Filamentary blanket
The present invention is directed to continuous filament nonwoven fabrics, and more specifically directed to continuous filament nonwoven fabrics for use as low-cost disposable airline and rescue operation blankets. Continuous filament fabrics are formed utilizing the spunbond process. The spunbond process and the manner of preparing a spunbond web is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,394 to Kinney and U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,201 to Brock, et al., both of which are herein incorporated by reference. The filamentary blankets of the present invention may be disposed after a single use or semi-reusable, wherein the blanket has a limited number of uses before needing to be replaced. Such blankets are suitable for a variety of applications, such as insulative blankets, emergency rescue blankets, institutional blankets, airline blankets, and other applications where blankets are used only a limited number of times or in some cases only once before being discarded.
1 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket comprising one or more layers of thermoplastic continuous filaments and one or more melt additives, wherein said blanket has a basis weight of about 60-200 grams per square meter.
2 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket as in claim 1 , wherein said image is imparted by a forming surface selected from the group of three-dimensional surfaced belts, metal drums, wire screens, and three-dimensional image transfer devices.
3 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket as in claim 2 , wherein said forming surface is a three-dimensional image transfer device.
4 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket as in claim 1 , wherein said blanket has a basis weight of about 85-130 grams per square meter.
5 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket as in claim 1 , wherein said thermoplastic continuous filaments are selected from the group consisting of polyolefins, polyamides, polyesters, and the combinations thereof.
6 . A three-dimensionally imaged disposable blanket as in claim 5 , wherein said polyolefins are selected from polypropylene, polyethylene, and the combinations thereof.