Patent ID: 8002944

Claim:
A method of placing a material on a single web having a transverse width, the method comprising the steps of: providing the single web in a first upstream zone such that the web is moving at a first upstream zone velocity in the positive x direction; providing a first means for diverting the single web from the first upstream zone to a first intermediate zone and for diverting the single web from the first intermediate zone to a first downstream zone; transporting the single web from the first downstream zone into a second upstream zone such that the single web is moving at a second upstream zone velocity in the positive x direction; providing a second means for diverting the single web from the second upstream zone to a second intermediate zone and for diverting the single web from the second intermediate zone to a second downstream zone; periodically overlapping the first means for diverting and the second means for diverting in an alternating fashion by translating the first means for diverting and the second means for diverting in a positive x direction in a first plane and a negative x direction in a second plane such that when the first means for diverting translates in the positive x direction, the single web in the first intermediate zone has a velocity, with respect to the first means for diverting, which is less than the first upstream zone velocity and such that when the second means for diverting translates in the positive x direction, the single web in the second intermediate zone has a velocity, with respect to the second means for diverting, which is less than the second upstream zone velocity; and alternately applying the material across at least a portion of the transverse width of the single web in the first intermediate zone and across at least a portion of the transverse width of the single web in the second intermediate zone such that the application of the material to the single web in the first intermediate zone and the single web in the second intermediate zone is continuous.