Absorbent article having a fastening system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9265673-B2
Application number	US-201313953380-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2013
Priority date	Jul 29, 2013
Publication date	Feb 23, 2016
Grant date	Feb 23, 2016

Abstract

A folded absorbent article is provided. The folded absorbent article includes an absorbent assembly having a liquid permeable inner layer, an outer layer, and an absorbent body between the inner and outer layers. The folded absorbent article further includes a pair of ears extending outward from absorbent assembly in the back waist region, with each ear including a loop fastening component, and a pair of spaced-apart hook fastening components on the outer layer in the front waist region. A pair of longitudinally extending foldlines are also provided in the front waist region. An outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart from a respective side of the absorbent assembly, and an inboard-most longitudinal edge is spaced apart from a respective longitudinally extending foldline at least a distance equal to a predetermined process range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A folded absorbent article comprising:
an absorbent assembly including longitudinally opposite ends, transversely opposite sides, a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region extending longitudinally between and interconnecting the front and back waist regions, a liquid permeable inner layer for facing a wearer, an outer layer for facing away from the wearer, an absorbent body disposed between the inner and outer layers, at least one of the inner layer and outer layer defining the longitudinally opposite ends and transversely opposite sides of the absorbent assembly, the absorbent body having a pair of longitudinally extending sides and a pair of transversely extending ends, each of the longitudinally extending sides of the absorbent body being spaced inward from a respective one of the transversely opposite sides of the absorbent assembly;
a pair of ears extending transversely outward from the opposite sides of the absorbent assembly in the back waist region, each of the ears comprising a loop fastening component;
a pair of spaced-apart hook fastening components disposed on the outer layer in the front waist region of the absorbent assembly, each of the hook fastening components being selectively engageable with a respective one of the loop fastening components in a wear configuration of the article; and
a pair of longitudinally extending foldlines disposed in the front waist region of the absorbent assembly, wherein an outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart from a respective one of the transversely opposite sides, and wherein an inboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart from a respective longitudinally extending foldline at least a distance equal to a predetermined process range such that each of the hook fastening components are folded over and are disposed inboard of a corresponding longitudinally extending side of the folded absorbent article;
wherein a first portion of the front waist region overlaps a second portion of the front waist region to define an overlap region, wherein the overlap region is inboard of the longitudinally extending sides of the folded absorbent article, and wherein neither of the pair of hook fastening components are disposed in the overlap region along a lateral direction line running through the pair of hook fastening components.

2. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined process range is about six millimeters.

3. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 , wherein the outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart at least ten millimeters from the respective one of the transversely opposite sides.

4. The folded absorbent article of claim 3 , wherein the outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart at least fifteen millimeters from the respective one of the transversely opposite sides.

5. The folded absorbent article of claim 4 , wherein the outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components is spaced apart at least twenty millimeters from the respective one of the transversely opposite sides.

6. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 further comprising a fastening system configured to attach the back waist region to the front waist region to define the wear configuration of the absorbent article, the fastening system comprising a primary fastening system and a secondary fastening system separate from the primary fastening system.

7. The folded absorbent article of claim 6 ,
wherein the primary fastening system comprises a plurality of primary first fastening components and at least one primary second fastening component,
wherein each of the primary first fastening components is provided on a corresponding one of the pair of ears, and
wherein the at least one primary second fastening component is provided on the front waist region and is configured to engage each of the primary first fastening components when the absorbent article is in the wear configuration.

8. The folded absorbent article of claim 7 ,
wherein the secondary fastening system comprises a plurality of secondary first fastening components and a plurality of secondary second fastening components,
wherein the plurality of secondary first fastening components comprises the pair of hook fastening components, and
wherein the plurality of secondary second fastening components comprises the loop fastening components.

9. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of hook fastening components engage at least one of the outer layer and one ear of the pair of ears.

10. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a distance from a longitudinally extending center line of the folded absorbent article to the inboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components, to a distance from the center line to each of the transversely opposite sides, is greater than 0.50 and less than 1.00.

11. The folded absorbent article of claim 10 , wherein the ratio of the distance from the center line to the inboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components, to the distance from the center line to each of the transversely opposite sides, is less than 0.65.

12. The folded absorbent article of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a distance from a longitudinally extending center line of the folded absorbent article to the inboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fastening components, to a distance from the center line to each of the longitudinally extending sides of the absorbent body, is greater than 1.15 and less than 1.60.

13. A folded absorbent article comprising:
an absorbent assembly including longitudinally opposite ends, transversely opposite sides, a liquid permeable inner layer for facing a wearer, an outer layer for facing away from the wearer, an absorbent body disposed between the inner layer and the outer layer, a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region extending longitudinally between and interconnecting the front and back waist regions, a back waist edge, a front waist edge, the absorbent body having a pair of longitudinally extending sides and a pair of transversely extending ends;
a pair of ears extending transversely outward from the opposite sides of the absorbent assembly in the back waist region;
a fastening system comprising a pair of spaced apart hook fasteners disposed on the front waist region and a pair of loop fasteners, one of the loop fasteners being disposed on one of the ears and the other loop fastener being disposed on the opposite ear; and
a lateral foldline, the lateral foldline being positioned to bring the back waist edge in generally alignment with the front waist edge and thereby completely enclose the hook fasteners within the folded absorbent article,
wherein an outboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fasteners is spaced apart from a respective one of the transversely opposite sides, and wherein an inboard-most longitudinal edge of each of the hook fasteners is spaced apart from a respective longitudinally extending side of the absorbent body in the front waist region at least a distance equal to a predetermined process range such that each of the hook fastening components are folded over and are disposed inboard of a corresponding longitudinally extending side of the folded absorbent article;
wherein a first portion of the front waist region overlaps a second portion of the front waist region to define an overlap region, wherein the overlap region is inboard of the longi

Assignees

• Kimberly Clark Co

Inventors

• Stabelfeldt Sara Jane Wille
• Bishop David F
• Enz David J
• Haessler Alanna
• Hancock-Cooke Catherine
• Popp Robert Lee
• Roessler Thomas H
• Vandyke Wendy Lynn

Classifications

• A61F13/625 Primary

  characterised by the hook · CPC title

• A61F13/55115

  characterized by the features before use, e.g. how are the diapers folded or arranged in a package · CPC title

• A61F13/627

  characterised by the loop · CPC title

• A61F13/15747 Primary

  Folding; Pleating; Coiling; Stacking; Packaging · CPC title

• A61F13/5644

  having more than one pair of fasteners · CPC title