Method and apparatus for producing nonwoven webs

Claim 2

AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR FORMING AN ELONGATED WIDE UNITARY COHERENT NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE FROM A PLURALITY OF ELECTROSTATICALLY CHARGED FIBROUS ELEMENTS CARRIED IN AN ELASTIC FLUID MEDIUM, SIAD PROCESS COMPRISING FORMING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE MOVING STREAMS EACH COMPRISING AN FIBROUS ELEMENTS, DIRECTING SAID STREAMS IN LATERALLY ALIGNED RELATIONSHIP IN PARALLEL INITIAL LINES OF DIRECTION INTO AN ELASTIC FLUID ATMOSPHERE AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED FIRST POSITIONS, SIMULTANEOUSLY AT EACH OF SAID FIRST POSITIONS, AERODYNAMICALLY LATERALLY DIVERTING AND OSCILLATING EACH OF A FIRST GROUP OF SAIDPLURALITY OF MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY ALIGNED DIVERGING PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED SECOND POSITIONS TO FORM AT FIRST ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID SECOND POSITIONS, OSCILLATING EACH OF A SECOND GROUP OF SAID PLURALITY OF MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY ALIGNED DIVERGING PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED THIRD POSITIONS TO FORM A SECOND ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID THIRD POSITIONS, SAID SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE SPACED FROM SAID FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE, COLLECTING THE FIBROUS ELEMENTS FROM THE LATERALLY ALIGNED OVERLAPPING PATTERNS IN SAID FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE IN THE FORM OF A PLURALITY OF CONTINOUS LATERALLY INTERLACED ELONGATED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE, CONTINROUSLY MOVING SAID WEB STRUCTURE FROM SAID FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE AT A UNIFORM SPEED THROUGH SAID SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE, COLLECTING THE FIBROUS ELEMENTS FROM THE LATERALLY ALIGNED OVERLAPPING PATTERNS IN SAID SECOND ZONE IN THE FORM OF A PLURALITY OF CONTINOUS LATERALLY INTERLACED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE SUPERIMPOSED UPON THE WEB STRUCTURE COLLECTED IN SAID FIRST ZONE, AND CONTINUOUSLY CONVEYING SAID SUPERIMPOSED WEB STRUCTURES FROM SAID SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE AS A COMPOSITE WEB STRUCTURE, THE POSITIONS OF SAID STREAM PATTERNS WITHIN EACH GROUP OF STREAMS SO POSITIONED AND ARRANGED TO MAINTAIN AN ALIGNMENT OF THE ELONGATED STRIPS AND INTERLACED BOUNDARIES OF SAID STRIPS IN EACH SUPERIMPOSED WEB STRUCTURE SO THAT THE RESULTANT COMPOSITE WEB STRUCTURE IS PROVIDED WITH EXTREMELY UNIFORM DENSITY, THICKNESS AND DIRECTIONAL PROPERTIES.

Claim 3

AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELONGATED WIDE UNITARY COHERENT NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE FROM A PLURALITY OF FIBROUS ELEMENTS DISPERSED IN AND CARRIED IN AN ELASTIC FLUID MEDIUM, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PLURALITY OF FIRST MEANS FOR FORMING A PLURALITY OF SEPERATE MOVING STREAMS, EACH STREAM COMPRISING AN ELASTIC FLUID MEDIUM CARRYING A PLURALITY OF DISPERSED FIBROUS ELEMENTS, A PLURALITY OF SECOND MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID FIRST MEANS FOR DIRECTING SAID STREAMS IN LATERALLY ALIGNED RELATIONSHIP IN PARALLEL INITIAL LINES OF DIRECTION INTO AN ELASTIC FLUID ATMOSPHERE AT A PLUARLITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED FIRST POSITIONS, A FIRST GROUP OF THIRD MEANS AT SAID FIRST POSITIONS EACH COOPERATING WITH ONE OF SAID SECOND MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY AERODYNAMICALLY LATERALLY DIVERTING AND OSCILLATING A FIRST GROUP OF SAID PLURALITY OF THE MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY DIVERGING PATTERNS, SAID PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED SECOND POSITIONS TO FORM A FIRST ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID SECOND POSITIONS, A SECOND GROUP OF SAID THIRD MEANS AT SAID FIRST POSITIONS EACH COOPERATING WITH ONE OF SAID SECOND MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY AERODYNAMICALLY LATERALLY DIVERTING AND OSCILLATING A SECOND GROUP OF THE MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY ALIGNED DIVERGING PATTERNS, SAID PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED THIRD POSITION TO FORM A SECOND ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID THIRD POSITIONS, SAID SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE SPACED FROM SAID FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE, A FOURTH MEANS COMPRISING A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID FIRST AND SECOND DEPOSTION ZONES FOR COLLECTING FIBROUS ELEMENTS FROM THE OVERLAPPING MOVING STREAM PATTERNS IN THE FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE IN THE FORM OF A CONTINUOUS LATERALLY INTERLACED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE, A FIFTH MEANS OPERATIVELY ENGAGED WITH SAID FOURTH MEANS TO MOVE THE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE OF THE FOURTH MEANS IN CONTINOUS UNIFROM MOVEMENT FROM THE FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE THROUGH SAID SECOND ZONE SO THAT A SECOND GROUP OF LATERALLY INTERLACED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE ARE COLLECTED AND SUPERIMPOSED UPON THE STRIPS FORMED IN SAID FIRST ZONE TO FORM A COMPOSITE NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE WITH HIGHLY UNIFORM THICKNESS, DENSITY, AND DIRECTONAL PROPERTIES, AND TO CONVEY THE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE AWAY FROM SIAD SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE AT A CONSTANT RATE.

Claim 4

AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FORMING AN ELONGATED WIDE UNITARY COHERENT NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE FROM A PLURALITY OF FIBROUS ELEMENTS DISPERSED IN AND CARRIED IN AN ELASTIC FLUID MEDIUM, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PLURALITY OF FIRST MEANS FOR FORMING A PLURALITY OF SEPERATE MOVING STREAMS, EACH STREAM COMPRISING AN ELASTIC FLUID MEDIUM CARRYING A PLURALITY OF DISPERSED FIBROUS ELEMENTS, A PLURALITY OF SECOND MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID FIRST MEANS FOR DIRECTING SAID STREAMS IN LATERALLY ALIGNED RELATIONSHIP IN PARALLEL INITIAL LINES OF DIRECTION INTO AN ELASTIC FLUID ATMOSPHERE AT A PLUARLITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED FIRST POSITIONS, A FIRST GROUP OF THIRD MEANS AT SAID FIRST POSITIONS EACH COOPERATING WITH ONE OF SAID SECOND MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY AERODYNAMICALLY LATERALLY DIVERTING AND OSCILLATING A FIRST GROUP OF SAID PLURALITY OF THE MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY DIVERGING PATTERNS, SAID PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED SECOND POSITIONS TO FORM A FIRST ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID SECOND POSITIONS, A SECOND GROUP OF SAID THIRD MEANS AT SAID FIRST POSITIONS EACH COOPERATING WITH ONE OF SAID SECOND MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY AERODYNAMICALLY LATERALLY DIVERTING AND OSCILLATING A SECOND GROUP OF THE MOVING STREAMS IN REGULAR PERIODIC LATERALLY ALIGNED DIVERGING PATTERNS, SAID PATTERNS OVERLAPPING AT A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY ALIGNED THIRD POSITION TO FORM A SECOND ELONGATED FIBROUS ELEMENT DEPOSITION ZONE EXTENDING LATERALLY THROUGH SAID THIRD POSITIONS, SAID SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE SPACED FROM SAID FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE, A FOURTH MEANS COMPRISING A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID FIRST AND SECOND DEPOSTION ZONES FOR COLLECTING FIBROUS ELEMENTS FROM THE OVERLAPPING MOVING STREAM PATTERNS IN THE FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE IN THE FORM OF A CONTINUOUS LATERALLY INTERLACED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE, A FIFTH MEANS OPERATIVELY ENGAGED WITH SAID FOURTH MEANS TO MOVE THE SUPPORTING STRUCTURE OF THE FOURTH MEANS IN CONTINOUS UNIFROM MOVEMENT FROM THE FIRST DEPOSITION ZONE THROUGH SAID SECOND ZONE SO THAT A SECOND GROUP OF LATERALLY INTERLACED STRIPS OF NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE ARE COLLECTED AND SUPERIMPOSED UPON THE STRIPS FORMED IN SAID FIRST ZONE TO FORM A COMPOSITE NONWOVEN WEB STRUCTURE WITH HIGHLY UNIFORM THICKNESS, DENSITY, AND DIRECTONAL PROPERTIES, AND TO CONVEY THE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE AWAY FROM SIAD SECOND DEPOSITION ZONE AT A CONSTANT RATE.