Importance

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Abstract

The forming fabric has a top machine side and an opposing bottom paper side and comprises machine direction (MD) yarns and cross machine direction (CMD) yarns interwoven in a repeating pattern of multiple repeating units. The repeating unit of the pattern comprises: paper side CMD yarns forming the paper side of the fabric; half as many machine side CMD yarns forming the machine side of the fabric; and MD yarns interwoven with both the paper side CMD yarns and the machine side CMD yarns. Within the repeating unit, each of the MD yarns passes beneath at least two paper side CMD yarns to form first and second paper side knuckles. Each of the MD yarns also passes above two machine side CMD yarns to form first and second machine side knuckles, which are separated from one another by at least two machine side CMD yarns. The machine side CMD yarn positioned beneath the first knuckle is also passed over by another MD yarn thus forming a third knuckle, separated from the first knuckle in a first direction by between one and three MD yarns. The machine side CMD yarn positioned beneath the second knuckle is also passed over by another MD yarn thus forming a fourth knuckle, separated from the second knuckle in a second direction opposite the first direction by between one and three MD yarns. In this configuration, the fabric retains the 'zig-zag' configuration on the machine side of prior art fabric, but is less prone to twinning.

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First Claim