Patent ID: 7175582

Claim:
A method of manufacture comprising the following steps: (a) during a respective indexing portion of a respective work cycle, advancing a first elongated continuous structure made of flexible material along a first process pathway, said first elongated continuous structure not advancing during a dwell time of a respective work cycle; (b) during each dwell time, forming or attaching a respective structural feature of a first type on the portion of said first elongated continuous structure that is resident at a first fixed station situated along said first process pathway, said structural features of said first type being spaced at intervals along the portion of said first elongated continuous structure that is downstream of said first fixed station; (c) during the indexing portion of each work cycle, advancing a second elongated continuous structure made of flexible material along a second process pathway by the same distance, said first and second process pathways becoming a common process pathway at a point downstream of said first fixed station and at or upstream of a second fixed station, said second elongated continuous structure not advancing during each dwell time; (d) during each dwell time, joining respective portions of said first and second elongated continuous structures that are resident at said second fixed station, thereby forming respective band-shaped zones of joinder disposed in sequence along the portion of said common process pathway downstream of said second fixed station; and (e) adjusting the distance that the portion of said first elongated continuous structure that is resident at said first fixed station advances during a subsequent advancement as a function of the difference between the distance traveled by said web during a prior advancement and the distance between boundaries of successive structural features of said first type on a portion of said first elongated continuous structure that is disposed between said first and second fixed stations at the time of said prior advancement.