초록 ▼

A lofted mat of filaments is produced from process and apparatus including: supplying a plurality of streams of molten polymeric material; attenuating said streams of material into continous filaments through the action of a stream of fluid moving from an attenuation means; said filaments being entr

A lofted mat of filaments is produced from process and apparatus including: supplying a plurality of streams of molten polymeric material; attenuating said streams of material into continous filaments through the action of a stream of fluid moving from an attenuation means; said filaments being entrained in said fluid moving from said attenuation means, said filaments having non-uniform residual stresses established therein; moving said stream of fluid and filaments along a first surface positioned intermediate said attenuation means and a foraminous surface; establishing a vacuum at said foraminous surface; directing said stream of fluid and filaments into said foraminous surface obliquely oriented with respect to said first surface such that a first portion of said fluid separates from the filaments and passes through said foraminous surface and a second portion of said fluid moves said filaments along the foraminous surface; collecting said filaments in a randomly dispersed, substantially uniform layer having a first thickness; passing said layer through crimp inducing means adapted to permit said unbalanced, residual stresses to randomly crimp said filaments to form said lofted mat having a second thickness greater than said first thickness.

대표청구항 ▼

The method of forming a lofted mat comprising: supplying a plurality of streams of polymeric material; attenuating said streams of material into filaments through the action of a stream of fluid moving from an attenuation means; said filaments being entrained in said fluid moving from said attenuati

The method of forming a lofted mat comprising: supplying a plurality of streams of polymeric material; attenuating said streams of material into filaments through the action of a stream of fluid moving from an attenuation means; said filaments being entrained in said fluid moving from said attenuation means, said filaments having non-uniform, residual stresses established therein; moving said stream of fluid and filaments along a first surface positioned intermediate said attenuation means and a foraminous surface; directing said stream of fluid and filaments into said foraminous surface obliquely oriented with respect to said first surface such that a first portion of said fluid separates from the filaments and passes through said foraminous surface and a second portion of said fluid moves said filaments along the foraminous surface: controlling the relative amounts of said first portion and said second portion of the fluid separating at the foraminous surface to control the movement of the filaments therealong; collecting said filaments in a randomly dispersed, substantially uniform layer having a first thickness; passing said layer through crimp inducing means adapted to permit said residual stresses to release to crimp said filaments to form said lofted mat having a generally uniform second thickness greater than said first thickness.