Compact-folded article with wrap layer
First Claim
1. A personal care article having a lengthwise longitudinal-direction;
- a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction;
a first end-section;
a second end-section; and
an intermediate-section which is interposed between said first end-section and said second end-section;
the article comprising;
a liquid permeable topsheet layer; and
a backsheet layer operatively connected to the topsheet layer;
whereinthe article has been operatively connected in facing relation with a wrap member;
the article has been folded about a first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region;
the first supplemental-fold-region has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over first end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article;
the article and a corresponding section of the wrap member have been folded about a second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region;
the second supplemental-fold-region has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over second end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article, and is positioned at least proximally adjacent the article intermediate-section;
a preliminary-folded article and a corresponding, preliminary-folded wrap member have been provided after the article has been folded about both the first supplemental-fold-region and the second supplemental-fold-region;
the preliminary-folded article and wrap member have been folded along a laterally extending, composite-fold-region of both the preliminary-folded article and wrap member, thereby providing a composite-folded, wrapped article.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A personal care article (20) has a longitudinal-direction (22), a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction (24), a first end-section (72), a second end-section (72a), and an intermediate-section (76). The article has been operatively connected in facing relation with a wrap member (98), and the article has been folded about a first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region (64). The article and a corresponding section of the wrap member have been folded about a second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region (66). A preliminary-folded article (82) and a corresponding, preliminary-folded wrap member have been provided after the article has been folded about both the first and second supplemental-fold-regions. The preliminary-folded article and wrap member have also been folded along a laterally extending, composite-fold-region (96a) of both the preliminary-folded article and wrap member, to provide a composite-folded, wrapped article (114).
67 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A personal care article having a lengthwise longitudinal-direction;
- a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction;
a first end-section;
a second end-section; and
an intermediate-section which is interposed between said first end-section and said second end-section;
the article comprising;a liquid permeable topsheet layer; and
a backsheet layer operatively connected to the topsheet layer;wherein the article has been operatively connected in facing relation with a wrap member; the article has been folded about a first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region; the first supplemental-fold-region has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over first end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article; the article and a corresponding section of the wrap member have been folded about a second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region; the second supplemental-fold-region has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over second end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article, and is positioned at least proximally adjacent the article intermediate-section; a preliminary-folded article and a corresponding, preliminary-folded wrap member have been provided after the article has been folded about both the first supplemental-fold-region and the second supplemental-fold-region; the preliminary-folded article and wrap member have been folded along a laterally extending, composite-fold-region of both the preliminary-folded article and wrap member, thereby providing a composite-folded, wrapped article. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
a laterally-opposed pair of the side-margins in the at least one end-section of the wrap member have been operatively connected to a corresponding laterally-opposed pair of side-margins in the intermediate-section of the wrap member.
- a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction;
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4. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein the wrap member has included a wrap retainer mechanism which has been configured to operatively hold the composite-folded, article and composite-folded wrap member in their composite-folded condition to provide a composite-folded, wrapped article.
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5. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein the wrap member has an inward, article-facing surface, an opposed outward-facing surface, and a laterally-opposed pair of side margins, with each of the side-margins of the wrap member extending transversely outboard and beyond a corresponding, terminal side-edge of the article.
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6. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, further including a garment-attachment mechanism operatively secured to a garment-side of the backsheet layer.
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7. A personal care article as recited in claim 6, wherein the garment-attachment mechanism has been releasably secured to a strip of release material.
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8. A personal care article as recited in claim 6, wherein the garment-attachment mechanism has been releasably secured to an immediately adjacent surface of the wrap member.
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9. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein
the article includes a garment-attachment mechanism which is operatively connected to a garment-side of the backsheet layer, and a separately provided release layer which is releasably secured to the garment-attachment mechanism; -
the article has an overall longitudinal length and an overall cross-directional width; and the wrap member has a longitudinal length which is less than the longitudinal length of the article, and a cross-directional width which is greater than the cross-directional width of the article.
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10. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein the first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region of the article is substantially convex along a backsheet side of the article and substantially concave along a topsheet side of the article.
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11. A personal care article as recited in claim 10, wherein the second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region of the article is substantially convex along a backsheet side of the article and substantially concave along a topsheet side of the article.
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12. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein the composite-fold-region in the preliminary-folded article is substantially convex along a backsheet-side of the intermediate section of the article.
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13. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein
the first supplemental-fold-region of the article has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over first end-section of the article, which is immediately adjacent and faces against the intermediate-section of the article; - and
the second supplemental-fold-region of the article has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over second end-section of the article, which is proximally adjacent and in facing relation with the folded-over first end-section.
- and
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14. A personal care article as recited in claim 13, wherein
a first, topsheet portion in the folded-over first end-section has been positioned in facing relation onto an intermediate topsheet portion in the Intermediate-section of the article; - and
a second, topsheet portion in the folded-over second end-section has been positioned in facing relation onto a first, wrap-layer portion that has been operatively folded with the folded-aver first end-section.
- and
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15. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein
at least a portion of said first end-section of the article has also been folded about a first, article end-fold-line, and at least a portion of said second end-section of the article has also been folded a second, article end-fold-line. -
16. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein
at least a portion of said first end-section of the article has also been folded about a first, article end-told-region, which is substantially convex along a topsheet-side of the article; - and
at least a portion of said second end-section of the article has also been folded a second, article end-fold-region, which is substantially convex along the topsheet-side of the article.
- and
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17. A personal care article as recited in claim 16, wherein
the first supplemental-fold-region of the article is operatively arranged to provide a folded-over first end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is immediately adjacent and faces against a corresponding portion of the intermediate-section of the article; - and
the second supplemental-fold-region is operatively arranged to provide a folded-over second end-section, at least a portion of which is immediately adjacent and faces against a corresponding portion of the intermediate-section of the article.
- and
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18. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein the preliminary-folded article has been folded along a laterally extending, composite-fold-region to provide a composite-folded article having a composite-folded girth which is less than about 15 cm and a composite-folded length which is less than about 10 cm.
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19. A personal care article as recited in claim 1, wherein
the first end-fold-region of the article has been configured to be substantially convex along the topsheet-side of the article along at least about 65% of a corresponding lateral width of the first end-fold-region; -
the second end-fold-region of the article has been configured to be substantially convex along the topsheet-side of the article along at least about 65% of a corresponding lateral width of the second end-fold-region; the first supplemental-fold-region of the article has been configured to be substantially convex along the backsheet-side of the article along at least about 65% of a corresponding lateral width of the first supplemental-fold-region; and the second supplemental-fold-region of the article has been configured to be substantially convex along the backsheet-side of the article along at least about 65% of a corresponding lateral width of the second supplemental-fold-region.
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3. A personal care article as recited in claim , wherein
the wrap member includes a first end-section, a second end-section and an intermediate section; -
a laterally-opposed pair of the side-margins in the first end-section of the wrap member have been operatively connected to a corresponding laterally-opposed pair of side-margins in the intermediate-section of the wrap member; a laterally-opposed pair of the side-margins of a second end-section of the wrap member have been operatively connected to a corresponding laterally-opposed pair of the side-margins in the first end-section of the wrap member.
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20. A personal care article having a lengthwise longitudinal-direction;
- a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction;
a first end-section;
a second end-section; and
an intermediate-section which is interposed between said first end-section and said second end-section;
the article comprising;a liquid permeable topsheet layer; and
a backsheet layer operatively connected to the topsheet layer;
whereinthe article has been operatively connected in facing relation with a wrap member; the article has been folded about a first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region; the first supplemental-fold-region has been cooperatively arranged to provide a folded-over first end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article; the article and a corresponding section of the wrap member have been folded about a second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-region; the second supplemental-fold-region has been operatively arranged to provide a folded-over second end-section of the article, at least a portion of which is in facing relation with the intermediate-section of the article, and is positioned at least proximally adjacent the article intermediate-section; a preliminary-folded article and a corresponding, preliminary-folded wrap member have been provided after the article has been folded about both the first supplemental-fold-region end the second supplemental-fold-region; the preliminary-folded article and wrap member have been folded along a laterally extending, composite-fold-region of both the preliminary-folded article and wrap member, thereby providing a composite-folded, wrapped article, wherein the article and wrap member have been folded about a first, laterally extending supplemental-fold-line positioned proximally adjacent a first portion of the intermediate-section of the article to provide the first supplemental-fold-region; the article and wrap member have been folded about a second, laterally extending supplemental-fold-line positioned proximally adjacent a second portion of the intermediate-section of the article to provide the second supplemental-fold-region; and the preliminary-folded article and preliminary-folded wrap member have been folded along a third, laterally extending, composite fold-line, which is proximate a laterally-extending centerline of the article.
- a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction;
Specification