Patent ID: 6881288

Claim:
A method of preparing a reinforcing structure for use in manufacture a pultruded part where the reinforcing structure is attached to a plurality of longitudinal rovings and pulled through a pultrusion die along a continuous longitudinal pull direction, the method of making the reinforcing structure comprising the steps of: arranging a plurality of first reinforcing fibers in a direction generally transverse to the longitudinal pull direction in a generally planar, non-overlapping configuration so that the first reinforcing fibers do not extend over or cover one another; arranging a plurality of second reinforcing fibers in a direction different than the direction of the first reinforcing fibers and in a generally planar, non-overlapping configuration so that the second reinforcing fibers do not extend over or cover one another; and bonding a permeable transport web of staple fibers to the first and second reinforcing fibers to provide longitudinal strength, shear strength and anti-skew properties sufficient to substantially maintain the relative orientations of the first and second reinforcing fibers when subjected to the pulling forces encountered during pultrusion, so that the reinforcing structure has a thickness of about 0.020 inches and the portion of the first reinforcing fibers oriented in the direction generally transverse to the longitudinal direction comprises at least 40% of a total volume of materials comprising the reinforcing structure.