US 8,500,710 B2Granted

Absorbent article

AssigneeUni-Charm Corporation

InventorsShunsuke Takino, Yuki Maeda, Hiroyuki Tanji

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Abstract

An absorbent article includes a belt member defining front and rear waist regions and a liquid-absorbent structure defining a crotch region wherein the belt member includes a peripheral edge of a waist-opening and this peripheral edge includes two segments associated with the front and rear waist regions spaced from and opposed to each other in an anteroposterior direction Y. Front and rear belt sections of the belt member include, in the front and rear waist regions, see-through regions for the article wearer's skin having a total light transmittance of about 55% or higher and occupying 40% or more of the front and rear waist regions. The front and rear belt sections are provided along the peripheral edge of the waist-opening with a reinforcing elastic member extending in a transverse direction X.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An absorbent article comprising:

a chassis having
a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction,
an inner side for facing a wearer's skin and an outer side for facing away from the wearer's skin,
a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region extending between said front and rear waist regions, wherein
said front and rear waist regions define a waist-opening having a peripheral edge that has first and second segments, the first and second segments are opposed to each other in said longitudinal direction,
said front waist region is defined by a first fibrous nonwoven fabric folded back onto itself along a first fold line defining the first segment of the peripheral edge of the waist-opening, the first fibrous nonwoven fabric including an inner sheet defining the inner side of the front waist region and an outer sheet defining the outer side of the front waist region, and
said rear waist region is defined by a second single fibrous nonwoven fabric folded back onto itself along a second fold line defining the second segment of the peripheral edge of the waist-opening, the second fibrous nonwoven fabric including an inner sheet defining the inner side of the rear waist region and an outer sheet defining the outer side of the rear waist region;
and
see-through regions in said front and rear waist regions in which for allowing the wearer's skin to be seen through the inner and outer sheets in use, wherein said see-through regions are defined by the inner and outer sheets forming the front and rear waist regions and having a total light transmittance of about 55% or higher and respectively occupy about 40% or more of said front and rear waist regions;
and
a reinforcing elastic member attached to the chassis along said peripheral edge of the waist-opening and extending along the first and second fold lines in said transverse direction.

8 more elements

An absorbent article substantially symmetric about a longitudinal center line thereof, said absorbent article comprising:

a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction;
a ventral sheet member and a dorsal sheet member extending in parallel to each other in the transverse direction;
and
a crotch sheet member extending in the longitudinal direction and joined to said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member so as to connect said ventral and dorsal sheet members to each other,
wherein
said crotch sheet member has a transverse dimension smaller than those of said ventral and dorsal sheet members,
said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member are provided with waist elastic members bonded thereto under tension in the transverse direction,
said ventral sheet member has at least a region in which said waist elastic members are present and said crotch sheet member overlap said waist elastic members,
said crotch sheet member has side edges opposite in the transverse direction and extending in the longitudinal direction are in parallel to each other at least when the absorbent article is flatly developed and
an apparent width of said crotch sheet member as measured in the transverse direction after said waist elastic members have been left contract, and thereby said crotch sheet member has been left shrink together with said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member, is larger on a border line with said dorsal sheet member than on a border line with said ventral sheet member.

7 more elements

An absorbent article having a height direction, a longitudinal direction and a circumferential direction, said absorbent article comprising:

front and rear belt members annularly defining a front waist region and a rear waist region in said circumferential direction;
and
a liquid-absorbent structure defining a crotch region extending between said front and rear waist regions,
wherein
said belt members include waist contractile members biasing said belt members to shrink in said circumferential direction,
said liquid-absorbent structure has first and second ends opposed to and spaced from each other in said longitudinal direction,
an outer surface of said first end overlaps an inner surface of said front belt member in said front waist region to define a first overlapping region, and an outer surface of said second end overlaps an inner surface of said rear belt member in said rear waist region to define a second overlapping region,
said waist contractile members extend partially across at least one of said first overlapping region and said second overlapping region,
said liquid-absorbent structure is joined to said front and rear belt members at least in said first overlapping region or said second overlapping regions by means of joint zones extending in said height direction and arranged intermittently in said circumferential direction, and
a joint-free zone where said liquid-absorbent structure is free of attachment to said front and rear belt members is arranged between each pair of adjacent said joint zones and defines vent channels for allowing said crotch region to be in fluid-communication with said front and rear waist regions.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/676,437Filed 13 Aug 2008
Priority: JP 2007-2306405 Sep 2007
Published: US 2010/0286646 A111 Nov 2010
Granted: 6 Aug 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

A61F 13/539
Characterised by the absorbing medium: characterised by the connection of the absorbent layers with each other or with the outer layers
A61F 13/49011
With elastic means: the elastic means is located at the waist region
A61F 13/496
Specially adapted to be worn around the waist, e.g. diapers or nappies: in the form of pants or briefs
A61F 2013/49063
Characterised by the modular concept of constructing the diaper: the diaper having decoupled components