A decorative sheet includes a base material and a plurality of concave portions. The plurality of concave portions are provided on a front face of the base material. In the concave portion, a depth direction coincides with a thickness direction of the base material. The plurality of concave portions includes a first concave portion and a second concave portion. The first concave portion includes a first concavo-convex pattern on a first inner surface of the first concave portion. The second concave portion does not include the first concavo-convex pattern on a second inner surface of the second concave portion.

A method for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, the method comprising: (1) reducing a chamber pressure within a chamber to below about 5 millibars; (2) after reducing the chamber pressure to below about 5 millibars, providing a polymer melt to the chamber; (3) separating the polymer melt into at least eight streams; (4) while the at least eight streams of the polymer melt are within the chamber, exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars; (5) after exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars, recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream; and (6) forming polymer from the single polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A system and method for applying tension to a reinforcement member is provided. The system includes a gripping device, a tension device, and a tension application sub-system. The gripping device includes first and second attachments. Each attachment retains a respective end of the reinforcement member with sufficient friction force based on a predetermined tension to be applied to the reinforcement member. The tension device includes first and second tension tubes configured to removably receive and hold the first and second attachments, respectively. The tension application sub-system has first and second tension application apparatuses and first and second coupling devices. The first and second coupling devices couple the first and second tension tubes to the first and second tension application apparatuses, respectively. At least one of the first and second tension application apparatuses creates and controllably adjusts a tension load within the reinforcement member.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) washing a plurality of flakes of recycled PET; (B) providing a PET crystallizer; (C) after the step of washing the plurality of flakes, passing the plurality of flakes of recycled PET through the PET crystallizer; (D) at least partially melting the plurality of flakes into a polymer melt; (E) providing a multi-rotating screw (MRS) extruder having an MRS section; and a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (F) using the vacuum pump to reduce a pressure within the MRS Section; (G) after the step of passing the plurality of flakes through the PET crystallizer, passing the polymer melt through the MRS Section; and (H) after the step of passing the polymer melt through the MRS extruder, forming the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, the method comprising: (1) reducing a chamber pressure within a chamber to below about 5 millibars; (2) after reducing the chamber pressure to below about 5 millibars, providing a polymer melt to the chamber; (3) separating the polymer melt into at least eight streams; (4) while the at least eight streams of the polymer melt are within the chamber, exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars; (5) after exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars, recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream; and (6) forming polymer from the single polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A system and method for allowing components to attach to a pre-cast pre-stressed concrete structure is provided. The system includes a first attachment part and a second attachment part. The first attachment part has a first body. The first body has a first concrete structure facing side and a first plurality of attachment members extending from the concrete structure facing side. The second attachment part has a second body. The second body has a second concrete structure facing side and a second plurality of attachment members extending from the concrete structure facing side. The first and second attachment parts are spaced apart forming a compressible junction therebetween. The pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete structure is formed from uncured cement, at least of a portion of the first and second attachment members being embedded in the pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete structure.

Curved heat shrink tubing and methods of making the same are described herein. An example method includes inserting heat shrink tubing into a tube, curving the tube, and deforming the heat shrink tubing, inside of the tube, to have a curved shape along a length of the heat shrink tubing where a first length of the heat shrink tubing along an outer radius of the curved shape is longer than a second length of the heat shrink tubing along an inner radius of the curved shape.

A method of creating a soft and lofty continuous fiber nonwoven web is provided. The method includes providing two molten polymer components having different melting temperatures to a spinneret defining a plurality of orifices, and flowing a fluid intermediate the spinneret and a moving porous member. The moving porous member is positioned below the spinneret. The method includes using the fluid to draw or push the two molten polymer components, in a direction that is toward the moving porous member, through at least some of the plurality of orifices to form a plurality of individual bi-component continuous fiber strands. The method includes depositing the continuous fiber strands on the moving porous member at a first location to create an intermediate continuous fiber nonwoven web, and removing and/or diverting some of the fluid proximate to the first location to maintain loft and softness in the deposited intermediate continuous fiber nonwoven web.

A method of making a surgical suture having a reformed tip includes providing an elongated fiber having a first end, a second end, a central axis extending between the first and second ends thereof, and an outer surface that defines a cross-sectional dimension of the elongated fiber, and compressing a center region of the elongated fiber that is located between the first and second ends thereof for reshaping the center region into a core mass and a deformed mass that extends laterally outside the cross-sectional dimension of said elongated fiber. The method includes separating the deformed mass of the center region from the core mass of the center region so that only the core mass remains for interconnecting the first and second ends of the elongated fiber, and after separating the deformed mass from the core mass, reshaping the core mass into a reformed mass having a reformed mass central axis that is offset from the central axis of the elongated fiber.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the flakes through a PET crystallizer; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 18 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.