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US-12616612-B2 - Absorbent sanitary article and a method for producing the same

US12616612B2US 12616612 B2US12616612 B2US 12616612B2US-12616612-B2

Abstract

An absorbent sanitary article including a chassis and at least one gasketing element including two non-elastic outer layers and a transversally stretchable elastic film, wherein the transversally stretchable elastic film is shorter than the two non-elastic outer layers both in longitudinal and transverse directions, so that the gasketing element has two non-elastic longitudinal portions and two non-elastic transverse portions forming a non-elastic frame surrounding the transversally stretchable elastic film.

Inventors

  • Gabriele SABLONE

Assignees

  • FAMECCANICA.DATA S.P.A.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20220927
Priority Date
20210929

Claims (13)

  1. 1 . An absorbent sanitary article comprising: a chassis having a longitudinal axis, two side edges, rear and front waist sections, and a crotch section intermediate between the rear and front waist sections, the chassis including a topsheet having an outer surface which in use is adapted to be in contact with a user's skin, a backsheet, and an absorbent core set between the topsheet and the backsheet, and at least one gasketing element applied on the outer surface of the topsheet in at least one of said rear and front waist sections, wherein the at least one gasketing element includes two non-elastic outer layers and a transversally stretchable elastic film sandwiched between said two non-elastic outer layers, wherein the two outer layers are separate and distinct layers fixed to each other to sandwich the transversally stretchable elastic film therebetween, wherein the transversally stretchable elastic film is shorter than the two non-elastic outer layers both in the direction of said longitudinal axis and in a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, so that the at least one gasketing element has two non-elastic longitudinal portions and two non-elastic transverse portions forming a non-elastic frame surrounding the transversally stretchable elastic film, wherein the at least one gasketing element is attached to the chassis along a C-shaped attachment profile including two opposite longitudinal portions and a transverse outer portion, wherein a central inner region of the at least one gasketing element is detached from the outer surface of the topsheet to form a pocket open toward said crotch section, wherein the central region includes the transversally stretchable elastic film such that the transversally stretchable elastic film is detached from the outer surface of the topsheet and is surrounded on three sides by the C-shaped attachment profile, and wherein the at least one gasketing element has a width in the transverse direction which is less than the width in the transverse direction of the respective rear and front waist sections of the chassis.
  2. 2 . The absorbent sanitary article of claim 1 , wherein the two non-elastic longitudinal portions of the at least one gasketing element are overlapped to said two opposite longitudinal portions of the C-shaped attachment profile.
  3. 3 . The absorbent sanitary article of claim 1 , wherein an outer non-elastic transverse portion of the at least one gasketing element is overlapped to said transverse outer portion of said C-shaped attachment profile.
  4. 4 . The absorbent sanitary article of claim 1 , wherein the chassis comprises a pair of elastic leg cuffs extending parallel to said longitudinal axis and attached to an inner surface of the topsheet, and wherein said two non-elastic longitudinal portions of the at least one gasketing element are fixed to respective end portions of said elastic leg cuffs.
  5. 5 . The absorbent sanitary article of claim 1 , wherein said at least one gasketing element comprises an outer layer of impermeable plastic material facing the outer surface of the topsheet.
  6. 6 . The absorbent sanitary article of claim 1 , wherein said at least one gasketing element comprises at least one layer of non-woven material forming a surface of the at least one gasketing element which in use is adapted to be in contact with the user's skin.
  7. 7 . A method for producing absorbent sanitary articles, comprising: providing a continuous elastic laminate elongated in a longitudinal direction and comprising two continuous non-elastic outer layers and a plurality of elastic elements sandwiched between the two non-elastic outer layers, wherein said plurality of elastic elements are elastically stretchable in a transverse direction and are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the plurality of elastic elements in the transverse direction are shorter than the non-elastic outer layers, providing an array of chassis each having a longitudinal axis, two side edges, rear and front waist sections, and a crotch section intermediate between the rear and front waist sections, each chassis including a topsheet having an outer surface which in use is adapted to be in contact with a user's skin, a backsheet, and an absorbent core set between the topsheet and the backsheet, transversely cutting said continuous elastic laminate to form individual gasketing elements each including two non-elastic outer layers and a transversally stretchable elastic film sandwiched between said two non-elastic outer layers, wherein the two outer layers are separate and distinct layers fixed to each other to sandwich the transversally stretchable elastic film therebetween, wherein the transversally stretchable elastic film is shorter than the two non-elastic outer layers both in the direction of said longitudinal axis and in a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, so that each individual gasketing element has two non-elastic longitudinal portions and two non-elastic transverse portions forming a non-elastic frame surrounding the transversally stretchable elastic film, applying said individual gasketing elements on the outer surface of the topsheet of a respective chassis in at least one of said rear and front waist sections, and attaching said individual gasketing elements to respective chassis along a C-shaped attachment profile including two opposite longitudinal portions and a transverse outer portion, wherein a central inner region of the individual gasketing element is detached from the outer surface of the topsheet to form a pocket open toward said crotch section, wherein the central region includes the transversally stretchable elastic film such that the transversally stretchable elastic film is detached from the outer surface of the topsheet and is surrounded on three sides by the C-shaped attachment profile, and wherein said individual gasketing elements are formed with a width in the transverse direction which is less than the width in the transverse direction of the respective rear or front waist section of the chassis.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein providing a continuous elastic laminate, comprises: providing a continuous elastic film having a longitudinal direction, transversely cutting said continuous elastic film along transverse cutting lines orthogonal to said longitudinal direction, to provide a plurality of individual elastic elements, spacing from each other said individual elastic elements in said longitudinal direction, sandwiching said individual elastic elements stretched in the transverse direction between two continuous non-elastic outer layers, and joining said individual elastic elements to said two continuous non-elastic outer layers.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the two non-elastic longitudinal portions of each individual gasketing element are overlapped to the two opposite longitudinal portions of the respective C-shaped attachment profile.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 7 , comprising transversely stretching said individual gasketing elements before attaching said individual gasketing elements to respective chassis.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 7 , comprising providing said chassis with respective pairs of elastic leg cuffs extending parallel to said longitudinal axis and attached to an inner surface of the topsheet, and fixing said two non-elastic longitudinal portions of each individual gasketing element to end portions of said elastic leg cuffs.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein one of said two continuous non-elastic outer layers is made of impermeable plastic material.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein one of said two continuous non-elastic outer layers is made of a non-woven material.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 21199774.7 filed Sep. 29, 2021. The disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to absorbent sanitary articles, such as, for example, diapers, training pants, absorbent sanitary products for incontinent adults, etc. The invention also relates to a method for producing absorbent sanitary articles. PRIOR ART An absorbent sanitary article typically has a structure that comprises a central body or chassis having rear and front sections. The chassis normally includes a permeable topsheet intended to come into contact with the user's skin when the article is worn, an impermeable backsheet and an absorbent core sandwiched between the topsheet and the backsheet. The rear and front sections of the chassis are normally closed around the user's waist by means of hook-and-loop fasteners, better known as Velcro© fastening devices. The rear and front sections may be elasticized. WO 2020/242714 and WO2021/092606 disclose methods for bonding elastic parts under tension to an advancing carrier, which may be used for elasticizing the waist sections of absorbent sanitary articles. The methods disclosed in these documents provide: advancing a carrier substrate, advancing a continuous elastic substrate, cutting an elastic part from the continuous elastic substrate, stretching the elastic part in a cross direction, positioning the elastic part on the carrier substrate, and adhesively bonding a stretched central region of the elastic part with the carrier substrate, and mechanically bonding end regions of the elastic part with the carrier substrate. The formation of elasticized waist sections involves a high cost both for the machine and for the materials used for manufacturing absorbent sanitary articles. In particular, the elastic films used for manufacturing elastic element have a substantial impact on the cost of the absorbent sanitary articles. Although it would be desirable to avoid applying elastic elements in the waist regions to reduce the costs of absorbent sanitary articles and of the machines for manufacturing the same, without elastic elements in the waist regions the absorbent sanitary articles might have reduced capacity to contain leakage of body exudates in the crotch region, especially solid and semi-solid body exudates. OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide an absorbent sanitary article which overcomes the problems of the prior art. More specifically the object of the invention is to provide absorbent sanitary articles which employ a reduced quantity of elastic films and maintain good capacity of retention of body exudates. According to the invention, this object is achieved by an absorbent sanitary article having the features of claim 1. According to another aspect, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing absorbent sanitary articles having the features of claim 8. The claims form an integral part of the technical disclosure provided here in relation to the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, wherein: FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of an absorbent sanitary article according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the absorbent sanitary article of FIG. 1 in an extended position, FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-section of a gasketing element taken along the line III-III of FIG. 3, FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of an apparatus for producing a continuous elastic laminate, FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of a continuous elastic laminate, FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a machine for manufacturing absorbent sanitary articles according to the invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the detail indicated by the arrow VII in FIG. 6. It should be appreciated that the attached drawings are schematic and not to scale with respect to real products. Various figures may not be represented in the same scale. Also, in various figures some elements may not be shown to better show other elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 10 indicates an absorbent sanitary article according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows the absorbent sanitary article 10 in the configuration in which it is worn, and FIG. 2 shows the absorbent sanitary article 10 in a flat configuration. The absorbent sanitary article 10 comprises a chassis 12 elongated along a longitudinal axis X. The chassis 12 has two side edges 14, and rear and front waist sections 16, 18. The rear and front waist sections 16, 18 have respective transverse edges 17, 19. The rear and front waist sections 16, 18 may be not elastic. A crotch section 20 extends between the rear and front