Patent ID: 7425245

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fibrous sheet, the method comprising the steps of bringing an elongate flexible element having a width of at least 2 mm into contact with a moving support surface, depositing fibres onto the support surface to form a fibrous sheet which travels in a machine direction, said support surface having spaced portions which prevent the substantial deposition of fibres at those portions and form windows at spaced locations in one surface of the sheet separated by fibrous bridges covering the elongate flexible element, the shape of the windows being defined by the raised portions, said windows being wider than a transverse width of the elongate flexible element, the deposition of fibres being carried out in such a manner that as fibres are deposited onto the support surface, the elongate element is incorporated in the sheet, with regions of the element at least partially exposed in said windows, wherein at least a leading edge of the spaced portions, and therefore the windows, is at an angle, in the plane of the sheet, which is not 90° to the machine direction, such that water which is squeezed out of the sheet during manufacture is channeled along the windows away from the bridges to prevent splitting of the bridges, the method further comprising the step of transferring the sheet from the support surface by means of a couch roll for further processing, wherein each of said spaced portions is positioned relative to adjacent spaced portions such that said couch roll is always supported by at least one of said raised portions and does not fall in troughs between adjacent spaced portions.