Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1996-04-05
2001-10-30
Sells, James (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S290000, C156S308400, C156S553000, C156S580100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06309487
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to disposable garments and methods and apparatus for making such garments.
The prior art teaches a wide variety of disposable diaper configurations, in which the finished diaper is a flat panel having adhesive tabs or the like, permitting the joinder of one end of the panel to the other, to fit the diaper panel from the infant's back, under the crotch and to the front of the waist. Examples of such arrangements are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,772 to Brooks et al; 3,417,751 to Murdoch; 4,892,528 to Suzuki et al; and 5,064,489 to Ujimoto et al.
There have also been developed in the prior art a variation of finished disposable training pants for infants, in which the finished product has opposing side seams joining the front and back panels of the garment assembly. Examples of these arrangements are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,743,239 to Cole; 4,743,241 to Igaue et al; 4,646,362 to Heran et al; 4,938,757 to Van Gompel et al; and 5,055,103 to Nomura et al; and 5,064,421 to Tracy.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,241 to Igaue et al discloses an elastic sheet adhered across the panel adjacent to the opposing leg openings, which serves as a liquid barrier for body fluids leaking from the center absorbent pad. A similar arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,751 to Murdoch.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to disposable garments, particularly of the training pants variety, which include a rolled cuff inwardly from the plane of each leg opening, at least about the lower portion of the leg opening. Further, the present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for achieving this rolled cuff feature in a low cost and facile manner. The present invention also has the objective of providing methods and apparatus for achieving improvements and efficiencies in the manufacture of disposable garments of all types, including both disposable diapers, training pants, and incontinent garments for those who are elderly or infirmed.
In one form, a disposable garment in accordance with the present invention includes a panel of a material at least a portion of which is liquid impervious, the panel defining leg openings. The garment is provided with elastic means extending continuously about the-peripheral edge of each leg opening with the elastic means including a sheet of an elastic material stretched along an inside surface of the panel and about a substantial portion of the periphery of the corresponding leg opening, the elastic sheet being under sufficient stretch to draw the periphery of the leg opening into a curved elastic cuff when the garment is fitted about an infant. In this arrangement, the elastic sheet extends continuously around and to the peripheral edge of the corresponding leg opening.
In another form, the elastic sheet extends about the lower portion of the leg opening, with plural elastic bands extending about the remaining periphery of the leg opening at the upper portion on either side of the leg opening. In this arrangement, the elastic bands preferably also extend across the area covered by the corresponding elastic sheet, then laterally across the crotch area of the panel and then across a portion of the area covered by another elastic sheet about the opposing leg opening, with a similar pair of elastic bands being also disposed around the other side of the two leg openings.
A third form of construction for the disposable garment employs a second layer of elastic sheet extending between the leg openings, and longitudinally stretched between the leg holes. The second stretched elastic layer avoids the necessity for providing the elastic bands of the type described above, while at the same time providing a uniform gathering of material in the crotch area of the garment.
Preferably, the elastic sheet material is under a stretch on the order of five ounces per lineal inch for each inch of cross-width when installed across the panel, and extends at least 0.5 inches from the peripheral edge laterally across that portion of the panel where the elastic sheet is deposited.
In the manufacture of the garments, a unitary elastic sheet is stretched across the machine web in a direction lateral to the direction of manufacture, the elastic sheet having dimensions so as to cover an area of the web where leg openings for two adjacent garments will later be formed. Leg openings are then cut through each elastic sheet in the outer web, each leg opening lying within the boundaries of the corresponding elastic sheet and defining the peripheral edges of two leg openings, one each for the adjacent garments. The web is then later folded in half, so that the elastic sheet extends continuously around the leg opening. In this form of manufacture, the direction of stretch of the elastic sheet for each leg opening thus is generally parallel to the edge of the opening along the lower portion, the direction of stretch extending somewhat laterally away from the peripheral edge along that portion closest to the waist opening of the garment. Appropriate seams are formed along the sides between the front and back of the garment from the waist opening to the upper portion of each leg opening.
The present invention also is directed to -,manufacturing methods and apparatus, which includes a sequential series of operations formed at individual stations, or “sections”, where the method and apparatus coact with the materials which make up the disposable garments.
One of the features of the present invention with respect to methods and apparatus for manufacturing such garments is the inclusion of a reciprocating “guillotine” cutting knife for severing the continuous web of absorbent material into individual pads. The use of a reciprocating knife reduces the hardness and sharpness of the edge of the pad, with respect to conventional rotary cutters. In order to accommodate the use of the reciprocating cutting blade, the present invention utilizes a conveying system in which the web of materials forming the pads are passed into an accumulator section which permits an elevated continuous feed from overhead onto a vacuum conveyor; the vacuum conveyor is then operated intermittently as required by the operation of the reciprocating cutting knife. The accumulator utilizes a retaining flap to keep the degree of accumulating “bend” in the continuous pad material to an acceptable level. The material forming the pad web is maintained against the vacuum conveyor with a curved bar extending in the direction of manufacture; the vacuum conveyor itself utilizes a woven material as the conveyor surface, with a fixed vacuum plate for drawing the pad web down against the woven conveyor surface. The reciprocating action of the knife across the laterally extending pad web is operated by an eccentric drive mechanism, and the cutting aperture below the reciprocating knife blade is angled in a V-shape, in order to facilitate a smooth cut.
A second feature of the present invention is located downstream of the reciprocal cutter. After cutting of the individual pads, the pads are then conveyed to a combining station and adhered to an outer carrier layer, or web. In order to insure that the pads are delivered exactly in a straight format to the combining station, the pad conveyor between the cutter and the combining section is provided with means for straightening any misaligned pads moving across the conveyor; this objective is achieved in a conveyor which also further achieves the objective of reaching near the throat of the reciprocal cutting knife, in order to receive each cut pad. This is achieved using multiple thin, plastic webbing strips for the conveyor surface, and a chain and dog drive positioned underneath the webbing conveyor, the chain having an eccentric drive to move each dog first slowly, then faster, then slowly again. The chain drives extend parallel'with the thin webbing, with the dogs extending through the webbing and into engagement with each pad. In operation, each straightening dog
Herrin Robert M.
Tharpe John M.
Allen Dyer Doppelt Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.A.
Sells James
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