Valerio Soli, Bologna, Italy; Matteo Piantoni, Albino, Italy; Mauro Pietralunga, Crema, Italy; Federico Tordini, Pedrengo, Italy; and Marco Rosani, Vailate, Italy.
Assigned to GDM S.P.A., Bologna, Italy.

Filed: 1/30/17
Issued: 11/3/20

A method for making sanitary absorbent articles whereby each absorbent article is provided with a pair of side tabs, the method comprising: feeding a continuous web, with a longitudinal axis, towards a cutting station where the continuous web is subdivided by a succession of cuts transverse to the longitudinal axis into a first and a second series of side tabs, each of which has an asymmetrical shape; the side tabs of the first and the second series being arranged alternately with each other in a continuous succession; subdividing the continuous web according to a continuous repetition of the continuous succession, each of which comprises a succession of pairs of side tabs which are mirror-symmetrical to each other along respective axes at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the continuous web; each continuous succession comprising a pair defined by a first tab of the first series and a first tab of the second series which are consecutive and mirror-symmetrical to each other along a first axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the continuous web, and a pair defined by a second tab of the first series and a second tab of the second series which are consecutive and mirror-symmetrical to each other along a second axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the continuous web; separating the side tabs of the first series from the continuous web and feeding the side tabs of the first series along a first path along which each side tab is rotated by 180° about an axis of rotation perpendicular to a plane containing the side tab; separating the side tabs of the second series from the continuous web and feeding the side tabs of the second along a second path, distinct from the first path and along which each side tab keeps unchanged its respective orientation relative to the plane containing the side tab; applying each rotated side tab of the first series and each side tab of the second series along a continuous strip of a material for making the absorbent articles, in such a way that each rotated side tab of the first series is juxtaposed with a respective side tab of the second series to define a respective pair of side tabs; along the first path, translating each side tab of the first series sideways relative to an initial pickup position until reaching a final position of application on the continuous strip so as to define alternately a left-hand side tab and a right-hand side tab of a respective pair of side tabs of respective absorbent articles which are consecutive to each other along the continuous strip; along the second path, translating each side tab of the second series sideways relative to an initial pickup position until reaching a final position of application on the continuous strip so as to define alternately a further right-hand side tab and a further left-hand side tab of a respective pair of side tabs of respective absorbent articles which are consecutive to each other along the continuous strip.