Patent ID: 6231928
Filing Date: 2001-05-15
Classification: B29C,B29D,B29L,D21F,D21G,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for manufacturing a resin-impregnated endless belt for a long nip press or calender of the shoe type, or for other papermaking and paper-processing applications, said method comprising the steps of:(a) providing an open base fabric in the form of an endless loop having an inner surface, an outer surface, a machine direction and a cross-machine direction;(b) providing a first roll and a second roll;(c) disposing said base fabric about said first and second rolls;(d) separating said first roll from said second roll to place said base fabric under tension in said machine direction;(e) providing a conveyor belt, said conveyor belt being entrained about a third roll and a fourth roll;(f) providing a sidewall adjacent to said conveyor belt;(g) disposing said conveyor belt and sidewall within said endless loop of said base fabric and adjacent to a lateral edge of said base fabric, said sidewall being inward of said conveyor belt relative to said lateral edge;(h) placing said conveyor belt at a preselected distance from said inner surface of said base fabric;(i) moving said base fabric, by rotating said first and second rolls, and moving said conveyor belt, by rotating said third and fourth rolls, at a common speed;(j) starting adjacent to said lateral edge of said base fabric, dispensing a polymeric resin onto said base fabric at a point over said conveyor belt from a dispenser in the form of a stream;(k) moving said conveyor belt, said sidewall and said dispenser transversely relative to said base fabric, said sidewall preventing said polymeric resin from flowing laterally relative to said base fabric, to apply said polymeric resin onto said base fabric in the form of a spiral of a preselected thickness to impregnate said base fabric therewith and to form a layer of said polymeric resin of a thickness equal to said preselected distance separating said conveyor belt from said inner surface of said base fabric on said inner surface; and(l) curing said polymeric resin when said base fabric is impregnated with said polymeric resin from said lateral edge completely thereacross.