# US 9,867,742 B2 · Disposable wearing article > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,867,742 B2 - Document ID: US9867742B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/372,179 - Filed: 2013-02-14 - Published: 2015-07-23 - Granted: 2018-01-16 - Earliest claimed: 2012-03-06 - Assignees: Unicharm Corporation - Applicants: Unicharm Corporation - Inventors: Takuya Inoue - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9867742B2 ## CPC - A61F 13/49012: {the elastic means being elastic panels} - A61F 13/49011: {the elastic means is located at the waist region} - A61F 13/4902: {characterised by the elastic material} - A61F 13/49413: {the edge leakage prevention means being an upstanding barrier} - A61F 13/496: in the form of pants or briefs - A61F 2013/49036: {having a inelastic zone by deactivating the elastic property} - A61F 2013/4948: {the edge leakage prevention means being elastic} - A61F: FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS (dental prosthetics A61C) ## Abstract A wearing article improved so that an absorbent structure is not apt to be spaced away from the wearer's skin but stuffiness in the wearing article and/or eruption of the wearer's skin can be reliably prevented, which wearing article is a diaper that includes a front waist panel, a rear waist panel and a crotch panel. In the front and rear waist panels, elastics are respectively attached to front and rear waist sheets. The crotch panel includes an absorbent structure containing liquid-absorbent core material and, outboard of the absorbent structure as viewed in a longitudinal direction, front and rear end flaps are formed respectively. The crotch panel includes a first region which includes a front end of the absorbent structure and the front end flap and overlaps with the front waist panel and a second region which includes a front end of the absorbent structure and the rear end flap and overlaps with the rear waist panel. The first and second regions extend in the longitudinal direction and are joined to respective skin-facing surfaces of the front and rear waist panels by means of first and second joining zones each including a plurality of sub-zones spaced apart from one another in a transverse direction. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A disposable wearing article having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, including: a skin-facing surface; a non-skin-facing surface opposite to the skin-facing surface; front and rear waist panels defining front and rear waist regions, respectively, and elastically contractible in the transverse direction; and a crotch panel extending in the longitudinal direction between the front and rear waist panels and defining a crotch region, wherein: the crotch panel includes an absorbent structure, front and rear end flaps lying outboard of the absorbent structure in the longitudinal direction, a first region having part of the absorbent structure and the front end flap and overlapping with the skin-facing surface of the front waist panel and a second region having part of the absorbent structure and the rear end flap and overlapping with the skin-facing surface of the rear waist panel; the first and second regions are joined to the front and rear waist panels by means of first and second joining zones, respectively, wherein the first joining zone has a plurality of sub-zones spaced apart from one another in the transverse direction, which plurality of sub-zones to not do extend outwardly beyond transverse edges of the crotch panel; the front waist panel has an elastic region at least overlapping with the first region and elastically contractible in the transverse direction; the rear waist panel has an inelastic region lying in the second region and overlapping with the absorbent structure and an elastic region lying outboard of the inelastic region as viewed in the transverse direction and elastically contractible in the transverse direction; and the first region is formed with a plurality of convexities extending in the longitudinal direction and spaced apart from one another in the transverse direction. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein, when the front and rear waist panels are in a contracted state, a portion of the front waist panel overlapping with the absorbent structure has a dimension in the transverse direction smaller than that of the rear waist panel. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The disposable wearing article according to claim 2, wherein the first joining zone extends in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The disposable wearing article according to claim 2, wherein the front and rear waist panels respectively have the outer ends extending in the transverse direction and cooperating with each other to form a waist-opening and respectively have an elastic regions defined between the first and second joining zones and the outer ends so as to be elastically contractible in the transverse direction. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The disposable wearing article according to claim 2, wherein: the crotch panel has the front and rear ends both extending in the transverse direction X; and a dimension from the front end to the outer end of the front waist panel as well as a dimension from the rear end to the outer end of the rear waist panel is in a range of 5 to 100 mm. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The disposable wearing article according to claim 2, wherein the elastic regions respectively include the waist sheets and a plurality of elastics contractibly attached under tension to the respective waist sheets so as to extend in the transverse direction and to be spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the first joining zone extends in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The disposable wearing article according to claim 7, wherein the front and rear waist panels respectively have the outer ends extending in the transverse direction and cooperating with each other to form a waist-opening and respectively have an elastic regions defined between the first and second joining zones and the outer ends so as to be elastically contractible in the transverse direction. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The disposable wearing article according to claim 7, wherein: the crotch panel has the front and rear ends both extending in the transverse direction X; and a dimension from the front end to the outer end of the front waist panel as well as a dimension from the rear end to the outer end of the rear waist panel is in a range of 5 to 100 mm. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The disposable wearing article according to claim 7, wherein the elastic regions respectively include the waist sheets and a plurality of elastics contractibly attached under tension to the respective waist sheets so as to extend in the transverse direction and to be spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the front and rear waist panels respectively have the outer ends extending in the transverse direction and cooperating with each other to form a waist-opening and respectively have an elastic regions defined between the first and second joining zones and the outer ends so as to be elastically contractible in the transverse direction. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The disposable wearing article according to claim 11, wherein: the crotch panel has the front and rear ends both extending in the transverse direction X; and a dimension from the front end to the outer end of the front waist panel as well as a dimension from the rear end to the outer end of the rear waist panel is in a range of 5 to 100 mm. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The disposable wearing article according to claim 11, wherein the elastic regions respectively include the waist sheets and a plurality of elastics contractibly attached under tension to the respective waist sheets so as to extend in the transverse direction and to be spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein: the crotch panel has the front and rear ends both extending in the transverse direction X; and a dimension from the front end to the outer end of the front waist panel as well as a dimension from the rear end to the outer end of the rear waist panel is in a range of 5 to 100 mm. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the elastic regions respectively include the waist sheets and a plurality of elastics contractibly attached under tension to the respective waist sheets so as to extend in the transverse direction and to be spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the respective sub-zones of the first joining zone have a dimension in the transverse direction in a range of 2 to 20 mm and a distance dimension between each pair of the adjacent joining zones is in a range of 1 to 10 mm. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein, of the first joining zone, outermost sub-zones as viewed in the transverse direction respectively have a dimension in the transverse direction larger than that of respective intermediate sub-zones. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the absorbent structure includes liquid-absorbent core material and a wrapping sheet adapted to wrap the core material wherein a mass per unit area of the core material is in a range of 320 to 700 g/m2. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the crotch panel further includes a body-side liner lying on an absorbing surface of the absorbent structure, a leakage-barrier sheet placed on a bottom surface of the absorbent structure and a containment sheet adapted to cover the leakage-barrier sheet and to form containment cuffs outboard of the absorbent structure as viewed in the transverse direction, wherein the front and rear end flaps are defined by the body-side liner, the leakage-barrier sheet and the containment sheet. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The disposable wearing article according to claim 1, wherein the front and rear waist panels respectively have a rectangular shapes in the state stretched against a contractile force of the elastics and a dimension in the transverse direction of the front waist panel is the same as that of the rear waist panel.