The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 15, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1996
Ruth L Levy, Sugar Hill, GA (US);
Ann L McCormack, Cumming, GA (US);
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Neenah, WI (US);
Abstract
There is provided herein a ribbed clothlike nonwoven fabric made by a method comprising the steps of providing a nonwoven web of thermoplastic polymer of staple length or longer fibers or filaments having a pattern of fused bond areas wherein the pattern has at least one space and at least one unit width, as defined herein, in a ratio of at least 0.30, and then extending the web up to less than the breaking point of the fibers or filaments in at least one direction. The product which is thereby produced is a ribbed clothlike nonwoven fabric comprising a web of thermoplastic polymer of staple length or longer fibers or filaments having a pattern of fused bond areas wherein the pattern has space and unit width in a ratio of at least 0.30, and wherein the fabric has been extended up to less than the breaking point of the fibers or filaments in at least one direction so as to produce ribs. The stretching may be accompanied by heating by methods known in the art to a temperature ranging from greater than the polymer's alpha-transition temperature to about 10 percent below the onset of melting at a liquid fraction of 5 percent.