Patent ID: 7780818

Claim:
A suction tube for mounting beneath a permeable belt on a wet forming machine or a binder application section, the suction tube comprising a tube, a suction slot in a top portion of the tube, the suction slot located to be in contact with a permeable forming wire or a binder section permeable wire and the length of the suction slot being at least 3.6 meters long, the suction tube having one opening in one side of the suction tube, the opening having a shape having one dimension longer than the other dimension with the width of the opening being at least about 4 to 8 times the height of the opening and at least about 20 percent of the length of the suction slot, a centerline, perpendicular to the length of the suction tube, of the opening being generally aligned, within about 15 cm, with a centerline, perpendicular to the length of the suction slot, of the suction slot, the area of the opening being about 3.67+/−0.3 times the area of the suction slot.