Patent ID: 7381665

Claim:
A press felt for papermaking comprising a base body and a fibrous assembly, said press felt having a wet paper web contact surface and a machine contact surface, and including a layer of a three-dimensional knitted fabric comprising first and second pieces of fabric, both having openings, and connecting fibers connecting the first and second pieces of fabric, the three-dimensional knitted fabric being provided within said press felt at a distance from both the wet paper web contact surface and the machine contact surface and the first piece of fabric having a surface facing said wet paper web contact surface and being closer than the second piece of fabric to the wet paper web contact surface, and at least some of said connecting fibers connecting said first and second pieces of fabric diagonally, in which the openings of said first piece of fabric occupy not more than 50 percent of the area of said surface facing the wet paper web contact surface, and in which the maximum dimension of said openings, in directions parallel to said surface facing the wet paper web contact surface, is not greater than 0.03 cm 2 .