Non-woven textile fiber products having a relief-like structure

Claim 1

A non-woven textile fabric with a three-dimensional upper surface in the form of boucle-type knobs or ridges, comprising in combination: a. at least two distinct upper and lower layers composed of at least two kinds of fibers of unequal retractability relative to a determined retraction treatment; the two layers being superposed and needled together by at least two needling operations, the fibers of higher retractability being substantially in the lower layer; b. fibers of higher retractability in the lower layer of the batt having portions of their lengths needled upwardly entirely through the batt thickness, the ends of said portions being folded back into the upper surface of the batt to form tight hooks around bunches of fibers of lower retractability in the upper layer of the batt, these hook-shaped fiber portions being concentrated within the narrow line regions of a regular needling line pattern so as to define hook-free surface areas therebetween; c. the fibers of higher retractability in the lower layer including said portions of their lengths formed into hooks being in retracted condition induced by a retraction treatment of the fabric subsequent to the forming of said hooks and acting selectively on said fibers of higher retractability, the hook-shaped portions of the retracted fibers exerting a vertical compression on said bunches of unretracted fibers in the upper layer within said line regions in the manner of seams, the retracted fibers of the lower layer of the batt maintaining the compressed line regions at such a reduced mutual horizontal distance relative to an original needling horizontal distance that the unretracted fibers located in the hook-free areas above the lower layer are horizontally compressed and raised to form boucle-type knobs or ridges at the upper surface.