Apparatus for fabricating an elastic nonwoven material

1. An apparatus for fabricating an elastic nonwoven material, said apparatus comprising:

a first bonding module; and

a second bonding module positionable in close proximity to the first bonding module, wherein one of the first bonding module and the second bonding module has a face with a width and a circumferential axis, the face having a plurality of ridges each of which defines a plurality of interspaced lands and notches, the notches oriented substantially parallel to the circumferential axis.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ridges extend obliquely across the circumferential axis.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ridges extend across substantially the entire width of the face.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein all pairs of adjacent ridges on the face are substantially equally spaced apart from one another along the circumferential axis.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an adjacent pair of ridges has a spacing measured along the circumferential axis of between about 0.10 inches and about 1.00 inches.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the spacing is between about 0.20 inches and about 0.50 inches.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein all of the notches on the face are substantially the same size.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the notches is flanked by a pair of the lands, each of the flanking lands having a peak such that the one notch has a width measured at the peaks of the flanking lands of between about 0.006 inches and about 0.016 inches.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the width is between about 0.008 inches and about 0.012 inches.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the notches is flanked by a pair of the lands, each of the flanking lands having a peak such that the one notch has a depth measured from the peaks of the flanking lands of between about 0.005 inches and about 0.020 inches.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the depth is between about 0.007 inches and about 0.010 inches.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one of the notches is flanked by a pair of the lands, each of the flanking lands having a peak such that the one notch has a width measured at the peaks of the flanking lands of between about 0.010 inches and about 0.25 inches.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the width is between about 0.030 inches and about 0.060 inches.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the width is about 0.035 inches.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the lands has a peak, one of the lands having a length measured at its peak of between about 0.010 inches and about 0.25 inches.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the length is between about 0.030 inches and about 0.060 inches.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the lands has a peak, one of the lands having a width measured at its peak of between about 0.008 inches and about 0.050 inches.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the width is between about 0.010 inches and about 0.030 inches.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the other one of the first bonding module and the second bonding module has a face with a contour that is substantially continuous.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the face has a first circumferential region with ridges defining notches of a first size, and a second circumferential region with ridges defining notches of a second size different than the first size.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the face defines a spaced-apart pair of the first circumferential regions and a spaced-apart pair of the second circumferential regions.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the face has a first widthwise region in which the ridges define notches of a first size, and a second widthwise region in which the ridges defining notches of a second size different than the first size.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ridges extend substantially linearly across the circumferential axis.

24. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ridges extend non-linearly across the circumferential axis.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the ridges extend substantially arcuately across the circumferential axis.

26. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising

a camming device displaceably connecting the first and second bonding modules to cyclically displace at least one of the first and second bonding modules relative to the other during a bonding operation of the apparatus.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein the camming device includes a rotary cam wheel mounted to the anvil module frame.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising a first motor to which the ultrasonic horn is rotatably connected, a second motor to which the anvil module is rotatably connected, and a servomotor to which the cam wheel is rotatably connected.

29. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the first bonding module is mounted to a first bonding module frame;

the second bonding module is mounted to a second bonding module frame and positionable in close proximity to the first bonding module; and the apparatus further comprising

a pinching device mounted to one of the first and second bonding module frame such that the pinching device is positionable to floatingly contact the second bonding module.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the pinching device includes a roller that floatingly contacts the anvil module.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the pinching device includes a base and a biasing element by which the roller is floatingly mounted to the base.

32. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the pinching device is adjustable in at least two degrees of freedom.

33. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first bonding module comprises a rotary ultrasonic horn.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 , wherein the second bonding module comprises a rotary anvil.

35. The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein the bonding module comprises a rotary ultrasonic horn mounted to the bonding module frame.

36. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the bonding module comprises a rotary ultrasonic horn mounted to the bonding module frame.

37. A system for fabricating an elastic nonwoven material, said system comprising:

a supply station comprising:

a first supply roll configured to supply a first nonwoven fabric;

a second supply roll configured to supply a second nonwoven fabric; and

at least one supply spool configured to supply an elastic strand;

a processing station comprising:

a first bonding module; and

a second bonding module configured to cooperate with the first bonding module to perform a bonding operation of the elastic strand between the first and second nonwoven fabrics, the second bonding module positionable in close proximity to the first bonding module, wherein one of the first bonding module and the second bonding module has a face with a width and a circumferential axis, the face having a plurality of ridges each of which defines a plurality of interspaced lands and notches, the notches oriented substantially parallel to the circumferential axis.

38. A system for fabricating an elastic nonwoven material, said system comprising:

a processing station comprising:

a first bonding module; and

a second bonding module configured to cooperate with the first bonding module to perform a bonding operation of an elastic strand between a first nonwoven fabric and a second nonwoven fabric to fabricate the elastic nonwoven material, the second bonding module positionable in close proximity to the first bonding module, wherein one of the first bonding module and the second bonding module has a face with a width and a circumferential axis, the face having a plurality of ridges each of which defines a plurality of interspaced lands and notches, the notches oriented substantially parallel to the circumferential axis; and

a collection station comprising a puller roll configured to collect the elastic nonwoven material.