Patent attributes
The woven papermaking fabrics have a machine direction (MD) axis and a cross-machine direction (CD) axis, a machine contacting surface and a web contacting surface. The web contacting surface comprises a plurality of MD and CD oriented protuberances. Generally, the MD oriented protuberances are formed from warp filaments and may be continuous across one dimension of the papermaking fabric. The CD oriented protuberances are formed from shute filaments and are discrete. The fabrics may be woven such that the CD oriented protuberances traverse at least one MD oriented protuberance and in other instances two or more MD oriented protuberances. In addition to MD and CD oriented protuberances, the web contacting surface comprises valleys disposed between adjacent MD oriented protuberances. The valleys are generally permeable to air and water and aid in the formation and structuring of webs manufactured using the fabrics.
