Patent ID: 8445061

Claim:
A method of making an article having a substrate and a material applied thereto, comprising: providing a metered fluid dispensing system having a common supply of fluid to be dispensed, an output device having at least one dispensing nozzle, at least two pumps for pumping fluid from the common supply to the at least one dispensing nozzle, output supply passageways interconnecting the at least two pumps and the at least one dispensing nozzle, and flow control elements to selectively control the passage of the fluid from the at least two pumps to the at least one dispensing nozzle, the dispensing system configured to dispense a varied volume of fluid through at least three dispensing states, a first state in which fluid outputs from both of the at least two pumps is prevented from reaching the at least one dispensing nozzle, a second state in which fluid output from one of the at least two pumps is permitted to reach the at least one dispensing nozzle and fluid output from the other of the at least two pumps is prevented from reaching the at least one dispensing nozzle, and a third state in which fluid outputs from both of the at least two pumps is permitted to reach the at least one dispensing nozzle; conveying the substrate past the fluid dispensing system in a machine direction; and applying the fluid to the substrate in a plurality of segments, each segment having a volume per unit length and applied in a length in the machine direction to define a pattern and wherein the pattern includes at least some areas in which the fluid is present at a first volume as applied as output from one of the at least two pumps and at least some areas in which fluid is present at a second volume that is greater than the first volume, as applied as output from both of the at least two pumps.