Patent ID: 8268256

Claim:
A holding sealing material comprising: a plurality of mats having a longitudinal direction and first and second longer side faces along the longitudinal direction and comprising a lower mat and an upper mat laminated on the lower mat, each of said plurality of mats comprising inorganic fibers and having a substantially rectangular shape; a length of the lower mat in the longitudinal direction being longer than a length of the upper mat in the longitudinal direction; each of said plurality of mats being connected to each other at a fixed portion which extends substantially along a width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said plurality of mats; the fixed portion having a first end portion and a second end portion in the width direction, the first end portion being on a side of the first longer side face, the second end portion being on a side of the second longer side face, the first end portion and the second end portion being spaced apart from the first longer side face and the second longer side face, respectively; wherein at least one of a first shortest distance and a second shortest distance is longer than a stitch length; wherein the first shortest distance is a shortest distance between the first end portion of said fixed portion and the first longer side face of said plurality of mats, and the second shortest distance is a shortest distance between the second end portion of said fixed portion and the second longer side face of said plurality of mats; wherein said fixed portion is formed by machine-sewing using a sewing thread; and wherein reverse stitches are provided on at least one of a starting point and an end point of the machine-sewing.