Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for manufacturing absorbent articles, wherein discrete zones of protrusions may be formed on a substrate. In some configurations, the protrusions may be formed as hooks. When forming the discrete zones of protrusions, localized speed variances may be imparted to the advancing substrate to ensure the adequate time to form the protrusions is provided. As such, protrusions may be formed on portions of the substrate that have been temporarily stopped or slowed to relatively slow speeds. The substrates with zones of protrusions may then be incorporated into products, such as assembled absorbent articles, so as to place the protrusions in desired positions on the absorbent articles. As such, the methods and apparatuses herein allow for the use of hook forming techniques on substrates in article manufacturing processes that provide flexibility in such configurations without sacrificing desired manufacturing speeds.

A method for manufacturing a wearable article includes: a conveying step of winding a continuous material including a first part and a second part superposed on each other with interposing a absorptive body therebetween around a rotary drum and conveying the continuous material with the absorptive body put into a space between two support faces on an outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum; and a joining step of moving a movable part of a sealer unit outward and homeward in a cross direction crossing a conveyance direction of the continuous material, while the continuous material with the absorptive body put into the space is conveyed by the rotary drum, to form liner sealing areas and thereby joining the first part and the second part to each other through the formed liner sealing areas.

A system for manufacturing elastic strand nonwoven panels including an unwind module, a lamination module and a folding module. Elastic strand material is fed from cores disposed on the unwind module through rollers towards the lamination module, where the elastic strand material is attached to a nonwoven web to form an elastic strand nonwoven web. At the folding module, the elastic strand nonwoven web is folded over itself by operation of plates underneath which the elastic strand nonwoven web is fed under tension.

The present disclosure relates to assembling elastic laminates that may be used to make absorbent article components. Methods herein may include an anvil adapted to rotate about an axis of rotation, wherein first and second spreader mechanisms adjacent the anvil roll are axially and angularly displaced from each other with respect to the axis of rotation. During the assembly process, a substrate may be advanced in a machine direction onto the rotating anvil. The first spreader mechanism stretches a first elastic material in the cross direction, and the second spreader mechanism stretches a second elastic material in the cross direction. The stretched first and second elastic materials advance from the spreader mechanisms and onto the substrate on the anvil roll. The combined and elastic materials may then be ultrasonically bonded together on the anvil to form at least one elastic laminate.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for manufacturing absorbent articles, wherein discrete zones of protrusions may be formed on a substrate. In some configurations, the protrusions may be formed as hooks. When forming the discrete zones of protrusions, localized speed variances may be imparted to the advancing substrate to ensure the adequate time to form the protrusions is provided. As such, protrusions may be formed on portions of the substrate that have been temporarily stopped or slowed to relatively slow speeds. The substrates with zones of protrusions may then be incorporated into products, such as assembled absorbent articles, so as to place the protrusions in desired positions on the absorbent articles. As such, the methods and apparatuses herein allow for the use of hook forming techniques on substrates in article manufacturing processes that provide flexibility in such configurations without sacrificing desired manufacturing speeds.

An absorbent article comprising an absorbent core comprising absorbent material. The absorbent core is sandwiched between a liquid-permeable upper core cover layer and a lower core cover layer. The absorbent core has one or more elongated areas arranged therein, each elongated area being an absorbent material free area having a length as measured along the elongated area and a width. The upper core cover layer and the lower core cover layer in each of the one or more elongated absorbent material free areas are attached to each other within at least 2 attachment zones and at most 12 attachment zones, the attachment zones being spaced-apart in the longitudinal direction (Y) within each of the one or more absorbent material free areas.

An absorbent core structure comprising: a first piece of absorbent core material, a second piece of absorbent core material, an upper wicking layer, a lower wicking layer, and a barrier layer. The upper wicking material is located above the first and second piece of absorbent core material. The lower wicking layer is located below the first and second piece of absorbent core material. The absorbent core structure further includes a channel between the first and second piece of absorbent core material. The upper wicking layer is bonded to the lower wicking layer at a bottom portion of the channel and the barrier layer is bonded to the lower wicking layer.

The methods herein relate to assembling an elastic laminate with a first elastic material and a second elastic material bonded between first and second substrates. During assembly, an elastic laminate may be formed by positioning the first and second substrates in contact with stretched central regions of the first and second elastic materials. The elastic laminates may include two or more bonding regions that may be defined by the various layers or components of the elastic laminate that are laminated or stacked relative to each other. In some configurations, a first plurality of ultrasonic bonds are applied to the elastic laminate to define a first bond density in the first bonding region, and a second plurality of ultrasonic bonds are applied to the elastic laminate to define a second bond density in the second bonding region, wherein the second bond density is not equal to the first bond density.

A washable absorbent garment comprising a back layer, a washable absorbent core, and a top layer which covers the washable absorbent core, wherein the top layer and the washable absorbent core are permanently fixed by ultrasonic, or mechanical welding and/or by glue in a crotch section of the back layer.

A system for manufacturing elastic strand nonwoven panels including an unwind module, a lamination module and a folding module. Elastic strand material is fed from cores disposed on the unwind module through rollers towards the lamination module, where the elastic strand material is attached to a nonwoven web to form an elastic strand nonwoven web. At the folding module, the elastic strand nonwoven web is folded over itself by operation of plates underneath which the elastic strand nonwoven web is fed under tension.