Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor – With bending – folding – winding – or wrapping means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-28
2001-11-13
Aftergut, Jeff H. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor
With bending, folding, winding, or wrapping means
C156S494000, C156S495000, C156S496000, C002S402000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315022
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This application is related to the manufacture of disposable products and, more particular, to a disposable undergarment apparatus and method of forming undergarments.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Over the years, consumers have shifted demand from cloth diapers to disposable diapers for infants and toddlers. This demand has increased and developed the disposable diaper industry into a major industry. As this industry developed, consumers preferred and often demanded improvements in disposable products which included better core absorbency, products which are easier to fasten, detach, and reattach side peripheries of the waistbands, various sizes of products for various weights and sizes of infants and toddler, and better control of leakage from the legs and waistbands when the diaper is positioned on an infant or toddler.
This development of the disposable diaper industry, however, has increased demand for faster and more efficient disposable undergarment production. This demand is further complicated by the development of disposable infant and toddler briefs, which have a different product configuration and have different product performance requirements than disposable diapers. Also, because of the relative success of the disposable diapers and the high volume of disposable diaper products produced in manufacturing, the market for toddler briefs has generally been a much smaller subset of the infant and toddler disposable diaper market. The demand for toddler briefs in general is substantially less than the disposable diapers. Accordingly, these specially configured briefs are not normally produced on the same production line as the disposable diaper production line. Because the market demand for these briefs is less, product manufacturers are less inclined to invest in additional machinery for producing these products. The product manufacturer, however, is also pushed by retailers and consumers to provide a full-line of disposable products for infants and toddlers.
Additionally, as the nursing home care and elderly care industry has grown over the years, the elderly often have needed more and more assistance from nursing home or elderly care personnel, including urination and bowel movement assistance. Urination and bowel movement problems have also arisen among various aged adults such as loss of bladder control through childbirth or other medical reasons. Accordingly, there is a need for disposable adult undergarments, as well as the disposable infant and toddler undergarments, and an apparatus and methods for forming these undergarments.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method for producing disposable undergarments more efficiently.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method having a higher production speed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method having the flexibility to produce both infant or toddler undergarments and adult undergarments more efficiently.
It is also another object of the present invention to provide a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method having the flexibility to produce different undergarment configurations efficiently with only minor production line changes.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method for increasing the value and productivity of a disposable undergarment production line.
These objects and other advantageous of the present invention are provided by a disposable undergarment apparatus for forming a plurality of disposable undergarments which preferably includes core forming means for forming a stream of undergarment cores traveling along a path of travel. The core forming means includes mat securing means for securing each of a plurality of undergarment mats to a sheet of a polymeric material and first separating means positioned downstream from the mat securing means for separating the stream of undergarment cores into a plurality of individual undergarment cores. The apparatus also includes waistband forming means positioned adjacent the core forming for forming waistbands and combining means positioned downstream from the core forming means and positioned to receive the waistbands from the waistband forming means for combining the waistbands with the plurality of individual undergarment cores to thereby form a chain of a plurality of undergarments. Folding means is positioned downstream from the combining means for folding each of the plurality of undergarments of the chain. The folding means includes a core folder for folding each of the cores of the plurality of undergarments of the chain. Side connecting means is positioned downstream from the folding means for connecting at least the side waistbands of each of the plurality of undergarments of the chain, and second separating means is positioned downstream from the side sealing means for separating the chain of the plurality of undergarments into a plurality of individual disposable undergarments.
Also, an apparatus for forming disposable undergarments according to the present invention, according to one embodiment, for example, further includes core forming means having core elastic applying means for applying elastic to side peripheries of the polymeric sheet and stand-up leg gather forming means positioned adjacent the core elastic applying means for forming stand-up legs gathers on the polymeric sheet.
The stand-up leg gather forming means includes leg sealing means for sealing polymeric material so as to form a liquid impervious seal for each of the stand-up leg gathers of the plurality of cores. The side connecting means preferably includes clamp conveying means positioned downstream from the folding means for clamping and conveying the chain of the plurality of undergarments to and through the side connecting means and to the second separating means. Side-entry stacking means in a particular form, for example, is positioned downstream from the second separating means for receiving a plurality of individual disposable undergarments from a side-entry position and for stacking the plurality of disposable undergarments into a predetermined stack. Position orienting means preferably is positioned between the second separating means and the side-entry stacking means for positionally orienting the plurality of individual undergarments from a generally vertical orientation to a generally horizontal orientation for side entry into the side-entry stacking means.
A disposable undergarment forming apparatus according to another specific form of the present invention also advantageously includes core orienting means positioned downstream from the core forming means for orienting each of the plurality of individual cores from a position having a lengthwise extent in a direction of the path of travel to having the lengthwise extent positioned transverse the path of travel. The waistband forming means preferably includes dividing means for dividing a continuous sheet of non-woven material into a plurality of continuous strips and strip combining means for combining strips of elastic material with the plurality of continuous strips of non-woven material. The folding means preferably includes a waistband folder positioned downstream from the combining means for folding each of the continuous waistband strips and a second folder positioned downstream from the core folder for providing a second fold, e.g., a side fold, to the folded cores of the plurality of undergarments of the chain. The apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention can include leg forming means positioned downstream from the core forming means for forming a pair of leg openings in each of the plurality of undergarments of the chain, and wherein the side connecting means further connects the side peripheries of each of the
Herrin Robert M.
Tharpe John M.
Aftergut Jeff H.
Allen Dyer Doppelt Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.A.
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