Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-06
2004-02-10
Lo, Weilun (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S385010, C604S385280, C604S386000, C604S387000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06689113
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to structures designed for absorbing body exudate. More particularly, the invention provides an improved sanitary absorbent article featuring an enhanced capability to protect the undergarment from wetting.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A sanitary napkin typically comprises an elongated main body that is intended to be placed in the crotch portion of the undergarment so it remains in contact with the perineal region of the wearer. The sanitary napkin includes a liquid-permeable cover layer located over an absorbent core that is designed to collect and store body exudate discharged by the user. Optionally, a transfer layer may be placed between the cover layer and the absorbent core. To prevent liquid collected in the absorbent core from soiling the undergarment of the wearer a liquid-impermeable barrier layer is located under the absorbent core.
Experimental procedures conducted on sanitary napkin designs have demonstrated that product failures can often be traced to the inability of the cover layer of the sanitary napkin, which is in contact with the perineal region of the wearer, to effectively capture on contact the discharge of body exudate. If liquid remains on the cover layer for an extended period of time droplets are likely to run off of the surface of the cover layer and leak past the edge of the sanitary napkin. The precise point of leakage depends primarily upon the posture of the wearer. For example, when a wearer lies horizontally in a supine position, the gravitational forces induce the liquid to travel longitudinally on the sanitary napkin and to accumulate on the rear longitudinal end portion. To avoid saturation and overflow leakage at that area, products with improved absorbency at the critical site have been developed during the past recent years. An example is the sanitary napkin available from Johnson & Johnson Inc. under the trade designation STAYFREE PRIMA Ultra Thin/Long Maxi. This product features a long body that progressively widens toward the rear so as to offer an increased liquid-acquisition surface area.
Alternatively, sanitary napkins designed primarily for daytime use have been found to leak mostly at the longitudinal sides of the napkin. This is primarily due to the normally erect or sitting positions of the wearer which causes the liquid to accumulate in the central area of the napkin which has a reduced width due to compressive forces exerted by the wearer's legs. As a consequence, a much smaller surface area is available to the liquid for penetrating the absorbent structure.
In an attempt to reduce the possibility of undergarment or garment wetting resulting from side failures, several solutions have been proposed by the industry. One attempt to solve this problem is to provide the main body of the sanitary napkin with wings or flaps which extend from the longitudinal sides of the napkin and are folded about the edges of a crotch portion of a wearer's undergarment to form upstanding walls which provide a shielding function. These flaps originate from the side edges of the main body and are provided with adhesive zones allowing the flaps to be secured against the outside surface of the undergarment. Thus, in the event that droplets of menstrual fluid leak past the side edges of the main body of the napkin, the undergarment will be protected from the liquid by virtue of the flaps.
This approach, however, presents a number of drawbacks. For example, the addition of side flaps to a sanitary napkin increases the manufacturing costs associated with the sanitary napkin. In addition, in an attempt to provide enhanced protection against side leakage, manufacturers have substantially increased the width of the flaps, measured along the length of the napkin, to provide wide flaps. Major difficulties observed with sanitary napkins provided with such wide flaps are the stresses created when fitting the flap about the curved edges of an undergarment and the inability of the flaps to conform well to the edges of the undergarment. Since the edges of the undergarment are outwardly curved from the narrow central crotch portion to become wider as the undergarment encircles the legs, wide flaps, when folded about the edges of the crotch portion of the undergarment will have a tendency to detach and/or form wrinkles which cause irritation and discomfort by chafing the inner thighs of the wearer and are also detrimental to the adhesive bond between the flaps and the undergarment, resulting in a further likelihood of detachment of the flaps from the undergarment. One possibility to solve this problem is to use a longitudinally extensible or elastic material to form wide flaps which are more comfortable to the shape of the undergarment edges.
Under a different approach the main body of the sanitary napkin is provided with flaps that are affixed to the barrier layer, i.e. on the garment facing side of the napkin, at a point located inwardly of the respective side edges of the sanitary napkin. The flaps may be adhered to the underside of the wearer's undergarment or may be sufficiently long so they completely encircle the crotch portion of the undergarment and they are retained to one another in overlapping relationship. Since the flaps originate inwardly of the respective side edges, they have the effect of gathering the undergarment so that it remains inward of the longitudinal side edges of the main body. Thus, it is the body-facing side of the main absorbent body that provides the primary undergarment shielding function while the flaps positively prevent the edges of the undergarment from extending over the cover layer of the main body where they are subject to wetting. Examples of sanitary napkins constructed in accordance with this concept are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,320 granted to McNeil-PPC on Feb. 13, 1990, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The embodiments described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,320 are, however, difficult to manufacture on high speed automated equipment because the flaps are formed separately of the main body and then affixed to the barrier layer of the main body in order to form the sanitary napkin. This requires a more complex manufacturing process that translates in higher production costs. Indeed, the industry has recognized that the most economical way of mass producing sanitary napkins is to form the flaps of the individual products integrally with the barrier layer, the cover layer or with both layers.
OBJECTS AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a sanitary napkin that is capable of protecting the undergarment of the wearer against wetting.
Another object of the invention is to provide a sanitary napkin that offers enhanced protection against undergarment wetting and which, at the same time, is easy to mass produce at low cost.
Yet, another object of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing the aforementioned sanitary napkin.
As embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a sanitary absorbent article adapted to be worn in a crotch portion of an undergarment, comprising:
(A) a main body having opposed longitudinal side edges and a longitudinal centerline, said main body including: a body-facing fluid-permeable upper layer intended for placement against a perineal region of a wearer, a garment-facing fluid-impervious lower layer, and an absorbent layer between the upper layer and the lower layer; and
(B) a first panel and a second panel, each panel being integrally formed from the upper layer, the lower layer or a combination of both the upper layer and the lower layer, each panel having a proximal end adjacent to and extending from respective opposite longitudinal side edges of said main body and a distal end freely extending laterally from the proximal end of said panel, the proximal end and the distal end defining therebetween a body portion, the body portion further comprising a longitudinally extending folding axis which is substantially parallel to said longitudinal
Boulanger Roger
Glasgow Tara
Lingertat Arnie
Mavinkurve Pramod
Ng Anthony
Johnson & Johnson Inc.
Lo Weilun
Stephens Jacqueline F
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