3m Innovative Properties Company

David B Pritchard

Donald George Peterson

James N Dobbs

Eric Joseph Hanson

John R Jacobson

David C Kramlich

Alan Paul Miller

Jeffrey J Missling

John R Wheeler

Eric J Hanson

Alan C Miller

An apparatus and method provides for rotatably cutting and/or laminating layered structures or sheet material supported by webs. A rotary converting apparatus and method of the present invention converts a web comprising a cathode layered structure and a web comprising an anode layered structure into a series of layered electrochemical cell structures supported by a release liner. Employment of a rotary converting process of the present invention provides, among other benefits, for the creation of a product having a finished size, without need for downstream or subsequent cutting.

Rotary converting apparatus and method for laminated products and packaging

A product stacking apparatus and method employs one or more stations, each including a stationary stacking platform or a conveyor upon which spaced-apart pucks are coupled for travel thereon. A product delivery apparatus drives one or more movable webs to which segmented product sheets are removably affixed. The product delivery apparatus includes one or more rotatable lamination interfaces associated with each of the stations for transferring product sheets from the webs to the pucks on a repetitive basis to produce a stack of product sheets on the respective pucks. Each of the segmented product sheets may define all or a portion of an electrochemical cell, all or a portion of a pad including layers of film or sheet material, wherein a portion of each of the layers is provided with a bonding feature, or all or a portion of a pack comprising layers of medical dressing. A puck need not be in motion during the transfer of the product sheet from the lamination roll to the puck. The puck may or may not be attached to a conveyor, but the conveyor need not be in motion during the lamination or stack building process. In this case, a roller is moved across the puck and simultaneously rotated so a point on the surface of the roller interfaces with the puck at the same location on each pass.

Stacking apparatus and method for laminated products and packaging

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Bloomington, MN, United States of America

David B Pritchard