Method for producing wearable article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12527698-B2
Application number	US-202118038775-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2021
Priority date	Dec 1, 2020
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A method for producing a wearing article includes: a step of producing a waist member including a waist body and male fasteners; a step of joining an absorber to the waist body; and a step of engaging the male fastener and a female fastener of the absorber with each other by folding the absorber in two in an orthogonal direction, then folding, in a width direction, both side portions of the waist member, in which the step of producing the absorber includes a step of producing a core by holding an SAP on a core-side first non-woven fabric so as to form a first low-density region that holds an SAP having a lower density than an SAP in a holding region for holding the SAP and that is adjacent in an orthogonal direction to both end portions of the holding region in the orthogonal direction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for producing a wearing article including a waist member configured to be disposed around a waist of a wearer, and an absorber joined to the waist member and extending in an orthogonal direction with respect to a width direction of the waist member from a joint portion with the waist member so as to be disposed from a back portion to a front abdomen portion of the wearer via a crotch portion, the method comprising:
producing the waist member including a waist body that extends in the width direction, has elasticity capable of expanding and contracting in the width direction, and is configured to be disposed around the waist of the wearer, and first engagement portions provided on a surface facing a skin surface of the wearer at both end portions of the waist body in the width direction; producing the absorber including a core for absorbing a body fluid, and a second engagement portion; joining the absorber to the joint portion of the waist body in a form of extending in the orthogonal direction from the waist body; and engaging the first engagement portions and the second engagement portion with each other by folding the absorber in two in the orthogonal direction, then folding, in the width direction, both side portions positioned on both sides in the width direction with respect to the joint portion in the waist member, wherein the producing of the absorber includes:
producing the core by scattering water absorbent polymer over a core-side first non-woven fabric of the core so as to form a holding region, and so as to form first low-density regions on first and second end portions in the orthogonal direction of the holding region, respectively, wherein each first low-density region includes the water absorbent polymer, and a distribution density of the water absorbent polymer in each first low-density region is lower than that of the holding region, wherein one of the first and second end portions in the orthogonal direction of the holding region is disposed to face the front abdomen portion, and the other of the first and second end portions in the orthogonal direction of the holding region being disposed to face the back portion when the wearing article is worn by the wearer;
providing a front sheet and a back sheet on opposite surfaces of the core, respectively, so as to sandwich the core between the front sheet and the back sheet, wherein the front sheet is arranged on a surface of the core which faces the skin surface of the wearer when the wearing article is worn by the wearer; and
providing the second engagement portion on an outer surface of the back sheet to detachably engage the absorber to the first engagement portions, wherein the outer surface of the back sheet faces away from the skin surface of the wearer when the wearing article is worn by the wearer,
wherein the engaging of the first engagement portions and the second engagement portion with each other includes forming a temporary fixing so that an end portion on a side opposite to an end portion joined to the waist member of the absorber and at least one of the absorber and the waist member overlapping the end portion is detachable at a stage after the absorber is folded in two in the orthogonal direction, and in the forming of the temporary fixing, the temporary fixing is formed outside relative to the core in the width direction.

2 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein in the producing of the core, the water absorbent polymer is held on the core-side first non-woven fabric so as to form a second low-density region that holds the water absorbent polymer having a lower density than the water absorbent polymer in the holding region and is sandwiched in the width direction by the holding region.

3 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 2 , wherein in the producing of the core, the second low-density region is formed such that the second low-density region extends in the orthogonal direction.

4 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein the producing of the absorber includes producing the front sheet by forming an irregularity shape on a front-side first non-woven fabric, and joining a front-side second non-woven fabric to an outer surface of the front-side first non-woven fabric in a state of maintaining the irregularity shape, wherein the outer surface of the front-side first non-woven fabric faces away from the skin surface of the wearer when the wearing article is worn by the wearer.

5 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 4 , wherein in the producing of the front sheet, the front-side first non-woven fabric and the front-side second non-woven fabric are overlapped to simultaneously form the irregularity shape, and the front-side second non-woven fabric is joined to the front-side first non-woven fabric in a state where tension is applied to the front-side second non-woven fabric so that undulation of the front-side second non-woven fabric becomes gentle.

6 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein in the producing of the core, the core-side first non-woven fabric is raised, and the water absorbent polymer is scattered so that the water absorbent polymer enters a gap in fiber layers formed by the raising.

7 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 6 , wherein the producing of the core further includes
raising a core-side second non-woven fabric and scattering the water absorbent polymer so that the water absorbent polymer enters a gap in fiber layers formed by the raising, and laminating the core-side first non-woven fabric and the core-side second non-woven fabric such that a fiber layer of the core-side first non-woven fabric and a fiber layer of the core-side second non-woven fabric oppose each other.

8 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein the producing of the absorber further includes providing an absorber elastic member so as to be capable of expanding and contracting in the width direction at a tip end portion on a side opposite to an end portion joined to the waist body of the absorber in the orthogonal direction.

9 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein the producing of the absorber further includes providing the second engagement portion over substantially an entirety of the width direction of a tip end portion of the back sheet on an outer surface of the tip end portion on a side opposite to the waist member of the back sheet in the orthogonal direction.

10 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 1 , wherein the producing of the waist member includes
joining a waist elastic member to at least one of an inner sheet and an outer sheet so as to be capable of expanding and contracting along the width direction in a state of being sandwiched between the inner sheet extending in the width direction and the outer sheet extending in the width direction and covering an outer surface of the inner sheet, wherein the outer surface of the inner sheet faces away from the skin surface of the wearer when the wearing article is worn by the wearer, and performing a weakening treatment on the joint portion such that an elastic force of a core arrangement portion in which the core is arranged among joint portions of the waist body to which the absorber is joined becomes weaker than an elastic force of a part adjacent in the width direction to the core arrangement portion.

11 . The method for producing a wearing article according to claim 10 , wherein the producing of the waist member further includes
d

Assignees

• Zuiko Corp

Inventors

• Umebayashi Toyoshi

Classifications

• A61F13/15634

  Making fibrous pads between sheets or webs · CPC title

• A61F13/534

  having an inhomogeneous composition through the thickness of the pad (A61F13/538, A61F13/539 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61F13/51

  characterised by the outer layers of the pads (A61F13/20 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61F13/496

  in the form of pants or briefs · CPC title

• A61F13/493

  adjustable {by adding or removing material, e.g. umbilical cord arrangements (adjustable by the fastening A61F13/5638, A61F13/5655)} · CPC title