Machine for making absorbent sanitary articles

A machine for making absorbent sanitary articles comprising:

• a feed conveyor on which a continuous web of material for making the absorbent articles is advanced along a feed line in a first direction,
• a cutting element by which the continuous web is divided into single lengths that will make up single absorbent articles,
• a forming and application unit by which at least one pair of accessory elements for each absorbent article are formed and applied to predetermined zones of the continuous web and spaced from each other by a spacing along the feed line;
• the forming and application unit comprising a device for feeding a continuous succession of accessory elements and a conveying unit comprising a plurality of conveyors rotating about respective axes parallel to a second direction transversal to the feed direction of the continuous web;
• the conveying unit comprising a conveyor roller for the continuous succession of accessory elements, a separating device defined by a first spacer roller and a second spacer roller which are substantially tangent to the conveyor roller at a first pickup station and a second pickup station, respectively;
• the first and the second spacer rollers including retaining and alternate movement units by which single accessory elements are alternately held and moved along a direction parallel to the second direction in order to form respective successions of accessory elements;
• at least one forming roller adapted to receive respective accessory elements from the first and second spacer rollers and to make up a succession of pairs of accessory elements aligned with each other along the second direction;
• the retaining and alternate movement units including respective pickup pads which are slidable along the second direction;
• each pickup pad including a suction surface for receiving the respective accessory element and being movable from a first receiving position to a second releasing position;
• the second releasing position defining a mutual spacing between the accessory elements;
• for each pickup pad, a respective linear electric motor attached to a respective one of the first and the second spacer rollers to rotate with the respective one of the first and the second spacer rollers, the respective linear electric motor including a fixed portion fixed to the respective one of the first and the second spacer rollers and a movable portion movable along an operating axis parallel to the second direction and connected to the pickup pad for driving the pickup pad in a direction parallel to the second direction, wherein the fixed portion rotates together with the respective one of the first and the second spacer rollers, and the movable portion is movable axially along the operating axis and rotationally with the respective one of the first and the second spacer rollers and is rotationally fixed with respect to the fixed portion;
• a controller operatively connected to the respective linear motor and programmed to operate the respective linear motor to have an axial stroke defined by the first receiving pickup position and the second release position so that controller variably controls the axial stroke of the respective linear motor according to a size of the absorbent article.