MXPA96005414A - Dependable help of paper separation for sanitary towels - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to absorbent products that are used in combination with clothing. Said products are, for example, sanitary napkins, catamenial products or panty lining (1) and have a fastening adhesive to join them to the undergarment. According to the invention, the fastening adhesive is covered by a covering protective means (10) extending to the periphery of the adhesive. In order to separate the cover means (10) from the absorbent product, a removable aid is included, for example, in the form of a cover medium (10) of two parts.

Description

DEPENDABLE HELP OF SEPARATION OF PAPER FOR SANITARY TOWELS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to absorbent products such as, for example, sanitary napkins, panty liners and catamenial products which are used in combination with undergarments. These absorbent products have a fastening adhesive to attach them to the undergarments. The fastening adhesive is covered by a protective cover means that extends to the periphery of the adhesive. In order to separate the cover means from the absorbent product, a removable aid is included for example in the form of a two-part cover means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fasteners adhesives for sanitary napkins, linings for panties and catamenial products are well known in the art. Usually, these cover part of the undergarment that they give to the side of these products. The adhesive allows improved fixation of the products to the undergarment, when applied to the products and during use. In order to protect the adhesive prior to the use of the product, it is common to cover the adhesive with a protective cover means, more often with a release paper. Typically, these protective cover means extend beyond the periphery of the adhesive area formed by the panty fastening adhesive, to allow easy delamination of the absorbent product providing an unbonded edge that can be easily grasped by the wearer, when try to separate the cover media from the product. This delamination helps by the extension of the covering means beyond the periphery of the adhesive area, naturally involves disadvantages of additional material consumption and associated cost, and availability. It also becomes difficult to provide this delamination extension aid for the adhesive areas having a periphery, which is coextensive with the absorbent product by itself. For example, EP-A-0 237 786 discloses full-surface panty fastening adhesives covered with release paper. However, this disclosure does not indicate how to separate the release paper or that this may be difficult. It is known in the field of adhesive gummed papers, such as for example the gummed butt papers, which have the release paper split into two or several parts, in order to facilitate delamination before use. However, this has never been suggested as a useful aspect for absorbent products that have adhesive areas on their side facing the garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows a plan view of the garment side of an absorbent article comprising the present invention; Figure 2 shows the article of Figure 1 directly before the use of the present invention; Figure 3 shows an embodiment of an article according to the present invention, which has wings; and Figure 4 shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention, having wings with three separate applications of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to disposable absorbent articles having a body facing surface and a garment facing surface and an adhesive area on the garment facing surface. A cover means is provided to protect the adhesive area, which extends essentially to the periphery of the adhesive area, and which comprises a release aid. Removable aid is provided by separating the cover means in more than one portion along a dividing line. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the release aid separates the cover means into two portions and the dividing line is preferably not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the absorbent product. If the cover media is separated along two dividing lines, three or four portions of the cover means can be formed. In this case, it is preferable that both lines are essentially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the absorbent article, thereby separating the cover means into a central portion and two external portions. Especially, if the article is a sanitary napkin, panty liner or catamenial product having wings, it is desirable to have the peel aid as being formed by two dividing lines essentially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the article, such that the cover means is split in portions, two of which are coextensive with the wings, while the third "central" portion is coextensive with the remaining parts of the article. In an alternate embodiment, the cover means may comprise portions that overlap along the dividing line.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an absorbent article for use in combination with an undergarment has an adhesive for attaching the article to the undergarment. The article comprises a cover means covering the adhesive, and the cover means is removable before the article is used. Any absorbent article ignoring the functional material or composition, it is susceptible for the present invention to provide an adhesive area on the garment-facing side that is covered by a cover means. In particular, sanitary napkins, linings for panties or catamenial products are used if they are used for menstrual discharges or incontinent persons or other discharges, which are susceptible to the present invention. A typical absorbent article susceptible to the present invention, is a panty liner having a thin absorbent structure extended on the side facing the body by a liquid-permeable topsheet, and extending on the side facing toward the body. garment through a liquid-proof back sheet. Optionally, the article may comprise wings or fins extending laterally from the central portion of the article, away from the longitudinal axis, and bending around the crotch portion of an undergarment during use. Details of the articles contemplated in combination with the present invention can be found in many patent disclosures and even those commercially available. The articles comprise an adhesive area on its surface facing the garment, the adhesive of which is protected by a cover means, the covering means of which is removable before the article is used. The adhesive area does not need to be, but preferably is, coextensive with the surface facing the garment of the article. Also, it is not necessary that the adhesive area be completely covered by the adhesive, but can, for example, be comprised of homogeneously distributed adhesive filaments that leave small areas uncovered between the filaments. Alternatively, an adhesive area can be formed of which a central part is not covered by the adhesive. Preferably, however, the adhesive area is covered with adhesive essentially throughout the area within its periphery. The adhesive area is covered by the cover means such that the cover means extends substantially towards the periphery of the adhesive area. Therefore, it preferably extends towards the periphery of the garment facing surface of the absorbent article, which is preferably covered by the adhesive as indicated above.

In order to help detach the cover means from the adhesive, the cover means comprises a dividing line separating the cover means in more than one portion. As shown in Figure 1, one embodiment of the present invention is a pant liner (1) having a longitudinal axis (3) and a cover means (10) that covers the adhesive area and completely covers the surface that it gives towards the garment of the sanitary napkin (1). The cover means (10) is divided by a dividing line (12) into a first portion of cover means (14) and a second portion of cover means (16). Figure 2 shows the use of the release aid of Figure 1, flexing the article (1) such that the first and second portions of the cover means bend upwards, allowing easy handling and depredation of the cover means. Figure 3 shows an alternate embodiment in which the absorbent article has wings (5) and two dividing lines (12), whereby three portions of the cover means are created. Two portions are essentially coextensive with the wings and the central portion is essentially coextensive with the remainder of the article (1). In Figure 4 an alternative embodiment of the present invention is shown, having three cover means (10), each of which is divided by a dividing line (12) and which is individually placed and not mutually connected in the wings and in the central part of the article (1). The adhesive for holding the article (1) in an undergarment can be any adhesive useful for the desired application. Usually, it is a pressure sensitive adhesive that can be applied in any manner usual in the art. Particularly, the adhesive can be coated as a cold solution or hot melt, either to the surface facing the garment of the article or to the cover means which then brings it to the article. Necessarily, the adhesion strength of the adhesive for the surface facing the garment of the article needs to be greater or equal to that strength of adhesion that is available to the covering means. Also, it is desirable to have an adhesive that does not separate during the use of the article and that leaves traces of the adhesive on the undergarment when the article is separated from the undergarment. The cover means may be provided by any material conventional in the art, particularly by paper or film of natural or synthetic origin, such as for example cellulose, polyethylene, polypropylene, copolymers of different monomers and other materials. Typically, paper that comprises new and / or recycled fibers can be used. In order to satisfy the requirements of the bond strength ratio between the cover / adhesive means and the lateral surface facing the article / adhesive garment, it is preferable to use a cover means treated with a non-stick material on the side where the adhesive is in contact. Such non-stick materials typically comprise silicone or other wax of non-stick materials. Particularly preferred as the cover means are paper sheets coated with silicone on one or both sides. If such papers are used, a particular advantage of them is that the adhesive can be applied to the cover means, and the cover means together with the adhesive can then be applied to the absorbent article. This allows the use of adhesives having an application temperature or other characteristic that is not suitable for applying them directly to the side of the article-facing surface of the article, while application to the cover means has no disadvantageous effect. It will be appreciated that the foregoing explanations and embodiments are described for illustrative and optional purposes, and are not construed as limiting the present invention, which is defined in the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A disposable absorbent article having a body facing surface and a garment facing surface, and further having a longitudinal axis, said article comprising: an adhesive area on said garment facing surface; and a cover means for said adhesive area extending essentially to the periphery of said adhesive area, said cover means having a removable aid, said release aid separating said cover means in more than one portion along a length of dividing line.

2. A disposable absorbent article according to claim 1, further characterized in that said cover means has two portions.

3. A disposable absorbent article according to claim 2, further characterized in that said dividing line is not parallel to said longitudinal axis. A disposable absorbent article according to claim 1, further characterized in that said removable aid separates said cover means along two dividing lines, said dividing lines being substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis, creating two external portions and one central portion of said cover means. 5. A disposable absorbent article according to any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that said article is an insert for adult incontinent, a catamenial product, a sanitary napkin or a panty liner, preferably having wings. A disposable absorbent article according to claim 4 or 5, further characterized in that said article comprises wings and said cover means has two dividing lines that are essentially parallel to said longitudinal axis, and which create two external portions of said means of cover and said outer portions being essentially coextensive with said wings. 7. A disposable absorbent article according to any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that the cover means is a release paper. 8. A disposable absorbent article according to any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that said adhesive area is covered by adhesive homogeneously within said periphery of said adhesive area. A disposable absorbent article according to any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that said adhesive area is coextensive with said facing surface facing the garment. 10. A disposable absorbent article according to any of the preceding claims, further characterized in that said portions of the cover means overlap along a dividing line.