Soft batt insulation material and method for making
OwnerPriscilla Burgess, Joe Pozziinventors
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Abstract
An article of manufacture and a method of manufacturing a soft batt insulation material. The article of manufacture comprises fibers having crimps and surface features such as scales that provide a batt structure which is resiliently compressible. Fiber treatments provide fire, pest, fungus, and mold resistance. The treatments can be to the surface or to the internal structure of the fiber. The insulation batts are comprised of one or more layers of intermeshed fibers. The fibers can be wool or other protein based hair. The batts can include a restrainment structure that limits that expansion of the batts.
Claims21
A method of manufacturing a resiliently compactable insulation batt comprising the steps in the following order:
- soaking fibers in a solution of treatment chemicals comprising a flame retardant, pesticide, fungicide, or a combination thereof,
- wherein the fibers are soaked for more than three seconds at a solution temperature of 60 to 160 degrees F.,
- wherein when the fibers are dry, the fibers contains 0.2 to 15 percent by weight of the treatment chemicals,
- wherein the fibers are free of oils before treatment,
- and
- wherein the fibers have surface irregularities and/or crimps that impede the fibers from sliding over the other fibers;
- drying the fibers;
- and
- forming the fibers into a sheet of intermeshed fibers with substantially even density thereby forming a batt sheet;
- wherein the method does not add a binding agent to the fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.