Disposable absorbent article having a visibly highlighted wetness sensation member

• US 7,767,876 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2003
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Inventors: Allen, Patrick Jay, Carlin, Edward Paul, Roe, Donald Carroll, Davis, Mary Elizabeth
• Primary Examiner(s): Zalukaeva; Tatyana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chapman; Ginger T
• Application Number:
  US10/697,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20050096612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,469 Days
• Field of Search: 604/361, 604/367, 604368-369, 604/378, 604/381, 604/384, 604/385.01, 60438523-38528, 206/458, 600/362
• US Class Current: 604/361
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 13/15 Absorbent pads, e.g. sanitary towels, swabs or tampons for external or internal application to the body non-absorbent catamenial receptacles A61F5/44; Supporting or fastening means therefor; Tampon applicators
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 13/42 with wetness indicator or alarm
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 13/53704 the layer having an inhibiting function on liquid propagation
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 13/53717 the layer having a promotional function on liquid propagation in the horizontal direction

Abstract

A disposable absorbent article including a wetness sensation member and visible highlighting indicating the presence of the wetness sensation member to facilitate an opportunity for the toilet training of the wearer. The wetness sensation member includes a permeable layer and a flow control layer. Urine deposited on the wetness sensation member can penetrate through the permeable body-facing layer in a z direction away from the wearer to the flow control layer. The flow control layer retards the passage of the urine through the wetness sensation member in the z direction while supporting the movement of the urine in an x-y plane to increase the wetted area contacting the wearer'"'"'s skin and thereby enhance the wearer'"'"'s awareness that urination has occurred. The visible highlighting is visible when viewing a body-facing surface of the article and may be associatively correlated with an externally visible marking and/or with the concept of toilet training.

Claims

1. A disposable absorbent article for wearing about a lower torso of a wearer and having a longitudinal axis, two laterally opposed article side edges extending between a laterally extending first waist end edge in a first waist region and a laterally extending second waist end edge in a second waist region, and a crotch region interposed therebetween, the disposable absorbent article comprising:

a backsheet;

a topsheet joined to the backsheet and having a body-facing surface;

an absorbent core disposed intermediate the backsheet and the topsheet;

at least one wetness sensation member disposed upon the topsheet in a face-to-face arrangement with the permeable body-facing layer and having two laterally opposed side edges, at least a portion of each of the two wetness sensation member side edges being disposed laterally inwardly of the article side edges; and

a visible highlighting indicating a presence of the wetness sensation member in the disposable absorbent article and being visible at least when viewing the body-facing surface of the topsheet to facilitate an opportunity for urinary toilet training of the wearer wherein said visible highlighting comprises an ink-printed pattern made up of a plurality of repeating figures and wherein said ink-printed pattern is visible prior to wetting of the wetness sensation member, and wherein the appearance of the visible highlighting is substantially unchanged upon wetting of the wetness sensation member,

wherein urine deposited by the wearer onto the wetness sensation member can penetrate through the permeable body-facing layer in a z direction away from the wearer to the absorbent core and the wetness sensation member retards the passage of the urine in the z direction and supports the movement of the urine in an x-y plane such that the wearer'"'"'s awareness of urination is enhanced.

2. The disposable absorbent article of claim 1 comprising a plurality of the wetness sensation members disposed parallel to and spaced apart from the longitudinal axis and spaced apart from one another, each of the wetness sensation members being disposed upon the topsheet.

3. The disposable absorbent article of claim 2 wherein the plurality of wetness sensation members are separated from one another by a spacing ranging from about 5 mm to about 15 mm.

4. The disposable absorbent article of claim 2 wherein the topsheet comprises two Z-folds parallel to the longitudinal axis and each of the wetness sensation members is disposed within a respective one of the two Z-folds.

5. The disposable absorbent article of claim 4 wherein the two Z-folds are separated by a spacing ranging from about 50 mm to about 90 mm.

6. The disposable absorbent article of claim 4 wherein the two Z-folds further comprise two elastic members disposed along the two flow control layers.