Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1995-04-13
2001-01-30
Weiss, John G. (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S305000, C604S387000, C002SDIG003
Reexamination Certificate
active
06180847
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to disposable absorbent articles having components that are selectively expandable, such as by inflation, at the point of use of the disposable absorbent article.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disposable absorbent articles are well known in the art. Disposable absorbent articles are used to absorb and retain body exudates, such as urine, fecal material, menses, and the like. A particular desired feature of disposable absorbent articles is the capability to acquire and hold body exudates to eliminate, or at least minimize, leakage of body exudates from between the absorbent article and the wearer.
References in the prior art disclose a cavity or cutout in the absorbent core to receive fecal material. The fecal material passes through the topsheet and is received by the cavity or cutout in the absorbent core. These references suffer from the drawback that a cavity in the absorbent core decreases its absorbent capacity, and that the cavity is limited in volume to the size of the absorbent core. Examples of such teachings include U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,325 issued Jun. 9, 1936 to Jackson, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,065 issued Mar. 15, 1988 to Yamada; U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,737 issued May 30, 1989 to Khan; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,840 issued Nov. 5, 1991 to Holt, et al.
Other references teach adding a spacer to the disposable absorbent article. Such spacers can suffer from the drawback that they increase the thickness and bulkiness of the disposable absorbent article, and thereby increase shipping and storage costs. Such spacers may also be perceived by consumers to be uncomfortable because of their thickness and bulk prior to application of the diaper to the wearer. Examples of such references include U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,236, issued Dec. 15, 1992 to Dreier et al.; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/898,047, Spacers for Use in Disposable Absorbent Articles and Disposable Absorbent Articles Having Such Spacers, filed Jun. 11, 1992 by Allen et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/994,023, Flexible Spacers for Use in Disposable Absorbent Articles, filed Dec. 21, 1992 by Freeland.
Still other references disclose absorbent articles having inflatable structures. French Patent Application 2,561,078 published Sep. 20, 1985 in the name of Lefebvre discloses a diaper having a structure which is inflatable by mouth. Such inflation can be awkward or inconvenient, especially in public places or when the diaper is already fastened to the wearer. Such an arrangement is also disadvantageous because of sanitary considerations, and because inflation may vary from consumer to consumer, resulting in over or under inflation of the structure and unpredictable product performance.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,881,491 and 3,921,232 issued to Whyte on May 6, 1975 and Nov. 25, 1975, respectively, disclose disposable absorbent articles having self inflating structures. The self inflating structures include a wall of semipermeable material and a gas evolving material. Upon exposing the outside of the semipermeable wall of the structure to an activator material, the activator material permeates the structure to interact with the gas evolving material, whereby the structure becomes inflated by evolved gas. The structure taught by Whyte primarily prevents core densification and suffers from the disadvantage that it requires an activator material from an external source (e.g., urine). The wearer may not urinate at the desired time, in the desired location, or in the desired amount to properly inflate the structure. Also, initial inflation of the Whyte structure can separate the gas evolving material from the semipermeable wall, thereby slowing or stopping further inflation of the structure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a component that is expandable, such as by inflation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a component that is inflatable at the point of use of the absorbent article by a wearer or by a person caring for the wearer, before or after the absorbent article is fastened to the wearer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article comprising an inflatable component, a first material, and second activating material separated from the first material by a breakable barrier which can be broken to combine the first and second materials to inflate the component at the point of use of the absorbent article.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises a disposable absorbent article having a topsheet, a backsheet, an absorbent core disposed intermediate the topsheet and backsheet, an expandable component, and means for expanding the component at the point of use of the absorbent article. The means for expanding the component include a first material, a second material, and a breakable barrier separating the first and second materials. The first and second materials can be combined at the point of use of the absorbent article by breaking the barrier. One of the first and second materials can swell or evolve a gas upon combining the first and second materials. The component is thereby expanded from a first thickness to have a predetermined shape having a second thickness substantially greater than the first thickness.
In a preferred embodiment the expandable component is inflatable and includes one or more inflatable chambers. The inflatable component includes a gas evolving material and a liquid impervious breakable packet containing a liquid activating material. The gas evolving material and the packet can be disposed in a gas permeable, hydrophobic envelope. The packet is breakable by the user at the point of use of the absorbent article to combine the activating material with the gas evolving material. The gas evolved by the combination of the two materials inflates one or more inflatable chambers.
In one embodiment the expandable component comprises an inflatable spacer disposed between the topsheet and backsheet. The spacer is inflatable to maintain a fecal void space. In a second embodiment the expandable component comprises a portion of a seal in which the expandable component is inflatable to reduce leakage of body exudates from between the absorbent article and the wearer's skin. In a third embodiment the expandable component is inflatable to bias a selected portion of the topsheet into engagement with the wearer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1112186 (1914-09-01), Andersen
patent: 1771730 (1930-07-01), Marcks
patent: 2582648 (1952-01-01), Mowbray
patent: 2597924 (1952-05-01), Davenport et al.
patent: 3004269 (1961-10-01), Dillier
patent: 3153414 (1964-10-01), Beall et al.
patent: 3512528 (1970-05-01), Whitehead et al.
patent: 3881491 (1975-05-01), Whyte
patent: 3921232 (1975-11-01), Whyte
patent: 4212337 (1980-07-01), Kamp
patent: 4246900 (1981-01-01), Schroder
patent: 4379453 (1983-04-01), Baron
patent: 4547919 (1985-10-01), Wang
patent: 4614000 (1986-09-01), Mayer
patent: 4705080 (1987-11-01), Markham
patent: 4723953 (1988-02-01), Rosenbaum et al.
patent: 4781645 (1988-11-01), Kato
patent: 4828555 (1989-05-01), Hermansson
patent: 4886513 (1989-12-01), Mason, Jr. et al.
patent: 4899399 (1990-02-01), Young
patent: 4929214 (1990-05-01), Liebermann
patent: 4964858 (1990-10-01), Livny
patent: 5040525 (1991-08-01), Georgijevic
patent: 5086514 (1992-02-01), Ross
patent: 5108383 (1992-04-01), White
patent: 5113599 (1992-05-01), Cohen et al.
patent: 5171236 (1992-12-01), Dreier et al.
patent: 5197959 (1993-03-01), Buell
patent: 5224223 (1993-07-01), Royal
patent: 5306266 (1994-04-01), Freeland
patent: 5330459 (1994-07-01), Lavon et al.
patent: 3517192 (1986-11-01), None
patent: 0340320 A1 (1989-11-01), None
patent: 0360565 A1 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 2561078 (1985-09-01), None
Ahr Nicholas Albert
LaVon Gary Dean
Miller Steven W.
Patel Ken K.
Reichle K. M.
The Procter & Gamble & Company
Weirich David M.
LandOfFree
Disposable absorbent article with selectively expandable or... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Disposable absorbent article with selectively expandable or..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Disposable absorbent article with selectively expandable or... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2545998