Routing of leg elastic to reduce stresses in a stretchable outer diaper cover
First Claim
1. An anatomically form-fitting, generally self-adjusting disposable absorbent garment comprising:
- a breathable elastomeric nonwoven outer cover wherein an elastic nonwoven web is joined to one or more gatherable nonwoven webs, including a pair of leg openings, front and rear waist sections together defining a waist opening, a crotch section situated between said leg openings and front and rear panels separated by said crotch section;
an absorbent insert structure substantially superposable on said front and rear panels and said crotch section, including a liquid impermeable barrier and a liquid permeable bodyside liner, with an absorbent composite disposed therebetween;
attachment means for attaching and integrating said insert to said outer cover while allowing substantially unrestricted functional stretchability thereof; and
a pair of supplemental leg elastic members extending about said leg openings and operatively tensioned state relative to said outer cover in at least those outermost portions of said leg openings adjacent the inner thigh region of a wearer, reducing stress concentrations associated with said leg openings.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An anatomatically form-fitting, generally self-adjusting disposable absorbent garment comprises a breathable elastomeric nonwoven outer cover wherein an elastic nonwoven web is joined to one or more gatherable nonwoven webs, including leg and waist openings and cooperating full-length fastening closures extending from the waist to each leg opening. The leg elastics extend about the outermost portions of the leg openings and are tensioned adjacent the inner thighs of the wearer. The leg elastics are routed so that they direct tensile stresses away from the leg opening, thereby reducing detrimental stress concentrations associated with the fastening closures.
257 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An anatomically form-fitting, generally self-adjusting disposable absorbent garment comprising:
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a breathable elastomeric nonwoven outer cover wherein an elastic nonwoven web is joined to one or more gatherable nonwoven webs, including a pair of leg openings, front and rear waist sections together defining a waist opening, a crotch section situated between said leg openings and front and rear panels separated by said crotch section; an absorbent insert structure substantially superposable on said front and rear panels and said crotch section, including a liquid impermeable barrier and a liquid permeable bodyside liner, with an absorbent composite disposed therebetween; attachment means for attaching and integrating said insert to said outer cover while allowing substantially unrestricted functional stretchability thereof; and a pair of supplemental leg elastic members extending about said leg openings and operatively tensioned state relative to said outer cover in at least those outermost portions of said leg openings adjacent the inner thigh region of a wearer, reducing stress concentrations associated with said leg openings. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An anatomically form-fitting, generally self-adjusting disposable absorbent garment comprising:
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a breathable elastomeric outer cover resiliently stretchable in at least one direction more than about 20%, including a pair of leg openings, front and rear waist sections engageable with one another defining a waist opening, a crotch section situated between said leg openings, front and rear panels respectively situated between said front and rear waist sections and said crotch section, front and rear pairs of laterally opposed ear portions delimited along marginal edges of said front and rear panels, respectively, with longitudinally opposed pairs of said front and rear ear portions engageable with one another about the body of a wearer; an absorbent insert structure substantially superposable on said front and rear panels and said crotch section, including a liquid impermeable barrier and a liquid permeable bodyside liner, with an absorbent composite disposed therebetween; attachment means for attaching longitudinally opposed ends of said insert to said front and rear waist sections, respectively, in selected waist attachment zones, defining free-span zones of substantially unrestricted functional stretchability in said outer cover underlying said free-span zones; a pair of supplemental leg elastic members extending about outermost portions of said leg openings in an operatively tensioned state relative to said outer cover; cooperating full-length fastener members disposed on said longitudinally-opposed ears and releasably engageable with one another forming substantially continuous, noncollapsible closures from said waist opening to said leg openings, said longitudinally-opposed fastener members including fixed-point fastening means fastenable at cooperating upper and lower primary closures adjacent said waist opening and said leg openings, respectively, and fastenable at a secondary closure substantially between said primary closures; wherein said leg elastics each have opposed terminal ends placed adjacent said longitudinally-opposed secondary closures, respectively, to gather said garment about a wearer while routing tensile stresses away from said lower primary closures adjacent said leg openings thereby reducing stress concentrations associated with said leg openings.
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Specification