Soft, drapable nonwoven material

Claim 1

A soft, drapable nonwoven material having good bi-directional strength-stretch characteristics comprising, in combination, a web of staple length fibers having a predominant direction of fiber orientation and a pattern of adhesive lines serving to unite the fibers together into a coherent nonwoven material with said adhesive being about 5-30 percent of the web weight, said lines of adhesive being uniformly spaced in the direction of fiber orientation less than an average fiber length apart, having a width of less than about one-half the line spacing, and extending continuously across said web generally perpendicular to the direction of predominant fiber orientation thus simultaneously involving a substantial number of fibers in a load bearing capacity when the web is strained in the direction of orientation, said lines of adhesive being further disposed uniformly over said web in a regularly repeating oscillating pattern with the crests thereof pointed in the direction of predominant fiber orientation and characterized by the combination of (1) a period of about 1/4 - 1 inch, (2) a line amplitude of at least about 1.5-4 times the line spacing to place said lines in nested configuration, and (3) an amplitude to period ratio of about 0.5-2 so that, as the web is strained in the direction perpendicular to that of original orientation, fiber realignment occurs without accompanying adhesive disruption thus permitting the fibers to bear the so applied strain over elongations of at least about 25 percent.