Patent ID: 8182736

Claim:
An apparatus for forming air-laid absorbent cores, the apparatus comprising: first and second mat- forming wheels, each of the mat-forming wheels having at least one mould along its peripheral surface, air-laying means for supplying air-entrained fibrous material to the moulds on each mat-forming wheel, suction means for maintaining the formed core elements in the respective moulds during a part of the path of the moulds on the respective mat-forming wheel, and means for superposing a core element on the first mat-forming wheel and a core element on the second mat-forming wheel to each other, the apparatus further comprising: means for applying first and second sheets of casing material onto the peripheral surface of the first and second mat-forming wheels, respectively, whereby suction means inside the respective mat- forming wheel will draw the material in the sheet to abutment against the bottom of a mould passing said suction means, means for providing a third sheet of casing material provided with a bonding agent on at least one side thereof into a nip between the first and second mat-forming wheels, and means for providing an adhesive coating on at least one side of the third sheet, wherein the mat-forming wheels are positioned so that the formed core elements on the respective first and second mat-forming wheels will abut the third sheet when passing the nip between the first and second mat-forming wheels, whereby the air-laid core elements will be at least partly encapsulated in casing material.