Fibrous product

Claim 1

In a method for the production of a low-density, high porosity, resilient, thermally bonded, non-woven fibrous batt having a substantially uniform density across its thickness by the steps of forming a lofty fibrous batt from at least 20% by weight of conjugated staple fibres having a length of 0.5 to 6 inches and being selected from the group consisting of crimped and potentially crimpable fibres, the conjugate fibres being composed of at least two fibre forming polymeric components arranged in distinct zones across the cross-section of the fibre and substantially continuous along the length thereof, one of the components having a softening temperature significantly lower than the softening temperature of a second component and being located so as to form at least a portion of the peripheral surface of the fibre, subjecting said batt to a heat treatment to heat the batt to a temperature in excess of the softening temperature of the component having the lower softening temperature but below the softening temperature of the second component to effect inter-fibre bonding, and then causing or permitting the batt to cool, the improvement comprising heating the batt by passing a heated gas upwardly through the batt, the gas having a temperature sufficient to effect thermal bonding of the conjugate fibres and having a velocity such that the batt is supported by the gas in a high-porosity condition without disintegrating the batt therein whereby the resulting batt has substantially uniform density across its thickness.