Patent ID: 7494563
Filing Date: 2009-02-24
Classification: D21F,D21H,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An absorbent cellulosic sheet having variable local basis weight comprising a patterned papermaking-fiber reticulum provided with: (a) a plurality of generally machine direction (MD) oriented elongated densified regions of compressed papermaking fibers having a relatively low local basis weight as well as leading and trailing edges, the densified regions being arranged in a repeating pattern of a plurality of generally parallel linear arrays which are longitudinally staggered with respect to each other such that a plurality of intervening linear arrays are disposed between a pair of CD-aligned densified regions; and (b) a plurality of fiber-enriched, pileated regions having a relatively high local basis weight interspersed between and connected with the densified regions, the pileated regions having crests extending generally in the cross-machine direction of the sheet; wherein the generally parallel, longitudinal arrays of densified regions are positioned and configured such that a fiber-enriched region between a pair of CD-aligned densified regions extends in the CD unobstructed by leading or trailing edges of densified regions of at least one intervening linear array thereof, and wherein the sheet has a void volume of equal to or greater than 7 grams/gram and up to 15 grams/gram.