Fabric pads with a printed design and a method of making fabric pads with a printed design

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a pad for carrying liquid having a piece of non-woven material wherein the piece of material is capable of absorbing an amount of the liquid at least about 1.5 times the weight of the piece of material, a first printed ink on a first surface of the material, and a second printed ink on either the first or a second surface of the material, and wherein the first ink is substantially in register with the second ink. The present invention is also directed to a method for making a printed pad for carrying a liquid including the steps of feeding a web of non-woven material into a rotogravure press, wherein the material is capable of absorbing at least about 1.5 times its own weight of the liquid, printing a first ink with the press on a first surface of the web, printing a second ink with the press substantially in register with the first ink on the first surface or a second surface of the web. The present invention is also directed to a system for cutting printed designs from a web of elastic material to form printed pads wherein the printed designs are printed on the web at a repeat length having a braked unwind station having a variable braking tension; an infeed station having an adjustable speed; a diecutter having a diecutting cylinder and a cylinder correction gearbox capable of correcting the position of the diecutting cylinder in a positive or negative rotational direction, wherein the circumference of the diecutting cylinder is greater than the repeat length; a first sensor for sensing the position of the printed designs on the web; a second sensor for sensing the position of the diecutting cylinder; a processor electronically coupled to the first sensor, the second sensor, the infeed station and the diecutter for controlling the infeed station and the diecutter in response to signals received from the sensors, wherein the processor sends a correction signal to the diecutting cylinder in response to signals from the sensors, the processor comprises a first counter for counting the number of consecutive corrections of the diecutting cylinder in the same direction and sending a correction signal to the infeed station when a predetermined number of consecutive corrections of the diecutting cylinder is reached.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.