GB946693A - Reinforced nonwoven fabrics and methods and apparatus for making the same - Google Patents

Abstract

946,693. Laminates and laminating. CHICOPEE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION. Jan. 30, 1961, No. 3484/61. Heading B5N. A reinforced non-woven fabric comprises a fibrous web having groups of substantially parallel fibres 21, Fig. 7, arranged in a pattern of holes 22 and intertwined with each other, as at points 26, and with a reinforcement of open-mesh fabric of interwoven or adhesively connected warps and wefts 28, 29, or of longitudinal or lateral parallel threads, or of knitted, crocheted, or lace construction. The fibres may be wood fibres of 1-8 mm. length, or fibres, of 1-12 mm. or longer, of cotton, silk, wool vicuna, mohair, alpaca, flux, ramie, jute, abaca, or mineral or like fibres, e.g. of asbestos, glass, rook wool, or metal, or synthetic or man-made fibres, e.g. of regenerated cellulose, cellulose esters, polyamides, proteins, polythene, polypropylene, polyisobutylene, P.T.F.E., or polyesters, or nitrile, vinyl or acrylic fibres, or mixtures of any of the above. The fibres may also be such as are capable of curling, bending, stretching, shrinking or otherwise deforming after incorporation in the reinforced material. The reinforcement fabric may consist of any of the above fibres, and the threads thereof may be disposed diagonally. In a modification the reinforcement may be warpless, weft threads being laid manually on the fibrous web. The product may be made by passing a fluid, preferably water, through superposed webs of fibrous material and reinforcement, preferably while these are enclosed between foraminous sheets. As shown in Fig: 1 a web 34 of fabric reinforcement is forwarded by an endless belt 36 in contact with, or between, one or two fibrous webs 30, 30a, similarly forwarded. The combined web is passed between a foraminous endless belt 38, e.g. of nylon fabric or wire mesh, and a perforated drum 44, and is subjected to jets 54 of water which passes through the fibrous layer or layers whereby the fibres are carried between and around the threads of the reinforcement and spread out generally in the plane of the webs. The belt 38 is tensioned to compress the webs, and water is drawn off through a suction box 60. In a modification the drum 44 is replaced by a second perforated endless belt, the water jets being directed downwardly and the suction box being placed immediately beneath them on the underside of the belts. Specification 836,397 is referred to.