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US 6,666,850 B1Granted
Disposable absorbent article with selectively expandable components
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsNicholas A. Ahr, Gary D. Lavon, Brandon E. Wise
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Abstract
A disposable absorbent article having an expandable component. The expandable component can be inflatable, and includes a gas evolving material and an activating material separated from the gas evolving material by a breakable barrier. The barrier is broken to combine the materials and inflate the component at the point of use of the disposable absorbent article. The inflatable component can include a spacer for maintaining a fecal void space in a disposable absorbent article.
Claims10
An absorbent article comprising:
- a backsheet;
- a topsheet joined to at least a portion of the backsheet;
- an absorbent core intermediate the topsheet and the backsheet;
- an expandable component disposed in the absorbent article, the expandable component expandable from a first thickness to a second thickness;
- and
- a system for controlling the expansion of the expandable component from the first thickness to the second thickness, the system including:
- a predetermined amount of a first material disposed on the article;
- and
- a predetermined amount of a second material disposed on the article, wherein the second material is separated from the first material by a breakable barrier, and wherein the first and second materials are combinable by breaking the barrier to expand the expandable component;
- and
- an expansion control mechanism which is capable of controlling the rate of expansion of the expandable component.
8 more elements
An absorbent article comprising:
- a backsheet;
- a topsheet joined to at least a portion of the backsheet;
- an absorbent core intermediate the topsheet and the backsheet;
- an inflatable component disposed in the absorbent article, the inflatable component inflatable from a first thickness to a second thickness, the inflatable component including at least one inflatable chamber;
- a gas evolving material disposed in fluid communication with the inflatable component, the gas evolving material producing a gas for inflation of the inflatable component upon combining with an activating material;
- a packet containing the activating material, the packet disposed such that opening the packet will permit exposure of the activating material to the gas evolving material, thereby inflating the inflatable component from the first thickness to the second thickness;
- and
- an inflation control mechanism which is capable of controlling the rate of inflation of the inflatable component.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.