Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Including aperture
Reexamination Certificate
1995-09-12
2001-04-24
Cole, Elizabeth M. (Department: 1771)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Including aperture
C428S137000, C428S156000, C428S168000, C428S198000, C604S359000, C604S368000, C604S385101
Reexamination Certificate
active
06221460
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a liquid absorbing liner material. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a liquid absorbing liner material that is suitable as a body-side liner material for personal care absorbent articles including diapers, feminine pads, incontinence garments and training pants.
Diaper dermatitis is a skin condition that results from the prolonged contact of wet occlusive diapers with the skin of the wearer. This prolonged contact can lead to excessive hydration of the stratum corneum or outermost skin layer, thus reducing the skin's ability to function as a barrier. When the barrier properties of the skin are compromised, there is an increase in the permeation of irritants, the susceptibility of the skin to physical damage and the invasion of the skin by microorganisms. Maintaining a normal skin hydration level helps the skin maintain its optimum barrier properties. For this reason, it is important that personal care absorbent products, to the extent possible, prevent excessive skin hydration while containing body exudates and providing a soft, dry and comfortable feel to the wearer.
Current occlusive absorbent garments with flat liners hold body exudates, specifically urine and feces, against the skin of the wearer. Heat and moisture are prevented from escaping from the product due to the close fitting nature of the product designed to prevent leakage. This problem is most severe in the insult region of personal care absorbent products. The flat liner provides a high contact area with the skin which can act as a pathway to conduct back to the skin free liquid that is not locked up by the absorbent core, especially when the product is under pressure at the insult point since the flat liner cannot provide a sufficient degree of separation of the wearer from the free liquid. In addition, the flat liner does not allow the insult region of the personal care absorbent product to communicate with the ambient air to allow humidity to be reduced in the insult region as well as away from the insult region.
Methods have been described to achieve communication of the interior region of a personal care absorbent product with the ambient air including breathable backsheets, waist vents and leg vents. These methods have various deficiencies that make them less effective than desired to achieve normal, unoccluded skin hydration levels. Breathable backsheets provide a pathway for drying through the backsheet to the interior of the absorbent product. However, the wet absorbent can hinder the true communication of the skin with the ambient air. Waist and leg vents through the backsheet tend to either be occluded against the skin or provide leakage pathways. Other methods discuss the use of folded absorbent cores or layers under the liner to dry the liner (skin contact) layer. These methods call for undesirable process options and economics and do not truly allow the ambient air to dry the skin of the wearer—rather, they dry the skin contact layer. As a result, there is a need for a material that can be used for, among other things, a liner material for personal care absorbent products such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like to reduce the humidity in the insult area and the skin hydration level of the wearer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liner for a disposable absorbent garment that improves upon the above disadvantages of current disposable absorbent garments. Thus, it is desired to provide a liner composite that will allow the insult region and areas away from the insult region to communicate through air passageways or channels with the ambient air to provide reduced humidity in all regions in the personal care absorbent product and, at the same time, provide suitable absorbent properties to provide low leakage in a personal care absorbent product even when subjected to the pressure of the wearer. In addition, the liner composite should have a soft, dry feel and contain minimal free liquid at the skin contact regions after insult to reduce wearer discomfort and skin hydration.
To allow the ambient air to reach the skin of the wearer, the composite structure of the present invention is provided with resilient, crush-resistant raised skin contact areas or peaks and air passageways or channels formed between the raised skin contact areas to provide desired functional characteristics including humidity reduction thereby promoting the desired maintenance of normal skin hydration along with the desired absorbency and comfort properties. The structure, geometry and the selection of the construction materials that form the overall material are important aspects of the invention as will be described in further detail below.
It is a another object of the present invention to provide a means for separating feces from the skin of the wearer to reduce irritation of the skin. Separation of the feces from the skin of the wearer is possible with the present invention due to the ability of the liner material to store the feces in the areas between the raised areas of the liner.
The liquid absorbing liner material of the present invention can be configured in a number of ways. In a first embodiment, the liquid absorbing liner material includes a facing layer and a support layer with the facing layer being joined to the support layer by a plurality of spaced-apart bonds such that between the pairs of bonds the facing layer and support layer form a plurality of peaks which can be filled with various types of liquid absorbing material. Disposed between the peaks are a plurality of channels which separate the peaks from one another and permit air flow along the length of the material.
In a second embodiment the liquid absorbing liner material does not use a support layer. Instead, the facing layer contains a plurality of first and second folds which each form respective first and second fold lines. The facing layer is joined to itself generally along these first and second folds to again form a plurality of spaced-apart peaks which can be filled with various types of liquid absorbing material. As with the previous embodiment, the peaks are separated by a plurality of channels which again serve to permit air flow between the peaks.
In yet a third embodiment of the present invention, the liquid absorbing liner material comprises a facing layer with a plurality of individually formed peaks which are attached to the surface of the facing layer at spaced-apart intervals. In this embodiment, the peaks are preformed and can be unwound from supply rolls and then attached directly to the facing layer.
The liquid absorbing liner material of the present invention has a variety of uses not the least of which is as a liner material for personal care absorbent articles. Such articles typically include a liner material and a backsheet with an absorbent core disposed therebetween. The liquid absorbing liner material of the present invention can be used as the liner material in the personal care absorbent article. Due to the liquid absorbing capacity of the peaks of the liquid absorbing liner material of the present invention, it is also possible to create personal care absorbent articles wherein the article comprises a liner material and a backsheet joined to the liner material with the area between the liner and backsheet being devoid of any type of absorbent core due to the functional properties of the peaks of the liquid absorbing liner material.
A further understanding of the present invention can be gained by a review of the following specification, claims and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2230903 (1941-02-01), Ostenberg
patent: 2242937 (1941-05-01), Biederman
patent: 2462361 (1949-02-01), Cassens
patent: 2544069 (1951-03-01), Cutler
patent: 2610496 (1952-09-01), Kostopoulos
patent: 2880727 (1959-04-01), Whalen
patent: 3073309 (1963-01-01), Mosier
patent: 3081772 (1963-03-01), Brooks et al.
patent: 3121427 (1964-02-01), Mosier
patent: 3122754 (
Cole Douglas Bryan
Collier, IV Leslie Warren
Davis James Arthur
Gryskiewicz Stanley Michael
Kollin Nancy Donaldson
Cole Elizabeth M.
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Wilson Patrick C.
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