Disposable Pull-on Garment

Abstract

A disposable pull-on garment to be contained in a package is disclosed. The pull-on garment has a waist opening and leg openings, and has a longitudinal centerline and a transverse centerline. The pull-on garment comprises a main portion and side portions extending transversely outwardly from the main portion. The pull-on garment has longitudinal side contour lines to define a transverse width of the pull-on garment. The pull-on garment has a first transverse width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the waist opening and a second transverse width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the side portions. The second transverse width is greater than the first transverse width and is the greatest transverse width at the side portions in a flat contracted and unfolded condition of the pull-on garment. The side portions are folded along a folding line toward the longitudinal centerline when the pull-on garment is contained in a package such that the second transverse width decreases and the difference between the first transverse width and the second transverse width decreases when the side portions are folded compared with when the side portions are unfolded.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as forming the present invention, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from the following description which is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and which like designations are used to designate substantially identical elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the disposable pull-on garment of the present invention in a typical in-use configuration;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pull-on garment in its flat uncontracted condition showing the inner surface;

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the pull-on garment in its flat uncontracted condition showing the main portion and the side portion;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken along the line IV-IV;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken along the line V-V;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a typical in-use configuration of the portion shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken along the line VII-VII;

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of the garment of the present invention in its flat uncontracted condition showing the outer surface;

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of the assembled pull-on garment in its flat uncontracted condition;

FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of the assembled pull-on garment in its contracted condition;

FIG. 11 is a schematic side view of the garment in its use condition for comparison;

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view of the garment of the present invention in its use condition;

FIG. 13 is a schematic front view of the assembled pull-on garment in its contracted condition showing the first transverse width and the second transverse width;

FIG. 14 is a schematic front view of the assembled pull-on garment with the side portion folded;

FIG. 15 is a schematic top plan view of the assembled pull-on garment with the side portion folded;

FIG. 16 is a schematic top plan view of an alternative embodiment of the assembled pull-on garment with the side portion folded;

FIG. 17 a schematic front view of an alternative embodiment of the assembled pull-on garment with the side portion folded;

FIG. 18 a schematic front view of an alternative embodiment of the assembled pull-on garment with the side portion folded;

FIG. 19 is a schematic view showing the process for forming the pull-on garment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 20 is a schematic view showing the process for sandwiching the belt elastic material and the patch sheet between the outer layer web and the inner layer web and subsequently cutting the belt elastic material; and

FIG. 21 is a schematic view showing the process for sandwiching the belt elastic material between the outer layer web and the inner layer web, cutting the belt elastic material and subsequently placing the patch sheet outside the outer layer web.

Claims

1. A disposable pull-on garment contained in a package, the pull-on garment having a waist opening and leg openings, and having a longitudinal centerline and a transverse centerline, the pull-on garment comprising a main portion and side portions extending transversely outwardly from the main portion, the pull-on garment having longitudinal side contour lines to define a transverse width of the pull-on garment, the pull-on garment having a first transverse width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the waist opening and a second transverse width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the side portions, the second transverse width being greater than the first transverse width and being the greatest transverse width at the side portions in a flat contracted and unfolded condition of the pull-on garment, wherein the side portions are folded along a folding line toward the longitudinal centerline when the pull-on garment is contained in a package such that the second transverse width decreases and the difference between the first transverse width and the second transverse width decreases when the side portions are folded compared with when the side portions are unfolded.

2. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal side contour line at the side portion has an inclination with respect to the longitudinal direction of the pull-on garment to become more distant from the longitudinal centerline as it gets closer to the leg openings when the side portion is unfolded, and the angle of the inclination of the longitudinal side contour line decreases with respect to the longitudinal direction of the pull-on garment when the side portion is folded.

3. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 or 2 wherein the transverse width at the side portions is constant along the longitudinal centerline when the pull-on garment is in a flat uncontracted and unfolded condition.

4. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 3 wherein the pull-on garment comprises a waist elastic material along the waist opening and a side elastic material on the side portion, wherein contracted width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the waist opening is greater than contracted width between the longitudinal side contour lines at the side portions when the pull-on garment is in a flat contracted and unfolded condition.

5. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the folded width of the side portion adjacent to the leg opening is greater than the folded width of the side portion adjacent to the waist opening.

6. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the side portion adjacent to the leg opening is folded and the side portion at the waist opening is not folded.

7. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the side portion is folded along the folding line disposed laterally outside the main portion such that the main portion is not folded.

8. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the pull-on garment comprises an absorbent main body and a belt, the absorbent main body comprises waist panels and a crotch panel between the waist panels, the belt comprises a central panel and side panels transversely outwardly extending from the central panel, wherein the main portion comprises the waist panels, the crotch panel and the central panel, and the side portion comprises the side panels.

9. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 wherein the side portion comprises a front side portion and a back side portion, and the side portion is folded such that the folded portion of the side portion is sandwiched between the front side portion and the back side portion.

10. The disposable pull-on garment of claim 1 or 9 wherein the main portion comprises a front main portion and a back main portion, and the side portion is folded such that the folded portion of the side portion is sandwiched between the front main portion and the back main portion.