Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H19/00—Changing the web roll
  • B65H19/10—Changing the web roll in unwinding mechanisms or in connection with unwinding operations
  • B65H19/18—Attaching, e.g. pasting, the replacement web to the expiring web
  • B65H19/1842—Attaching, e.g. pasting, the replacement web to the expiring web standing splicing, i.e. the expiring web being stationary during splicing contact
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H21/00—Apparatus for splicing webs
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H45/00—Folding thin material
  • B65H45/02—Folding limp material without application of pressure to define or form crease lines
  • B65H45/06—Folding webs
  • B65H45/10—Folding webs transversely
  • B65H45/101—Folding webs transversely in combination with laying, i.e. forming a zig-zag pile
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
  • B65H2301/40—Type of handling process
  • B65H2301/42—Piling, depiling, handling piles
  • B65H2301/421—Forming a pile
  • B65H2301/4216—Forming a pile of web folded in zig-zag form
  • B65H2301/42162—Juxtaposing several piles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H2701/00—Handled material; Storage means
  • B65H2701/10—Handled articles or webs
  • B65H2701/18—Form of handled article or web
  • B65H2701/182—Piled package
  • B65H2701/1824—Web material folded in zig-zag form
  • B65H2701/18242—Juxtaposed sets

Definitions

• the present invention provides an apparatus for splicing a strip of material packaged in stacks arranged parallel to each other.
• the supply of web materials has the advantage that large quantities of the material can be supplied to the manufacturing process as a single piece of web material.
• the web material may be supplied as roll stock or in festooned form. The latter form is preferred when the web material has a relatively large thickness dimension such that the lifetime of a roll of this material would be relatively short.
• the process of the present invention allows splicing of parallel stacks of web material with increased speed and increased accuracy compared to splicing by hand.
• the present invention provides a method for splicing the end connecting portion of a first stack in a multi-lane festooned package of web material to the beginning portion of the second stack of web material within the same package.
• a web material refers to a sheet-like material, or to a composite or laminate comprising two or more sheet-like materials.
• a web material can be a fibrous web, a non-fibrous web, a woven web, a nonwoven web, a foam, a film, or the like.
• the web material has a longitudinal dimension, a transverse dimension, and a thickness dimension.
• the longitudinal dimension of the material is substantially larger than the transverse dimension and than the thickness dimension.
• the material is supplied to the manufacturing process along the longitudinal dimension. Accordingly, the material is ideally rendered virtually infinite in the longitudinal dimension by splicing together a plurality of stretches of web material.
• the pieces of material suitable for incorporation into the article manufacture are obtained.
• the pieces of material which are incorporated into the article manufacture have the same transverse dimension and thickness dimension as the web material. Due to the sheet like nature of the web material, the thickness dimension is typically smaller than the thickness dimension.
• multi-lane festooned package of web material refers to a plurality of stacks of web material which are arranged in parallel. Within the individual stacks, the material is folded in a zigzag fashion and extends continuously from a bottom end portion to a top end portion where the material is folded at lines substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension of the web material.
• the individual stacks of the multilane festooned package may be completely independent of each other or the individual stacks may be separated from each other by a perforation line. If the individual stacks are only separated by a perforation line, the overall stability of the package is increased.
• a Cartesian coordinate system is defined relative to the multilane festooned package of web material which is to be spliced by the process of the present invention.
• the x -- dimension of this coordinate system is defined to be substantially parallel to the fold lines of the material within the individual stacks, i.e. the side surfaces of the individual stacks are perpendicular to the x -- direction.
• the y --dimension is defined to be substantially parallel to the longitudinal dimension of the web material in between the folds.
• the z -- dimension is defined to be height dimension of the individual stacks, i.e. the z -- dimension is perpendicular to the major surface is of the web material in between the folds.
• multi-lane festooned packages of material are particularly useful in the manufacture of disposable articles, in particular disposable absorbent articles such as diapers, sanitary napkins, adult incontinence products, bed mats, bibs, and the like.
• the process of the present invention comprises a step of holding the bottom end portion of the first stack of web material.
• the process further comprises a step of holding the top end portion of the second stack of web material.
• the process of the present invention may comprise stacks of automatically locating and grabbing the bottom end portion and/or the top end portion from the multilane festooned package of web material.
• the process of the present invention may further comprise steps of separating the bottom end portion and/or top end portion from a neighboring bottom end portion or top end portion respectively.
• the quality of the perforation may checked automatically while performing the splice.
• the process of the present invention comprises a further step of reversely rotating the bottom end portion around its transverse edge and/or reversely rotating the top end portion around its transverse edge until the longitudinal tangential vector of the bottom end portion forms an angle of between 90° and 270°, preferably between 120° and 240°, more preferably between 150° and 210°, most preferably about 180° with the longitudinal tangential vector of the top end portion.
• the longitudinal tangential vector of the end portions are considered to be tangential to the major surface of the web material in a longitudinal direction pointing away from the respective end portion.
• reverse rotation refers to that rotation which turns the inner major surface of the respective end portion to the outside.
• the inner major surface of the respective and portion is defined to be that major surface which faces the remainder of the stack of web material to which the end portion belongs.
• the process of the present invention comprises a step of joining the bottom end portion to the top end portion.
• suitable joining processes are known in the art including but not limited to ultrasonic bonding, adhesive bonding, thermobonding, pressure bonding, sewing, and the like.
• the process of ultrasonic bonding is particularly preferred for its low impact on to the web material. Depending on the specific material properties of the web material, however, the most suitable joining process will be readily apparent to the skilled person.
• the step of joining also comprises the relative positioning of the bottom end portion and the top end portion to be accessible for splicing. During such positioning care has to be taken to not entangle the bottom end portion with the top end portion.
• Movements of at least one of the end portions in the respective transverse direction may assist in resolving potential entanglement problems.
• the bottom end portion and the top end portion may be positioned relative to each other such that the bottom end portion is on top of and overlapping the top end portion.
• the bottom end portion of the top end portion may be arranged prior to joining such that to transverse edges contact each other so that the two end portions are joined in non-overlapping fashion.
• an additional piece of material may be joined to the two end portions of support such a non-overlapping splice.
• the process of the present invention optionally comprises a step of positioning the transverse edge of the bottom end portion and the transverse edge of the top end portion such that both edges are substantially parallel to each other prior to joining the bottom end portion to the top end portion.
• Such arrangement of the end portions will contribute to the quality of the splices.

Landscapes

• Absorbent Articles And Supports Therefor (AREA)
• Replacement Of Web Rolls (AREA)
• Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)

Priority Applications (6)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8239578

Family Applications (2)

Family Applications After (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (3)

Citations (3)

• 1999
  • 1999-12-10 EP EP99124638A patent/EP1106553A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-12-08 EP EP00984032A patent/EP1235733A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-12-08 AU AU20712/01A patent/AU2071201A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-12-08 WO PCT/US2000/033251 patent/WO2001042119A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2000-12-08 JP JP2001543427A patent/JP2003516289A/ja not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (3)

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