Patent ID: 7981355

Claim:
A method of forming air-laid absorbent cores, comprising the steps of: forming first and second core elements by air-laying of air-entrained fibrous material to moulds on a first and second mat-forming wheel, at least one of said mat-forming wheels having a series of moulds along its peripheral surface, wherein said wheel comprises: (a) a foraminous substrate of rigid material, (b) an element of a flexible material, which element is releasably attached to the foraminous substrate, which runs along the whole circumference of the mat-forming wheel, and (c) a row of through-going mould openings in said flexible material, wherein the mould openings include up-standing walls, transferring a core element on the second mat-forming wheel onto a core element on the first mat-forming wheel while the latter core element still is maintained in its mould by suction means, wherein the method further comprises: forming a nip between the two mat-forming wheels such that the distance between the peripheries of said wheels is less than 2 mm.