Patent ID: 8182735

Claim:
An apparatus for forming air-laid absorbent cores, the apparatus comprising: first and second mat-forming wheels, each of the mat-forming wheels having at least one mould along its peripheral surface, air-laying means for supplying air-entrained fibrous material to the at least one mould on each mat-forming wheel, suction means for maintaining the formed core elements in the respective moulds during a part of the path of the moulds on the respective mat-forming wheel, and means for transferring a core element on the second mat-forming wheel onto a core element on the first mat-forming wheel while the core element on the first mat-forming wheel is maintained in its mould, each mould on the first mat-forming wheel having a depth which is smaller than a thickness of the core element on the first mat-forming wheel in a radial direction of the first mat-forming wheel, wherein at least the air-laying means associated with the second mat-forming wheel comprises means for supplying a mixture of air-entrained fibrous material and discrete particles, the apparatus further comprising: means for applying a protective layer to the bottom of each mould of at least the second mat-forming wheel, which protective layer has the function of protecting the mould from discrete particles during air-laying of a mixture of air-entrained fibrous material and discrete particles and for preventing discrete particles from exiting out of the second core element during and after transfer onto the core element of the first mat-forming wheel, the two mat-forming wheels forming a nip between each other such that the second core element will abut the first core element in the nip before transfer.