Patent ID: 8215362

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent article, said apparatus comprising: a guide mechanism for guiding elastic members, said guide mechanism having first and second swinging arm members with feeding portions respectively for feeding the elastic members, and first and second motors having rotational shafts at bases of the first and second arm members respectively and configured to swing the first and second arm members in a cross direction at predetermined cycles, wherein the guide mechanism is configured to move the feeding portions alternately in a first direction and a second direction so that the elastic members are brought into contact with a web conveyed in a machine direction substantially perpendicular to the cross direction and are arranged respectively in first and second predetermined waveforms, the first direction directing from a center portion of the web to a first end portion in the cross direction, and the second direction directing from the center portion to a second end portion opposite to the first end portion in the cross direction, and wherein in a planar view of the web, each of the first and second arm members is configured to move the respective feeding portion so that a distance between the feeding portion and a nip point at which the elastic member comes in contact with the web becomes largest when the nip point is at a position in the respective predetermined waveform where an angle between the machine direction and a tangent to the predetermined waveform is largest, each of the first and second arm members is configured to move, when moving the respective feeding portion in the first direction, the feeding portion in a first marginal position located closer to the first end portion than an intersection of (i) the tangent to the respective predetermined waveform at the nip point and (ii) an arc defined by the respective arm member, and each of the first and second arm members is configured to move, when moving the respective feeding portion in the second direction, the feeding portion in a second marginal position located closer to the second end portion than the intersection of (i) the tangent to the respective predetermined waveform at the nip point and (ii) the arc defined by the respective arm member, wherein the first and second predetermined waveforms defined by the first and second arm members respectively are different from each other, a length of the first arm member is different from that of the second arm member, and a dimension between the base and the feeding portion of the first arm member is unequal to that between the base and the feeding portion of the second arm member in the machine direction.