Patent Application
20120022484
This invention relates to an absorbent article.
There has been known an absorbent article having an absorbing body. The absorbing body includes a fluid-permeable top sheet, a fluid-impermeable back sheet, and an absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet. The top sheet and the back sheet are joined together on the outer region of the absorber. A graphic print is placed on the outer region on the user's body side of the back sheet or on the side of the top sheet (see PTL1). Namely, in this absorbent article, a printed layer is formed between the top sheet and the back sheet. The printed layer provides the emotional effect of reducing the depression of a user.
There has, further, been known an absorbent article having an absorbing body. The absorbing body includes a fluid-permeable top sheet, a fluid-impermeable back sheet, and an absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet. A body fluid-permeable sheet is arranged between the top sheet and the absorber. The surface on the side of the absorber of the body fluid-permeable sheet is colored, or a pattern is printed on the side (see PTL2). Namely, in this absorbent article, a printed layer is formed on the back surface of the body fluid-permeable sheet under the top sheet. The printed layer is provided for improving the concealability of the body fluid that is absorbed.
Moreover, there has been known an absorbent article having an absorbing body. The absorbing body includes a fluid-permeable top sheet, a fluid-impermeable back sheet, and an absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet. A plurality of compression grooves are provided extending in the longitudinal direction. The compression grooves are dented from the top sheet toward the back sheet (see PTL3). In this absorbent article, the compression grooves are provided so that the absorbing body undergoes deformation along the compression grooves so as to be more closely attached to the user's body.
Patent Literature
Technical Problem
In order to prevent the leakage of fluid that is adsorbed, such as menses blood or urine, it is necessary that an absorbing body or an absorbent article is fixed to the underwear at a proper position. In particular in a dimly lit toilet, it is not necessarily easy to properly determine the position of the absorbing body relative to the underwear.
However, none of the above patent literatures address the above problem or disclose the means for solving the problem.
If the absorbing body is positioned relying on the printed layer or the compression grooves as taught by the above patent literatures, then it would seem the absorbing body can be easily fixed at a proper position.
However, with the absorbent article disclosed in PTL1, the printed layer is formed between the top sheet and the back sheet. Therefore, the printed layer may become illegible. With the absorbent article disclosed in PTL2, either, the printed layer is formed on the back surface of the body fluid-permeable sheet under the top sheet. Therefore, the printed layer may not be legible.
With the absorbent article disclosed in PTL 3, on the other hand, the top sheet must be exposed so that the compression grooves become legible, but this may invite a hygienic problem. In addition, the absorbing body is stiff around the compression grooves, and the user may feel it when the absorbing body comes in contact with the body of the user.
In any case, it is not easy to determine the position of the absorbing body.
Solution to Problems
In order to solve the above problem, according to the present invention, there is provided an absorbent article comprising an absorbing body, the absorbing body including a fluid-permeable top sheet, a fluid-impermeable back sheet, and an absorber arranged between the top sheet and the back sheet, wherein the absorbent article further comprises a cover sheet for covering the surface of the top sheet, wherein a circumferential edge region of the cover sheet is joined to the absorbing body, and, in a central region of the cover sheet, at least one flap for fixing the absorbing body to clothing is sectionalized by a sectionalizing line which is constituted by a weakened line or a cut line, wherein, at the time of use, the flap is folded in a folding region and is expanded so as to be fixed to the clothing, and wherein a mark is provided on the cover sheet to facilitate the positioning of the absorbing body relative to the clothing.
Advantageous Effect of Invention
The absorbing body can be easily fixed at a proper position of clothing.
Referring to
In
The surface of the top sheet 3 that comes in contact with the user's skin at the time of use is covered with a fluid-impermeable cover sheet 8. The cover sheet 8 is substantially of the same size as the absorbing body 2, and therefore covers substantially the entire surface of the top sheet 3. Further, the cover sheet 8 is joined to the top sheet 3 or the absorbing body 2 along its annular circumferential edge region 8P by hot-melt adhesion or heat-sealing. On the other hand, a central region 8C other than the circumferential edge region 8P is not joined to the top sheet 3.
A sectionalizing line 9 such as a perforated weakened line is formed in advance in the central region 8C of the cover sheet 8, and a plurality of flaps are sectionalized or formed in the central region 8C by the sectionalizing line 9 to fix the absorbing body 2 to the underwear. The sectionalizing line 9 may be constituted by a cut line that completely cuts the cover sheet 8.
In the embodiment of the invention, the sectionalizing line 9 is constituted by a U-shaped curved portion 9F that expands toward the front edge 2F, a U-shaped curved portion 9B that expands toward the rear edge 2B, and a linear portion 9S that connects together the vertexes of the curved portions 9F and 98 substantially at the center of the cover sheet 8. Therefore, in the central region 8C, there are sectionalized four flaps, i.e., a semi-elliptical front flap 10F and rear flap 10B having curved ends, and a trapezoidal left flap 10L and right flap 10R. In this case, the front and rear flaps 10F and 10B are positioned symmetrically to each other, and the left and right flaps 10L and 10R are positioned symmetrically to each other, too.
The sectionalizing line 9, in this case, does not reach the circumferential edge region 8P, and therefore non-cut regions 8N are formed between the ends of the sectionalizing line 9 and the circumferential edge region 8P.
Sticking portions 11 are joined to the surfaces of these flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R to fix the corresponding flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R to the underwear. The sticking portions 11 are covered with separate protection sheets 12. These sticking portions 11 may be covered with a common protection sheet 12. In this case, the sticking portions 11 are joined to the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R being separated away from the sectionalizing line 9. Therefore, non-sticking regions 13 are formed on the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R surrounding the sticking portions 11.
Further, a mark 20 is provided on the surface of the cover sheet 8 located substantially at the center of the absorbing body 2 to facilitate the positioning of the absorbing body 2 relative to the clothing, such as underwear. In the embodiment of the invention, the mark 20 is constituted by an additional sheet 21 that is joined by hot-melt adhesion or the like method to the surface of the cover sheet 8 located substantially at the center of the absorbing body 2. The additional sheet 20 has a rectangular shape with its major axis and minor axis extending on the longitudinal center line and the transverse center line of the absorbing body 2, respectively. The mark 20 may have any other shape, as a matter of course. As will be learned from
A visual or tactile contrast is provided on the surface of the cover sheet 8 between the mark 20 and a surrounding portion 8S of the cover sheet 8 surrounding the mark 20. Namely, in the embodiment of the invention, the surface of the additional sheet 21 is colored; i.e., a character or a mark, a pattern or a color is printed thereon. On the other hand, no color is printed on the surrounding portion 8S. Further, a step is formed on the surface of the cover sheet 8 by a thickness of the additional sheet 21. The additional sheet 21 may be embossed.
Next, materials of the elements will be described.
The top sheet 3 is constituted by, for example, a porous or nonporous nonwoven fabric or a porous plastic sheet.
The back sheet 4 is constituted by, for example, a hydrophobic nonwoven fabric, a water-impermeable plastic film, a. laminated sheet of a nonwoven fabric and a water-impermeable plastic film, a highly water resistant melt-blown nonwoven fabric, or an SMS nonwoven fabric sandwiched by spun-bonded nonwoven fabrics having a large strength.
The absorber 5 is constituted by, for example, a fluffy pulp or an air-laid nonwoven fabric and a highly absorbent polymer. The fluffy pulp is constituted by an artificial cellulose fiber such as chemical pulp, cellulose fiber, rayon or acetate, while the air-laid nonwoven fabric is constituted by a nonwoven fabric obtained by, for example, melt-adhering the pulp and the synthetic fiber together or by fixing them together with a binder, and the highly absorbent polymer is constituted by, for example, a granular or fibrous polymer of the type of starch, acrylic acid or amino acid.
The sticking portions 6 and 11 are constituted by a hot-melt adhesive such as styrene/isoprene/styrene block copolymer (SIS), styrene/butadiene/styrene block copolymer (SBS) or styrene/ethylene/butylene/ethylene copolymer (SEBS).
The cover sheet 8 is constituted by, for example, a hydrophobic nonwoven fabric, a water-impermeable plastic film, a laminated sheet of a nonwoven fabric and a water-impermeable plastic film, a highly water resistant melt-blown nonwoven fabric, or an SMS nonwoven fabric sandwiched by spun-bonded nonwoven fabrics having a large strength, and is, preferably, constituted by the hydrophobic nonwoven fabric. The basis weight of the cover sheet 8 is, preferably, from 15 g/m2 to 60 g/m2. When the cover sheet is constituted by using the plastic film, it is desired that the plastic film has a draping length of 20 mm to 100 mm and, more preferably, 30 mm to 70 mm relying on a cantilever method. If the draping length is shorter than 20 mm, the cover sheet 8 may be easily twisted. If the draping length is longer than 100 mm, on the other hand, the cover sheet 8 may become so hard as to deteriorate the feeling of use of the napkin 1 resulting in a decrease in the underwear follow-up performance and permitting the absorbed fluid to leak out.
The above cantilever method is conducted as described below in compliance with the JIS-L1018. Namely, five pieces of the object to be measured having a length of 150 mm and a width of 25 mm are overlapped one upon the other to obtain a measuring sample. Next, by using a cantilever manufactured by Daiei Kagaku Seiki Mfg. Co., the measuring sample is held under a holding plate of the cantilever and is slid in a tilted direction at a speed of 5 mm/sec to automatically measure a distance it has traveled. Measurements are taken in both of the cases of when the surface of the measuring sample faces down and when the back surface of the measuring sample is on the lower side, and an average value is regarded as the measured result.
The additional sheet 21 is constituted by, for example, a generally used nonwoven fabric such as air-through nonwoven fabric, heat-rolled nonwoven fabric, spun-bonded nonwoven fabric or melt-blown nonwoven fabric. However, it is, desired to use a nonwoven fabric produced by the air-through method since it offers thickness, hand and good touch feeling despite it is used in a low basis weight. The basis weight of the nonwoven fabric is desirably from 15 g/m2 to 100 g/m2. The material of the additional sheet 21 may be the same as the material of the cover sheet 8 but is, desirably, different.
The napkin 1 is fixed to the underwear as described below. Namely, the protection sheet 7 on the side of the back sheet 4 is removed, first. Next, the napkin 1 or the absorbing body 2 is positioned facing the inner surface of the underwear and is fixed to the underwear via the sticking portion 6.
Since the cover sheet 8 is provided with the mark 20, the user is allowed to properly position the absorbing body 2 easily and in a short period of time. The mark 20 provided on the surface of the cover sheet 8 is reliably legible by the user. Further, the top sheet 3 has been covered with the cover sheet 8 and is prevented from being fouled.
Next, the central region 8C of the cover sheet 8 is broken along the sectionalizing line 9. As a result, there are formed four flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R that are separated from each other.
Next, as shown in
According to the embodiment of the invention, as described above, the mark 20 is provided on the surface of the cover sheet 8. Therefore, there is no need of coloring the back surface of the cover sheet 8, i.e., there is no need of coloring the surface positioned on the user side when the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are expanded, or the front surface of the top sheet 3. Therefore, no foul or offensive impression is given to the user.
Next, the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are attached to the underwear via the respective sticking portions 11. That is, as shown in
Thus, the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are fixed to the underwear U and, therefore, the absorbing body 2 is fixed to the underwear U. In this case, the absorbing body 2 is fixed to the underwear U by both the flaps in the back-and-forth direction that are fixed expanded in the back-and-forth direction like the front flap 10F and the rear flap 10B, and the flaps in the right-and-left direction that are fixed expanded in the right-and-left direction like the left flap 10L and the right flap 10R. Further, the flaps fixed to the inner surface UI of the underwear like the front flap 10F and the rear flap 10B, are held sandwiched between the underwear U and the body of the user. On the other hand, the flaps fixed to the outer surface UO of the underwear U like the left flap 10L and the right flap 10R, work to hold the underwear U between these flaps and the absorbing body 2.
Despite external forces exerted on the absorbing body 2 from various directions, the absorbing body 2 can be suppressed from being twisted or deviated in position. Namely, the absorbing body 2 can be reliably fixed to the underwear U, and therefore the absorbed fluid is suppressed from leaking. In addition, the user is liberated from the anxiety of leakage.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the front ends of the flaps fixed to the inner surface like the front flap 10F and the rear flap 10B are curved, suppressing pain or offensive feeling that may be caused when the front flap 10F and the rear flap 10B come in contact with the body of the user.
Further, non-sticking regions 13 are formed on the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R or, concretely, at their end portions, enabling the user to handle the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R by picking up the non-sticking regions 13. It is, therefore, allowed to easily fix the absorbing body 2 to the underwear U.
As will be understood from
In the embodiment of the invention, a piece of cover sheet 8 is simply joined to the absorbing body 2 to form the leakage-preventing region 15 that works as the leakage-preventing wall. Therefore, the leakage-preventing action can be easily obtained. The leakage-preventing region 15 has no seam. In addition, if the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are pulled for fixing to the underwear U, the inner edge of the leakage-preventing region 15 rises from the top sheet 3, and the absorbed fluid is reliably trapped by the leakage-preventing region 15. This makes it possible to reliably suppress the leakage of the absorbed fluid.
According to the embodiment of the invention, further, the additional sheet 21 is joined to the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R surrounding the sticking portions 11, but is not joined to the surrounding portion 8S. In the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R, therefore, the regions surrounding the sticking portions 11 have a rigidity greater than the rigidity of other regions.
This makes it possible to easily handle the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R; i.e., the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R can be easily fixed to the underwear U.
This, in other words, means that the surrounding portion 8S inclusive of the folding regions 14F, 14B, 14L and 14R has a rigidity smaller than the rigidity of the mark 20. As a result, the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R can be easily folded and expanded.
As shown in
The width of the circumferential edge region 8P is, desirably, 2 mm to 10 mm and, more desirably, 3 mm to 5 mm. This is because if the width of the circumferential edge region 8P is smaller than 2 mm, then the junction strength of the cover sheet 8 and the absorbing body 2 decreases. If the width of the circumferential edge region 8P is larger than 10 mm, the exposed surface of the top sheet 3 becomes small when the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are expanded. Namely, if the top sheet is broadly exposed, leakage of the absorbed fluid can be suppressed even in case the position where the napkin 1 or the absorbing body 2 is fixed to the underwear U is deviated from the proper position to some extent.
On the other hand, the width of the non-cut regions 8N is, desirably, 2 mm to 10 mm and, more desirably, 3 mm to 5 mm. This is because if the width of the non-cut regions 8N is smaller than 2 mm, the tensile strength of the cover sheet 8 in the non-cut regions 8N decreases and, therefore, the leakage-preventing effect of the leakage-preventing region 15 decreases. If the width of the non-cut regions 8N is larger than 10 mm, the exposed surface of the top sheet 3 becomes small when the flaps 10F, 10B, 10L and 10R are expanded.
The ratio of the area of the mark 20 to the area of the cover sheet 8 is, desirably, 10% to 90% and, more desirably, 40% to 70%. If the ratio becomes smaller than 10% or becomes larger than 90%, the visual or tactile contrast decreases between the mark 20 and the circumferential portion 8S, and the mark 20 becomes less legible.
In the foregoing description, the additional sheet 21 is colored but the surrounding portion 8S is not colored. However, as shown in
As shown in
Moreover, the additional sheet 21 may not be provided, and the surface of the cover sheet 8 positioned substantially at the center of the absorbing body 2 may be directly colored or embossed.
Generally speaking, therefore, either the mark 20 or the surrounding portion 8S is colored or embossed and the other one is neither colored nor embossed.
Both the mark 20 and the surrounding portion 8S may be colored or embossed to attain a visual or tactile contrast.
In the embodiment shown in
In the above description, further, the mark 20 is provided on the surface of the cover sheet 8 positioned substantially at the center of the absorbing body 2. However, the mark 20 may be provided at a position other than the center of the absorbing body 2 or on the back surface of the cover sheet 8 so far as the user finds it easy to locate the absorbing body 2 at a desired position.
In the foregoing description, further, the sectionalizing line 9 is so formed that four flaps are sectionalized in the central region 8C of the cover sheet 8. However, the number of the flaps may not have to be four. That is, as shown in
Generally speaking, therefore, at least one flap is sectionalized by the sectionalizing line 9 in the central region 8C of the cover sheet 8.
In the foregoing description, further, the cover sheet 8 is constituted by a piece of sheet. However the cover sheet 8, can be constituted by a plurality of pieces of separate cover sheet portions. Namely, in an embodiment shown in
1 sanitary napkin
2 absorbing body
3 top sheet
4 back sheet
5 absorber
8 cover sheet
8C central region
8P circumferential edge region
8S surrounding portion
9 sectionalizing line
10F front flap
10B rear flap
10L left flap
10R right flap
11 sticking portions
14F, 14B, 14L, 14R folding regions
20 mark
21 additional sheet
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-087110 | Mar 2009 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2009/066872 | 9/18/2009 | WO | 00 | 9/30/2011 |
