Patent ID: 6175996
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: D04H,D21F

Abstract:
A method of forming a papermakers' felt, comprising the steps of:providing a needle loom having a needle board, a plurality of needles mounted on the needle board, and a needle motion unit that moves the needle board such that the needles mounted thereon travel on a predetermined path, wherein the predetermined path includes upward and downward segments, and wherein each of the upward and downward segments includes both forward and rearward motion;continuously conveying a base fabric and a batt web overlying the base fabric in a first direction past the needle board, the base fabric including a first set of machine direction yarns and a first set of cross machine direction yarns interwoven with the first set of machine direction yarns in a predetermine repeating pattern, the batt web comprising batt fibers; andinserting batt fibers from the batt web into the base fabric with the plurality of needles as the base fabric is conveyed past the needle board and as the needle board travels along the predetermined path to form a batt layer attached to and overlying the base fabric.