Process for making embossed needle-bonded fabric wall coverings

Claim 1

A process for making a fabric comprising the steps of: a. moving a scrim with a coarse open weave structure towards a needle-bonding means, b. placing on the upper surface of the scrim a non-woven felted fabric, c. passing both the scrim and its overlying felted fabric covering through a needle-bonding means to needle-bond the felted fabric to the scrim by mechanically locking the fibers of the felted material to the scrim and to themselves, d. passing the resulting composite product, with the felted fabric facing upward, to an embossing structure which has its embossing means engaging the upper surface of the composite product, e. heating said embossing means to a temperature which is approximately equal to the melt temperature of the felted fabric and substantially below the melt temperature of the scrim; and f. embossing a pattern on the side of the composite structure containing the felted fabric to provide a definite pattern to the composite product while, at the same time, causing a softening of the individual fibers of the felted fabric to cause said felted fabric to assume the general surface contour of the scrim, whereby there is produced an end product which has both a definite pattern as provided by the embossing means and an irregular surface texturing which results from the softened felted fabric assuming generally the surface contour of the scrim.