Orbital motion device for seaming garments

A method for making prefastened and refastenable pants, comprising:

• transporting a stream of discrete, partially assembled and folded pants in a machine direction, each pant comprising a first waist region with opposed first side panels and a second waist region with opposed second side panels, the first side panels comprising first fastening components and the second side panels comprising second fastening components capable of refastenably engaging the first fastening components;
• inwardly folding the first side panels;
• activating panel positioning systems to inwardly fold the second side panels into overlapping position with the folded first side panels, each panel positioning system comprising a drive mechanism, a positioning mechanism operatively connected to the drive mechanism, and a head connected to the positioning mechanism, wherein the drive mechanisms and positioning mechanisms cause the heads to move in orbital profiles, and the drive mechanisms and positioning mechanisms cause the heads to contact the second side panels;
• and
• refastenably engaging the first and second fastening components.

An apparatus for making prefastened and refastenable pants, comprising:

• a transportation device for transporting discrete, partially assembled and folded pants in a machine direction and defining a machine center line, each folded pant comprising a first waist region with opposed first side panels and a second waist region with opposed second side panels, the first side panels comprising first fastening components and the second side panels comprising second fastening components capable of refastenably engaging the first fastening components;
• folding devices disposed transversely outward from the machine center line, the folding devices positioned in proximity to the transportation device and adapted to inwardly fold the first side panels;
• and
• panel positioning systems disposed transversely outward from the machine center line, each panel positioning system comprising a drive mechanism, a positioning mechanism operatively connected to the drive mechanism, and a head connected to the positioning mechanism, wherein the drive mechanism and positioning mechanism are adapted to move the head in an orbital profile, the orbital profile having an x-direction component generally parallel to the machine direction and a y-direction component perpendicular to the x-direction component, and the panel positioning systems are adapted to inwardly fold the second side panels into overlapping position with the folded first side panels.