Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-13
2004-11-23
Yao, Sam Chaun (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S202000, C156S204000, C156S217000, C156S226000, C156S227000, C604S385300, C604S390000, C493S450000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06821370
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to processes and apparatus for making garments, and more particularly to processes and apparatus for making prefastened and refastenable garments.
Garments such as disposable absorbent garments have numerous applications including diapers, training pants, feminine care products, and adult incontinence products. The typical disposable absorbent garment is formed as a composite structure including an absorbent assembly disposed between a liquid permeable bodyside liner and a liquid impermeable outer cover. These components can be combined with other materials and features such as elastic materials and containment structures to form a product that is specifically suited to its intended purposes.
Manufacturing techniques for making conventional garments are in some respects inadequate for making new product forms, such as prefastened and refastenable garments. Hence, what is lacking and needed in the art are processes and apparatus for making garments, and in particular for making prefastened and refastenable garments such as disposable absorbent garments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In response to the above-referenced unfulfilled need in the art, new processes and apparatus for making garments have been discovered. In one aspect, the invention concerns a method for positioning side panels during manufacture of a pant. An embodiment of the method comprises transporting a pant in a machine direction thus defining a pant transport plane and a z-direction perpendicular to the pant transport plane. The pant can comprise at least one waist region having opposite side panels. The method also comprises positioning the side panels within fluid flow devices, where each fluid flow device defines a side panel transport path which is disposed at an angle with respect to the pant transport plane. In this way, the side panels can move in the z-direction while the pant is transported in the machine direction and the side panels reside within the fluid flow devices.
Another embodiment of the method for positioning side panels during manufacture of a pant comprises transporting a pant in a machine direction thus defining a pant transport plane and a z-direction perpendicular to the pant transport plane. The pant can comprise at least one waist region comprising opposite side panels. In this embodiment, the side panels are positioned within fluid flow devices located on opposite sides of a machine center line. Each fluid flow device is oriented at an angle with respect to the pant transport plane such that at least laterally outward portions of the side panels move in the z-direction and toward the machine center line while the pant is transported in the machine direction and the side panels reside within the fluid flow devices.
The z-direction movement can be useful in many embodiments, but may be particularly useful where the side panels include fastening components and it is desired to move the fastening components closer together in the transverse direction. For instance, the fastening components can be positioned closer together by creating an elevation difference between portions of the waist region containing the fastening components and another portion of the waist region. In particular embodiments, the fastening components can be disposed in the side panels, and the absorbent chassis and/or side panels can be repositioned to create an elevation difference between at least a portion of the absorbent chassis and the side panels.
In some embodiments of the present method, at least portions of the side panels are allowed to move inward toward the machine center line while the pant is transported in the machine direction and the side panels reside within the fluid flow devices. This inward movement can be useful in preparing the side panels for attachment to the opposite waist region. At other points in the process which are described in greater detail below, the side panels can be maintained at a constant cross-machine direction position while the pant is transported in the machine direction.
Hence, another aspect of the invention concerns methods for making prefastened and refastenable pants. An embodiment of the method comprises transporting a folded pant in a machine direction thus defining a pant transport plane and a z-direction perpendicular to the pant transport plane. The folded pant can have opposite first and second waist regions in facing relation, with the first waist region comprising first side panels and the second waist region comprising second side panels. The first side panels can comprise initially inward-facing fastening components and the second side panels can comprise initially outward-facing fastening components. The method includes inverting the initially outward-facing fastening components. Additionally, the first side panels are transported within fluid flow devices in the z-direction away from the pant transport plane while the folded pant is transported in the machine direction. The first side panels can be transferred from the fluid flow devices to side panel transfer devices, upon which the first side panels can be transported on the side panel transfer devices in the z-direction toward the pant transport plane while the folded pant is transported in the machine direction. The initially inward-facing and initially outward-facing fastening components can then be engaged with one another.
In particular embodiments, the initially inward-facing fastening components can be separated from one another by an initial distance and the initially outward-facing fastening components can be separated from one another by substantially the same initial distance. In the context of the present invention, the distance between initially inward-facing fastening components and the distance between the initially outward-facing fastening components both refer to the transverse linear distance between the fastening components. “Transverse linear distance” is used herein to refer to the distance between two fastening components, measured in a straight line parallel to the transverse axis of the garment without regard to surface contours of the garment. There may or may not be any force exerted in the transverse direction at the time of measurement.
Fluid flow devices as described herein can also be oriented parallel to the pant transport plane. Such parallel fluid flow devices can be employed to transport the side panels in the machine direction while portions of the side panels are disposed at z-direction positions displaced from the pant transport plane. Parallel fluid flow devices can reduce friction and assist in straightening the side panels. Hence, in another embodiment, a method for positioning side panels during manufacture of a pant comprises: transporting a pant in a machine direction thus defining a pant transport plane and a z-direction perpendicular to the pant transport plane, the pant comprising at least one waist region comprising opposite side panels; transporting at least laterally outward portions of the side panels in the z-direction away from the pant transport plane while the pant is transported in the machine direction; positioning the side panels within internal passageways of fluid flow devices located on opposite sides of a machine center line, the internal passageways displaced in the z-direction outside the pant transport plane; and transporting the side panels within the internal passageways while at least laterally outward portions of the side panels reside outside the pant transport plane and the pant is transported in the machine direction.
In a further embodiment, a method for positioning side panels during manufacture of a pant comprises: transporting a pant in a machine direction thus defining a pant transport plane and a z-direction perpendicular to the pant transport plane, the pant comprising at least one waist region comprising opposite side panels; positioning the side panels within fluid flow devices located on opposite sides of a machine center line, each fluid flow device comprising walls d
Krupka Kurt Garrett
Maxton David Albert
Popp Robert Lee
Protheroe Michael William
Thorson Timothy Alan
Brodersen John L.
Gage Thomas M.
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Yao Sam Chaun
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