Spiral wrapped nonwoven sleeve and method of construction thereof

1. A nonwoven sleeve for providing protection to a member therein, comprising:

a cylindrically smooth tubular nonwoven wall extending along a central longitudinal axis between opposite ends, said tubular nonwoven wall being formed from a strip of nonwoven material, said strip of nonwoven material being spiral wrapped about said central longitudinal axis over a plurality of circumferentially extending turns with opposite edges of said strip being brought into abutment with one another to form a spiral butt joint, said opposite edges being bonded together across said butt joint solely by melted material of said strip of nonwoven material.

2. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 1 wherein said strip of nonwoven material has an intermediate region extending between said opposite edges, said intermediate region being unmelted.

3. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 1 further including a reflective outer layer.

4. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 3 wherein said reflective outer layer is foil.

5. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 3 further including an intermediate layer between said tubular nonwoven wall and said reflective outer layer.

6. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 5 wherein said intermediate layer is fiberglass.

7. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 5 wherein said reflective outer layer and said intermediate layer are spiral wrapped about said tubular nonwoven wall.

8. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 7 wherein said intermediate layer is bonded to said reflective outer layer and to said tubular nonwoven wall by an adhesive layer.

9. The nonwoven sleeve of claim 2 wherein said intermediate region extends spirally from one of said opposite ends to the other of said opposite ends.