Absorbent article having a fit panel
First Claim
1. An absorbent article having an absorbent chassis which defines a front waist section, a rear waist section, an intermediate section which interconnects said front and rear waist sections, a pair of longitudinally opposed end edges, and a pair of laterally opposed side edges, said absorbent article further comprising a fit panel attached to said absorbent chassis which defines a waist edge which is superposed adjacent one of said pair of longitudinally opposed end edges of said absorbent chassis, a pair of laterally opposed outboard edges which are located laterally beyond said side edges of said absorbent chassis, respectively, and a second edge which is located longitudinally inward from said one end edge of said absorbent chassis and which remains at least partially unattached to said absorbent chassis wherein at least a portion of a total panel width and length of said fit panel remains unattached to said absorbent chassis between said side edges of said absorbent chassis thereby defining an unattached zone that defines an unattached width which is at least about 10 percent of an entire width of said-absorbent chassis.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An absorbent article includes at least one fit panel which is located in one of the waist sections of the absorbent article adjacent an end edge of the absorbent article. The fit panel extends laterally beyond both of the side edges of an absorbent chassis of the absorbent article. The fit panel may include a center bridge panel and a pair of laterally opposed side panels which are connected to opposed lateral edges of the bridge panel. Desirably, the bridge panel and side panels provide individual zones of elasticity across the width of the fit panel which have different elastic properties.
311 Citations
48 Claims
- 1. An absorbent article having an absorbent chassis which defines a front waist section, a rear waist section, an intermediate section which interconnects said front and rear waist sections, a pair of longitudinally opposed end edges, and a pair of laterally opposed side edges, said absorbent article further comprising a fit panel attached to said absorbent chassis which defines a waist edge which is superposed adjacent one of said pair of longitudinally opposed end edges of said absorbent chassis, a pair of laterally opposed outboard edges which are located laterally beyond said side edges of said absorbent chassis, respectively, and a second edge which is located longitudinally inward from said one end edge of said absorbent chassis and which remains at least partially unattached to said absorbent chassis wherein at least a portion of a total panel width and length of said fit panel remains unattached to said absorbent chassis between said side edges of said absorbent chassis thereby defining an unattached zone that defines an unattached width which is at least about 10 percent of an entire width of said-absorbent chassis.
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17. An absorbent article having an absorbent chassis which defines a front waist section, a rear waist section, an intermediate section which interconnects said front and rear waist sections, a pair of longitudinally opposed end edges, and a pair of laterally opposed side edges, said absorbent article further comprising a fit panel which is located in one of said waist sections of said absorbent chassis adjacent one of said end edges of said absorbent chassis and which extends laterally beyond said side edges of said absorbent chassis wherein said fit panel comprises:
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a) a center bridge panel which defines a bridge panel width which is from about 10 to about 90 percent of an entire width of said absorbent chassis, and b) a pair of laterally opposed, individual, discrete side panels which are connected to opposed lateral edges of said bridge panel and which are connected to and extend laterally beyond said side edges of said absorbent chassis, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An absorbent article having a front waist section, a rear waist section, and an intermediate section which interconnects said front and rear waist sections, said article further comprising:
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a) a backsheet layer;
b) a liquid permeable topsheet layer which is connected in superposed relation to said backsheet layer;
c) an absorbent body which is located between said topsheet layer and said backsheet layer wherein a combination of said backsheet layer, said topsheet layer, and said absorbent body define an absorbent chassis which includes an outer perimeter defined by a pair of longitudinally opposed end edges and a pair of laterally opposed side edges; and
d) an elastomeric fit panel which is connected to said topsheet in one of said waist sections of said absorbent article and which defines a waist edge which is superposed adjacent one of said end edges of said absorbent chassis, a pair of laterally opposed outboard edges which are located laterally beyond said side edges, respectively, and said outer perimeter of said absorbent chassis, and a second edge which is located longitudinally inward from said one end edge of said absorbent chassis and which remains at least partially unattached to said absorbent chassis wherein at least a portion of a total panel width and total length of said elastomeric fit panel remains unattached to said topsheet between said side edges of said absorbent chassis thereby defining an unattached zone that defines an unattached width which is at least about 10 percent of an entire width of said absorbent chassis. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
a) a bridge panel, and b) a pair of individual, discrete side panels which are connected to opposed lateral edges of said bridge panel, respectively, and which are connected to and extend laterally beyond said side edges of said absorbent chassis, respectively.
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42. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein said absorbent article further comprises a pair of fasteners which are connected to laterally opposed outboard edges of said side panels of said elastomeric fit panel, respectively.
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43. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein said bridge panel defines a total bridge panel width which is at least about 10 percent of said entire width of said absorbent chassis.
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44. An absorbent article according to claim 43 wherein said side panels of said elastomeric fit panel extends laterally inward from said side edges of said absorbent chassis, respectively, to said bridge panel.
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45. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein at least a portion of a total bridge panel width of said bridge panel remains unattached to said absorbent chassis to provide said unattached width.
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46. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein said bridge panel remains substantially unattached to said absorbent chassis to provide said unattached width.
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47. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein said bridge panel and at least a portion of said side panels between said bridge panel and said side edges of said absorbent chassis respectively remain substantially unattached to said absorbent chassis.
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48. An absorbent article according to claim 41 wherein each of said side panels are configured to elongate a greater percentage than said bridge panel when a force in a lateral direction is exerted on said fit panel.
Specification