Method for pleating or shaping a web
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorJason Matthew Orndorff
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for pleating or otherwise shaping a web are described herein. The method and apparatus may have numerous applications. In some embodiments, the method and apparatus are used in the formation, filling, and sealing of unit dose packages for consumer products. A method and apparatus for forming sealing two moving webs together, which webs have portions that are non-planar are also described herein.
Claims14
A method for shaping a web that is moving in an incoming machine direction so that the web is bent in the cross-machine direction about at least one generally machine direction-oriented axis, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing a web;
- b) providing a forming apparatus comprising a forming guide, wherein said forming guide comprises two side edges, an upstream end, a downstream end, a web-facing surface and an opposing surface, wherein said web-facing surface of said forming guide comprises alternating generally machine direction-oriented ridges and valleys therein that are located at least adjacent to said downstream end of the forming guide, and said web-facing surface is configured to provide a equal path length across the width of said web-facing surface when said path length is measured through a series of points, each point being equidistant from one side edge of the web, said forming apparatus comprising one of a device or a mechanism for maintaining the web at least partially in contact with the web-facing surface of said forming guide;
- c) forming said web by passing said web over and at least partially in contact with the web-facing surface of said forming guide to form multiple side-by-side longitudinally-oriented folds in said web.
A method for bending a pleated web while transporting the pleated web in a machine direction, said bending of the pleated web being out of the general plane of the pleated web, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing a pleated web;
- b) providing a turning guide, said turning guide comprises an upstream end, a downstream end, and a web-facing surface, wherein said web-facing surface comprises a first set of alternating and adjacent machine direction-oriented ridges and valleys therein, wherein said web-facing surface comprises a second set of alternating and adjacent machine direction-oriented ridges and valleys therein, wherein the second set of ridges and valleys are downstream from the first set of ridges and valleys, and are aligned with said first set of ridges and valleys such that a valley in said second set is aligned in the machine direction with one of the ridges in the first set, and a ridge in the second set is aligned with a valley in the first set, and when said turning guide is viewed from the side looking in a cross-machine direction, the ridges of said first set of alternating ridges and valleys define a first plane, and the ridges on said second set of ridges and valleys define a second plane, wherein said second plane is angled away from the first plane in a direction away from the portion of the web-facing surface defined by said first set of alternating ridges and valleys;
- and
- c) passing said pleated web over and in contact with said web-facing surface of said turning guide to bend said pleated web while maintaining pleats in said web.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.