An article comprising a fabric comprising: (a) a blended yarn comprising: (i) from about 10% to about 85% by weight of at least one biregional fiber comprising an oxidized polymer selected from the group consisting of acrylonitrile based homopolymers, acrylonitrile based copolymers, acrylonitrile based terpolymers, and combinations thereof; (ii) at least one companion fiber selected from the group consisting of FR polyester, FR nylon, FR rayon, FR treated cellulose, m-aramid, p-aramid, modacrylic, novoloid, melamine, wool, nylon, regenerated cellulose, polyvinyl chloride, antistatic fiber, poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO), polybenzimidazole (PBI), polysulphonamide (PSA), and combinations thereof; and (b) optionally including a companion yarn different from said blended yarn; wherein said companion yarn includes p-aramid in an amount less than 20% of the fabric weight; and
wherein the fabric has a weight from about 3 oz/yd.sup.2 to about 12 oz/yd.sup.2.

To manufacture sheets of uniform quality, a sheet manufacturing apparatus has a drum with a plurality of holes; a housing covering the drum; a conveyor on which material including fiber that has passed through the holes accumulates as a web, and which conveys the accumulated web; a first roller that is a first roller disposed to contact the web conveyed by the conveyor, and has asperities on its outside surface; and a first seal disposed to a first wall of the first housing to contact an outside surface of the first roller.

The cross lapper for forming a nonwoven fabric from a fiber web includes in its infeed area a smooth cover belt or an array of linear elements spaced a certain distance apart and arranged parallel to each other to cover the fiber web being carried along on the upper run of a first web conveyor belt. The first end section of the cover belt or of the array of linear elements is connected to the upper carriage of the cross lapper. During operation of the cross lapper the fiber web moves along the bottom surface of a cover section of the cover belt or of the array of linear elements. The cross lapper comprises a compensating mechanism to compensate for the changes in the length of the cover section which occur as the upper carriage moves transversely back and forth.

The cross lapper for forming a nonwoven fabric from a fiber web includes in its infeed area a smooth cover belt or an array of linear elements spaced a certain distance apart and arranged parallel to each other to cover the fiber web being carried along on the upper run of a first web conveyor belt. The first end section of the cover belt or of the array of linear elements is connected to the upper carriage of the cross lapper. During operation of the cross lapper the fiber web moves along the bottom surface of a cover section of the cover belt or of the array of linear elements. The cross lapper comprises a compensating mechanism to compensate for the changes in the length of the cover section which occur as the upper carriage moves transversely back and forth.

A non-woven gauze product and a method and system for manufacturing same. The spunlace device includes a second spunlace machine having a shaping layer on the surface, the shaping layer is provided with pointed projections having tapered tops disposed in a matrix arrangement, each pointed projection has a bottom of rectangular cross-section, the bottom size of each pointed projection is larger than the bottom distance between two adjacent pointed projections. A non-woven cloth having rectangular holes in an array layout is formed by water jetting the fiber-web at the second spunlace machine. The rectangular holes in an array layout are presented in a flat structure having warp and weft, and the dimension of each rectangular hole is larger than the line width of warp and weft. The features of such non-woven cloth are similar to those of gauze, so the non-woven cloth can be a substitute for the current gauze.

A non-woven gauze product and a method and system for manufacturing same. The spunlace device includes a second spunlace machine having a shaping layer on the surface, the shaping layer is provided with pointed projections having tapered tops disposed in a matrix arrangement, each pointed projection has a bottom of rectangular cross-section, the bottom size of each pointed projection is larger than the bottom distance between two adjacent pointed projections. A non-woven cloth having rectangular holes in an array layout is formed by water jetting the fiber-web at the second spunlace machine. The rectangular holes in an array layout are presented in a flat structure having warp and weft, and the dimension of each rectangular hole is larger than the line width of warp and weft. The features of such non-woven cloth are similar to those of gauze, so the non-woven cloth can be a substitute for the current gauze.

A machine for non-woven fabric formation containing a rotating center shaft, at least a first and second pair of laterally spaced, interchangeable helical yarn guides, a yarn feeding wheel assembly, a fabric take up. The machine is capable of forming both square and tri-axial scrims with changes to the interchangeable helical yarn guides and yarn feeding wheel assembly.

A cross-lapper (1) includes an upper carriage (2), a laying carriage (3), and two endless laying belts, which are each guided on the main carriages (2, 3) by deflecting rollers (15 to 21). The one laying belt (6) is designed as a feeding belt, which carries a fibrous web (9) and feeds the fibrous web to the upper carriage (2). The other laying belt (7) is designed as a counter belt. The upper carriage (2) has a belt deflection device (12) for both laying belts (6, 7). At the belt deflection device (12), the laying belt (6) is deflected by approximately 180 degrees from a feeding direction (11) thereof to the opposite direction by means of three of more deflection points (15, 16, 17).

A cross-lapper (1) includes an upper carriage (2), a laying carriage (3), and two endless laying belts, which are each guided on the main carriages (2, 3) by deflecting rollers (15 to 21). The one laying belt (6) is designed as a feeding belt, which carries a fibrous web (9) and feeds the fibrous web to the upper carriage (2). The other laying belt (7) is designed as a counter belt. The upper carriage (2) has a belt deflection device (12) for both laying belts (6, 7). At the belt deflection device (12), the laying belt (6) is deflected by approximately 180 degrees from a feeding direction (11) thereof to the opposite direction by means of three of more deflection points (15, 16, 17).

A sheet manufacturing apparatus includes a first transport unit, a second transport belt disposed with a part thereof shifted from the first transport unit toward the downstream side in a transport direction of the web, a suction chamber positioned in an inner side of the second transport belt and configured to create suction inside the suction chamber to suck the web onto the second transport belt, and a current plate positioned inside of the suction chamber to adjust an air current. The current plate has a plurality of holes, and is spaced apart from a surface of the second transport belt such that the air current is diffused between the current plate and the surface of the second transport belt to achieve a uniform suction force in a width direction of the second transport belt.