Tri-nip papermaking system

Claim 1

A method for manufacturing a bulky, soft and absorbent paper web comprising the steps of: positioning a wet web of principally lignocellulosic fibers on a first dewatering felt; conveying the wet web while positioned on the first dewatering felt through a first nip formed by said first dewatering felt and a second dewatering felt to provide overall mechanical compaction of said web and partially dewater said web to an overall fiber consistency of from about 22% to about 35%; conveying said partially dewatered and overall mechanically compacted web to a second nip formed between a dewatering felt and an open mesh imprinting fabric formed of woven filaments, said fabric having spaced compaction elements and defining voids between the filaments; while the partially dewatered, overall mechanically compacted web is in said second nip, rebulking said overall mechanically compacted web by impressing said web against said fabric whereby from about 5% to about 50% of said web will be compacted by said compaction elements and from about 50% to about 95% of said web will be impressed into said voids and displaced from the portion of the web compacted by said compaction elements; retaining the rebulked web on said imprinting fabric after the rebulked web passes through said second nip; and removing the rebulked web from the imprinting fabric before final drying thereof by applying the rebulked web to a creping surface at a third nip location, said third nip being formed between the creping surface and the imprinting fabric, and said rebulked web being retained on the imprinting fabric in an essentially undisturbed condition during retention thereof on said imprinting fabric between said second and third nips.

Claim 2

A method for manufacturing a bulky, soft and absorbent paper web comprising the steps of: positioning a wet web of principally lignocellulosic fibers on a first dewatering felt; conveying the wet web while positioned on the first dewatering felt through a first nip formed by said first dewatering felt and a second dewatering felt to provide overall mechanical compaction of said web and partially dewater said web to an overall fiber consistency of from about 22% to about 35%; conveying said partially dewatered and overall mechanically compacted web to a second nip formed between a dewatering felt and an open mesh imprinting fabric formed of woven filaments, said fabric having spaced compaction elements and defining voids between the filaments; while the partially dewatered, overall mechanically compacted web is in said second nip, rebulking said overall mechanically compacted web by impressing said web against said fabric whereby from about 5% to about 50% of said web will be compacted by said compaction elements and from about 50% to about 95% of said web will be impressed into said voids and displaced from the portion of the web compacted by said compaction elements; retaining the rebulked web on said imprinting fabric after the rebulked web passes through said second nip; and removing the rebulked web from the imprinting fabric before final drying thereof by applying the rebulked web to a creping surface at a third nip location, said third nip being formed between the creping surface and the imprinting fabric, and said rebulked web being retained on the imprinting fabric in an essentially undisturbed condition during retention thereof on said imprinting fabric between said second and third nips.