Individually wrapped sanitary napkin

Abstract: An individually wrapped sanitary napkin in which a napkin includes a napkin body and a pair of wings extending from transversely opposite side edges of the napkin body. The napkin body is folded longitudinally thereof in a three layer overlapping relationship and the wings are also folded onto a top surface of the napkin body. Release sheets are releasably bonded onto adhesive zones provided on back surfaces of the napkin body and the wings, respectively. A wrapping sheet is also folded together with the napkin body so as to wrap the napkin body as well as the wings, wherein the respective release sheets are fixedly bonded to an inner surface of the wrapping sheet so that the wrapping sheet and the release sheet can be peeled off in the form of an integrated strip-like sheet from the napkin when picking out the napkin from the wrapping sheet.

Description: The present invention relates to an individually wrapped sanitary napkin and, more particularly, a sanitary napkin or menstruation pad which is folded and individually wrapped by a wrapping sheet. Sanitary napkins comprising a napkin body and a pair of wings, which are folded and individually wrapped, are known in the art. These napkin body and wings are applied at desired zones with adhesive which is, in turn, covered with release sheets so as not to be contaminated with dust or the like. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. Hei6 - 26833 discloses an individually wrapped sanitary napkin in which adhesive zones on a napkin body are protectively covered with a first release sheet while adhesive zones on respective wings are protectively covered with a second release sheet. One end of the first release sheet longitudinally thereof is fixedly bonded to an inner surface of a napkin body wrapping sheet. Additionally, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. Hei5 - 9529 discloses a sanitary napkin provided with a substantially cross-shaped release sheet protectively covering adhesive zones both on a napkin body and wings of a sanitary napkin with this single release sheet simultaneously. Disadvantageously the first and second release sheets must be separately peeled off and much time and labor are required, in comparison with the case in which these two release sheets can be peeled off at once by a single stroke of peeling. According to the napkin disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. Hei5- 9529, on the other hand, a single release sheet is used and time as well as labor for peeling it off can be correspondingly reduced. However, a force of peeling off tends to be decentralized on the marginal regions of the respective crucial branches and the desired peeling cannot smoothly occur at these regions of the single release sheet. Accordingly, it is difficult to peel off this single release sheet as a whole at once. US 5,413,568 discloses a sanitary napkin enclosed within a wrapper comprising an adhesive fastening system for said wrapper. The properties of the adhesive, the fastening tab and the landing surface are selected so that the landing surface does not need to be reinforced to prevent tearing. However, the solution disclosed in this document is limited to very specific dimensioning and properties (elasticity, shear strength, roughness, adherence,...) of said wrapper. It is a principal object of the invention to solve the problems of the prior art napkin. According to the invention, there is provided an individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprising: a napkin including an elongate napkin body composed of a liquid-permeable topsheet, a liquid-impermeable backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed therebetween, and having longitudinally opposite end edges and transversely opposite side edges, and a pair of wings extending outward beyond the transversely opposite side edges of the napkin body and having a top surface and a back surface. A first release sheet is releasably bonded onto an adhesive zone provided on the backsheet, A second release sheet is releasably bonded onto adhesive zones provided on the back surface of the wings which are folded along the transversely opposite side edges of said napkin body onto the topsheets. An elongate wrapping sheet is fixedly bonded to an outer surface of the first release sheet so that longitudinally opposite end edges and transversely opposite side edges of the wrapping sheet extend outward beyond the longitudinally opposite end edges and the transversely opposite side edges of the napkin body. An assembly of the napkin and the wrapping sheet are folded with the topsheet lying inside and with a first longitudinal end of the assembly underlying a second longitudinal end thereof. The transversely opposite side edges of the wrapping sheet is placed one upon another and sealed together. The longitudinal end edge of the wrapping sheet at the first longitudinal end edge of the assembly is fixedly bonded to the second release sheet. With the individually wrapped sanitary napkin constructed as described above, one end of the wrapping sheet lying outside the folded napkin may be held between the wearer's fingers and pulled longitudinally of the napkin to peel the first release sheet releasably bonded to the napkin body off therefrom and then to peel the second release sheet releasably bonded to the wrapping sheet off from the wings. Fig. 1 is a partly cutaway perspective view showing an individually wrapped sanitary napkin of the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line II - II in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the individually wrapped sanitary napkin as longitudinally extended; and Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a manner in which the sanitary napkin is taken out from the wrap. Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, an individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprises a sanitary napkin or menstruation pad 1 and an elongate wrapping sheet 2. The napkin 1 comprises, in turn, an elongate napkin body 6 composed of a liquid-permeable topsheet 3, a liquid-impermeable backsheet 4 and a liquid-absorbent core 5 disposed between these two sheets 3, 4, and a pair of wings 7 formed by bonding together portions of the top- and backsheets 3, 4 extending outward beyond transversely opposite side edges of the napkin body 6. Surfaces of the napkin body 6 and the wings 7 to be in contact with pants worn by a user are provided with a pair of first adhesive zones 8 and a pair of second adhesive zones 9, respectively. The first adhesive zones 8 extend in the longitudinal direction of the napkin body 6 and are releasably covered and protected with an elongate first release sheet 11. The second adhesive zones 9 are located on the respective wings 7 and are releasably covered and protected with a square or rectangle second release sheet 12, with wings 7 being folded along transversely opposite side edges 17, 18 of the napkin body 6, respectively, onto the topsheet 3. The wrapping sheet 2 has longitudinally opposite end edges 26, 28 and transversely opposite side edges 29, 30 extending outward beyond longitudinally opposite end edges 15, 16 and the transversely opposite side edges 17, 18 of the napkin body 6 (See Fig. 3) and fixedly bonded at desired regions, for example, regions A, B, C as indicated in Fig. 2, to an outer surface of the first release sheet 11 by means of hot melt adhesive 20. An assembly of the sanitary napkin 1 and the wrapping sheet 2 is now folded in a three layer overlapping relationship with the topsheet 3 lying inside and with the end edge 16 underlying the end edge 15 of the napkin body 6. The side edges 29, 30 of the wrapping sheet 2 are placed one upon another and bonded together along seal-lines 25 extending in the longitudinal direction of the wrapping sheet 2. The portion 26 of the wrapping sheet 2 extending outward beyond the end edge 15 of the napkin body 6 defines an opening of the individually wrapped sanitary napkin and a pick-out tab 27 extending outward beyond the end edge 26 is releasably bonded to an outer surface of the wrapping sheet 2 by means of adhesive 27A applied onto an inner surface of this tab 27. As shown by Fig. 2, the second release sheet 12 is fixedly bonded to the end edge 28 of the wrapping sheet 2 extending outward beyond the end edge 16 of the napkin body 6 by means of hot melt adhesive 21 and the second release sheet 12 covers the second adhesive zones 9. Referring again to Fig. 3, the assembly of the sanitary napkin 1 and the wrapping sheet 2 is in an unfolded state. From this state, the assembly is folded in a three layer overlapping relationship, i.e., first along a folding line D in a direction indicated by an arrow P and then along a folding line E in a direction indicated by an arrow Q, with the end edge 16 underlying the end edge 15 of the napkin body 6. The state of the assembly thus folded corresponds to the state shown by Figs. 1 and 2. In folding the assembly, an upper surface 12A, as viewed in Fig. 3, of the second release sheet 12 bonded to the wrapping sheet 2 may be put against the second adhesive zones 9, then the pick-out tab 27 may be releasably bonded to an outer surface of the wrapping sheet 2 and finally the seal-lines 25 may be formed. Referring again to Fig. 2 and referring also to Fig. 4, the wrapping sheet 2 is torn or peeled off and the first release sheet 11 also begins to be peeled off along the seal-lines 25 as the tab 27 is pulled in a direction indicated by an arrow Y. As the tab 27 is further pulled, a force of such pulling is exerted also upon the second release sheet 12 and consequently the second release sheet 12 is warped away from the second adhesive zones 9 in a direction indicated by an arrow X. According to the invention, the wrapping sheet 2 and the first and second release sheet 11, 12 can be smoothly peeled off in the form of an integrated strip-like sheet from the sanitary napkin 1 by a single stroke of the above-mentioned pulling operation, whereafter the integrated strip-like sheet may be easily crumpled into a wad and thrown away. To implement the individually wrapped sanitary napkin of the invention, the wrapping sheet 2 as well as the first and second release sheets 11, 12 may be made of materials, for example, a plastic film conventionally employed for these components in the art. Bonding between the various elements of the invention may be achieved by any suitable means such as hot melt adhesive, heat-welding or ultrasonic welding. According to the invention, the first release sheet 11 adapted to protect the adhesive zones provided on the napkin body 6 is fixedly bonded to the wrapping sheet 2, and the second release sheet 12 adapted to protect the adhesive zones provided on the wings 7 is also fixedly bonded to the wrapping sheet 2. Accordingly, the invention allows the first and second release sheets (11 and 12) to be smoothly peeled off from the sanitary napkin merely by tearing the wrapping sheet 2 and taking the napkin out therefrom. In this operation, the first 11 and second 12 release sheets cannot be longitudinally peeled off from each other.

Claims: An individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprising : a napkin (1) including : an elongate napkin body (6) having a liquid-permeable topsheet (3), a liquid-impermeable backsheet (4), a liquid-absorbent core (5) disposed therebetween, and having longitudinally opposite end edges (15,16) and transversely opposite side edges (17,18), a pair of wings (7) extending outward beyond the transversely opposite side edges of said napkin body (6), said wings (7) having a top surface and a back surface, a first release sheet (11) releasably bonded onto the adhesive zone provided on said backsheet (4), a second release sheet (12) releasably bonded onto the adhesive zone provided on the back surface of said wings (7) which are folded along the transversely opposite side edges (17, 18) of said napkin body (6) onto said topsheet (3), said napkin body (6) being folded with said topsheet lying inside and with a first longitudinal end of said napkin body (6) underlying a second longitudinal end thereof, and an elongate wrapping sheet (2) for said napkin, fixedly bonded to the outer surface of said first release sheet (11) so that longitudinally opposite end edges (26,28) and transversely opposite side edges (29,30) of said wrapping sheet (2) extend outward beyond the longitudinally opposite end edges (15,16) and the transversely opposite side edges (17,18) of said napkin body (6), wherein an assembly of said napkin (1) and said wrapping sheet (2) is fold with a first longitudinal end of said assembly underlying a second longitudinal end thereof, the transversely opposite side edges (29,30) of said wrapping sheet (2) being placed one upon another and sealed together, characterized in that the longitudinal end edge (29) of said wrapping sheet (2) at the first longitudinal end edge of said assembly is fixedly bonded (21) to said second release sheet (12). An individually wrapped sanitary napkin according to claim 1, characterised in that said assembly further comprises a pick-out tab (27) having an adhesive inner surface (27A) and extending outward beyond the longitudinal end edge of said wrapping sheet (2) at the second longitudinal end edge of said assembly and being fixedly bonded, the adhesive inner surface (27A) of said pick-out tab (27) being releasably bonded onto an outer surface of a portion of said wrapping sheet (2) to which said adhesive inner surface is opposed. An individually wrapped sanitary napkin according to claim 1, wherein said wings (7) are formed by bonding together portions of said topsheet (3) and said backsheet (4) extending outward beyond the transversely opposite side edges of said napkin body (6).

Inventors: MIZUTANI SATOSHI, MIZUTANI, SATOSHI
Applicants: UNI CHARM CORP, UNI-CHARM CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A61F13
IPC codes: A61F13