a foraminous support;
• (b) compactively dewatering said furnish to form a web;
• (c) applying said dewatered web to a heated rotating cylinder and drying said web to a consistency of greater than about 30 percent and less than about 90 percent and
• (d) creping said web from said heated cylinder at said consistency of greater than about 30 percent and less than about 90 percent;
• (e) throughdrying said web subsequent to creping said web from said heated cylinder to form said sheet,
• wherein the furnish composition and processing of steps (a), (b) and (c), as well as the creping geometry, temperature profile of the web upon creping, moisture profile of the web upon creping, and web adherence to the heated rotated cylinder are controlled such that airflow trough said sheet exhibits a characteristic Reynolds Number of less than about 1 and a characteristic dimensionless throughdrying coefficient of from about 4 to about 10.

A method of making absorbent sheet from an aqueous cellulosic furnish comprising:

• (a) depositing said aqueous finish on a foraminous support to form a nascent web;
• (b) compactively dewatering said web in a transfer nip while transferring said web to a Yankee cylinder;
• (c) drying said web to a consistency of from about 30 to about 90 percent on said Yankee cylinder;
• (d) creping said web from said Yankee cylinder;
• (e) transferring said web over an open draw to a throughdrying fabric while aerodynamically supporting said web;
• (f) re-wetting said web with an aqueous composition;
• (g) wet molding said re-wet web on said throughdrying fabric;
• and
• (h) throughdrying said re-wet web wherein airflow through said sheet exhibits a characteristic Reynolds Number of less than about 1 and a characteristic dimensionless throughdrying coefficient of from about 4 to about 10.