US-20260125854-A1 - DISCRETE CELL ARRANGEMENTS

Abstract

Fibrous structures of the present disclosure may comprise discrete cells comprising side portions that frame a first pillow portion at a junction of a continuous pillow running along an X-direction and a Y-direction; and where the first pillow portion is larger than adjacent portions of the continuous pillow in at least one of the X and Y-directions.

Inventors

• Charles Allen Redd
• Kathryn Christian Kien
• Osman Polat
• Anthony Paul Bankemper

Assignees

• THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251219

Claims (1)

1. 1 . A fibrous structure comprising a Cell Group, the Cell Group comprising: a first cell comprising a first side portion; a second cell comprising a second side portion; a third cell comprising a third side portion; a fourth cell comprising a fourth side portion; wherein the first, second, third, and fourth cells are disposed such that the first, second, third, and fourth sides frame a first pillow portion at a junction of a continuous pillow running along an X-direction and a Y-direction; and wherein the first pillow portion is larger than adjacent portions of the continuous pillow in at least one of the X and Y-directions.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/468,975, filed on Sep. 18, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/091,530, filed on Nov. 6, 2020, now granted U.S. Pat. No. 11,807,990, issued Nov. 7, 2023, which claims the benefit, under 35 USC § 119(e), of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/932,885, filed Nov. 8, 2019 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/036,767, filed Jun. 9, 2020, the substances of which are incorporated herein by reference. FIELD The present disclosure generally relates to fibrous structures and, more particularly, to fibrous structures comprising discrete elements situated in patterns. The present disclosure also generally relates to papermaking belts that are used in creating fibrous structures and, more particularly, to papermaking belts that are used in creating fibrous structures comprising discrete elements situated in patterns. BACKGROUND Fibrous structures, such as sanitary tissue products, are useful in everyday life in various ways. These products can be used as wiping implements for post-urinary and post-bowel movement cleaning (toilet tissue and wet wipes), for otorhinolaryngological discharges (facial tissue), and multi-functional absorbent and cleaning uses (paper towels). Retail consumers of such fibrous structures look for products with certain performance properties, for example softness, smoothness, strength, and absorbency. For fibrous structures provided in roll form (e.g., toilet tissue and paper towels), retail consumers also look for products with roll properties that indicate value and quality, such as higher roll bulk, greater roll firmness, and lower roll compressibility. Accordingly, manufacturers seek to make fibrous structures with such desired properties through selection of material components, as well as selection of equipment and processes used in manufacturing the fibrous structures. More particularly, these desirable properties are achieved by forming pillows and knuckles throughout the fibrous structure, such is well-known. Various knuckle and pillow patterns have been disclosed and marketed. Applicants, however, have discovered knuckle and pillow patterns that create improved properties by using discrete knuckle (or discrete pillow) structures comprising one or more legs and/or concavities. Applicants space these discrete cells (knuckles or pillows) such that complex arrangements of distinct regions (pillow or knuckle regions) are formed, as will be explained in further detail below. These inventive cell structures, Cell Groups, and cell patterns result in fibrous structures that have desired and improved properties, including: improved cloth-like feel (Emtec TS7, Flexural Rigidity, and Flexural Rigidity/TDT), bulk (caliper, surface topology), looks clothlike (surface topology, cell size, Cell Area relative to Emboss Area), and rapid liquid uptake (CRT Rate and SST Rate). Of further importance in today's retail environment are the consumer-desired aesthetics of the fibrous structures. However, many times the independent goals of superior product performance (e.g., performance properties and/or roll properties) and consumer desired aesthetics are in contradiction to one another. For instance, the smoothness of a paper towel may depend on the wet-laid structure provided by the papermaking belt utilized during paper production and/or the emboss pattern applied during the paper converting process. But such papermaking-belt-provided structure and/or emboss may make the product visually unappealing to the consumer. Or a paper towel may be visually appealing to the consumer through the papermaking-belt-provided structure and/or emboss but have an undesired level of smoothness. Accordingly, manufacturers continually seek to make new fibrous structures with a combination of good performance and consumer-desired aesthetics. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the disclosure itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of non-limiting examples of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a representative papermaking belt of the kind useful to make the fibrous structures of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a photograph of a portion of a paper towel product previously marketed by The Procter & Gamble Co.; FIG. 3 is a plan view of a portion of a mask pattern used to make the papermaking belt that produced the paper towel of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a photograph of a portion of a new fibrous structure as detailed herein; FIG. 5 is a plan view of a portion of a mask pattern used to make the papermaking belt that produced the fibrous structure of FIG. 4; FIG. 6 is a plan view of a portion of a mask pattern used to make a p