Patent ID: 8381376

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fibrous structure, the method comprising: fixedly mounting a former onto a shaft, said shaft having a longitudinal axis; rotating said shaft about said longitudinal axis; providing a plurality of first feeds of fibrous material, each of said plurality of first feed having the fibrous material in a continuous form, said plurality of first feeds being spaced from each other along a length of said shaft; providing a second feed of fibrous material; continuously applying said plurality of first feeds of fibrous material to said former in a direction tangential to said shaft as said shaft is rotated; applying said second feed of fibrous material to said former in a direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis of said shaft, the fibrous material in the first feed and the second feed overlying one another as said shaft rotates and a thickness of the fibrous material applied to the former increases to form the fibrous structure; and causing selected lengths of the first or second feeds to be inserted into the fibrous structure in a radial direction with respect to said shaft as said shaft rotates to interconnect overlying layers formed by the first and second feeds so as to hold the fibrous structure together.