APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FOLDING COMPOSITE OF CONTINUOUS SHEET RELATING TO ABSORPTIVE PRODUCT

摘要

The present invention provides a folding apparatus with which, when a continuous sheet composite formed by intermittently placing a plurality of objects at a predetermined pitch on a continuous sheet relating to an absorptive product is carried in the direction of continuation of the sheet, at least one width-direction end section of the continuous sheet is folded together with one width-direction end section of the placed objects. The folding apparatus comprises: an upright positioning guide member which is disposed at a predetermined carrying-direction position and guides the one width-direction end section of the composite into an upright position by bending a predetermined width-direction portion of the composite; a folding guide member which is disposed at a predetermined carrying-direction position corresponding to the one end section that has been guided into an upright position, and which folds the one end section that has been guided into an upright position by folding said one end section downward toward a section on the other side of the composite; and a movement regulating guide member which comes into contact with the composite from the one end section of the composite when the one end section of the composite is folded downward toward the section on the other side of the composite, and thereby regulates movement toward the one end section of the composite. The movement regulating guide member is a roller member which rotates in the carrying direction or a belt member which moves in the carrying direction.