Waist belt for an absorbable garment article

The subject of the invention is an absorbent confection article, in particular a napkin or diaper.

An absorbent confection article is known from the patent application description published under the number W0-A-91/08725, which has an absorbent section and a waist belt attached directly or indirectly to it. The waist belt has two belt parts protruding on each side of the absorbent section to fasten them together around the wearer's waist. The belt is integrally connected to a part of the absorbent article. After fastening the belt around the waist with the end of the article ready attached at the back of the wearer end of the article not attached

175 642 to the belt section is transferred through the wearer's legs and attached by means of detachable attachment to the belt from the front. The detachable attachment means may be a loop and hook type means.

One of the problems with such articles is the handling of the belt parts, which protrude from both sides of the absorbent part of the integrated clothing article in such a way that the belt parts can be quickly and accurately held and fastened together. The belt material should be cheap because it is integrated with the ready-made article, which together with the belt creates a disposable product.

Where there is a problem of inflexibility, it should be acknowledged that people affected by this disability are often old and have various types of physical disabilities. Consequently, they have more difficulty fastening the seat belt on their own and often need the help of staff when putting on these ready-made articles.

An absorbent confection article, according to the invention, comprising an absorbent body and a waist belt fastened directly or indirectly to one of its waist areas, which has two belt sections protruding sideways on both sides of the absorbent body and comprising elements fastening them together, characterized by that the waist belt attached to the first waist area of ​​the absorbent body has a stiffness of 25 g to 90 g when measured according to the modified version of the ASTM D 4032-82 CIRCULAR bEnD PROCEDURE (circular bending procedure).

The waist belt has a width of 70 to 160 mm. At least a portion of the outer, in a fastened state, the waist belt surface comprises a nonwoven fabric, or preferably both waist belt surfaces comprise a nonwoven fabric, and most preferably the waist belt is one piece of nonwoven fabric.

The waist stiffness, measured according to the modified version of the ASTM D 4032-82 CIRCULAR BEND PROCEDURE (circular bending procedure), in a preferred embodiment of the invention is from 30 g to 55 g, preferably from 35 g to 50 g.

The absorbent body is provided in its second waist area opposite to the first waist area with hook element bands connecting to the waist belt loop material, the waist belt surface having a surface adapted to connect with the hook element bands while maintaining a shear strength of at least 1 Nem '², preferably at least 15 Nem '² and a peel strength of 0.1 to 2.0 Nem '¹preferably from 0.2 to 0.8 Nem '¹. The waist belt has a band of hook elements attached to its one of the two belt parts and adapted to connect to the surface of the other belt parts, with the hook element belt having an elongated shape and being located with its larger dimension on the waist belt in the direction of its width, and a larger dimension bands of hooked elements have a length from 25% to 75% of the waistband width.

The waist belt is a continuous belt attached to the absorbent body, and its two belt parts protrude sideways from the absorbent body.

The resulting garment belt is a belt that does not show excessive folding, which can be painful for the wearer and is not too stiff, which could cause chafing and rubbing. In addition, the confection article is obtained with a belt, which can be made cheaply, and is particularly useful for use in adults who are unstoppable.

The subject of the invention is shown in the embodiment of the drawing, in which fig. 1 shows the absorbent article according to the invention, fig. 2 - various fastening means used to fasten the belt of the absorbent article according to the invention.

Examples of implementation. The absorbent article 1 shown in Fig. 1 consists of an absorbent body 2 and a waist belt 3.

The waist belt 3 is preferably one continuous belt attached to the first waist area 4 of the absorbent body 2 or preferably consists of two separate belt parts 7 and 8, each of which is attached to the corresponding first waist area 4 or the second waist area 5 of the absorbent body 2. The method of attachment as such is not important.

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If it is desired to give elasticity to a waist belt made of two separate belt parts 7, 8, the waist area 4 or 5 may be flexible.

The general appearance of the ready-made article is known per se, therefore no detailed description of all its components will be given here. At one end of the first belt part 7 of the waist belt 3 a flexible band of hook elements 6, preferably of the hook and loop type, is used which can be attached to the second belt part 8 (on the side not shown) or to the loop of the loop elements located on the second belt part 8 . Although the waist belt 3 is preferably substantially parallel and has two laterally spaced longitudinal edges 9 and 10 between which the hook member band 6 is attached, it may also have other shapes. In the case of a rectangular waist belt 3, its width is from 70 mm to 160 mm in adult applications.

The waist belt 3 according to the invention has a stiffness in the range of 25 g to 90 g according to the modified ASTM D 4032-82 CIRCULAR BEND PROCEDURE test, which ensures good wear characteristics of belt parts 7 and 8 even when using nonwoven fabric. With a stiffness below 25 g, there is a problem of the waist 3 folding, which is undesirable. With a stiffness greater than 90 g, the waist belt is too stiff and uncomfortable to wear. Thus, the rigidity of the free portion of the belt (e.g. in the center of the first belt portion 7) should be within the given range.

In particular, according to the invention, the preferred range of stiffness of the waist belt 3 is between 30 g and 55 g, and the best wearing results are obtained when the stiffness of the waist belt 3 is between 35 g and 50 g.

Preferably, on one or both sides of the waist belt 3 there is a nonwoven material detachably connecting to the straps of the hook elements 6. By using a nonwoven fabric on the surface of the waist belt 3, a connection of the strands of the hook elements 6 with the waist belt 3 having a shear strength of 1 Ncm '²or more, preferably more than 15 Nem '² and a peel strength between 0.1-2.0 N cm '¹preferably 0.2-0.8 Ncm '¹.

The use of non-woven fabric is obviously cost-effective because it is cheaper than the fabric and therefore more useful for disposable ready-made articles. The bands of the loop elements, attached on the other side of the confection article 1 not visible in the drawing, are preferably also made of nonwoven.

On the inner side of the belt parts, therefore, a material is preferably used which is an absorbent material, preferably in a nonwoven grade, which allows the cost of the absorbent article to be kept low.

The bands of hook elements 6 are used to adjust the waist belt 3 for each user and to fasten it. The band or bands of hook elements 6 are of such length and width and are arranged in such an orientation as to reduce significantly the possibility of contact between the bands of hook elements 6 and the wearer's waist as a result of incorrect fastening of the waist belt 3 or in the case of a larger size of the user's waist.

As shown in Figs. 2A, 2B, 2C, showing three possible embodiments of the waistband of an absorbent ready-made article, the hook band 15, 16 and 17 may have outer edges offset from each longitudinal edge 9, 10 of the waistband. In this way, when the waist belt is fastened, with a slight angular misalignment or incorrect overlap, the hook members 15, 16, 17 do not protrude beyond the edges of the waist belt and therefore do not touch the wearer's body.

As can be seen, the bands of hook elements 15, 16, 17 are elongated or, in the case of a series of bands of hook elements 16, as in Fig. 2B, a series of bands are elongated. Preferably, an elongation ratio greater than 2: 1 is used, and even more, preferably this elongation ratio is over 3: 1. Preferably, the bands of hook elements 15, 16, 17 are arranged with their larger dimension over the width of the waistband as shown, and their larger side is between 20% and 75% in width from the main surface of the waistband 3. By the width of the waistband 3 is meant the width waist belt in this zone where the hook band 15, 16, 17. is attached. Thus

175 642 although in the example of Fig. 2C the band of hook elements 17 extends substantially over the entire tapered portion of the waist belt 3, it still remains in the range given above. It is particularly preferred to use a strip of hook elements 15, 16, 17 with a length less than 60% or even more preferably less than 50%. With these band sizes of hook elements 15, 16, 17, the required shear strength of the joint is obtained when using a nonwoven fabric as a waist belt attachment surface.

The material sample stiffness parameters were measured by measuring its peak bending stiffness as disclosed in EP-A-0 336 578. The test apparatus, procedure and calculations disclosed in this specification were used, and the peak bending stiffness was determined by testing modeled according to ASTM D 4032-82 CIRCULAR BEND PROCEDURE (circular bending procedure), this procedure has been significantly changed and performed as described in EP-A-0 336 578.

The circular bending procedure is a simultaneous, multidirectional deformation of the material in which one face of the sample becomes concave and the other convex. The circular bending procedure gives the force value related to the bending resistance, while averaging the stiffness in all directions.

The tests were carried out on the waist belt according to the present invention, using the device according to EP-A-0 336 578 needed for the circular bending procedure. The modified device for testing circular bending stiffness has the following parts: a smoothly polished steel sheet platform measuring 102.0 x 102.0 x 6.35 mm with a matrix hole with a diameter of 18.75 mm. The transition edge of the matrix runs at an angle of 45 °, up to a depth of 4.75 mm. The stamp with an overall length of 72.2 mm, diameter 6.25 mm has a ball end with a radius of 2.97 mm and a needle tip protruding a distance of 0.88 mm, with a diameter at the base of 0.33 mm and a tip radius less than 0.5 mm. The stamp is mounted coaxially with the hole and has equal loosening on all sides. The needle tip only serves to prevent lateral displacement of the test sample during testing. Therefore, if the needle tip adversely affects the test sample (for example, piercing the inflatable structure) then it should not be used. The bottom of the punch was positioned well above the top of the die. From this position, the ball end movement reached exactly the bottom of the matrix plate. A pressure transducer was used as the force measurement sensor. The measuring transducer had a load range from 0.0 to 2,000 grams. The actuator had a pressure transducer.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be understood that they are in no way a limitation of the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

It is obvious to specialists that a waist belt with the indicated rigidity range can also be used as a separate belt, i.e., for example, when the absorbent body is attached to the waist belt by means of detachable attachment.

It should be noted that although the term absorbent ready-made article is used particularly to refer to adults, the invention is not limited to this particular use or any particular size or type of ready-made article. It is obvious to specialists that such belts can be used, for example, with baby diapers or baby diapers, only by adjusting the dimensions accordingly.

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FIG. 2A

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FIG2B

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FIG 2C

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5 13

FIG.1

UP Department of Publications. Circulation of 90 copies

Price PLN 2.00