International Paper Company

Timothy J Connolly

Herschel Sternlieb

J Michael Greenway

Jodie M Siegel

Arlene T Simon

John M Greenway

Walter E Schortmann

Dennis Metrick

D A Parker

Duane A Parker

Peter Mancini

An hydropatterning apparatus conveys a sheet of fabric through a patterning station along a machine direction on a conveyor, preferably a drum, having a support surface formed with a pattern of raised or solid areas and lowered or void areas, and has one or more manifolds of hydrojet nozzles disposed above the conveyor for directing a continuous curtain of fluid downwardly to impact on the fabric so that properties of the fabric become altered in correspondence to the pattern of the support surface. The hydropatterning technique is used to emboss the screen pattern into the nap of napped fabric in order to produce aesthetically pleasing surface textures and patterns in the napped fabric, such as a fur-like surface texture. The technique can also be used for displacement of yarn or fiber to obtain three-dimensional effects such as ribbing, wavy lines, checkering, geometric or floral designs, or lacework.

Method for hydropatterning napped fabric

Apparatus and method for hydropatterning fabric

An apparatus and related process for entangling a staple fibrous web which employs divergent fluid jets. The web is advanced through an entangling station on a conveying means which supports an entangling member having a symmetrical pattern of fluid pervious void areas. The divergent jet sprays which are disposed above the entangling member direct a continuous curtain of fluid onto the web, coacting with the entangling member to entangle web fibers into a coherent lattice structure. The divergent jet sprays are provided by nozzles having wide orifice diameters which accommodate less complex fluid recirculation and filtration systems than employed in prior art columnar jet processes.

Apparatus for producing symmetrical fluid entangled non-woven fabrics

Growing community of inventors

Norwood, MA, United States of America

Timothy J Connolly