Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Separable-fastener or required component thereof – With third detached member completing interlock
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-05
2001-05-15
Brittain, James R. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Separable-fastener or required component thereof
With third detached member completing interlock
C024S579110, C024S697100, C024S697200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06230374
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing fastener-device elements which are intended to be fastened to side-parts of an absorbent article of the kind which includes a central part and front and rear side-parts that project out from said central part, so as to enable front and rear side parts to be mutually joined on one and the same side of the central part of said article.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The front and rear sides of a donned diaper are normally fastened together with the aid of fastener tabs. Although such adhesive fasteners have many good points, they also have certain drawbacks, such as their sensitivity to contaminants, their tendency to fasten in the “wrong” place, and so on. It has been suggested in recent times that these adhesive fasteners should be replaced with mechanical fasteners, such as press studs or the like; see for instance EP-A2 0 262 447 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,776.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A general object of the present invention is to provide elements for such fastener devices, essentially with no waste of material and in a manner which will enable application of the fastener-device elements to a diaper to be integrated readily in continuous diaper manufacturing processes. Another object of the invention is to enable such fastener-device elements to be produced from rolls of material. A further object of the invention is to improve the flexibility of this type of fastener-device element while retaining a large anchorage surface.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention with a method of the kind defined in the introduction that is characterized by making a central, longitudinally extending wave-like slit or cut in a material web which includes at least one row of fastener devices which extend in the longitudinal direction of the web or alternatively at least two continuous strings of fastener devices or at least one string of fastener-device blanks extending in the longitudinal direction of the web, and by making transversal slits which connect with said wave-shaped slit on both sides thereof, said transverse slits being mutually spaced from one another at a continuously repeated distance sequence in the longitudinal direction of the web.
According to one preferred embodiment the wave-shaped slit is made so that the wave has a constant amplitude and shape in a web of material that has one single centre string of fastener-device blanks, said transversal slit being extended transversely to a point beyond the string of fastener-device blanks on both sides thereof. The transverse slits' on one side of the centre line of the wave-shaped slit terminate in the wave crests of the undulating slit, while the transverse slits on the other side of said centre line terminate in the wave troughs of said slit. Furthermore, the distance between mutually sequential transverse slits on one and the same side of the wave-shaped section is such that each piece obtained on one side of said wave-shaped slit by slitting the web will include the same number of wave crests as the number of wave troughs in each piece produced on the other side of said longitudinal centre line.
According to another embodiment of the invention, adjacent transverse slits on both sides of the wave-shaped slit pass through the same points on the longitudinal symmetry line of the wave-shaped slit and the transverse slits are spaced equidistantly in the longitudinal direction. The web also has a central, longitudinally extending row of mutually equidistant studs or buttons and the wave-shaped slit is caused to pass transversely beyond the row of studs on both sides thereof while, at the same time, causing the longitudinal centre line of the wave-shaped slit to coincide with the longitudinal centre line of the stud or button row.
The invention also relates to fastener-device elements that are intended to be fastened to the side-parts of an absorbent article of the kind which includes a central part and front and rear side-parts projecting therefrom, so as to enable the front and the rear side-parts to be joined together on the same side of the central part of the article, said element including at least one continuous row or string of fastener devices, characterized in that each fastener-device element along one side parallel with the row or the string of fastener devices includes a row of outwardly projecting tongues. Such an element has great flexibility and also a large anchorage area.
According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the side of the element that contains the tongues has an undulating outer contour. Furthermore, each tongue in the row of tongues includes a stud or button and the row of studs or buttons extends along the longitudinal centre line of the undulations that are delimited by the side containing the tongues. The buttons or studs extend over the full width of the tongues.
According to one variant, the row or the string of fastener devices extends on one side of the tongues.
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Brittain James R.
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
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