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AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorCoenraad E. Riemersma
Estimating the term…
An improved method and apparatus for bonding together juxtaposed webs which are subject to being ultrasonically bonded together such as, for example, thermoplastic films or non-woven thermoplastic webs or elastomeric films to form a laminate as the webs are being driven forward at a relatively high velocity. The apparatus includes an ultrasonic horn and a power-rotated anvil cylinder which define a bonding passageway therebetween, and a rotatable pressure roll which is biased towards the anvil adjacent the downstream end of the bonding passageway to apply a predetermined level of compressive force to the bonded regions of the laminate issuing from the passageway before the bonds in the bonded regions become fully set upon cooling. In a preferred apparatus embodiment of the invention the anvil has a relief-type bonding pattern on its circumferential surface; and the pressure roll is sufficiently rigid and so configured and disposed that substantially only the portions of the laminate juxtaposed raised elements of the bonding pattern are subjected to such post-bonding compression.
An improved ultrasonic web laminating apparatus which apparatus includes an ultrasonic horn and a rotating anvil cylinder between which a plurality of webs which are subject to ultrasonic bonding are bonded as they are forwarded therebetween and thereby converted into a laminated web, said improvement comprising a pressure roll disposed adjacent the downstream edge of the ultrasonic horn, and means for biasing the pressure roll towards the anvil cylinder to apply a post-bonding compression to said laminated web prior to the ultrasonic bonded regions thereof becoming fully set upon cooling, and prior to said laminated web being disassociated from the anvil cylinder.
An improved method of dynamically ultrasonically bonding a plurality of webs to form a laminate thereof which method includes the step of ultrasonically bonding the webs together as they are forwarded between an ultrasonic horn and an anvil, said improvement comprising the step of applying a post-bonding compression force to the ultrasonically bonded regions of the laminate before the ultrasonically formed bonds become fully set upon cooling, and prior to the laminate being disassociated from the anvil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.