The present invention relates to disposable pants-type diapers and more particularly to such diapers each provided with a separator functioning to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other.
In disposable pants-type diapers, it is known to provide its crotch region with means functioning to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other. For example, the pants-type diaper disclosed in JP 2002-11044 A (PATENT DOCUMENT 1) includes a skin-contact sheet provided on a skin-facing side of a liquid-pervious inner sheet covering an absorbent structure. In its crotch region, a portion of the skin-contact sheet adapted to be spaced upward from the inner sheet is formed with an opening for passage of urine or feces. Elastics are attached under tension to the skin-contact sheet so as to surround this opening. In addition, the crotch region is provided with dam-like means serving to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other. An absorbent pant disclosed in JP 10-513071 T (PATENT DOCUMENT 2) comprises a pant-layer, an outer barrier-layer provided on the outer side of the pant-layer and an absorbent structure sandwiched between the pant-layer and the outer barrier-layer. In the crotch region, the pant-layer is formed with an opening for passage of urine or feces toward the absorbent structure. The pant-layer is made in a manner that the crotch region is formed in a stretched state under tension in the longitudinal direction while the front and rear waist regions thereof are formed in a stretched state under tension in the transverse direction. In the pant-layer, the elasticity of the front and rear waist regions primarily functions in the circumferential direction of the waist-opening.
The skin-contact sheet of the diaper disclosed in PATENT DOCUMENT 1 has its front and rear ends fixed to the inner sheet in the front and rear waist regions, respectively, so that the intermediate section defined between the front and rear ends is not fixed to the inner sheet and suspended. With the diaper having such arrangement put on the wearer's body, the skin-contact sheet may be unacceptably displaced or deformed in the crotch region. If the displacement of the skin-contact sheet exceeds the acceptable range, the opening of the skin-contact sheet may become out of alignment with the wearer's external genital or anus and the dam-like means to serve as a separator will be unable to fulfill its primary function. The pants disclosed in PATENT DOCUMENT 2 have not a separator serving to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other but the pant-layer formed with the opening is able to prevent from a mixture of urine and feces from contacting with the wearer's skin as long as the pant-layer is kept in close contact with the wearer's skin. However, the pant-layer is elastic and may cause some problems in the crotch region depending on the direction in which the pant-layer is contracted in the crotch region. Specifically, if the crotch region of the pant-layer is formed in a stretched state under tension in the longitudinal direction, it will be difficult for the crotch region to be contracted circumferentially around the respective leg-openings and to come in close contact with the wearer's thighs. In order that the crotch-region is contractible circumferentially of the respective leg-openings, the crotch region of the pant-layer must be formed in a stretched state under tension in the transverse direction and such crotch region necessarily behaves to contract in the transverse direction. With the pant having such crotch region put on the wearer's body, the crotch region may come off from the wearer's inguinal region. From the viewpoint of the preventive effect against sideways leakage of bodily fluids from the pant, such potential movement of the crotch region is generally undesirable.
In view of the problem as has been described above, it is a principal object of the present invention to improve the disposable pants-type diaper provided with a separator serving to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other.
The object set forth above is achieved, according to the present invention, by an improvement in a disposable pants-type diaper having a front-back direction, a transverse direction and a vertical direction extending orthogonally one to another, a crotch region, a front waist region extending forward from the crotch region and a rear waist region extending rearward from the crotch region wherein the crotch region includes a bodily fluid-absorbent structure comprising a bodily fluid-absorbent core sandwiched between a liquid-pervious inner sheet and a liquid-impervious outer sheet and the disposable pants-type diaper is formed in the crotch region with a separator serving to separate urine and feces from each other.
The improvement according to the present invention is characterized in that the bodily fluid-absorbent structure has side flaps formed outboard of the core in the transverse direction and end flaps formed outboard of the core in the vertical direction. The innermost sheet member joined to the side flaps and the end flaps so as to be interposed between the pants-type diaper's skin and the inner sheet and to extend in the crotch region and the front and rear waist regions is partially spaced from the inner sheet in the vertical direction to define a body waste retaining space and the innermost sheet member is formed with a front opening allowing urine to flow into the body waste retaining space and a rear opening allowing feces to move into the body waste retaining space. A region of the innermost sheet member extending between the front opening and the rear opening is folded along a fold line extending in the transverse direction and defined by a center line bisecting a dimension of the diaper in the transverse direction with a skin-facing surface of the innermost sheet member inside so that the region extending between the front and rear opening and folded to face itself and partially bonded together and the innermost sheet member extends downward from this bonded region toward the inner sheet in the vertical direction to form the separator. The innermost sheet member further includes elastic regions adapted to be elastically contractible and respectively defined between the region facing itself in the front-back direction and partially bonded together and a top of the front opening as viewed in the vertical direction and between the region facing itself in the front-back direction and partially bonded together and a top of the rear opening as viewed in the vertical direction, on one hand, and a non-elastic region defined by a portion extending downward from the bonded regions, on the other hand.
According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the elastic regions extend in the transverse direction in the crotch region and joined under tension to the side flaps of the bodily fluid-absorbent structure.
According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the innermost sheet member is pant-shaped.
According to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side flaps are provided with elastic members extending in the front-back direction attached under tension thereto and the elastic regions intersect and overlap the elastic members.
According to yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the elastic regions and the elastic members are bonded together in regions of intersecting and overlapping.
In the disposable pants-type diaper according to the present invention, the innermost sheet member is formed with the front opening and the rear opening and, in the crotch region, the portion of the innermost sheet member extending between these two openings is folded downward and partially joined together to form the separator. The separator serves to prevent urine passing through the front opening and feces passing through the rear opening from being mixed with each other on the liquid-pervious inner sheet. The innermost sheet member further includes elastic regions adapted to be elastically contractible and respectively defined between the region facing itself in the front-back direction and partially bonded together and a top of the front opening as viewed in the vertical direction and between the region facing itself in the front-back direction and partially bonded together and a top of the rear opening as viewed in the vertical direction, on one hand, and a non-elastic region defined by a portion extending downward from the bonded regions, on the other hand. With such unique arrangement, with the diaper put on the wearer's body, the presence of the innermost sheet member would not contract the crotch region in the transverse direction to disengage the side edges of the crotch region from the wearer's inguinal region.
The embodiment of the present invention wherein the innermost sheet member is pant-shaped facilitates the front and rear openings to be aligned with the wearer's external genital and anus, respectively, when the diaper is put on the wearer's body.
In the embodiment of the present invention wherein the elastic regions adapted to be contractible in the transverse direction intersect with the elastic members provided along the side flaps of the bodily fluid-absorbent structure, these elastic regions cooperate with the elastic members to assure reliable fitness of the diaper around the wearer's thighs.
In the embodiment of the present invention wherein the innermost sheet member and the side flaps are bonded together in the regions of intersecting and overlapping, the side flaps are smoothly curved along the side edges of the core so that the side flaps may be smoothly put in contact with the wearer's inguinal region.
Details of a disposable pants-type diaper according to the present invention will be more fully understood from the description given hereunder in reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The innermost sheet member 21 used in such manner is formed before the transverse center line Q-Q extending in the transverse direction B to bisect a dimension of the diaper 1 in the front-back direction A with a front opening 31 and behind the transverse center line B with a rear opening 32. The front opening 31 is positioned so that the wearer's external genital can be exposed therein and the rear opening 32 is positioned so that the wearer's anus can be exposed therein. In this way, urine and feces excreted by the wearer directly flow or move into the body waste retaining space 25 not through the innermost sheet member 21. Urine and feces having flown or moved in into the body waste retaining space 25 is retained within the space defined between the innermost sheet member 21 and the inner sheet 23 spaced from each other and thereby prevented from coming in contact with the wearer's skin. In addition, the inner sheet 23 having absorbed such urine or feces and being in wet condition is covered with the innermost sheet member 21. The innermost sheet member 21 thus protects the wearer from uncomfortable feeling which would otherwise be experienced by the wearer due to contact with the wet inner sheet 23.
Between the innermost sheet member 21 and the inner sheet 23, the body waste retaining space 25 divided into a front half and a rear half by the tuck 36. Specifically, the body waste retaining space 25 is divided into a front body waste retaining sub-space 25a defined before the transverse center line Q-Q and a rear body waste retaining sub-space 25b defined behind the transverse center line Q-Q. Between these two sub-spaces 25a, 25b, the tuck 36 extends upward from the inner sheet 23. The front opening 31 of the innermost sheet member 21 communicates with the inside and the outside of the front body waste retaining sub-space 25a and lets urine flow thereinto. The rear opening 32 communicates with the inside and the outside of the rear body waste retaining sub-space 25b and legs feces move thereinto.
The innermost sheet member 21 is contoured by a pair of side edges 21a, a front end 21b and a rear end 21c in a concave shape curved inwardly and comprises a first sheet 51 defining at least a central portion of the crotch region 6 as viewed in the front-back direction A, a second sheet 52 defining at least the front waist region 7 and a third sheet 53 defining at least the rear waist region 8 arranged in the front-back direction A. The first sheet 51 is not elastically contractible and faces the inner sheet 23 according to the embodiment of
In the bodily fluid-absorbent structure 22, the inner sheet 23 and the outer sheet 24 sandwiching therebetween the core 26 extend outward from the periphery of the core 26 and bonded to each other outboard of the periphery of the core 26 by hot melt adhesive 58 to form the side flaps 22a and the end flaps 22b. Along the crotch region's side edges 27 in the flatly developed diaper 1a, the leg elastic members 28 are sandwiched between the inner sheet 23 and the outer sheet 24 and extend under tension in the front-back direction A. Portions of the inner sheet 23 are bonded to the outer surface 21b of the innermost sheet member 21 by hot melt adhesive 59. The outer sheet 24 is preferably the same as the inner sheet 23 in shape as well as in size or dimensioned to slightly larger than the inner sheet 23. When the outer sheet 24 is dimensioned to be slightly larger than the inner sheet 23, a portion of the outer sheet 24 extending outward from the periphery of the inner sheet 23 is more preferably bonded to the outer surface 21b of the innermost sheet member 21.
To obtain the diaper 1 from the flatly developed diaper 1a of
With the diaper 1 obtained in this manner being put on the wearer's body, the innermost sheet member 21 in the crotch region 6 is spaced upward from the portion of the inner sheet 23 surrounded by the side flaps 22a and the end flaps 22b of the bodily fluid-absorbent structure 22 and thereby forms the body waste retaining space 25 adapted to prevent urine and feces from coming in contact with the wearer's skin. At the same time, the innermost sheet member 21 in the crotch region 6 functions as a barrier adapted to prevent the inner sheet 23 soiled and/or wetted with feces and/or urine from coming in contact with the wearer's skin. Furthermore, the portion of the innermost sheet member 21 defining the tuck 36 cooperates with the portions of the innermost sheet member 21 extending outward from both sides of the tuck 36 in the transverse direction B to form a partition serving as a separator adapted to prevent urine and feces from being mixed with each other. As a consequence, in this diaper 1, fluidity of body waste would not be enhanced due to intermixture of feces and urine and the wearer's skin would not be soiled with body waste over a wide range. Furthermore, a length dimension of the innermost sheet member 21 extending along the center line P-P extending in the front-back direction A as viewed in
As will be apparent from the plan view of the flatly developed diaper 1a, the leg elastic members 28 extending along the side edges of the bodily fluid-absorbent structure 22 in the front-back direction A respectively intersect with the front elastic region 71 and the rear elastic region 72 provided in the innermost sheet member 21 to be contractible in the transverse direction B. In addition, as will be apparent from
It should be noticed here that the innermost sheet member 21 is non-elastic in a bottom 75 of the crotch region 6 and therefore the width of this bottom 75, i.e., the dimension of the bottom 75 in the transverse direction B is never reduced due to the innermost sheet member 21. With the diaper 1 having such crotch region 6 put on the wearer's body, the side edges 27 of the crotch region 6 kept in tight contact with the wearer's inguinal region is not subject to a force in the transverse direction B functioning to move these side edges 27 of the crotch region 6 inward from the inguinal region. Consequently, the preventive effect of the diaper 1 against sideways leakage of bodily fluids is further improved.
As will be apparent from
In the flatly developed diaper 1a of
While the innermost sheet member 21 has the same planar shape as that of the first sheet 51 according to the illustrated embodiments, such innermost sheet member 21 may be replaced by an alternately formed innermost sheet member 21 comprising a first sheet 51 defining the crotch region 6 or a part of the crotch region 6 and a second sheet 52 defining the front waist region 7 or the front waist region 7 and a part of the crotch region 6.
While, in the diaper 1, the innermost sheet member 21 is preferably liquid-impervious and more preferably air-permeable and liquid-impervious, sheets having properties different one from another may be combined one with another to obtain the innermost sheet member 21 which is liquid-pervious in the crotch region 6 or in a part of the crotch region 6 and liquid-impervious in the front and rear waist regions 7, 8. For example, the first sheet 51 constituting the innermost sheet member 21 may be formed of a nonwoven fabric of thermoplastic synthetic fibers or a thermoplastic synthetic resin film. Alternatively, a laminated sheet of nonwoven fabric layers or a laminated sheet of nonwoven fabrics and films may be used as the first sheet 51. The second and third sheets 52, 53 may be formed, for example, of an elastically stretchable and contractible nonwoven fabric containing elastic threads such as urethane threads or an elastically stretchable and contractible film of natural or synthetic rubber. The inner sheet 23 may be formed, for example, of a liquid-pervious nonwoven fabric, a thermoplastic synthetic resin film or a composite sheet consisting of a nonwoven fabric and a film laminated one on another. The outer sheet 24 may be formed, for example, of a liquid-impervious nonwoven fabric, a thermoplastic synthetic resin film or a composite sheet consisting of a nonwoven fabric and a film laminated one on another.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-081758 | Mar 2008 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2009/050616 | 1/19/2009 | WO | 00 | 11/21/2010 |