Claims
- 1. A method of forming a fibrous blanket comprising:
- providing a length of foraminous backing sheet for initiating formation of a fibrous blanket; forming said foraminous backing sheet into a tubular foraminous backing sheet; passing said tubular foraminous backing sheet between a rotary fiberizer disk for producing fibers and an annular suction chamber encircling said rotary fiberizer disk; pulling said tubular foraminous backing sheet downstream of said rotary fiberizer disk and said annular suction chamber to move said tubular foraminous backing sheet relative to said rotary fiberizer disk and said annular suction chamber;
- producing fibers with said rotary fiberizer disk and drawing air into said annular suction chamber through said tubular foraminous backing sheet to draw said fibers toward said tubular foraminous backing sheet and to collect said fibers on an inner surface of said tubular foraminous backing sheet as said tubular foraminous backing sheet moves relative to said rotary fiberizer disk and said annular suction chamber to initiate formation of a tubular blanket of said fibers on said inner surface of said tubular foraminous backing sheet;
- pulling said length of tubular foraminous backing sheet clear and downstream of said annular suction chamber; continuing to draw air into said annular suction chamber; collecting said fibers directly on an inner annular foraminous surface of said annular suction chamber to continue forming said tubular blanket of said fibers; and pulling said tubular blanket of said fibers in a downstream direction to move said tubular blanket of said fibers relative to and downstream of said rotary fiberizer disk and said annular suction chamber as said tubular blanket continues to be formed without the tubular foraminous backing sheet.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: said fibers are continuous thermoplastic fibers.
- 3. The method of claim 1, including: slitting said tubular blanket longitudinally and opening said tubular blanket to form a flat blanket.
- 4. The method of claim 1, including: applying a bonding agent to said fibers prior to the collection of said fibers into said tubular blanket to bond said fibers together.
- 5. The method of claim 4, including: slitting said tubular blanket longitudinally and opening said tubular blanket to form a flat blanket.
- 6. The method of claim 1, including: maintaining surfaces of said fibers at a temperature above the softening point of said fibers until said fibers are collected to form said tubular blanket whereby said surfaces are tacky and bond said fibers together.
- 7. The method of claim 6, including: slitting said tubular blanket longitudinally and opening said tubular blanket to form a flat blanket.
- 8. The method of claim 1, including: reducing the temperature of the surfaces of said fibers below the softening point of said fibers prior to the collection of said fibers into said tubular blanket.
- 9. The method of claim 8, including: slitting said tubular blanket longitudinally and opening said tubular blanket to form a flat blanket.
- 10. The method of claim 1, wherein: said fibers are collected as a tow of substantially continuous fibers in a very low pitch spiral with succeeding portions of the tow substantially completely overlapping preceding portions of the tow to form the tubular blanket.
- 11. The method of claim 10, including: slitting said tubular blanket longitudinally and opening said tubular blanket to form a flat blanket having the continuous fibers extending substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the flat blanket across the width of the flat blanket.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/242,220, filed May 13, 1994, pending.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
242220 |
May 1994 |
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