Paper having improved pinhole characteristics and papermaking belt for ...

1. A papermaking belt having a paper-contacting side and a backside opposite said paper-contacting side, said papermaking belt comprising:

a reinforcing structure having a paper-facing side and a machine-facing side opposite said paper-facing side, said reinforcing structure having an air permeability of not less than about 800 cfm and a Fiber Support Index not less than about 75; and

a framework joined to said reinforcing structure and extending outwardly not more than about 6.5 mils from said paper-facing side of said reinforcing structure to form an essentially continuous network, said framework having a first surface defining said paper-contacting side of said papermaking belt, a second surface opposite said first surface, and deflection conduits extending between said first surface and said second surface, said first surface comprising a paper-side network and paper-side openings and said second surface comprising a backside network and backside openings, at least about 40% of the area of each of said paper-side openings being not less than about 45 mils in each of its dimensions measured in the X-Y plane at the level of said paper-side network, said paper-side openings and said backside openings defining said deflection conduits.

2. The papermaking belt of claim 1, wherein said reinforcing structure comprises a plurality of machine-direction yarns interwoven with a plurality of cross-machine direction yarns.

3. The papermaking belt of claim 1, wherein said reinforcing structure comprises a first layer of interwoven yarns and a second layer of interwoven yarns, said first and second layers being substantially parallel to each other and interconnected in a contacting face-to-face relationship by tie yarns.

4. The papermaking belt of claim 1, wherein said reinforcing structure comprises a felt.

5. The papermaking belt of claim 1, wherein said paper-side openings are disposed on said first surface in a non-random, repeating pattern.

6. The papermaking belt of claim 5, wherein said non-random, repeating pattern comprises a bilaterally staggered array.

7. The papermaking belt of claim 6, wherein essentially each of said paper-side openings defines a closed figure.

8. The papermaking belt of claim 7, wherein said closed figure comprises a bow-tie shaped figure.

9. The papermaking belt of claim 8, wherein the amount of said deflection conduits is not greater than about 80 conduits per square inch.

10. A papermaking belt having a paper-contacting side and a backside opposite said paper-contacting side, said papermaking belt comprising:

a reinforcing structure having a paper-facing side and a machine-facing side opposite said paper-facing side, said reinforcing structure having air permeability not less than about 800 cfm and Fiber Support Index not less than about 75; and

a framework joined to said reinforcing structure and extending outwardly not more than about 6.5 mils from said paper-facing side of said reinforcing structure, said framework having a first surface defining said paper-contacting side of said papermaking belt, a second surface opposite said first surface, and deflection conduits extending between said first and second surfaces, said first surface comprising a paper-side network and paper-side openings, at least about 40% of the area of each of said paper-side openings being not less than about 45 mils in each of its dimensions measured in the X-Y plane at the level of said paper-side network, and said second surface comprising a backside network and backside openings, said paper-side openings and said backside openings defining said deflection conduits;

said reinforcing structure comprising a first layer of a plurality of interwoven yarns having a top dead center longitude remaining within 1.5 yarn diameters of said paper-facing side, and a second layer of a plurality of interwoven yarns, said first and second layers being substantially parallel to each other and interconnected in a contacting face-to-face relationship by tie yarns.

11. A paper web having two regions and comprising:

an essentially continuous, essentially macroscopically monoplanar network region, and a dome region comprising discrete domes, said domes being dispersed throughout, encompassed by, and isolated one from another by said network region, at least about 40% of the X-Y area of each of said domes being not less than about 45 mils in each of its dimensions measured in the X-Y plane at the level of said network region, the density of said network region being greater than the density of said dome region.

12. A paper web of claim 11, wherein said domes are distributed in a repeating pattern.

13. A paper web of claim 12, wherein said repeating pattern comprises a bilaterally staggered array.

14. A paper web of claim 13, wherein the perimeter of substantially each of said domes defines a closed figure.

15. A paper web of claim 14, wherein said closed figure comprises a bow-tie shaped figure.

16. A paper web of claim 15, wherein the amount of said domes is not greater than about 80 domes per square inch of said paper web.

17. A paper web having two regions and comprising:

an essentially continuous, essentially macroscopically monoplanar network region, and a dome region comprising a plurality of discrete domes, essentially all of said domes being dispersed throughout, encompassed by, and isolated one from another by said network region, at least about 40% of the X-Y area of each of said domes being not less than about 45 mils in each of its dimensions measured in the X-Y plane at the level of said network region, the density of said network region being greater than the density of said dome region.