Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-03
2002-05-07
Weiss, John G. (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S365000, C604S367000, C604S386000, C604S387000, C604S389000, C604S385050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06384297
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a personal care product. More particularly, the present invention relates to a water dispersible pantiliner or similar product for personal use.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Discretion,ease and convenience of disposability are important features of single use personal care products like feminine hygiene products. Likewise the goals of minimization of odor and reduction in solid waste, (since such products are typically disposed of in a landfill) are advanced by making products which are flushable. The ability to flush personal care products in a toilet also helps deliver any bodily waste products contained in the product to the waste treatment facility for proper treatment.
In order to meet these consumer desires, a number of attempts have been made to provide a product which will disperse in the water in a toilet. U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,592, for example, attempts to provide a flushable sanitary napkin by making the structure of calcium alginate and adding sodium carbonate, or some other weak base, to the toilet water. The base would be provided with the napkin at time of purchase and added to the toilet water by the user at time or disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,299 describes a product in which the backing dissolves sufficiently to become detached from the rest of the product, when placed in a large amount of water (e.g.: a toilet). The absorbent core then becomes a slurry which will pass through sewage piping. The liner does not dissolve but is small enough to pass through the piping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,966 describes a product having a fibrous top and bottom sheet and an absorbent core which are dispersible in water. The various materials used in the product are not triggerably dispersible.
Other attempts at providing flushable personal care products have focused on single use disposable diapers.
Current commercially available pantiliners may be flushed in a toilet, and, because they are quite small, will pass through the toilet fixture into the waste system piping. These pantiliners do not disperse, however, so they remain intact and retain the potential to clog the disposal system at any inopportune, and probably most inaccessible, point.
There remains a need for a personal care product in which all of the components are amenable to disposal by flushing in a toilet and which disperse relatively completely upon flushing or which are small enough to pass through the waste piping system without incident. Such a process should occur fairly quickly, without the requirement of agitation by the user or the addition of chemicals by the user. It is an object of this invention to provide a flushable pantiliner and similar items which will disperse to a great extent in the water of a toilet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a water dispersible pantiliner which can successfully be transported through a municipal sewerage system, passing through the toilet, system piping and pumps without incident (e.g. without clogging). It can be treated at a sewerage treatment facility without causing negative effects upon the chemical, biological or other methods of waste treatment used.
The objects of the invention are met by a water dispersible pantiliner which has a triggerably dispersible body side facing liner, a garment side facing baffle, and, optionally, a triggerably dispersible absorbent core disposed between the liner and baffle. The garment baffle may be biodegradable.
In one embodiment, the invention has a peel strip overlaying a garment attachment adhesive layer which adhesively attaches the peel strip to the clothing of a wearer on one side and to one side of a baffle on the other. The baffle is in turn attached on a second side to a body facing side with a construction adhesive. The body facing side may be made from multiple layers such as a body side liner and absorbent layer.
All components of the pantiliner are substantially dispersible in water or, after detaching from the item are so small, that the pantiliner may be disposed of after use by flushing in a toilet.
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Colman Charles Wilson
Glaug Frank Steven
Huang Yung Hsiang
Jackson David Martin
Kerins John Edward
Bogart Michael
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Robinson James B.
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