The present invention pertains to a method wherein a concavoconvex cutting line is applied repetitively in a periodical way in the longitudinal direction of a continuous first web to form first and second partial webs; said first partial web is offset with respect to said second partial web in the longitudinal direction by a prescribed interval so that the concave edges and the convex edges of the first and second partial webs are positioned opposite to and aligned with each other, whereafter a continuous second web is used to connect the outside edges opposite to the said aligned concave and convex edge portions of the first and second partial webs, and as the second web is bonded with the outside edges of the partial webs a composite web is formed, following which the first and second partial webs of the composite web are spread apart.
An absorbent article which includes a liquid-permeable outer sheet (1) mounted on a first surface of the article, a liquid-impermeable outer sheet (2) mounted on a second surface of the article, and an absorbent body (3) which is enclosed between the two casing sheets and which includes a receiving space (24) for receiving and accommodating body liquid or fluid, the space comprising at least one cavity or region of lower density than the density of a part of the absorbent body (3) located adjacent the receiving space (24) generally in the same plane. The article is characterized in that the receiving space (24) is disposed in a storage layer (19) in the absorbent body (3), wherein the storage layer (19) is formed from a web of material which is divided in the longitudinal direction of the web along a dividing curve (20) which is undulating along at least part of its length so as to cross a line (21) extending in the longitudinal direction of the web at least two times, and the web-parts (22, 23) are displaced relative to one another in the plane of the web such that the web-parts (22, 23) will define the receiving space (24) therebetween in the plane of the web.
A web intended to be used as a topsheet or a backsheet defining front and rear sections and a crotch section extending therebetween in a disposable garment is continuously fed in its longitudinal direction, and a width of the web is divided in two halves along a longitudinally extending cutting line describing a curve approximate to a sine curve in and thus two webs are obtained. These two webs are transversely spaced from each other by a predetermined dimension and one of these two webs is longitudinally shifted relatively to the other by 1/2 period. Thereafter, these two webs are joined together in their overlapping regions. The two webs thus joined together is cut for every period with each pair of such overlapping regions lying in a middle of this period. The invention can thereby provide the topsheet or the backsheet without any waste pieces cut therefrom.
Improved methods and apparatus for forming absorbent products and the improved absorbent products formed thereby are disclosed. In a first embodiment of the present invention, a rotary die is used to cut ellipsoidal and hyperbolic-shaped from a single sheet of material and these shapes are overlaid to form an absorbent structure. The shapes are chosen such that there is no waste of the material and yet the resulting absorbent structure is of a useful shape. Methods are also disclosed whereby two sets of rotary dies are used to simultaneously cut two sheets of material into an arcuate segment and the arcuate segments are overlaid atop each other to form useful absorbent structures. In either embodiment, powders such as superabsorbents may be added to one or more of the surfaces of the components used to construct the absorbent structures.
A method includes producing an elastic strip material (12) by sandwiching an elastic member (4) between two webs (10, 11) under a stretched state in the longitudinal direction of the webs (10, 11), halving the elastic strip material (12) in the widthwise direction so that protrusions (12a) and recesses (12b) alternately appear, separating a first elastic strip material and a second elastic strip material obtained by halving in the widthwise direction, shifting the phases of the first and second elastic strip materials in the longitudinal direction so that the protrusions and the recesses become in phase, reducing the shrinking force of the elastic member near the protrusions (12a) of the first and second elastic strip materials (12A and 12B), and attaching an absorber (12c) onto parts (12c) of the first and second elastic strip materials (12A) where the shrinking force is reduced.
A method for forming a skin-contacting topsheet of disposable diaper with an elastic opening, wherein the opening 16 formed in the skin-contacting topsheet of a disposable diaper is elasticized along its whole peripheral edge and reinforced so as to form uniform gathers along the whole peripheral edge. The skin-contacting topsheet comprises a pair of sheet members overlapping side by side and having mutually opposed inner side edges, respectively, which are provided with cutouts so that each pair of mutually opposed cutouts form each opening, then elastic members are provided along halves of the opening's whole peripheral edge and these elastic members are covered with a part of the skin-contacting topsheet.
