Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
Elastic pants
The present invention relates to elastic pants or briefs
made of an elastic material and designed for holding a
disposable diaper in place and consisting of a front and
a back knitted or crocheted piece, which are joined to
each other along their side edges and at the crotch
portion of the pants.
The now common disposable diapers with tape for holding in
place do not provide sufficient security against leakage.
This is primarily because there are too few points of
attachment, whereby gaps easily occur between the semi-
stiEf diaper and the body of the user. The problem is
especially pronounced with respect to incontinent adults,
who of course want to ye able to get abou-t without the
risk ox urlne leakage for example.
The use of separate pants or griefs for holding a diaper
in place is of course greatly superior to diapers with
tape as regards security against the diaper coming loose
or sliding out of position. Despite -this, the fact that
the known briefs or pants for diapers are equally elastic
everywhere, with the possible exception of the waist and
leg edge portions r presents particular and hitherto un-
solved leakage problems. Due to the different shapes of
the human body and the diaper, the pressure exerted by the
known briefs or pants will be greatest along the side of
the user and at the middle of the diaper. The fixing of
the diaper will thus ye poor and the pressure against the
side edges of the diaper will be minimal r resulting in
the risk of leakage particularly at the edges. Thus no
completely satisfactory aid for incontinent people has
been available. Since incontinents is common and quite
a problem especially for significant numbers of elderly
people, the facts discussed here involve a social problem
of major proportions. A number or studies haze shown that
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many people become socially isolated due to incontinence. Many do
not even venture outside the home to make necessary purchases for
fear of urinating. For the same reasons, all normal social inter-
course is ruled out.
In short, these social problems are a result of the fact -that
incontinent adults have, up to now, had to live with the feeling
that they eannot depend on the aids used to provide satisfactory
protection.
The present invention provides elas-tic pants or briefs made of an
elastic ma-terial and in-tended for ho:Lding a disposable diaper in
plaee and consisting oE a front and a baek knitted or croche-ted
piece, which a:re jo:ined to eaeh other along their side gigs anc1
at the erotch portion oE the pants, charaeterized in that -the
knitting/crocheting is looser in a central area in the Eront and
back pieces, said area extending from the crotch portion to a
location spaced from the waist edge of the pants, that elastic
threads are knitted in or crocheted in to define a central portion
of the front and back pieces, whereby, when the pants are used to
hold a diaper in plaee, the limiting edges of the looser knitted
or eroeheted areas and the elastie threads press substantially
against the edges of the diaper ana provide an effective seal
against leakage, and that the elastie threads on the respeetive
pieces consist of a first thread or a first bundle of threads,
whi.ch extends a distance from each side edge along the waist edge
portion of the piece and thereafter a distance diagonal.ly inwards
towards the crotch portion to finally extend across the central
portion of the pants parallel -to the waist edge, and at least a
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second thread or a second bundle of threads, which extends from
the respec-tive side edge parallel wi-th said waist edge portion
towards the diagonally inwards extending pa:rt of the Eirs-t thread
or bundle of threads and thereafter converging towards the crotch
portion parallel with the direction oE said diagonally inwards
extending first thread and to finally extend across the central
portion of the pants parallel to the waist edge, whereby the
several converging elastic threads cooperate to give tension against
the periphery of a generally V-shaped cen-tral portion defined by
-the converging threads on each piece.
The invention wL:I1 now be explained in the Eollowing wi-th reference
to excltnples~ which are shown in the accompanying clraw:LncJs. Figure
1 illustra-tes -the dis-tribution of the pressure which previously
known elastic pants exert against the underlying disposable diaper
and the user. Figure 2 shows the desired ideal pressure distribu-
tion. Figure 3 shows a first embodiment of a pair of diaper pants
according to the invention. Figures 4 and 5 show the pants accord-
ing to Figure 3 when used to hold a disposable diaper in place.
jig. 6 sh~w5 the pressure exerted my the diaper according
to Figs. 3-5 against the underlying disposable diaper and
the user Finally, Fig. 7 shows a second embodiment of
a pair of pants according to the invention.
Fig. 1 shows the blank of a pair of elastic pants or briefs
of previously known type consisting of a front and a back
piece 1,2, which are entirely identical and designed to be
joined to each other along their side edges and at the
crotch portion 3. The pants consist of crocheted pieces
of an elastic material. Threads 4 of spandex are cxocheted
into the pants, but except for these and the waist bands 5
and the leg bands 6, the pants have the same elastici-ty
everywhere. After putting -the pants on over a disposable
diaper, the pressure distribution illustrated in Fig. 1
is produced, where the darkest areas indica-te the areas
of greates-t pressure.
It is easy to see that the pressure distribution resulting
from the pants in Fig. 1 on an underlying diaper are
entirely unsuitable. The pressure is greatest at 7, i.e.
against the middle of the underlying disposable diaper,
while it is least and almost non-existent at the light
V-shaped area in the Figure, which covers the edge portions
ox the underlying diaper. Thus when -the pants according to
Fig. 1 are used, no edge pressure wha-tsoever is produced
against the underlying diaper, which means tha-t the risk
of edge leakage will be especially grea-t. Since -the
pressure is substantially exerted against -the center of
the disposable diaper, its position will not be stable
and i-t can easily slide to one side Furthermore, it is
apparent that the pants provide poor contai-nment of
excrement, and when used by incontinent males, it also
provides poor positioning of the penis which also
substantially increases the risk of leakage.
The present invention, however, is based on the insight
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that the pressure exerted my the elas-tic pants or griefs
against an underlying disposable diaper should have a
distribution of essentially the appearance shown in Fig.2.
This pressure distribution holds the diaper firmly in the
correct position, provides increased pressure along the
edges of the diaper and reduced pressure across the central
portions, thus together providing effective enclosure of
both urine and excrement within the area covered by the
disposable diaper.
The elastic diaper according to the invention shown in
Fig. 3 consists of a front and a back piece 1 and 2l
respectively, ox crocheted elastic material. These pieces
are essentially evenly crocheted over their entire surfaces
The two pieces 1,2 are thus entirely identical. For the
purpose oE provid~ncJ a pressure dis-tri~ution of at least
essentially the type shown in Fig. 2 against an underlyirlg
disposable diaper, a n~nber of elastic -threads have been
crocheted into each piece, for example of spandex yarn.
The elastic threads in each piece consist of a first
thread 8, which extends a distance 9 from each side edge
along the waist edge por-tion and thereafter a dis-tance 10
diagonally inwards towards the crotch portion 3 to finally
extend over a portion 11 across the central portion of
the pants parallel to the waist edye; and of a second
thread 12 which extends with portions 13 from -the respec-
-tive side edge level with the central portion 11 of the
first thread 8 up to said thread and thereafter with
portions 14 converting towards the crotch portion.
Fig. 4 shows the appearance of the pants according to
Fig. 3 when used for supporting an essentially T-shaped
disposable diaper 15. The central portion 11 of the first
elastic thread and the portions 14 of the second elastic
thread converging towards the crotch portion 3 press the
side edge portions of the diaper and a horizontal ?c~tion
in the vicinity of the upper end of the diaper int) tlght
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contact against the body of the user. The back of the
diaper is also tensioned correspondingly. Fig. 5 shows
in a vie from below how the edge portions of the
disposable diaper 15 are pressed againsl the user. The
pressure distribution caused by the pants according to
Fig. 3 against the underlying disposable diaper and against
the user is shown in Fig. 6. A comparison of the pressure
distributions according to Figs. 1 and 2 shows that the
pressure distribution caused by the elastic threads in
the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 of a pair of pants
according to the invention is nearly ideal.
Finally, Fig. 7 shows a further embodiment of the elastic
pants according to the invention. No elastic threads have
been knitted or crocheted in. Rather, a central area 16
has been crocheted looser than the rest of the pants. Thus
when the pants according to Fig. 7 are used, the pressure
exerted will be very little against the middle of an under-
lying disposable diaper, while at the boundaries between
the tighter and looser crocheted areas of the pants, i.e.
along the edges marked with dashed lines 17 in Fig. 7, it
will be substan-tially greater. Effective sealing against
leakage is -thus obtained and the pressure exerted by the
pants will be essentially ideal, i.e. essentially agreeing
with the pressure dis-tribution shown in Fig. 2.
The invention is not, however, limited to the ernbodiments
described above. Rather, a n~ber of modifications are
possible within the scope of -the following claims. The
elastic threads need not of course be arranged exactly as
described in connection with Fig. 3. What is important is
that they produce a pressure distribution against the
underlying disposable diaper of at least essentially the
appearance in F'igs. 2 and 6.
Sultably, the elastic threads can be arranged as in Fig. 3,
combined with a looser crocheted or knitted central area
as according to Fig. 7.
The elastic pan-ts according to the invention have been
described here in connection with the use of diapers by
incontinent adults. The pants in question are, however,
of course also suitable for children.
