Patent ID: 8268255

Claim:
A holding sealing material comprising: a plurality of mats having a longitudinal direction and comprising a lower mat and an upper mat laminated on the lower mat, each of said plurality of mats comprising inorganic fibers and having a substantially rectangular shape; a length of the lower mat in the longitudinal direction being longer than a length of the upper mat in the longitudinal direction; each of said plurality of mats being connected to each other at at least two fixed portions; the at least two fixed portions being positioned at different positions in the longitudinal direction; each of the at least two fixed portions being spaced apart from longer side faces of said plurality of mats; wherein at least one of a first shortest distance and a second shortest distance is longer than a stitch length; wherein the first shortest distance is a shortest distance between a first end portion of a fixed portion of the at least two fixed portions and a first longer side face of said plurality of mats, and the second shortest distance is a shortest distance between a second end portion of said fixed portion and a second longer side face of said plurality of mats; wherein each of the at least two fixed portions is formed by machine-sewing using a sewing thread; and wherein reverse stitches are provided on at least one of a starting point and an end point of the machine-sewing.