US2294899A - Sanitary napkin - Google Patents

Description

Sept.y s, 1942.

C. A. FOURNESS ETAL SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Feb. 1939 C5 wf @fm its entirety 5.

Patented Sept. 8, 1942 SANITARY NAPKIN Charles A. Fonrness, Appleton, and Edward H. Voigtman, Neenah, Wis., assignors to International Cellucotton Products Company,

Chicago,

Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application February 8, 1939, Serial No. 255,278

Claims. (Cl. 12S-284)` This invention relates to an improved sanitary napkin structure and particularly to an improvement insanitary napkins or absorbent pads which embody an absorbent pad element, and, around the pad element, a wrapper which is used for supporting the pad. A

The main objects of the invention are toy provide a sanitary napkin of the character indicated with a covering-or wrapper adapted to serve the usual functions of supporti-nag the pad and which wrapper will be soft and without any material tendency to chafe the wearer of the pad; to provide a pad with a, soft, non-chafing wrapper which will be strong enough to serve the said supporting functions notwithstanding a much higher degree of softness than has been heretofore available in connection with articles of the character referred to; to provide a sanitary napkin structure having the aforementioned advantages but which may be manufactured at a cost not materially greater and possibly less than the cost of present-day sanitary napkins of comparable absorptiveness but which.

lack the advantages "0f a comfort giving wrapper such as herein contemplated; and in general, it is the object of the inventionto providelan improved sanitary napkin structure of the type indicated.

relation and to produce flattened, thin ends which will hug the body when the napkin is worn and avoid objectionable bulging. The creped tissue pad 5 ymay have its top and bottom surfaces covered with relatively thinV webs such as indicated at l and 8 `of cotton or other smooth, soft ma'- terial, and, if desired, the cotton layer on the outside of the pad which is worn away from the body may be moisture-proofed while the other is made of absorbent cotton. 'I'he side vedges of the pad may be enclosed inwater-proof edge strips 9 and I0, respectively, which may be of paper treated to make it water-proof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specication and accompanying drawing (1 sheet), wherein there is illustrated a sanitary napkin embodying a selected form of the improved construction and also, moreor less diagrammatically, the means and method for producing a portion of the structure.

In the drawing: f

Figure 1 is a perspective of a sanitary napkin partly opened up to reveal its construction;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective of the wrapping materialemployed around the pada portion of the view being enlarged as viewed through a magnifying glass; and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of apparatus and a method for producing the wrapping material employed in constructing the napkirl. A

Referring now to the drawing,'there, is shown in Figure 1 an absorbent pad body designated in The pad body 5 may be of anyipreferred construction; in this instance it may be considered as being made of a plurality of plies of superposed, creped tissue paper having their ends pressed together as illustrated at 6, under sufcient pressure to weld, in eect, the plies together so as to maintain them in their superposed impairment by the enclosing wrapper. However, l

The sanitary napkin,- whether or not embodying the multi-part pad structure above described, also comprises a wrapper Il which, inconventional'practice, has been made of gauze. Such a wrapper -is usually about twice the length of the absorbent pad body and wide enough to permit it to be folded lengthwise around the pad in the -manner indicated in Figure 1. When the wrapper is folded around the pad, the opposite end portions thereof extend beyond the pad ends to form tabs such as indicated at I2, which are employed for attaching the pad to a supporting belt through the agency'of fastening buckles,"pins or otherwise.

-It will be apparent that the wrapper, in order to securely support the pad, must have adequate tensile strength to prevent the pad from breaking through the'wrapper or to prevent the tabs from tearing away from the buckle or pin fastenings or otherwise breaking. Gauze which has Ybeen used conventionally for wrapper purposes provides the desired tensile strength while being light and fully pervious so that the absorbent pad element is permitted to serveits function without gauze wrappers embody threads which are rela'- tively harsh, and hence tend to chafe or irritate the skin of the wearer and because of their lightness they readily bunch together and string in the attachment tab portions with consequent discomforting effects.

A web of soft cotton, although oiering softness, smoothness and other comfort characterv istics, is not adapted to serve the purpose of a wrapper because of its lack of tensile strength which is necessary as above indicated.

In order to obtain the comfort characteristics of a web of cotton or like bres, there is provided, according to the present invention, a composite wrapper structure which has all the comfort characteristics of a simple cotton web and in addition, the required tensile strength, so that it may l spools indicated at I9 are passed over 20 by which latex or other suitable Suitable vacuum means such as indicated at I8 may beprovided for forming the loose fibre into a web on the screen I1. Threads I5, drawn from a series of apparatus indicated at adhesive material is applied to the threads, and then downwardly under a presses the threads 'I5 against the surface of the fibrous layer I3 on the screen.' 'Ihe second layer Il of fibrous material may then be formed above the threads by means such as illustrated and the composite structure' thus formed preed together by. means vof a pressure roll 2,2lafterywhich vthe composite structure is removed'from screen Il by a conveyor or other suitable means suchas indicated at 23.

The pressure roll `22 should be so adjusted l relative to the screen Il that the upper and lower webs of brous material will be pressed into intimate engagement'with the intervening threads I5 so that the cementitious coating thereon will intimately engage with the adjacent fibres of the upper and lower layers, so as to thereby effectively adhesively unite both of layers to all of the threads.

By producing the webs I3 and I4 in the manner indicated, the fibres of cotton or other material assume no predetermined relation such as exists in a carded or garnetted web of cotton. Instead, the bres are irregularly arranged, extending in various directions and crossing each other so that the respective webs assume a slightly matted or felted arrangement, although retaining the looseness and softness of a uify, unfelted mass of cotton bres.

When the wrapper formed of material produced as above described is folded around the absorbent pad body in the manner indicated in Figure 1, the interengaging fibrous surfaces of the overlapping marginal portions tend to adhere to each other, due, probably, to the inherent cohesivenessof cotton fibres or to the intermingling thereof, so that only a relatively narrow overlapping width need be provided while at the or free the fibrous invention there are tion in the manner explained, affords such transverse tensile strength as is required.

The described composite wrapper material may be produced on fast-operating machineryand guideroll 2l winch probably ata lower cost lfor both raw materials, labor and equipment than the cost of producing gauze such as has heretofore been conventionally employed for wrapping and supporting sanitary napkins. Hence, although the described structure embodies important advantages over prior constructions, it involves no increased cost of production or materials. If Ait be desired to further reduce the cost of the improved structure,

the innermost layer I4 of fibrous material may be omitted. However, if it be preferred, the lower or outer layer I3- of brous material may be thickened somewhat so as to partly compensate for the eliminated inner layer, although such compensation is not necessary. It is merely important that the outer layer I3 be thick enough or'fsoft-enoughto prevent'thethreads I5 from working throu'glr` to' the?? outside of the fibrous layer.

Changes in the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the same being construed as broadly as possible, consistent with the state of the art.

We claim:

l. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and a wrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond' the ends thereofA constituting'tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrapper comprising a multiplicty of haphazardly arranged and loosely matted libres constituting a soft brous material same time obtaining adequate sealing of the wrapper around the pad.

The external soft fibrous surface thus provided around the pad body is soft, smooth and free from any chafing tendency, so that the napkin -has a highly desirable comfort characteristic.

Also, the attachment tabs have a weight or body not present when an ordinary gauze wrapper is employed, which body is desirable in that it -re'- sists Stringing of the attachment tabs and pro vides something substantial to grip in a buckle or to pin to a supporting belt of the pin-attachment type. r

The longitudinally extending threads incor'A .porated in the wrapper supply adequate tensile strength longitudinally of the wrapper, so that the wrapper is capable of securely supporting and retaining the absorbent pad body in proper position when suspended from the attachment tabs layer characterized by its anti-chafing quality and inadequate tensile strength 'for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, and a plurality of threads disposed in spaced, parallel relation on the inside and extending lengthwise of said layer of fibrous material for supplying the required tensile strength to said wrapper without impairing its aforesaid anti-chaflng quality.

2. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and a wrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereof constituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrapper comprisi ing a multiplicity of haphazardly arranged and loosely matted fibres constituting a soft fibrous material layer characterized by its anti-chang quality and inadequate tensile strength for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, and a plurality of threads disposed in spaced, parallel relation on the inside and extending lengthwise of said layer ofI fibrous material and adhesively attached thereto for supplying the required tensile strength to said wrapper without impairing. its aforesaid anti-chafing quality.

3. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and a wrapper enclosing said pad and'having extensions beyond the ends thereof constituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrapper comprising a multiplicity of haphazardly arranged and beyond the ends of the pad. In a sanitary napkin loosely matted fibres constituting a soft fibrous material layer characterized by its anti-chang quality and inadequate tensile strength for said supporting and attaching functions of the Wrapper, and a plurality of adhesive-coated threads disposed in relatively spaced, parallel relation on the inside of said layer of fibrous material and attached thereto as an incident to the adhesive coating on.said threads, said threads serving to supply the required tensile strength to said wrap; per Without impairing its anti-chang quality.

4. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and a wrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereof constituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment to a belt or other supporting element, said wrapper comprising a pair of relatively independent layers of` haphazardly arranged and loosely matted bres constituting soft fibrous material layers characterized by an anti-chang quality and inadequate tensile strength for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, and a plu'- rality of threads disposed in relatively spaced, parallel relation intermediate and extending lengthwise of said layers of fibrous material for supplying the required tensile strength to saidv wrapper without -impairing its aforesaid antichang quality.

5. A sanitary napkin comprising an elongated absorbent pad, and a wrapper enclosing said pad and having extensions beyond the ends thereof constituting tabs adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment to a belt or other supporting element, 4said wrapper comprising a pair of relatively independent layers of haphazardly arranged and loosely matted fibres constituting soft brous material layers characterized by an anti-chailng` quality and inadequate tensile strength for said supporting and attaching functions of the wrapper, and a pl'urality of adhesive-coated threads disposed in relatively spaced, parallel relation intermediate and extending lengthwise of said layers of fibrous material and adhesively attached thereto incident to the adhesive coating on said threads for supplying the required tensile strength to said. wrapper without impairingits aforesaid antichang quality. A CHARLES A. FOURNESS. EDWARD H. VOIG'I'MAN.

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