Abstract: Process of manufacturing a papermakers' wet press felt for the wet end and a felt produced thereby with one or two flaps (14, 10), made of two batts (12, 13) needled onto each side of the felt (1), which ends in two rows of loops (4, 5) that are intended to seam the felt, characterized in that the rows of loops (4, 5) are joined during needling by temporary, removable connecting means (6) placed in relation to the flap(s) (14, 16) which have a greater width than the widths of the finally cut flaps (14, 16).The flap(s) (14, 10) are not damaged during the needling operation and are easily loosened without damage by removing the spiral (7) which form the temporary joining means (6).

Abstract: Process of manufacturing felts in which a batt is fastened to a felt on its one or two sides, said batt (5) consisting of one or several layers of fibers and characterized in that said layers are obtained from carding the fibers and possibly preneedling them by passage through a preneedling machine with low density needles, said layers being densified by at least three passages through a needling machine (1) with high needle density, and at least one of those passages going in the opposite direction of the others, said batt (5) created in such a way then being fastened to the felt (10).The wet felt obtained in this way has very good cohesion and very high resistance, and the felt is neither damaged nor filled with fibers, which provides it with good air and water permeability.The invention also relates to a machine to densify batts.