Patent ID: 7500941

Claim:
A folding system for folding at least one flap extending from a central chassis of each of a plurality of absorbent articles formed from a continuous moving web moving in a longitudinal direction, the folding system comprising: a flap-folding conveyor that holds the central chassis of each absorbent article and moves each absorbent article in the longitudinal direction; at least one elongated, folding plow mounted alongside the flap-folding conveyor and including: an entrance end, an exit end and an inner edge that define a twist axis that is parallel to the longitudinal direction; and a contoured surface having a configuration defined by a twist angle that increases along the twist axis from zero degrees near the entrance end to 180 degrees near the exit end, wherein the twist angle is formed by the intersection between a first plane containing the central chassis and a second plane containing the contoured surface and may be measured in a twist angle plane section transverse to the twist axis for any location along the twist axis, wherein said folding plow has a transition corner intersecting an inner edge and outer edge of said folding plow, wherein said transition corner has an inner transition point and an outer transition point, wherein said inner transition point and said outer transition point have an angular offset in the longitudinal direction, wherein the twist angle plane section is oriented at an angle with respect to the twist angle axis, thereby forming an angular offset distance such that the portion of the flap near the central chassis begins to fold prior to the remaining portion of the flap; wherein the flap-folding conveyor moves the central chassis along the inner edge of the folding plow and the flap slides against the contoured surface from the entrance end to the exit end, such that the flap folds around the central chassis near the inner edge.