Multiple component web

A method of fabricating a web suitable for use in making a personal care absorbent article, the method comprising:

• (a) fabricating a base web comprising multiple workpieces;
• (b) applying patches of mechanical fastener material to such base web:
• and
• (c) defining a first end of such workpiece by defining a free end of the base web through a respective patch of the fastener material, and separating the workpiece from the base web through a second respective patch of the fastener material such that a patch of fastener material is defined at both opposing end portions of the respective workpiece.

A method of fabricating a self-supporting web of material from respective workpieces and intervening elements, wherein such self-supporting web is suitable for use in making a personal care article, the method comprising:

• (a) bringing together an intervening element having first and second ends, a first workpiece having third and fourth ends, and a second workpiece having fifth and sixth ends, with first, second, and third lengths of the respective first and second workpieces and the intervening element aligned with each other in a generally common surface, and with the second and third lengths of the first and second workpieces operating as extensions of the first length of the intervening element, on opposing ones of the first and second ends of the intervening element;
• and
• (b) releasably attaching (i) the first workpiece and the intervening element to each other at the respective first and fourth ends, using releasable fasteners, and (ii) releasably attaching the second workpiece and the intervening element to each other at the respective second and fifth ends, using releasable fasteners, such that the first, second, and third lengths, in combination, define a self-supporting web segment having a fourth length and wherein the fourth length of the web segment so defined by the combination of the first, second, and third lengths is greater than any of the first, second, and third lengths, individually, of the respective first and second workplaces and the intervening element, and wherein additional such alternating workpieces and intervening elements can be releasably attached to one or both of the third and sixth ends of the respective first and second workpieces using additional releasable fasteners, to thereby further extend the length of the self-supporting web, and wherein the releasable fasteners employed in so assembling the self-supporting web can be released so as to release respective ones of the workpieces and intervening elements of the self-supporting web from each other.

A method of fabricating personal care absorbent articles, comprising:

• (a) advancing along a processing line a first web having a first length, the first web being suitable for use in making a personal care article, and comprising at least workpieces and intervening elements releasably attached to each other using releasable fasteners to thereby define such first web and self-supporting longitudinal strength of such web, whereby such workpieces and intervening elements generally define the structure and the structural integrity of the first web;
• (b) concurrently advancing a second web having a second length along the processing line and generally parallel to the first web, and defining a space between the first and second webs, the second web being suitable for use in making such personal care article;
• (c) applying and attaching absorbent crotch portion elements to the first and second webs at spaced intervals along the lengths of the respective webs, and bridging the space between the first and second webs, thereby to form a composite web comprising the first and second webs and the respective crotch portions, a given respective crotch portion element having a front segment attached to the first web and a rear segment attached to the second web;
• (d) bringing the first and second webs of the composite web into facing relationship with each other, including bringing the respective front and rear segments of the respective crotch portion elements into facing relationship with each other;
• (e) forming side seam bonds joining the first and second webs to each other at spaced locations along the length of the composite web, thereby to form a composite web sausage having an indefinite length;
• and
• (f) separating discrete lengths of the composite web sausage from the indefinite-length composite web sausage at or proximate respective ones of the side seam bonds, thereby to define respective personal care articles.