Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Pore forming in situ – Composite article making
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-27
2002-06-18
Kuhns, Allan R. (Department: 1732)
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Pore forming in situ
Composite article making
C264S041000, C264S297100, C521S064000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06406648
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to tridimensional shaped foam implements and methods of making such implements. More particularly, the present invention relates to tridimensional absorbent components useful in absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, panty liners, tampons, and the like and methods of making such shaped absorbent components.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women in a pair of panties that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineum. Sanitary napkins of a wide variety of shapes and dimensions are currently used by women for the collection of menses and other bodily discharges.
In the past, a number of efforts have been directed at providing sanitary napkins that maintain contact with the wearer's body. One attempt to provide such body contact is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,575 issued May 29, 1956 to Mercer. The Mercer patent discloses a catamenial bandage having a longitudinal hump which bulges towards and may contact the body of the wearer. The catamenial bandage described in the Mercer patent suffers from several disadvantages, however. For instance, the size and shape of the absorbent pad and hump in the Mercer bandage appear to limit the conditions under which the bandage is able to maintain contact with (and conform to) the body of the wearer. The portions of the bandage that lie laterally to the sides of the hump are not thin and flexible. In addition, the hump of the Mercer bandage is made of a cellulosic material, and, as a result, may tend to collapse and become permanently distorted during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,130 issued to DesMarais on Jan. 10, 1984, discloses a compound sanitary napkin that comprises a primary menstrual pad and a panty protector joined to one another at their corresponding ends in such a manner that the two constituents are free to move relative to one another along essentially their entire common length. The primary menstrual pad is intended to absorb the bulk of the bodily fluids discharged by the user, while the panty protector is intended to protect the user's garments from soiling. In use, the relative freedom of movement between the primary menstrual pad and the panty protector serves to maintain the primary menstrual pad adjacent the user's crotch region while the panty protector remains associated with the user's undergarment.
The current tendency has been to develop sanitary napkins that are increasingly thinner, and thus more comfortable and less obtrusive than prior sanitary napkins. Recently, efforts have been directed at developing thin sanitary napkins which have the capacity to absorb and contain medium to high menstrual discharges. Previously, such discharges could only be handled by relatively thick sanitary napkins. Examples of thin sanitary napkins having capacities great enough to handle medium to high menstrual flows are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,950,264 and 5,009,653, issued to Osborn, III, on Aug. 21, 1990 and Apr. 23, 1991, respectively.
It is also desirable that sanitary napkins, not only maintain contact with, but conform as closely as possible to the wearer's body. Such a body-conforming capability increases the effectiveness of the sanitary napkin by reducing the possibility that menses will travel beyond the perimeter of the sanitary napkin and leak. There have been a number of recent efforts to provide sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles with improved body-conforming characteristics. In addition to serving as examples of thin sanitary napkins, the sanitary napkins disclosed in the above-mentioned Osborn patents also serve as examples of anatomically-conforming sanitary napkins. While the sanitary napkins disclosed in the Osborn patents work quite well, the search for improved sanitary napkins has continued.
For example, published PCT Application Serial No. WO 94/16658, published on Aug. 4, 1994, discloses a generally thin, flexible sanitary napkin which has a central absorbent hump, and is capable of handling medium to high menstrual flows. The hump is particularly useful in fitting into the space between the wearer's labia to more readily intercept menses and other bodily discharges when they leave the wearer's body. The search, however, has continued for Improved sanitary napkins, particularly sanitary napkins that will achieve even better fit within the space between the wearer's labia majora, and which are more adept at absorbing blood-based liquids, such as menses.
Three dimensional absorbent articles designed for absorbing blood-based liquids are also known. Typically such articles are intended to enable intralabial interception of such fluids with extralabial storage of the absorbed fluids. One attempt to increase the body fitting capability of sanitary napkin has been to combine both a cupped and a humped shape in the same article, typically achieving a sanitary napkin having a flattened front portion combined with a raised rear portion, in order to better fit the variations in the anatomy in longitudinal direction. One such structure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,380, issued to Lassen, et al. on Feb. 14, 1989 which describes an article that has a substantially flat or concave front portion intended to cover area of the mons pubis, and a longitudinally oriented raised peak in the rear portion that is said to adjust and mold into the inverted-V shape of the rear portion of the labia. Although this type of structure does provide a sanitary napkin with a certain degree of three dimensionality, such structures still cannot actually fit the various complex body shapes of the female anatomy that comprise nonlinear grooves and nonplanar surfaces. The sanitary napkin of the '380 reference is provided with its three dimensionality by mechanically shaping an initially flat structure. This means, for example, that the raised peak in the rear portion thereof has a rectilinear profile when seen in side view, and therefore it fails to conform properly to the corresponding non-linear profile of a wearer's anatomy as seen in a longitudinal direction.
Another example of an absorbent article having three dimensionality is described in published PCT application Ser. No. WO 99/01095 ('095 application), published in the name of the Procter & Gamble Company on Jan. 14, 1999. The devices described therein have a profile along the longitudinal centerline that provides improved conformity to human female anatomical features allowing improved bodily fit. However, improvements are still needed because the complex set of fold lines and planar surfaces is difficult to fabricate. Further, the contours of the device are substantially linear and planar compared to the nonlinear nature of anatomical surfaces (See, for example,
FIG. 4
thereof).
The development of highly absorbent articles for blood and blood-based liquids such as catamenial pads (e.g., sanitary napkins), tampons, wound dressings, bandages and surgical drapes can be challenging. Compared to water and urine, blood and blood based liquids such as menses are relatively complex mixtures of dissolved and undissolved components (e.g., erythrocytes or red blood cells). In particular, blood-based liquids such as menses are much more viscous than water and urine. This higher viscosity hampers the ability of conventional absorbent materials to efficiently and rapidly transport these blood-based liquids to regions remote from the point of initial discharge. Undissolved elements in these blood-based liquids can also potentially clog the capillaries of these absorbent materials. This makes the design of appropriate absorbent systems for blood-based liquids such as menses particularly difficu
DesMarais Thomas Allen
Dyer John Collins
Hammons John Lee
Lipic Paul Martin
Noel John Richard
Kuhns Allan R.
Milbrada Edward J.
Miller Steven W.
Patel Ken K.
The Procter & Gamble & Company
LandOfFree
Method of making shaped foam implements does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of making shaped foam implements, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of making shaped foam implements will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2940168