Elastic laminate
AssigneeAvery Dennison Corporation
InventorsRobert Ceusters, Johannes H. A. De Jong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making an elastic laminate (10) comprising the steps of providing an intermediate elastic/fabric laminate (16) and segmenting the fabric layer (30) into fabric segments (31) by forming interruptions (32) which extend through the fabric thickness. The interruption-forming step comprising cutting/slitting/scoring the fabric layer (30) to form proximal/distal regions (33/34) of the interruptions (31) and incrementally rupturing the fabric layer (30) to form the remaining distal/proximal interruption region (34/33).
Claims21
A method of making an elastic laminate, comprising the steps of:
- providing an intermediate laminate comprising an elastic layer and a first fabric layer laminated thereto, the elastic layer being elongatable and recoverable in a cross direction, and
- segmenting the first fabric layer into first fabric segments which diverge in the cross direction upon laminate elongation and converge in the cross direction upon laminate recovery, the first fabric segments being separated by first fabric layer interruptions which extend at least partially through the first fabric layer thickness, each first fabric layer interruption having a proximal region and a distal region;
- wherein said segmenting of the first fabric layer comprises:
- applying a series of discrete rupture-inducing forces in the cross-direction to rupture the first fabric layer to form a proximal or distal region;
- and
- applying a series of sharply-severing cuts to form a proximal or distal region.
An absorbent article including an elastic laminate made in accordance with a method comprising the steps of:
- providing an intermediate laminate comprising an elastic layer and a first fabric layer laminated thereto, the elastic layer being elongatable and recoverable in a cross direction, and
- segmenting the first fabric layer into first fabric segments which diverge in the cross direction upon laminate elongation and converge in the cross direction upon laminate recovery, the first fabric segments being separated by first fabric layer interruptions which extend at least partially through the first fabric layer thickness, each first fabric layer interruption having a proximal region and a distal region;
- wherein said segmenting of the first fabric layer comprises:
- applying a series of discrete rupture-inducing forces in the cross-direction to rupture the first fabric layer to form a proximal or distal region;
- and
- applying a series of sharply-severing cuts to form a proximal or distal region.
An elastic laminate comprising:
- an elastic layer that is elongatable and recoverable in a first direction;
- and,
- a first fabric layer laminated to the elastic layer, said first fabric layer being segmented into first fabric segments which diverge from one another in the first direction upon elongation of the elastic layer and which converge toward one another in the first direction upon recovery of the elastic layer, the first fabric segments being separated from one another by first fabric layer interruptions which extend at least partially through a thickness of the first fabric layer, each first fabric layer interruption having a proximal region adjacent the elastic layer and a distal region spaced apart from the elastic region by at least the proximal region of the corresponding first fabric layer interruption;
- wherein at least one of the proximal or the distal regions of the first fabric layer interruptions are created by applying a series of discrete rupture-inducing forces to the first fabric layer in the first direction to rupture the first fabric layer;
- and
- wherein at least one of the proximal or the distal regions of the first fabric layer interruptions are sharply severed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.