Laminated slot die assembly

A slot die assembly for dispensing a hot melt adhesive onto an article, comprising:

• an adapter having a body having an adapter conduit configured to receive the hot melt adhesive;
• a shim package comprising a plurality of shim plates having a shim conduit disposed in fluid communication with the adapter conduit and configured to receive the hot melt adhesive from the adapter conduit, the shim package further comprising a connecting conduit disposed in fluid communication with the shim conduit, a reservoir disposed in fluid communication with the connecting conduit, and a single elongated slot disposed in direct fluid communication with the reservoir, the single elongated slot configured to dispense the hot melt adhesive from the slot die assembly;
• and
• a die plate disposed in abutting relationship to the shim package,
• wherein the shim conduit defines a portion of a hot melt adhesive flow path to direct the hot melt adhesive in a first direction from the adapter toward the die plate, the reservoir defining another portion of the hot melt adhesive flow path in a downward direction, the flow path defining a third, horizontal direction opposite to the first horizontal direction, and a further portion of the flow path out of the slot die assembly in a downward direction, and wherein the adhesive flow path is devoid of flow in an upward direction.