Unitary deflection member for making fibrous structures having increased surface area and process for making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12163285-B2
Application number	US-202318330580-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2023
Priority date	May 1, 2015
Publication date	Dec 10, 2024
Grant date	Dec 10, 2024

Abstract

A unitary deflection member. The unitary deflection member can have a fluid pervious reinforcing member and a patterned framework. The patterned framework can have a plurality of regularly spaced protuberances extending from the reinforcing member. At least two of said protuberances can be similar in size and shape, and can have linear segments having different cross-sectional areas along the z-direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary deflection member, the unitary deflection member comprising a patterned framework comprising a plurality of protuberances extending from a reinforcing member, at least two of said protuberances being similar in size and shape, wherein at least two of the plurality of protuberances each have a forming portion width (FW) and a transition portion width (TW), and wherein FW is greater than TW.

2. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the at least two of said protuberances are adjacent one another and separated by a void defining a deflection conduit.

3. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of protuberances are linear segments spaced apart in either the MD or CD.

4. The deflection member of claim 3 , wherein the linear segments having a cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional shape being selected from the group consisting of key-hole-shaped, mushroom-shaped, circular, oval, inverted triangle, T-shaped, inverted L-shaped, egg- or pebble-shaped, and combinations thereof.

5. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of protuberances are generally parallel linear segments oriented predominantly in the MD or CD.

6. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of protuberances are disposed in a regular, spaced apart configuration of discrete units in an X-Y plane and distributed in both the MD and CD in a regular, spaced pattern.

7. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the framework is a semi-continuous framework.

8. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of protuberances are substantially identical in size and shape.

9. The deflection member of claim 1 , further comprising a fluid pervious reinforcing member.

10. The deflection member of claim 9 , wherein the patterned framework is disposed at a first side of the reinforcing member and wherein strands are disposed at a second side of the reinforcing member.

11. The deflection member of claim 10 , wherein the strands are CD-oriented.

12. The deflection member of claim 10 , wherein the strands are MD-oriented.

13. The deflection member of claim 12 , wherein the MD-oriented strands are oriented in a two-layer stacked configuration.

14. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of protuberances are circular.

15. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing member and the plurality of protuberances are a common material.

16. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing member and the plurality of protuberances are different materials.

17. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of protuberances are formed by a material selected from the group consisting of liquid photopolymer, high melting point filament, flexible filament, clear filament, wood composite filament, metal/composite filament, Nylon powder, metal powder, quick set epoxy, and combinations thereof.

18. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of protuberances comprise PLA.

19. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of protuberances consist of PLA.

20. The deflection member of claim 1 , wherein the framework is a continuous framework.

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble

Inventors

• Manifold John Allen
• Brent Jr John Leslie
• Singer James Michael

Classifications

• D21H11/04

  Kraft or sulfate pulp · CPC title

• D21F11/006

  Making patterned paper · CPC title

• D21H27/005 Primary

  relating to physical or mechanical properties, e.g. tensile strength, stretch, softness · CPC title

• D21H27/004

  characterised by specific parameters (D21H27/008 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D21H27/002 Primary

  Tissue paper; Absorbent paper (D21H21/22, D21H27/02, D21H27/20 take precedence; toilet paper A47K10/00; absorbent pads for physiological fluids A61L15/16; making on paper-making machines D21F11/00) · CPC title