Patent attributes
A printed sheet fiber entanglement apparatus entangles fibers from neighboring printed fibrous layers (e.g., sheets) with one another. As a stack of printed fibrous sheets is built up, periodically a holey plate is loaded against the top sheet of the stack. The guide plate may move the sheet down over the registration pins, and then an array of felting needles are thrust into the stack. An array of needles with upward and/or downward facing barbs is thrust thought holes in the guide plate into the stack through printed sheets closest to the guide plate. As the needles pushed into or are withdrawn from the stack, barbs on the felting needles intertwine fibers from the fibrous sheets through printed marking material and with neighboring sheets. The needle array may translate slightly between multiple thrusts so that a subsequent needling thrust may occur in a slightly new location.
