Patent ID: 8323443
Filing Date: 2012-12-04
Classification: A61F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for producing a worn article in which a pair of side panels each including two sheet-like materials and an elastic thread sandwiched between the two sheet-like materials are attached to a main body portion, the method comprising the steps of: feeding the elastic threads between a pair of sheet-like materials along a flow direction of the pair of sheet-like materials so as to obtain a laminate to be the side panels, wherein the elastic threads are continuous in the flow direction of the sheet-like materials and shrink in the flow direction and wherein the elastic threads exert a contractile force on the laminate in a contractile portion, and wherein a first and a second non-contractile portion extending in a direction perpendicular to the flow direction and having no contractile force exerted thereon are alternately formed in the laminate at a predetermined interval in the flow direction, a fastening element fastening the side panels to the main body portion during wearing is attached to the second non-contractile portion; thereafter cutting off the laminate at a predetermined interval in the flow direction to obtain cut panels, wherein the laminate is cut along the second non-contractile portion so that each of the cut panels includes at least a part of the second non-contractile portion; wherein in the step of cutting the laminate to obtain the cut panels, the fastening element, together with the laminate, is cut into two pieces so that each of the cut panels includes at least a cut-off fastening element, and wherein the laminate is cut in the first non-contractile portion to form a pair of cut panels including two of the cut panels adjacent to each other in the flow direction; thereafter changing an attitude of a the pair of cut panels including two of the cut panels adjacent to each other to an attitude that is obtained by a rotation of about 90 degrees with respect to the flow direction so that the elastic threads extend along the direction perpendicular to the flow direction; thereafter spacing the attitude-changed pair of cut panels apart from each other in a width direction, which is generally perpendicular to the flow direction, of the sheet-like materials after the step of changing the attitude of the cut panels; and then attaching the spaced-apart pair of cut panels to a sheet-like member to be the main body portion in the first non-contractile portions of the pair of cut panels, one on a left side and the other on a right side of the sheet-like member.