Patent ID: 7811271
Filing Date: 2010-10-12
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. An absorbent article for wearing in an undergarment, said absorbent article having a principal longitudinal centerline, a transverse centerline, and a flap transverse centerline, said principal longitudinal centerline and said flap transverse centerline having an intersection, a front area and a back area, said front and back areas divided by said flap transverse centerline, a left side and a right side, said left side and said right side generally disposed along said transverse centerline, said absorbent article comprising: a main body portion having two spaced apart longitudinal side edges and two spaced apart transverse end edges, said main body portion comprising a liquid pervious top sheet, a liquid impervious backsheet joined to said topsheet and an absorbent core positioned between said topsheet and said backsheet; a pair of flaps for folding around and securing said absorbent article to said undergarment, said flaps being associated with said main body portion at a juncture, with one flap extending laterally outward from each longitudinal side edge of said main body portion, each of said flaps having a front half and a back half, said front and back halves divided by said flap transverse centerline; a notch located in said flaps remote from said juncture; and at least one first zone of anisotropic stiffness located in said flaps contiguous with said notch, wherein said first zone of anisotropic stiffness has a relatively stiffer direction and a relatively less stiff direction, wherein said relatively stiffer direction of said first zone of anisotropic stiffness is parallel with an angle fifteen to forty five degrees off of said flap transverse centerline on the side on which said first zone of anisotropic stiffness is located, wherein the vertex of said angle is said intersection of said longitudinal centerline and said flap transverse centerline, and the rotation of the angle is measured towards said longitudinal centerline in said area in which said first zone of anisotropic stiffness is located.