Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1995-05-31
2002-01-08
Snow, Bruce (Department: 3738)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S385240
Reexamination Certificate
active
06336921
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to disposable absorbent training pants for children, and more particularly to improved waist elastic systems therefor.
Current disposable absorbent training pants for children going through the potty training stage have proved to be a particularly desirable and useful product. This is especially true for the child, when he or she has outgrown, or believe they have outgrown, diapers. Diapers are for babies, and most children do not like being identified with or as babies. Consequently, these children do not want to wear baby diapers, and instead prefer to wear a training pant that looks like adult underwear.
One problem with current training pants, however, is that they do not provide optimum comfort and ease of use, i.e., ease of pulling up or pulling down, over a wide weight or size range and for an extended period of time. This discomfort, and difficulty in pulling up or pulling down, very often frustrates the child to the point that potty training is delayed due to the child's displeasure with and difficulty in using the product.
One reason current training pants do not provide optimum comfort and ease of use is the fact that one training pant size is intended for use by children within a particular range of weights or sizes. This requires a single size training pant to fit children with different size waists. In practice, this means that the training pant will not provide a substantially uniform low tension over the required waist size range. For example, one specific training pant size may be designed to fit children within a weight range of 25-35 pounds. This weight range includes a wide range of waist sizes. Generally, the training pant will fit one particular weight, i.e., intermediate waist size, well enough to provide some degree of satisfaction. However, at the low weight end, i.e., the smallest waist size, an elastic waistband must be used to gather the excess material at the waist opening. However, the tension provided by the retracted elastic waistband can be too high, thereby causing discomfort and/or difficulty in pulling the pant up or down for the smaller to intermediate size children.
At the high end of the weight range, where the waist size is largest, the elastic waistband will extend its maximum allowable length to accommodate the larger waist. However, when fully extended, it can exert too high of a tension against the child's waist. Again, this results in discomfort, possible redmarking, and difficulty in pulling the pant up and down, thereby delaying potty training.
Thus, the fact that a single size training pant is designed to fit wide weight ranges has prevented them from providing substantially uniform low tensions over the corresponding wide size ranges over an extended period of time. Yet, this is an extremely desirable feature which, if available, would provide a training pant comfortable to the child, and easy to pull up or down. Thus, as a child would grow into, and then out of, a specified weight range for a specific training pant size, then the child would have a substantially uniform force or tension at the waist during that period of wearing the specific size training pant; but, this feature is not available in current children's disposable absorbent training pants.
Various designs of elastic waistbands have been used in these training pants, such as a single wide elastic member or a plurality of narrow elastic members. The waistbands may fully, or only partially, surround the waist opening. Generally, these elastic waistbands are incorporated by one of two methods. The first method incorporates the elastic waistbands when they are in an extended, tensioned state. The second method incorporates the elastic waistbands while they are in a relaxed, untensioned state. The latter method may require the use of a special elastic material, such as a heat-elasticizable material.
In both of these methods, the elastic waistbands generally are joined to multiple layers of material. For example, the elastic waistbands can be adhesively joined between two adjacent layers of material, such as, for example, the topsheet and backsheet of the training pant. In some cases, the elastic waistbands are first adhesively joined to a carrier sheet of material, and then the carrier sheet and elastic waistbands are adhesively joined between the adjacent layers.
The application of adhesive in these methods is generally accomplished by partially or totally coating the mutually facing surfaces of the adjacent layers, or by applying the adhesive in a bead to at least one of the layers. The latter method usually involves a continuous bead pattern, such as a wave-like pattern of adhesive.
Other methods or patterns for applying adhesive are available, and include joining the elastic waistbands along their full or entire length to multiple layers of material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one form of the present invention there is provided a disposable absorbent training pant comprising a chassis including a front panel, a back panel, a crotch panel, and an absorbent structure on the crotch panel, in which the front and back panels, when joined together, form a waist opening and leg openings. A waist elastic system is provided about the waist opening, and has a maximum magnitude of decay of less than about 76.98 grams at an extension of about 300 millimeters over the first three cycles.
REFERENCES:
patent: 462965 (1891-11-01), Darby
patent: 927897 (1909-07-01), Straight
patent: 1397579 (1921-11-01), Guinzburg
patent: 2016355 (1935-10-01), Alsop
patent: RE23040 (1948-09-01), Rand
patent: 2678648 (1954-05-01), de Woskin
patent: 3048176 (1962-08-01), de Woskin
patent: 3150665 (1964-09-01), May et al.
patent: 3225764 (1965-12-01), Magid
patent: 3237625 (1966-03-01), Johnson
patent: 3368563 (1968-02-01), Scheier
patent: 3608551 (1971-09-01), Saburo
patent: 3613687 (1971-10-01), Kennedy
patent: 3756878 (1973-09-01), Willot
patent: 4227952 (1980-10-01), Sabee
patent: 4581772 (1986-04-01), Smith
patent: 4639949 (1987-02-01), Ales et al.
patent: 4641381 (1987-02-01), Heran et al.
patent: 4642818 (1987-02-01), Dehnert et al.
patent: 4726873 (1988-02-01), Alex et al.
patent: 4786346 (1988-11-01), Ales et al.
patent: 4808252 (1989-02-01), Lash
patent: 4820164 (1989-04-01), Kemper
patent: 4940464 (1990-07-01), Van Gompel et al.
patent: 4946539 (1990-08-01), Ales et al.
patent: D315630 (1991-03-01), Larsen
patent: 5064421 (1991-11-01), Tracy
patent: 5064498 (1991-11-01), Ujimoto et al.
patent: 5114420 (1992-05-01), Igaue et al.
patent: 5135522 (1992-08-01), Fahrenkrug et al.
patent: 5224941 (1993-07-01), Simmons
patent: D338543 (1993-08-01), van Laar
patent: D339633 (1993-09-01), Porter
patent: 5242436 (1993-09-01), Weil et al.
patent: 5292316 (1994-03-01), Suzuki
patent: 5601547 (1997-02-01), Kato et al.
patent: 5683376 (1997-11-01), Kato et al.
patent: 5711832 (1998-01-01), Glaug et al.
patent: 603748 (1994-06-01), None
patent: WO95/19258 (1995-07-01), None
Glaug Frank Steven
Kato Margaret Ann
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Snow Bruce
LandOfFree
Waist elastic system with improved elastic decay properties... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Waist elastic system with improved elastic decay properties..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Waist elastic system with improved elastic decay properties... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2842785