Abstract:
The machine of the present invention fabricates an undergarment assembly having an elasticized pad support panel secured to inner surfaces of the rear panel and the openable front panel. The machine makes the garment assembly from two half width webs, one of which has a reinforced edge. The machine arrangement includes first and second transversely spaced web paths and components to bond tensioned elastic strands to spaced dots of adhesive located on a third pad supporting web that is secured to adhesive areas applied adjacent, but not in, the garment crotch area with spaced adhesive applied to the innermost surfaces of the rear and front panels. The machine includes devices to add side margin and front panel connecting tapes, and die cutting rolls to cut leg openings in side margins. The machine includes components to divert cull product and deliver flat unfolded product, or longitudinal and transverse folded products for packaging.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to apparatus for fabricating undergarment assembly having a front opening, an integral inner pad support segment, and connecting tapes for completion of leg and waist apertures when the garment is applied to the wearer. 
     Apparatus of the instant invention fabricates a product similar to the undergarment assembly described in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/286355 including a combination of components to attach an elasticized pad support segment to the inside of the briefs. 
     The apparatus of this invention is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,802 with certain components eliminated and utilizes a different folding system to deliver stacks of flat unfolded product or stacks of longitudinally and transversely folded product for reduced package size. 
     The teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,802 produces a completed brief having leg and waist apertures. The brief is suitable for use by ‘stepping into’ the leg apertures. 
     The apparatus of the instant invention is arranged to make a product without waist and leg apertures completed and produces a product essentially intended to be applied like a disposable diaper while the wearer is in a prone or squatting position. 
     The instant invention includes apparatus for advancing, cutoff, and transfer of tape segments about 1″ wide (longitudinal machine direction) or cover strip segments having a longitudinal dimension (machine direction) longer than about 6″ using techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,191 and other tape/segment advancing devices. 
     Speed ratios between web advancing rolls and the cutoff-transfer roll couples are changed to vary the length of the segments added by these devices. 
     The product made by the instant apparatus has two parallel stretched elastic strands (or pluralities thereof) added to the pad support segment before it is attached to the inside surface of the innermost segment of the brief according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,367 to Bourgeous, U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,301 to Buell. 
     After side tapes, front closure tape, and the pad support web are added, leg cutouts are made in side margins and the completed assembly is advanced to a cutoff, folding and transfer system for stack delivery. 
     Using transverse folding principles and apparatus according to U.S. Pat. No. 1,974,149 of Christman, (1934) or U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,641 to Stemmler, the product is folded for package size reduction without completion of leg and waist apertures and delivered in stacks for packaging. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of this invention to describe fabricating apparatus for producing a front opening undergarment assembly containing a pad support segment substantially equal in width to the overlapped central portion of the product, attached to, and suspended from, the front and rear panel portions of the product. 
     It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus for attachment of elastic strands along opposite side margins of the support segment. 
     It is an object of the invention to define apparatus that delivers stacks of product without cross folds or stacks having transverse folds for package size reduction. 
     It is an further object of this invention to provide apparatus for making longitudinal folds to reduce width of the product for packaging. 
     It is a further object of this invention to describe apparatus that diverts faulty product as rejected cull. 
     Other objects of the invention will be seen in the ensuing specifications. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevation schematic of the apparatus of the instant invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the web overlapping arrangement viewed from sightline  2 — 2  of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vew of the inverse folding plate pair for adding a reinforcing strip to the edge of one web. 
     FIG. 4 is an illustration of the underside of the web assembly W 1 , W 2 , and W 3  viewed from sight line  4 — 4  of FIG. 1 (see right side). 
     FIG. 5 is a cross sectional diagrammatic illustration of the assembly viewed from line  5 — 5  of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged side elevation schematic illustrating a web advance, cutoff and trasnsfer system for attachment of tapes and other segments to the top of a primary web. 
     FIG. 7 is a side elevation schematic of a system for advancement, cutoff, and transfer of a segment for attachment to the underside of a primary web. 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of the product on the surface of a folding roll illustrating the use of cooperating plate edges and inclined folding plates to complete longitudinal folds. Curvature of elements is omitted for clarity. 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the product fabricated on the apparatus of FIG. 1 illustrating the pad support segment with an attached pad or removable cover strip. 
     FIG. 10 is a schematic side elevation of folding apparatus illustrating a coacting containment belt system. 
     FIG. 11 is a schematic side elevation of folding apparatus for delivery of flat product or stacks of folded product illustrating the devices for completing longitudinal folds. 
     FIG. 12 is a side elevation of the stationary half of a vacuum timing valve viewed from line  12 — 12  of FIG.  13 . 
     FIG. 13 is a schematic side elevation illustrating a vacuum roll cooperatively arranged with the stationary half portion of a vacuum timing valve including a movable block for changing length of a vacuum channel. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In FIG. 1, manufacturing apparatus  1  substantially complates the undergarment assembly shown in FIG. 9 while materials are in web form, and delivers separated products in stacks of flat unfolded assemblies, or in another embodiment, in stacks of longitudinally and transversely folded product. 
     In FIG. 1, web W 1  is unwound from supply roll  2  by unwind belt  3 , and advances through 3-roll constant tension system  4 . 
     Web W 1  and W 2  are referred to as first and second webs herein. 
     In FIG. 1, a narrow web strip W 3  is unwound from supply roll  6  by unwind belt  7  and passes through the nip of pull roll pair  8  mounted above v-folding plate  9 . 
     A second pair of draw rolls  10  at the tip of folding plate  9  is driven by a variable speed motor (not shown) to create tension in the web moving across folding plate  11 . The apex of the v-folded web is along margin  12  (see FIG.  3 ). 
     Referring briefly to FIGS. 2 and 3, the V-folded web is advanced from pull rolls  10  over guide rolls (not shown) to the incoming web position W 3 A, advanced over the top and bottom outside surfaces of inverse folding plates  11 , around the 45 degree angled edges  13 , and is reverse folded to slide over the inside surfaces and exit from plate pair  11 , with web W 3 B oriented 90 degrees from the direction of the incoming web—in effect, a 90 degree turn involving a reversal of inside and outside surfaces before and after the web fold. 
     The apex of the inversely folded web is along edge  14  after exit from plates  11 . 
     In FIGS. 2 and 5, first web W 1  is shown entering the space between the reverse portions of strip W 3  and is enclosed therebetween. 
     In FIG. 2, the reinforcing strip W 3  is attached to adhesive applied to both sides of web W 1  by applicators  15  and  16  (not shown). 
     In FIG. 3, means to change spacing between upper and lower angled plates can be provided (not shown) to increase spacing when W 1  or W 3  spliced joints are sensed upstream, and can be reduced to normal spacing using automatic controls. 
     It is further noted that while strip reinforcing web W 3  is shown being added to web W 1 , duplicate but oppositely handed means can be used to add a strip to the edge of web W 2 . 
     In FIG. 1, second web W 2  is concurrently fed from supply roll  17  by unwind belt  18  and passes through a 3-roll constant tension system  19 . 
     Before being joined to web W 1 , the underlying web W 2  (see FIGS. 1 and 2) has adhesive applied to restricted spaced areas  20  in the central overlapped region by printer  21 . 
     Spaced areas of adhesive  20  (see right side of FIG. 2) joins the two half width webs into a full width web at spaced intervals of the overlapped portions between plies of the rear panel, and by leaving a portion not adhesively printed (space  22  between areas  20 —see right side of FIG.  20 ), the unbonded overlap becomes the front panel opening. 
     It is noted that when the longitudinal dimension of the printed area  20  exceeds 50% of the product length, a limited but beneficial bonding occurs between a portion of the overlapped front panel plies near the crotch. 
     In FIG. 1, web W 2  is advanced to the nip between roll set  5  and bondably joined in spaced adhesive areas  20  to web W 1  including reinfrocing strip W 3  that encloses one margin. 
     In FIGS. 2 and 4, the conjoined webs are viewed with web W 1  overlapped as the top web. 
     In other embodiments, webs can be interchanged to yield an oppositely handed front panel opening. 
     Before reaching transverse cutting rolls, a releaseable closure tape  23  (see FIG. 9) is attached to the top of web W 1  and extends over the folded edge of the reinforcing strip for attaching connection between the two half width webs which become the front panel when the garment is folded around the crotch of the wearer. 
     In the top of FIG. 1, a closure tape is pulled from supply roll  24  by draw rolls  25 . 
     The web for tape  23  is flexible but substantially non-extensible. 
     With a disc brake or other means to provide resistance, the tape web being fed into roll set  25  has enough tension to prevent overfeed while advancing (for example, a 1″ long segment) into the space between anvil roll  26  and knife roll  27  when the knife-anvils are not in contact between cuts. 
     Vacuumized anvil roll  26  advances the tape segment to vacuum transfer roll  28  for extending attachment to overlapped webs W 1  and W 2 . 
     In FIG. 1, two webs  29 ,  29 ′ of side margin tapes are advanced from a supply roll, threaded over a guide roll (not referenced) and around pull rolls  30  for segment advancement to cutoff roll set  31 ,  32  and vacuum transfer roll  33  in a segment feeding system similar to U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,191 and other prior art. 
     In the lower part of FIG. 1, web W 4  (for pad support segment S 4  see FIG. 9) is unwound from supply roll  34  by unwind belt  35 . 
     Web W 4  is advanced over a 3-roll constant tension system  36  by a set of pull rolls  37 . 
     Elastic strands  38 ,  38 ′ pass through the nip of S-wrap roll set  39  which advances the elastic at a velocity lower than the velocity of the pad support web W 4 , thus inducing tension in the elastic strands according to the teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,866. 
     Strands  38 ,  38 ′ remain tensioned and stretched until the web assembly is cut into separate garments. 
     In FIG. 1, spaced portions of elastic strands  38 ,  38 ′ are superposed on dots of adhesive  40  placed on web W 4  at spaced intervals (see FIG. 4) by applicator  41 . In another embodiment, adhesive can be applied to the elastic strands as at  41 ′ in FIG.  1 . 
     Upstream of pull rolls  37  in FIG. 1, adhesive applicator  42  applies spaced areas of adhesive  43 ,  43 ′ to the underside of web W 2 . 
     Areas  43 ,  43 ′ are spaced apart longitudinally at a distance substantially equal to, or slightly longer than, the longitudinal distance of the series of spaced dots applied to web W 4 . 
     By attachment of web W 4  near opposite ends, the segment between attachment zones  43 ,  43 ′ is therefore free to contract along with the attached tensioned elastic strands without affecting the length of the non-stretched undergarment material between areas of pad support attachment. 
     In FIG. 1, after tensioned elastic is applied to web W 4  the web with elastic  38  is attached at spaced apart areas  43 ,  43 ′ (see FIG.  4 ), adhesive applicator  44  applies pad receptor adhesive to areas  45  of FIG.  4 . 
     If a pad is not added during fabrication of the assembly, receptor area adhesive  45  must be covered with a release coated strip  46  of FIG. 4 (means not shown in FIG.  1 ). 
     In an embodiment requiring strip  46 , a system similar to the segment (ot tape) feeder system of FIG. 6 is used as described hereinafter. 
     FIG. 4 is viewed from the underside of the overlapped webs W 1  and W 2  to show the pad support web W 4  and its attachment to adhesive receptor areas  43 ,  43 ′. 
     Elastic strands  38 ,  38 ′ are attached to the pad support and enclosed between bottom web W 2  and pad support web W 4  (see also FIG. 5) 
     In FIG. 5, web W 1  extends between L 2  to L 4 , and web W 2  extends from L 1  to L 3  for bonded attachment by adhesive  20 . 
     In FIG. 5, web W 4  extends from L 2  to L 3  and is attached to the underside of the overlapped webs with adhesive applied in areas  43 ,  43 ′. 
     In FIG. 5, a separate pad P is shown, but pad receptor adhesive is omitted for clarity. 
     FIGS. 6 and 7 are typical segment feeder devices with similar components but with different arrangements depending on the direction of the incoming web and final transfer to the top or bottom of the primary web. 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the segment feed system for adding front closure tapes  23  and side tapes  29 ,  29 ′ (see FIG.  9 ). 
     In FIG. 6, an S-wrap feed roll couple  47  advances a web at slow speed to advance a portion that protrudes downwardly in the space between knife cutoff roll  48  and anvil roll  49 . 
     During the interval betqween cuts, the advancing segment is in sliding contact with anvil roll  49  which has vacuum ports at small segment repeats, and when the cutoff roll rotates to the cutting position, a small segment (such as a tape) is free to advance at web speed on the surface of roll  49  for transfer to the web via roll  50 . A backup roll  51  is provided for web support. 
     Referring briefly to FIG. 1, die roll  52  coacting with anvil roll  53  is shown immediately downstream of applicator  44  and position P. The die set cuts excess material from side margins to form an hourglass shape for leg apertures. 
     FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a similar feed, cutoff, and transfer system used to add a cover strip  46  over receptor area  45  (see FIG.  4 ). 
     S-wrap roll set  54  directs the leading edge of a web to the surface of anvil roll  55 . Web W A is restrained by roll set  54  and held in sliding contact with roll  55  by vacuum ports in the surface of roll  55  until the cutoff occurs. 
     By using well known rotary vacuum valves (see FIGS. 12 and 13) a cut segment S is transferred to web W B via rolls  57 ,  57 ′. 
     Referring to FIG. 1 and 11, web assembly W  1 , W  2 , W  3 , and W  4  is advanced around reversing roll  58  to place tapes on the underside of the advancing web assembly. 
     Knife roll  59  severs the web assembly into segments S. Anvil roll  60  is vacuumized and advances the leading cut edge to anvil roll position at about 290 degrees (as viewed in FIG.  11 ). 
     The leading rear panel  61  (see also FIG. 9) is held to anvil roll  60  until vacuum is stopped at about 285 degrees. 
     In FIG. 11, the trailing front panel portion  62  (see FIG. 9) is held by vacuumized apertures shown solid in FIG. 8, and as folding roll  63  rotates, a plurality of vacuum ports  64  along fold line F 1 -F 1 ′ holds the trailing panel  62  near the fold line and causes rear panel  61  to be slideably pulled from the surface of roll  60 , resulting in a half fold to reduce packaging size. 
     In FIG. 8, vacuum ports for rear panel  61  are shown as circles and ports for front panel  62  are shown solid, noting that the same pattern of ports are on rolls  60 , 63 , and  65 . 
     Some of the ports for leading panel  61  are omitted for clarity. 
     Attention is directed to square ports  67  (see FIG. 8) in the surface of rolls  60 ,  63 , and  65 . 
     Air pressure is applied through apertures  67  to eject faulty product from rolls  62 ,  65  of FIG. 11 or delivery roll  65  of FIG. 10, but more importantly, to provide a first positive upward force to fold outer side panel ‘wing’ portions of the garment radially outward from roll  63  of FIG. 11 as described hereinafter for making longitudinal folds. 
     The cutting, folding and transfer arrangement of FIG. 10 has components similar to FIG. 11 including nip rolls  68  to isolate elastic tension in the product during the cutting operation between knife roll  69  and anvil roll  70 . Product control belts  71 ,  71 ′ keep product against roll surfaces. 
     FIG. 13 shows a typical plurality of ports  64 ,  64 ′ (see FIG. 8) communicating with vacuum manifold  72  in a typ[ical rotating roll. 
     The circular free end of manifold  72  rotates in sliding contact with annular groove  73  in stationary valve half  74 , (viewed from sight line  12 — 12  of FIG.  13 ). 
     Annular groove  73  communicates with central hollow shaft  75  via radial channels  76 . 
     For example, in FIG. 12, vacuum V is only available in the groove between positions  77  to  78  and  78  to  79 . 
     Referring to FIG. 13, the crosshatched block in position  78  is connected to, and slideable with, solenoid actuator rod  80 , and by slideable retraction into block cutouts in the frame (not referenced for clarity), block  78  can be moved to restore the full vacuum path between  77  and  79 . 
     In FIGS. 12 and 13, the solenoid actuator causes a change in duration of the effective vacuum by interruption of the vacuum path  77 - 79  resulting in longer or shorter groove length and different vacuum duration which is used to reject defective product along paths C in FIGS. 10 and 11. 
     Referring back to FIG. 8, central folding edges  81 ,  81 ′ of plate  82  provide a folding edge around which panels extending transversely beyond the crotch (see  83  of FIG. 9) are folded by applying air pressure through square apertures  67  to force wing portions  83  to be folded upwardly, and during subsequent advancement, to be folded inwardly in superposed relationship by folding edges  84 ,  84 ′ of plates  85 ,  85 ′ respectively. 
     It is further understood that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or special attributes, and it is, therefore, not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicaste the scope of the invention.