Sheet material conveyance device and disposable wearing article manufacturing system provided with said conveyance device

A conveying device for conveying a sheet-like material, comprising:

• a rail portion arranged in a loop shape;
• a plurality of travelers;
• a linear motor for circulating the travelers along the rail portion;
• and
• a pad attached to each of the travelers,
• wherein the pad circulates in at least one horizontal plane while holding the sheet-like material on the pad, thereby conveying the sheet-like material,
• the pad is attached to the respective travelers so that the pad is capable of changing its attitude by rotating around an axis, which is orthogonal to the one horizontal plane, and
• a center of gravity of the pad is set at a position that is away from the axis so that as the respective travelers are accelerated/decelerated, an inertial force acts on the pad around the axis, thus causing the pad to swivel around the axis.