Patent ID: RE39176

Claim:
A resin-impregnated endless belt for a long nip press or calender, or for other papermaking and paper-processing applications, said resin-impregnated endless belt comprising: a base fabric, said base fabric being in the form of an endless loop with an inner surface, an outer surface, a machine direction and a cross-machine direction, said base fabric having machine-direction (MD) structural elements and cross-machine-direction (CD) structural elements wherein at least some of said MD structural elements are spaced apart from one another by a distance in the range from 0.0625 inch to 0.5 inch (0.16 cm to 1.27 cm), and wherein at least some of said CD structural elements are spaced apart from one another by a distance in the range from 0.0625 inch to 0.5 inch (0.16 cm to 1.27 cm), said MD structural elements crossing said CD structural elements at a plurality of crossing points, said MD structural elements being joined to said CD structural elements at said crossing points; and a coating of a first polymeric resin on said inner surface of said base fabric, said coating impregnating and rendering said base fabric impermeable to liquids, and forming a layer on the inner surface thereof, said coating being smooth and providing said belt with a uniform thickness, wherein said base fabric is a woven structure, said MD structural elements being MD yarns and said CD structural elements being CD yarns, said MD yarns being woven with said CD yarns to form said woven structure, wherein said MD yarns are woven with said CD yarns in a plain weave, and wherein at least one of said MD yarns and said CD yarns are coated with a thermoplastic resin material, said thermoplastic resin material joining said MD yarns to said CD yarns at said crossing points upon application of a heat treatment on said base fabric after weaving.