Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
DIAPER OF PANTS TYPE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to diaper of pants type
basically comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, and an
absorbent core sandwiched therebetween, and, more
particularly, to such diaper of pants type adapted to be
folded with laterally opposite side zones thereof being
tucked-in so as to be economically packaged on a production
line by a manufacturer as well as to be easily handled by
an user.
'fhe diaper comprising, as mentioned above, the
topsheet, the backsheet; and the absorbent core sandwiched
therebetween has held a leading position in the industry of
disposable diaper. Such disposable diaper is generally
classidied into an open type and a pants type, the latter
being recently attracting.user's attention for ease to use
it. The diaper of this type often includes elaatic members
around the waist-hole and the leg-holes so as to form
gathers therearound and sometimes utilizes stretchable
material as the backsheet in order to obtain good fitness
when the diaper is put on. Such diaper, in its restriction-
free state, tends to become an ill-shaped mass due to
contraction of the respective members and materials. To
overcome this problem, a packaging technique of prior art
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having been employed on a production line is to arrange the
individual products as flatly as possible so that a
plurality of products may be easily stacked one upon another
and then packed in a bag ar a box.
With said diaper of pants type having the abosrbent
core sandwiched between the top- and backsheet, it has been
difficult to obtain a neat external appearance of each
package reminding purchasers of valuable commodities,
because such diaper tends to become an ill-shaped mass due
to bulkiness of the absorbent core and contraction of the
elastic members provided around the waist-hole and the leg-
holes. This problem is more serious when the topsheet
and/or the backsheet is made of stretchable material. To
arrange such diaper as flatly as possible, a packaging
operation on a production line has inconveniently required
not only a complex equipment but also .mech labor.
Flatly arranging the diaper of pants type has
inevitably resulted in a complicated engagement of the front
body with the rear body along the waist-hole and, therefore,
when the diaper is put on, not only it has been difficult to
discover the waist-hole but~also separation of the front and
rear bodies of the diaper from each other with the
peripheral edge of the waist-hole being held between the
user's fingers has usually taken much time.
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SUMMARY OE' TFIE INVENTION
Accordingly , it is an object of this invention to
solve the above-mentioned problem by providing the diaper of
pants type folded with laterally oposite side zones being
tuck-in folded so as to be easily packaged in a neat
external appearance.
The object set forth in the above is achieved, in
accordance with the invention, by providing diaper of pants
type including at least a topsheet, a backsheet, and an
absorbent core sandwiched therebetween, wherein laterally
opposite side zones of said diaper extending from a waist-
hole to respective leg-holes are tuck-in folded toward a
longitudinal centerline of said diaper so as to be
interposed between front and rear bodies of said diaper.
According to another aspect of, tree invention, tuck-in
folding of said side zones occur alone at least a portion of
each side edge of said absorbent core.
In accordance with the present invention, with the
laterally opposite side zones being tuck-in folded between
the front body and the rear body aloncJ at lea st a portion of
each side edge of the bulky and rigid absorbent core, the
diaper folded in this manner obtains its external shape
defined and stabilized by the absorbent core which is
relatively deformation-resistant. Such arrangement also
permits a plurality of diapers to be easily stacked and
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neatly packed in a bag or a box, thereby allowing a
packaging operation to be quickly achieved using a
relatively simple packaging equipment. Moreover, the waist-
hole can be easily opened when it is desired to put the
diaper on, because the front body and the rear body have
been separated from each other in advance.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be
apparent from the following more detailed description of the
preferred embodiments, taken in canjunction with the
accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example
the principles of the invention:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing, by way of
example, so-called diaper of pants ty~>e;
Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the diaper
shown by Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 and 4 are perspective; and end views,
respectively, showing an embodiment of diaper constructed
according to the invention; and
Fig. 5 and 6 are perspective: and end views,
respectively, showing another embodiment of diaper
constructed. according to the invention.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
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Fig. 1 illustrated so-called diaper 1 of pants type to
which the invention generally relates and this diaper 1
comprises, as shown, a topsheet 2, a backsheet 3 and an
absorbent core 4 (see Fig. 2) sandwiched therebetween. The
diaper 1 further comprises rubber threads 6 used as elastic
members for respective leg-holes and rubber threads 7 used
as elastic member for a waist--hole. Laterally opposite side
zones 14 have their side edges sealed by respective hot melt
seal lines $.
Fig..2 is an exploded perspective view schem~'ti.Cally
showing configurations of respectiue components to be
assembled inta the diaper 1 shown by Fig. 1 ~i.e., the
topsheet 2, the backsheet 3 having a substantially same size
as that of said topsheet 2 and the absorbent core 4 of
hourglass shape as usually employed for a disposable diaper.
The absorbent core 4 is intermittently bonded onto the rear
side of the topsheet 2 by means of hot melt adhesive (not
shown) and the backsheet 3 is placed on the topsheet 2 so as
to cover said absorbent core 4. The backsheet 3 is bonded
to the topsheet 2 by means of hot melt adhesive (not shown)
along their peripheral edges. The elastic members ~, 7 are
intermittently bonded, under their stretched condition, onto
the surface of the backsheet 3 that faces the topsheet 2 by
means of hot melt adhesive (not shown). Upon completion of
such bonding of the elastic members 6, 7, the diaper is
folded in two along a substantially middle line
longitudinally of the diaper with longitudinal side edge
portions 9, 10 being brought together and these side edge
portions 9, 10 thus brought together are heat sealed by the
respective heat seal lines 8 (see Fig. 1) to obtain a
complete diaper, whereupon respective cuts 11 formed in the
top- and backsheets 2, 3 form respective leg-holes 12 (see
Fig. 1) and the elastic members 6 form gathers around outer
peripheries of the respective leg--holes 12. It should be
understood that 'the formation of such gathers is covered by
the scope of the invention and, therefore, any further
detailed thereof is not described herein. Similarly, the
elastic members 7 associated with longitudinally opposite
ends of the diaper form together a waist-hole 13 (see Fig,
1). The absorbent core 4 is an hourglass-sY~aped profile
having longitudinally extending side edge portions 4A, 4S,
4C, oblique side edge portions ~D and transverse edges 4E.
Concerning materials for the diaper 1, the topsheet 2
may be made of liquid-permeable non-woven fabric foamed Pram
theremoplastic fibres of polyethylene, polypropylene or the
like and the absorbent core ~ may be rnade of fluffy pulp
containing 10'~ by weight of super water absorptive polymer
powder. The backsheet 3 may be made of stretchable water-
proof plastic film 20 and stretchable non-woven fabric 21
formed from thermally crimped polyethylene/polypropylene
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conjugated fibres, bath being intermittently bonded togher
by means of hot melt adhesive (not shown). As will be
apparent from the exploded perspective view of Fig. 2, the
absorbent care 4 is dimensioned sa as to occupy only '
respective central zones of the topsheet 2 and the backsheet
3. Two-dot-chain line 40 indicates the size of the
absorbent core 4 as viewed in projection onto the backsheet
3.
In the diaper 1 constructed as has been descibed above,
the laterally opposite side zones 14 extending from the
waist=hole 13 to the respective leg-holes 12 comprise the
top- and backsheets 2, 3 and~no absorbent core 4. Really,
the diaper 1 tends to assume the appearance of an ill-shaped
mass due to not only the bulkiness of the.absorbent core 4
floded in two substantially along the middle live
longitudinally of the diaper 1 but also contraction of the
elastic members, the backsheet 3 arad the other elastic
components. In view of this, Fig. 1 illustrates the diaper
1 as being stretched so that the configuration of the diaper
1 may be easily understood.
Figs. 3 and 4 show an embodiment of the diaper
constructed according to the invention which corresponds to
the diaper 1 shown by Fig. 1, wherein the laterally opposite
side zones 14 extending from the waist-hole 13 to the
respective leg-holes 12 are tuck-in-folded toward a
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longitudinal centerline A-A with the respective hat melt
seal lines 8 ahead and interposed between the front body 15
and the rear body 16. The diaper 1 thus folded has an
outline following the frofiled absorbent core 4 and
comprises the planar front body 15 on the upper side, the
planar rear body 16 an the bottom side and the absorbent
core 4 sandwiched therebetween. Thus, the entire external
shape of the diaper is defined by the relatively rigid
absorbent core and, therefore, it is. easy to stock a
plurality of individual diapers. In this manner, it is also
easy to pack the diapers in a bag or a box on the production
line. Additionally, the thickness of the tuck-in folded
zones 14 separate the front body 15 and the rear body 16
from each other so that the location of the waist-hole 13
becomes distinct and an user can easily open the waist-.hole
13 with the peripheral edge of the waist-hole 13 being held
between the user's fingers.
If the diaper 1 is campressed directly fram the
condition of Fig. 1 to flatten it arid both of the side zones
14 are folded on the front body 15, the front and rear
bodies 15, 16 ~rould be brought into complicated engagement
with each other along the waist-hole 13 and the
configuration of the waist-hole 13 would be indecently
disturbed, so time and labor required to open the waist-hole
13 would be much more than in the case of the diaper
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provided by the invention.
Referring the Fig. 5, another preferred embodiment of
the invention is illustrated. The diaper 1 is tuck-in .
folded in the manner similar to the embodiment shown by
Figs. 3 and 4 but the laterally opposite side zones 14 are
tucked-in along the side edge portions 4B of the absorbent
core 4, The pair of laterally opposite side edge portions
4B define the most narrow zone of tYie absorbent core 4.
Accordingly, wide zones extending along the longitudinally
opposite edges 4E, respectively, of the hour-glass-shaped
absorbent core 4, i.e., zones adjacent the side edge
portions 4A, 4C, respectively, are also tucked-in together
with said laterally apposite side zones 14 between the front
body 15 and the rear body 16.
Fig. 6 is an end view taken along a line Y-Y in Fig. 5,
showing the zones extending adjacent the side edge portions
4A, 4C, respectively, of the absorbent core 4 having been
tucked-in together with the laterally opposite side zones
14.
Such manner of tuck-in folding as shown by Figs. S and
F allows the diaper to be arranged substantially in a
rectangular shape as viewed in Fig. 5, thereby, in addition
to the advantages achieved by the Embodiment 1, further
facilitates the packaging thereof and improves its external
appearance.
