Patent ID: 11872114
Assignee: CURT G. JOA, INC.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A method for folding discrete absorbent sanitary products, the method comprising:
providing a first folding station;
providing a second folding station downstream from the first folding station;
providing a belt-type inverted main conveyor configured to transport discrete absorbent sanitary products at a constant speed in a machine direction across each of the first and second folding stations, the sanitary products to be folded at the first and second folding stations;
providing a sloping compression conveyor between the first folding station and the second folding station, the sloping compression conveyor positioned beneath the inverted main conveyor;
the sloping compression conveyor sloping in a downward direction from the first folding station toward the second folding station;
conveying, by the inverted main conveyor, an absorbent sanitary product in a pad-down inverted orientation in a machine direction along the inverted main conveyor;
performing a first folding of the absorbent sanitary product at the first folding station, the first folding occurring at a first folding location of the absorbent sanitary product located between a leading edge and a midsection of the absorbent sanitary product;
the sloping compression conveyor configured to receive the folded absorbent sanitary product from the first folding station and maintain the absorbent sanitary product in a folded state against the inverted main conveyor;
performing a second folding of the absorbent sanitary product at the second folding station, the second folding occurring at a second folding location of the absorbent sanitary product located between a midsection and a trailing edge of the absorbent sanitary product;
wherein performing each of the first folding and the second folding at the respective folding stations further comprises:
engaging the absorbent sanitary product with a first drum and rotating the absorbent sanitary product in a first rotational direction;
contacting the absorbent sanitary product with one or more folding fingers traveling in the machine direction, and traveling at a same speed as the inverted main conveyor;
engaging the absorbent sanitary product with a rotating member adjacent to the first drum and downstream therefrom in the machine direction, the rotating member rotating in the first rotational direction; and
folding the absorbent sanitary product over the one or more folding fingers via rotation of the rotating member in the first rotational direction.