Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-21
2001-04-24
Ruhl, Dennis (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S385010, C604S385101, C604S385230, C428S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06222092
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an absorbent garment, and more particularly such a garment that has impediments on its surface to inhibit flow of liquid across the surface to edges of the garment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disposable absorbent garments are well known in the art. Such garments typically include a moisture-impervious backing sheet, an absorbent pad, and a liner sheet that contacts the body of a person wearing the garment. In addition, elasticized regions are provided around the edges of the garment for securing it about the waist and legs of a wearer. Disposable diapers having elasticized margins for placement about the legs of a wearer are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,462 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,861. An absorbent article having elasticized side margins and waistband margins is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,562.
Despite previous advancements in the field of absorbent garments, persons skilled in the art continue their efforts to produce more comfortable garments which are better able to contain urinary and fecal excretions. For instance, problems with prior diaper designs include leakage of urinary or fecal material from the garment. Prolonged contact of liquid or semi-solid excreta with the skin of the wearer is also a continuing problem in the art. Recent absorbent garments have utilized passageways through the liner sheet to help contain such excretions, and more rapidly remove them from contact with the wearer. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,147 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,312 describe absorbent articles having a passageway through the liner that helps convey waste from the skin of the wearer.
Yet another approach to the problem of diapers leaking excreta is to provide on the diaper lining an elevated barrier to direct movement of waste within the diaper during use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,342 describes a flexible, resilient hydrophobic strip that may be placed between the area of the diaper into which excretion occurs, and the waist bands or leg gathers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,213 discloses longitudinally extending ribs with convex top surfaces that guide body fluids in a longitudinal direction along the interior surface of the diaper. This ribbed design is said to distribute the fluid evenly across the interior surface of the diaper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,568 discloses a disposable diaper having a resilient barrier member that extends from the inner liner toward the body of the wearer and inhibits the longitudinal movement of liquid or viscous waste material between the front and rear sections of the diaper. In one embodiment, the barrier is a continuous linear polymer foam ridge member that extends transversely across the inner liner of the diaper. In an alternative embodiment, the barrier is provided by a plurality of parallel, longitudinally extending elastic members that form ruffles aligned in a transverse row across the liner layer. The barriers are said to provide an isolation pocket at the rear section of the diaper, or at a fluid insult target zone in the front section of the diaper. The ruffles are further described as helping reduce wrinkles in the liner layer so that liquid penetrates more rapidly through the liner.
Another problem with disposable diaper garments is that the relationship of the garment to the anatomy of the user varies depending on the gender of the wearer. Females, for example, direct a flow of urine somewhat perpendicularly into a region of the diaper adjacent the wearer's perineum, while a male will direct a flow of urine more toward a region of the diaper adjacent the wearer's pubic area. U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,648 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,922 attempted to address this problem by providing diapers with differing concentrations of absorptive material in those areas of the diaper where urine would first impinge and collect. None of these designs, however, have proved entirely satisfactory. Although the urine impingement areas of the gender specific diapers may provide improved region specific absorption, liquid was still able to migrate away from the target regions along the inner liner layer.
It is accordingly a general object of the invention to provide an absorbent garment that inhibits flow of excretions toward the margins of the garment.
Another object is to provide such a garment that enhances absorption of excreta into an absorptive inner layer of the garment.
Another object is to design such a garment that is suited to the unique anatomical requirements of the gender of the wearer.
Yet another object is to inhibit the pooling of liquid waste within the diaper of a recumbent wearer.
Finally, it is an object to provide a diaper that retains human waste within the confines of its borders, away from the skin of the wearer, in a comfortable fashion that is acceptable to the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been found that leakage from some disposable absorbent garments may be greater when worn by boys, than by girls, particularly during nighttime wearing. First, during nocturnal use, multiple urine voidings occur and the absorbent material in the garment becomes progressively more saturated after each voiding. Further, a girl may direct a urine stream more directly perpendicular to the inner face of an absorbent garment, whereas the liquid stream from a boy will be directed more tangentially along the inner face of the garment. substantially tangential liquid stream produced by a boy has a velocity and force component directed along the surface that may tend to carry the liquid stream toward a margin of the garment. The flow velocity and force factor result in the liquid stream extending much farther from the source prior to absorption than occurs for a female infant. In either male or female infants, the undesirable free flow of urine is enhanced by a space that is formed between the inner layer of the garment and the skin of the infant when the diaper is deformed from a flat packaging position to a curved use orientation on the body of the wearer.
The present inventors have discovered that the flow of urine across the inner liner of the garment can be reduced by providing barriers or impediments to the urine flow. These impediments are mechanically formed barrier elements, which in an illustrated embodiment are a plurality of deformable loops that project from the inner liner surface of the garment.
In one embodiment, the garment includes a front and rear waistband at longitudinally spaced aspects of the article. The garment includes a moisture impervious outer layer, an absorbent core, an inner liner layer, and an innermost liquid control layer. The liner layer includes a perineal region intermediate the front and rear waistbands, for placement against the wearer's perineum. A plurality of the barrier elements project away from the liner sheet and toward the user's body between the perineum and waistband when the diaper is in place on the user. The barrier elements thereby form a urine stream interference barrier that inhibits the flow of urine toward the waistband.
The liquid control layer of the present invention is particularly useful with male users, because the flow barrier disrupts the tangential or substantially tangential flow of urine across the liner surface toward the front waistband. Wearers of both genders, however, benefit from the barrier because it partially fills the space that is usually present between the skin and inner liner. Occupation of this space by the barrier elements inhibits migration of liquid waste away from the target region where the urine impinges the barrier element. The barrier elements also enhance absorption of the waste into an intermediate absorptive layer of the garment.
In a disclosed embodiment, the barrier elements are deformable loops that project away from the general plane of the liner sheet and toward the user's body when the garment is in place on the user. These loops are capable of lying flat in a compressed condition against the liner layer when the absorbent article is laid or folded flat during packaging. However, t
Baker Andrew
Hansen Ebba A.
Hunton & Williams
Paragon Trade Brands, Inc.
Ruhl Dennis
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