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 and a second spacer roller which are substantially tangent to the conveyor roller at a first and a second pickup station, respectively;
• the first and the second spacer roller having retaining and alternate movement means 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;
• wherein the retaining and alternate movement means comprise respective pickup pads which are slidable along the second direction, each pad being driven by a respective linear electric motor.