Patent ID: 8445068

Claim:
A method for coating a dispersion slurry containing a water-absorbing solid dispersed in a dispersion medium on a surface of a substrate sheet in production of a water-absorbing sheet being a two-layer structure comprised of the substrate sheet and a coating layer containing the dispersion slurry disposed on the surface of the substrate sheet, comprising the steps of: providing an apparatus for pattern-coating the dispersion slurry on the substrate sheet which comprises: a traveling mechanism for traveling said substrate sheet into the longitudinal direction thereof; a rotating pattern roll having a convex-and-concave pattern on the circumference surface thereof, a flexible cover film for covering the circumference surface of the rotating pattern roll to prevent the dispersion slurry from being in contact with the circumference surface of the rotating pattern roll, a front end of the flexible cover film being positioned in the downstream from the lowest position of the rotating pattern roll and the highest end of the flexible cover film being fixed to a fixture of the apparatus, and a slurry supplier for continuously supplying said dispersion slurry on the substrate sheet from a discharge portion of said slurry supplier at an nutlet position being positioned between said flexible cover film and said substrate sheet; forming a coating layer containing said dispersion slurry on the surface of said substrate sheet, by positioning the rotating pattern roll having the convex-and-concave pattern at the circumference surface thereof above said substrate sheet traveling into the longitudinal direction of the sheet via the flexible cover film, and by continuously supplying said dispersion slurry between said substrate sheet and said flexible cover film while rotating said rotating pattern roll in the same direction as the traveling direction of said substrate sheet; and forming a first region and a second region on the surface of said substrate sheet while said flexible cover film and said substrate sheet are in contact with said coating layer, said first region having said coating layer in thicker thickness and said second region having said coating layer in thinner thickness or scarcely not having said coating layer, with a pattern corresponding to said convex-and-concave pattern, by pushing said coating layer with said rotating pattern roll via said flexible cover film, wherein the first region and the second region form a pattern of a thicker thickness and a thinner thickness of dispersion slurry at least in the same direction as the traveling direction of the substrate sheet.