Patent ID: 8713900

Claim:
An apparatus for providing low count packages of absorbent articles during a high speed manufacturing process, the article comprising: a conveyor configured to serially convey a plurality of absorbent articles in a machine direction; a continuously rotating stacker, the continuously rotating stacker including an infeed, an outfeed and a plurality of cassettes, each cassette including opposing top and bottom walls that define a space therebetween wherein each cassette is configured to sequentially receive at least one absorbent article from the conveyor at the infeed of the stacker; an extraction station disposed at the outfeed of the stacker, the extraction station including an extractor configured to remove at least one absorbent article from at least one absorbent article containing cassette, wherein the extractor comprises a belt having an endless surface, wherein the endless surface of the extractor is positioned at an angle that is non-parallel to the top and bottom walls of the cassette(s) at the outfeed of the stacker; and a packaging station configured to package the absorbent article(s) into one or more low count packages.