Method and system for registering pre-produced webs with variable pitch length

US6955733B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Procter & Gamble Company · US

Inventors

• Charles P. Miller · McHenry, US
• Michael S. Kolodesh · Cincinnati, US
• Douglass Scott Henry · Kobe, JP
• Michael Joseph Lamping · Cincinnati, US
• Jon Kevin McLaughlin · Sharonville, US
• Terry Howard Thomas · Alliance, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 20, 2002
• Grant date: Oct 18, 2005
• Expiry date: Apr 30, 2023

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B65H2557/262
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A new machine control method and system for registering pro-produced webs into a converting line producing disposable absorbent articles such as diapers, pants, feminine hygiene articles or a component thereof. The pre-produced web can include a multiplicity of pre-produced objects spaced on the web at a pitch interval in the web direction. The pre-produced web being manipulated in order for the pre-produced object of the web to be registered in relation to a target position constant. The present invention includes three embodiments, where the first embodiment is expressed as a generic claim. The first embodiment includes a closed-loop feedback registration system; the second and third embodiments, in addition, include an open-loop feedforward phasing system. In addition, the third embodiment uses a machine vision system to recognize any element of a complex pre-produced object (e.g., colorful graphics).