Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-22
2002-09-10
Weiss, John G. (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S390000, C604S391000, C604S396000, C604S387000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447497
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to absorbent articles which are adapted to contain body exudates. More particularly, the invention pertains to disposable absorbent articles that are prefastened in a pant configuration and include child resistant refastenable seams. The invention also pertains to methods of making such prefastened disposable absorbent articles.
Current disposable absorbent training pants for children going through the potty training stage have proved to be a particularly desirable and useful product. Such training pants generally include an absorbent chassis including a liquid impervious outer cover, a liquid pervious bodyside liner and an absorbent structure. The training pants further include elastic side panels that are permanently bonded to opposite side edges of the absorbent chassis. The chassis and side panels thereby form a unitary waist opening and two leg openings. The fit of the pants may be further enhanced by gathering means along the waist and leg openings.
The components of traditional training pants are permanently seamed together to provide a pant product. These products are particularly appealing to caregivers and are useful in the toilet training process because the pant has a very garment-like look. Children identify diaper products with babies, and most children do not like being identified with or as babies. Consequently, these children do not want to wear baby diapers, and instead prefer to wear training pants that look like adult underwear. Thus, the switch from a traditional diaper to a more garment-like or underwear-like training pant can be an important step in the toilet training process.
One drawback with current training pants, however, is that the manner of applying them is limited to being pulled on like a pant. Applying the product like a pant is advantageous in many instances, and is particularly suited for active, walking children. Even for the same child, however, there may be times when it would be useful to apply the product like a diaper. For instance, it might be more convenient to apply the product like a diaper when there is a desire not to remove the child's shoes. Because it is difficult to know when a particular mode of applying the garment will be needed, it is beneficial to have a garment that is adaptable to being used either as a diaper or as a pant. This is preferable to keeping both types of garments available. A product that can be applied like either a diaper or a pant permits the interior of the product to be easily checked without having to pull the product downward.
Children, and particularly those of toilet training age, have the ability to remove disposable absorbent garments with conventional refastenable seams. For example, a child may be resistant to wearing such a garment, and thus may intentionally attempt to remove the garment. In other instances, the child may simply pick at or play with the refastenable seams of the garment in a manner which can lead to removal of the garment. In either case, the result can be undesirable.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a disposable absorbent article that provides the garment-like look of a traditional training pant, includes refastenable fastening components to allow application like either a diaper or a pant, yet minimizes the likelihood that the child will be able to disengage the fastening components without assistance from a caregiver.
SUMMARY ON THE INVENTION
In response to the above-referenced unfulfilled need in the art, a new prefastened disposable absorbent article with child resistant refastenable seams and a method of making such a prefastened disposable absorbent article have been discovered. The absorbent article includes a mechanical fastening system that can be repeatedly fastened, unfastened and refastened. In addition, the front and back waist regions are adhesively bonded together in a manner that minimizes the likelihood that the child will be able to remove the absorbent article without assistance from a caregiver. The absorbent article can still be removed easily by the caregiver or with the assistance of the caregiver.
In one embodiment, the present invention relates to an absorbent article that is prefastened in a pant configuration. The absorbent article includes an absorbent chassis that defines a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis, first and second longitudinally spaced waist regions, and a crotch region which extends between and interconnects the waist regions. The absorbent article also includes at least one mechanical fastening component disposed in the first waist region and at least one mating mechanical fastening component disposed in the second waist region. The fastening component and the mating fastening component are refastenably engaged to form a refastenable mechanical seam. The first waist region of the absorbent article overlaps the second waist region and forms an overlapping flap located transversely outward from the refastenable mechanical seam. To inhibit child access to the refastenable seam, the overlapping flap is adhesively bonded to the second waist region.
The fastening components and the mating fastening components form refastenable mechanical seams for securing the first and second waist regions together. The refastenable seams allow the product to be either pulled on like a pant or applied like a diaper. If the training pant becomes soiled during use, the fastening components can be disengaged from the mating fastening components to easily remove the training pant from the waist of the wearer with reduced risk of undesirably soiling the clothes or legs of the wearer. Further, the fastening components can also be easily disengaged to inspect the training pant for possible soiling. Thus, the training pant is configured to be pulled on or off over the hips of the wearer such as conventional training pants and can be readily applied or removed by disengaging the fastening system similar to conventional diapers. Moreover, the mechanical fasteners can be repositioned if necessary after the training pant has been pulled on over the legs and hips of the wearer.
Access to the refastenable mechanical seam is blocked because the waist regions are additionally adhesively bonded together. The fastening components in the first waist region are spaced inward slightly from the side edges of the absorbent chassis. This forms an overlapping flap, which in particular embodiments has a width dimension from about 1 to about 15 millimeters, and particularly from about 2 to about 10 millimeters. The overlapping flap is adhesively bonded to the second waist region so that the child cannot insert his or her fingers between the overlapping waist regions in order to separate the mechanical fastening components from the mating mechanical fastening components. Advantageously, adhesively bonding the overlapping flap to the opposite waist region also improves the appearance of the training pant, in that it more closely resembles underwear.
The adhesive can be applied initially to one or both of the waist regions, which are joined together when the mechanical fasteners are engaged. The adhesive can be applied either continuously or discontinuously, for example, in the form of lines, dots, strands, swirls, sprays, meltblown sprays, or the like. The adhesive can be applied adjacent to the mechanical fasteners, or at least partially on one or more of the mechanical fasteners. In particular embodiments, the adhesive is one that remains tacky after application so that the first and second waist regions are refastenably bonded together by the adhesive. In this case, the refastenable mechanical and adhesive seams can be disengaged from one another, for example to inspect the interior of the garment, and then refastened for subsequent use.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a prefastened absorbent article including an absorbent chassis that defines a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis, opposite inner and outer surfaces, longitudinally opposed first and second waist edges, transversely opp
Gage Thomas M.
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Kubicki H. Michael
Stephens Jacqueline
Weiss John G.
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