Patent ID: 7160408

Claim:
A process for making a disposable diaper formed from a composite web and a liquid-absorbent laminated panel attached to an inner side of said composite web, said process comprising the steps of: feeding a continuous first web and a continuous second web having a transverse dimension larger than a corresponding dimension of said first web in a machine direction under tension in said machine direction while feeding continuous waist elastic members stretched at a predetermined ratio in said machine direction so as to be laid along transversely opposite side edges of said first web; placing said first and second webs upon each other so that transversely opposite side edges of said second web extend outwardly of the transversely opposite side edges of said first web, then attaching said elastic members to an inner surface of at least one of said first and second webs and joining said first and second webs to each other to form a composite web; placing a plurality of said panels each extending in a cross direction on said first web at regular intervals in said machine direction and joining to said first web; folding zones of said second web extending outwardly of the transversely opposite side edges of said first web inward in a cross direction along the side edges of said first web and joining the folded zones of said second web to said first web and to end zones of said panel in the cross direction; cutting transversely middle zones of said composite web each extending between each pair of said panels which is adjacent to each other along each of first cutting lines generally describing a circle and folding said composite web inward together with said panels in the cross direction alone the machine direction with said panels lying inside; joining respective halves of said composite web folded inward together in a vicinity of each of second cutting lines extending in the cross direction on both sides of said first cutting line and cutting said composite web together with said elastic members along said second cutting lines to form a plurality of said diapers arranged in the machine direction; coating first adhesive zones, each of which continuously extends in the machine direction along each of the transversely opposite side edges of said second web, on an inner surface of said second web with adhesives, while coating second adhesive zones, which extend in the machine direction so as to be spaced one from another by a predetermined dimension in the machine direction and lie between said first adhesive zones and the adjacent side edges of said first web, respectively, on the inner surface of said second web with adhesives; and joining the inner surface of said second web to an outer surface of said first web and the zones of said panel extending in vicinities of its transversely opposite ends by means of the adhesives applied on said first and second adhesive zones.