Patent ID: 7820003

Claim:
A method for producing a diaper, the diaper comprising: a diaper main body including a front portion covering an abdominal side of a wearer, a back portion covering a back side of the wearer, and a crotch portion between the front portion and the back portion; a first belt including a first end portion fixed to one end portion of the back portion in an around-the-torso direction; and a second belt including a second end portion fixed to the other end portion of the back portion in the around-the-torso direction, wherein the first and second belts are attached to each other when wearing the diaper to thereby fasten the diaper around the torso of the wearer, the method comprising the steps of: carrying a strip-shaped first web being continuous in a carrying direction and including a first lateral portion to be the first end portion; folding back the first web along a first folding line that is continuous in a longitudinal direction of the first web while carrying the first web; carrying a strip-shaped second web being continuous in a carrying direction and including a second lateral portion to be the second end portion; folding back the second web along a second folding line that is continuous in a longitudinal direction of the second web while carrying the second web; changing a carrying path of the first web and/or that of the second web so that the first folding line and the second folding line come close to each other or coincide with each other; successively forming pairs of the first and second belts by cutting the first web and the second web along cut-off lines extending in the width direction of the webs after the step of folding back the first and second webs and the step of changing the carrying path; placing pairs of the first and second belts at a predetermined interval in a carrying direction of a continuous piece forming the diaper main body so that each pair is laid on a portion of the continuous piece to be the back portion; temporarily attaching the first and second belts, which have been placed at the predetermined interval, to the portion of the continuous piece to be the back portion; fixing each pair of the first and second belts to the continuous piece by fixing the first lateral portion of the first belt to a portion of the continuous piece to be one end portion of the back portion in the around-the-torso direction and fixing the second lateral portion of the second belt to a portion of the continuous piece to be the other end portion of the back portion in the around-the-torso direction; and severing the continuous piece with the first and second belts fixed thereon at the predetermined interval into individual diapers, the method further comprising, after the step of changing the carrying path and before the step of cutting the first and second webs, a step of temporarily attaching a portion of the first web along the first folding line and a portion of the second web along the second folding line to each other to form a single temporarily-attached web.