Durable hand towel

Inactive Publication Date: 2007-06-21
KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE INC
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022] The basis weight is calculated by measuring the weight of a sample of known area after it is “bone dry”. Nine 4-inch by 4-inch (101.6 by 101.6 mm) samples are die cut and conditioned in a 105 degree C. (+/−2 degrees) ov

Problems solved by technology

Tabbing is a critical dispensing failure in which a small piece is pulled from a paper towel when it is desired to dispense the entire towel.
This typically occurs because the user's hands are wet and the tensile force required to pull a towel from the dispenser is high.
Thus the paper towel is put at a disadvantage when encountering the user's wet hands and the towel will often fail to dispense and leave the user holding only a small piece of the paper towel.
All of these methods have helped reduce the level of tabbing experienced, however, it has been found that the levels of tabbing are still unacceptable.
Additionally, stresses that occur on all towels during dispensing impact both the MD and CD of the towel.
One limitation that is faced in addressing these issues is that paper towel basesheet manufacturing and the subsequent physical properties of such paper towels are kept the same for many towel formats and dispensers in which such towels may be used.
Another issue is that a paper towel will generally be stronger in MD compared to the CD of the same towel.
As discussed, this will compromise towels dispensed in the CD and will contribute to failures when such towel is dispensed in the MD.
Due to these directional forces that are applied to paper towels amongst differing dispensing formats, it has been difficult to produce a single towel basesheet that is durable enough to be reliably dispensed in these different dispenser formats with minimal tabbing.

Method used

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Examples

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examples 1-8

[0056] To further illustrate the invention, a pilot uncreped throughdried tissue machine was configured similarly to that illustrated in FIG. 1 and was used to produce multiple examples of the one-ply, uncreped throughdried paper towel basesheets of the present invention.

[0057] The furnish used was a mixture of 50 percent recycled fiber, 30 percent northern softwood kraft fibers (NSWK), and 20 percent southern softwood kraft (SSWK) fiber. The recycled fibers were dispersed in a pulper for 30 minutes at a consistency of 3 percent. Similarly, the NSWK and SSWK fibers were dispersed in a pulper for 30 minutes at a consistency of 3 percent and then refined. The level of refining (in units of horsepower-day per ton of fiber) of the softwood kraft fibers for each of the Examples is given in Table 1. The fibers were then blended in a 50 / 50 ratio and the thick stock was sent to a machine chest and diluted to a consistency of 3 percent.

[0058] Wet strength resin (Kymene®) and dry strength r...

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Abstract

A durable single-ply uncreped paper towel having an increased level of geometric mean total energy absorbed (GMTEA) per geometric mean tensile (GMT) and an increased level of cross-machine direction total energy absorbed (CDTEA) per cross-machine direction tensile strength is disclosed. A method of making such a paper towel is also disclosed.

Description

BACKGROUND [0001] Tabbing is a critical dispensing failure in which a small piece is pulled from a paper towel when it is desired to dispense the entire towel. This typically occurs because the user's hands are wet and the tensile force required to pull a towel from the dispenser is high. The wet tensile strength of a paper towel is typically about 30 percent to 35 percent of the towel's dry tensile strength. Thus the paper towel is put at a disadvantage when encountering the user's wet hands and the towel will often fail to dispense and leave the user holding only a small piece of the paper towel. [0002] One method that has attempted to resolve this tabbing issue has been modifications to the towel dispensers that reduce the force required to dispense such towels. Another method of addressing the issue of tabbing has been through the modification of the towel physical properties such as tensile strength and stretch, to help increase the towel durability. The increase of towel stren...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): D21F11/14
CPCD21H27/005
InventorSCHULZ, THOMAS HAMPSHIREHALLS, MALCOLM C.
OwnerKIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE INC