Papermakers fabric of link and pintle construction

Claim 1

A papermakers fabric in the form of a foraminous endless belt, said fabric having upper and lower surfaces and comprising: a plurality of elongated pintles having substantially equal lengths corresponding with the width of said belt, said pintles arranged in spaced, side-by-side relationship and having their respective longitudinal axes substantially parallel to each other; a plurality of link members interconnecting said pintles and extending transversely of the respective axes thereof; said link members each including a pair of spaced end portions, an intermediate portion between said spaced end portions, and top and bottom surfaces defining the upper and lower surfaces of said fabric, each of said end portions including an aperture sized to permit a pintle to be rotatably received therein, the spacing between said apertures defining the axial spacing between said pintles; said link members including open access slots extending from each of said apertures to one of said top and bottom surfaces to permit lateral access to said apertures; said link members removably connected to and spanning the space between two adjacent pintles, each link member being individually removable from said pintles, through the open access slots thereof, independent of adjacent link members and without removal of said pintles; said link members being arranged in alternating relationship so that alternate links extend from a first pintle to a second pintle positioned on one side thereof and the intermediate links extend from said first pintle to a third pintle positioned on the side of said first pintle opposite the side on which said second pintle is positioned; said alternating relationship of said links defining a plurality of openings in said fabric to permit the passage of fluids therethrough, in such manner that there is uniformity of permeability across and along the fabric; and said permeability, as defined by the relationship of the total area of said openings to the total area of said fabric, being dependent upon the lateral spacing of said pintles and on the lateral spacing of said links, thereby providing the ability to produce fabrics of differing permeabilities.