Abstract: An automated dispenser includes a rotatable carousel including a mounting station for a primary roll of sheet product and a mounting station for a reserve roll of sheet product; mounting brackets configured for mounting the carousel such that it is movable between a locked, rearward position for dispensing and a forward position where the carousel is rotatable for reloading; a drive system including a motor coupled to a drive roller and control circuitry; a transfer mechanism adapted so as to be operable to urge a tail of the reserve roll toward a dispensing nip of the drive system upon depletion of the primary roll; a housing; and an auxiliary access aperture fitted with an access door, the auxiliary aperture and access door being configured and adapted to be manually operable to expose the reserve roll for manual dispensing.

Abstract: A multi-ply tissue includes a first cellulosic embossed ply having an emboss pattern applied over a portion of its surface and a second cellulosic embossed ply of tissue. The first ply is contact laminated to the second ply so that the primary adhesion between the plies of tissue is the result of contact between cellulosic fibers. The first and second plies contact one another in contact areas, with the contact areas between the first and second plies defining compliant voids. The contact areas between the first ply and the second ply are elongated and/or rounded contact areas.

Abstract: A fibrous sheet having a basis weight of between 20 and 1000 g/m2 that disintegrates in water, has 10% to 70% starch on the basis of the total weight of the dry fibrous sheet. The disintegration time in water, measured in accordance with standard NF Q34-020 applied to a specimen of the sheet of 9×8 cm2, is less than 50 seconds. A loss of strength of the sheet measured in accordance with a defined table test corresponds to a loss of strength of a specimen of said sheet forming an angle of at least 85°, after having being wetted with water for a duration of 6 seconds, and/or a residual wet strength of the sheet relative to its dry strength, as measured according to a defined ring crush test, is less than 1%. The fibrous sheet may be used for the manufacture of a water disintegrable core in a roll of tissue paper.

Abstract: A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a nascent web having an apparently random distribution of papermaking fiber, applying the dewatered web having the apparently random fiber distribution to a translating transfer surface moving at a first speed and fabric-creping the web from the transfer surface at a consistency of from about 30 to about 60 percent utilizing a patterned creping fabric. The creping step occurs under pressure in a fabric creping nip defined between the transfer surface and the creping fabric. The creping fabric travels at a second speed slower than the speed of the transfer surface. The fabric pattern, nip parameters, velocity delta and web consistency are selected such that the web is creped from the transfer surface and redistributed on the creping fabric to form a web with a drawable reticulum.

Abstract: An absorbent cellulosic sheet having a variable local basis weight includes a papermaking-fiber reticulum provided with (a) a plurality of elongated densified regions of compressed papermaking fibers, the densified regions being oriented generally along the machine direction (MD) of the sheet and having a relatively low local basis weight, as well as leading and trailing edges at their longitudinal extremities, and (b) a plurality of fiber-enriched, pileated regions connected with the plurality of elongated densified regions, the pileated regions having (i) a relatively high local basis weight and (ii) a plurality of cross-machine direction (CD) extending crests having concamerated CD profiles such that the extending crests of the pileated regions are arcuate and extend around the leading and trailing edges of the plurality of elongated densified regions.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a water-resistant gypsum article, comprising sonicating a water-resistance additive in water to form a emulsion; combining the emulsion, calcined gypsum, and gauging water to form a slurry; and forming and setting the slurry to form the water-resistant gypsum article.

Abstract: The invention relates to a coreless roll including of a sheet made of dry flexible material, such as an absorbent fibrous material, that is formed by the rolling of a sheet around a winding axis characterized in that it includes a center-feed (center unwinding) first strip forming a projection along the axis in relation to at least one part of the plane of one of the sides of the roll. In particular, this first strip is constituted by a portion of the internal end of the sheet constituting the roll. The first internal turn is thus permitted to unwind, even if the center opening is reduced.

Abstract: A method of making a cellulosic web having an elevated absorbency. The method includes (a) forming a nascent web having an apparently random distribution of fiber orientation from a papermaking furnish, (b) non-compactively drying the nascent web to a consistency of from about 30 to about 60 percent, (c) thereafter, transferring the web to a translating transfer surface that is moving at a first speed, and (d) fabric-creping the web from the transfer surface at a consistency of from about 30 to about 60 percent utilizing a creping fabric. The creping step occurs under pressure in a fabric creping nip defined between the transfer surface and the creping fabric, wherein the fabric is traveling at a second speed that is slower than the speed of the transfer surface. The fabric pattern, nip parameters, velocity delta and web consistency are selected such that the web is creped from the transfer surface and redistributed on the creping fabric.

Abstract: An embossing system for embossing and perforating at least a portion of a web is provided comprising a first embossing roll having embossing elements and at least a second embossing roll having embossing elements, wherein the elements of the first and second embossing rolls define perforate nips for embossing and perforating the web and wherein at least a predominate number of the perforate nips are substantially oriented in the cross-machine direction. Moreover, substantially all of the nips defined by the embossing elements of the first and second embossing rolls can be substantially oriented in the cross-machine direction. Further, the cross-machine embossing elements are at an angle of about 85° to 95° from the machine direction.

Abstract: This present invention relates to methods for preparing premium or near-premium brightness pulps for towel and tissue applications from fiber sources comprising substantial amounts of lignin-containing pulp and chemical pulp while controlling fines, scale and anionic trash. These methods use alkaline hydroxide in combination with peroxide and oxygen for initial bleaching stages followed by treatment with a peroxide activating agent to convert residual peroxide in the pulp into peracetic acid followed by a final reductive bleaching stage.

Abstract: Fiberglass mats, binder compositions, and methods for making the same are provided. The fiberglass mat can include a plurality of glass fibers and an at least partially cured binder composition. The binder composition, prior to at least partial curing, can include a first copolymer modified by reaction with one or more base compounds. The first copolymer can include one or more unsaturated carboxylic acids, one or more unsaturated carboxylic anhydrides, or a combination thereof, and one or more vinyl aromatic derived units. The first copolymer can have a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of about 500 to about 200,000. The first copolymer can be present in an amount ranging from about 60 wt % to about 95 wt %, based on a combined weight of the first copolymer and the one or more base compounds.

Abstract: An array of sheet materials includes a first sheet, a second sheet, and an interior sheet located between the first sheet and the second sheet, each sheet having a centrally located medial primary fold formed therein and a secondary off-fold transverse thereto, the medial fold and the transverse off-fold defining four panels in each sheet.

Abstract: A paper machine configured as a swing machine capable of producing both light and heavy grades providing a Yankee hood split into a wet end half and a dry end half, at least one hood half being a flex-hood half wherein the supply for that half is capable of being run with either combustion heat or recycled heat and is capable of either recirculating the exhaust from the hood or discharging it to the atmosphere. The heater for the flex-hood half comprises both a primary combustion heat source and an indirect heat source capable of extracting by-product heat from another operation. The exhaust system for the flex hood half is capable of being run in either a straight through mode or in a recirculating mode.

Abstract: An emulsion of pitch in water characterized by having a lower level of tack on drying by virtue of the incorporation of a finely divided filler, where the emulsion is useful for reducing the development of fugitive dust in a dust-forming material.

Abstract: The present invention provides thermoplastic coated proppants and methods for preparing the thermoplastic coated proppants. Methods for using these proppants in subterranean well formations and hydraulic fracturing operations, for example, are also disclosed.

Abstract: Phenolic resin binder systems for sand molds, used in metal casting, which improve the quality of thermally reclaimed sand, are described. The substantial or complete elimination of calcium compounds (e.g., calcium stearate and calcium hydroxide, conventionally employed as a mold lubricant and a resin curing catalyst, respectively) allows the thermally reclaimed sand to be reused over multiple thermal reclamation cycles without the adverse effects previously encountered.

Abstract: Oxidized and maleated derivative compositions, such as chemically modified oxidized and maleated tall oil fatty acid compositions, can be prepared and used in a variety of industrial applications, including as emulsifiers, corrosion inhibitors, concrete admixtures, and in reverse flotation mining applications.

Abstract: A container includes a plurality of panels integrally arranged with respect to each other and with respect to a set of orthogonal x, y and z axes, the z-axis defining a direction line in which the container is configured to support a stacking load. The plurality of panels include a first panel having a first planar surface, and a second panel having a second planar surface, wherein the first panel and the second panel form a contiguity with a fold line disposed therebetween, and wherein the first planar surface is disposed parallel to the x-z plane or the y-z plane. The container further includes a compression reinforcement feature having a planar edge oriented orthogonal to the first planar surface and perpendicular to the z-axis, the planar edge being disposed a distance away from the fold line but at a distance no greater than half a thickness of the first panel, the first panel having a void between the fold line and the planar edge.

Abstract: Amine-aldehyde resins are disclosed for removing a wide variety of solids and/or ionic species from the liquids in which they are suspended and/or dissolved. These resins are especially useful as froth flotation depressants, for example in the beneficiation of value materials (e.g., bitumen, coal, or kaolin clay) to remove impurities such as sand. The resins are also useful for treating aqueous liquid suspensions to remove solid particulates, as well as for removing metallic ions in the purification of water.