Asphalt roofing and method of making same

Claim 1

In a method of producing an asphalt roofing including: preparing a bulky non-woven fabric having substantial thickness made of filaments of synthetic fibers randomly intertwined with each other, and continuously feeding said non-woven fabric through a bath of molten asphalt, whereby said fabric is progressively saturated with asphalt while it is continuously moving through said molten asphalt, the improvements comprising: maintaining a temperature gradient in said bath of molten asphalt with a lower temperature near the surface to a higher temperature at the bottom thereof; and feeding said non-woven fabric downward along a vertical path to the bottom of said bath and then upward along an inclined path toward the atmosphere, whereby said non-woven fabric moving through said molten asphalt bath is first preheated and an asphalt film formed on both surfaces thereof as it first enters said bath; said films are progressively fluidized and the air contained in said fabric is gradually moved upward within said fabric itself as said fabric moves vertically downward through said asphalt bath; said asphalt films, successively fluidized as said fabric moves through said bath, progressively penetrate into said fabric from which the air has moved upward until said asphalt completely penetrates to the center of said fabric; and finally, said completely asphalt-penetrated fabric is gradually cooled and formed with asphalt films on both surfaces thereof as it comes out of said bath into the atmosphere, thereby forming a bulky asphalt roofing completely saturated with asphalt.