Individually wrapped sanitary napkin

Abstract: An individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprising a sanitary napkin folded with a back surface thereof lying outside and with one of longitudinally opposite ends underlying the other end thereof and a wrapping sheet folded so as to wrap the napkin with one of longitudinally opposite ends underlying the other end thereof. A portion of the wrapping sheet is integrally fastened at a predetermined region to an outer surface of a release sheet protectively covering an adhesive zone on the back surface of the napkin. The longitudinal one end of the wrapping sheet is releasably fastened to an outer surface of the portion of the wrapping sheet which has been integrally fastened to the release sheet. Such a feature allows the longitudinal one end of the wrapping sheet to stand repeated manipulations of stripping away from and fastening to the outer surface of the integrally fastened portion.

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. There have been conventionally proposed, for example, individually wrapped sanitary napkins in which a sanitary napkin is folded with a back surface thereof lying outside and longitudinal one end thereof underlying the longitudinal other end thereof, and then wrapped by a wrapping sheet constructed in the form of an envelope having a flap extending from an opening thereof. Such wrapped sanitary napkins are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application Nos. Sho57-57828 and Sho57-34211, in which the flap is releasably bonded, by adhesive means provided on an inner surface thereof, to an outer surface of the envelope's body to close the opening. However, the foregoing wrapped sanitary napkins have a problem that the envelope will be often torn or unduly extended as the flap is peeled off the envelope's body to open the opening if the envelope is constructed of a thin flexible plastic film. US-A-5 413 568 discloses a wrapped sanitary sheet according to preambule of Claim 1. Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide an individually wrapped sanitary napkin to solve the above in mentionned problem. The present invention provides a wrapped sanitary napkin according to Claim 1. With the individually wrapped sanitary napkin constructed as described above, the second end of the wrapping sheet can be repeatedly stripped away from and fastened to the outer surface of the wrapping sheet, since the second end of the wrapping sheet is releasably fastened to the outer surface of the wrapping sheet at the fastening region at which the wrapping sheet has been fastened to the release sheet. Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an individually wrapped sanitary napkin as partially broken away; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line II - II in Fig. 1. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, an individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprising a sanitary napkin 1 and an individual wrap 2. A sanitary napkin 1 is longitudinally long and comprises a liquid-permeable topsheet 3 made of a nonwoven fabric and defining a wearer's skin-contacting surface, a liquid-impermeable backsheet 4 made of a plastic film and defining a wearer's skin-noncontacting surface and a liquid-absorbent core 5 formed by a mixture of fluff pulp and superabsorbent polymer particles and disposed between the two sheets 4, 5. An outer surface of the backsheet 4 is applied with adhesive 6 by means of which the backsheet 4 is fastened to a wearer's pants and the adhesive 6 is protectively covered with a release paper sheet 7. An outer surface of the release sheet 7 is covered with a wrapping sheet 8 made of a thin flexible plastic film which is dimensioned larger than the napkin 1 so that transversely opposite marginal areas 15A, 15B, longitudinally opposite 'marginal areas 15C, 15D of the wrapping sheet 8 may extend a peripheral edge of the napkin 1 and fastened at desired regions, in addition to area C, also areas A and B as shown to the wrapping sheet 8 by means of hot melt adhesive 9. The napkin 1 assembled in this manner is now folded up with the topsheet 2 lying inside and with longitudinally opposite ends of the napkin 1 being placed one upon another. The napkin 1 has, in its folded up state, an inner end section 10, an outer end section 11 and an intermediate section 12 extending between the two end sections 10, 11 with portions of the wrapping sheet 8 extending outward beyond transversely opposite edges 13 of the napkin 1 are heat-sealed along a pair of seal-lines 14. One end 16A of a pick-out tab 16 formed by a relatively narrow plastic film strip is fastened to the marginal area 15C of the wrapping sheet 8 adjacent the outer end section 11 of the napkin 1 at a transversely middle area of the marginal area 15C by means of adhesive 17A and a free end 16B of the tab 16 extending outward beyond the marginal area 15C is applied on its inner surface with adhesive 17B by means of which the free end 16B is releasably fastened to an outer surface of the wrapping sheet 8 at the area C. In this manner, the napkin 1 is wrapped by the wrapping sheet 8. A forward end of the tab 16 is folded back and fastened to its own inner surface to form a non-adhesive pick-out tip 16C. With the individually wrapped sanitary napkin constructed as described above, the pick-out tip 16C of the tab 16 may be held between a wearer's fingers and pulled in a direction indicated by an arrow Y (see Fig. 2) to strip the tab 16 away from the area C of the wrapping sheet 8 and may be further pulled to tear the wrapping sheet 8 along the seal-lines 14 whereby to strip the release sheet 7 away from the napkin 1. If it is necessary to interrupt a stroke of stripping operation for any reason, the adhesive 6 may be protected again by the release sheet 7 and the tab 16 may be fastened again to the wrapping sheet 8 at the area C to prevent the napkin 1 from being contaminated with dust or the like. Even if the manipulation of stripping away from and fastening to the wrapping sheet 8 is repeated, the wrapping sheet 8 will not be easily torn or unduly extended, since the wrapping sheet 8 is integrated at the area C with the release sheet 7 by means of adhesive 9. The wrapping sheet 8 8 is preferably finely wrinkled at the area C, since such fine wrinkles will advantageously reduce an effective area over which the tab 16 is fastened to the wrapping sheet 8 at the area C so that the tab 16 can be stripped away therefrom with a relatively small force of stripping and the wrapping sheet 8 can be reliably prevented from being torn or unduly extended at the area C. While it is also possible in this individually wrapped sanitary napkin to fasten the marginal area 15 of the wrapping sheet 8 directly to itself at the area C without use of the tab 16, preferably an additional film having a tear strength and a rigidity both higher than the wrapping sheet 8 is used as the tab 16 to implement the invention. With the individually wrapped sanitary napkin of the invention, the areas on the wrapping sheet integrally fastened to the release sheet are not easily broken or torn or unduly extended, so the marginal area of the wrapping sheet releasably fastened to itself at the regions can well stand repeated manipulations of fastening to and stripping away from the wrapping sheet.

Claims: An individually wrapped sanitary napkin comprising (i) a sanitary napkin (1) extending in a longitudinal way, comprising a topsheet (3) defining a wearer's skin-contacting surface, a back sheet (4) defining a wearer's skin-noncontacting surface and an absorbent core (5) disposed between the two sheets (4,5), said skin-noncontacting surface having two longitudinally opposite ends with an intermediate section therebetween and including an adhesive zone (6) for fastening said napkin (1) to wearer's pants and a release sheet (7) with an inner surface and an outer surface, said inner surface of said release sheet (7) covering protectively said adhesive zone (6); and (ii) a wrapping sheet (8) with an inner surface and an outer surface and having a first end and a second end longitudinally opposed with an intermediate section therebetween, said wrapping sheet (8) being dimensioned larger and longer than said napkin (1), in order to have a first marginal area (15D) at the first end and a second marginal area (15C) at the second end respectively, the inner surface of said wrapping sheet (8) being fastened to the outer surface of the release sheet (7) on at least one fastening area (C), so that the longitudinally intermediate section of said wrapping sheet (8) is covering the longitudinally intermediate section of the wearer's skin-noncontacting surface and longitudinally opposite ends of said wrapping sheet (8) are lying adjacent longitudinally opposite ends of the wearer's skin-noncontacting surface, said napkin (1) with said wrapping sheet (8) being folded up longitudinally with the release sheet lying inside and the wrapping sheet (8) being oriented outwardly in such a manner that the first marginal area (15D) of the wrapping sheet (8) lies inside while the second marginal area (15C) of the wrapping sheet (8) lies outside and said second end of the wrapping sheet (8) overlaps and is releasably fastened to an outer surface of the wrapping sheet (8) at an area thereof underlying said second end of the wrapping sheet (8) by means of an adhesive (17B) provided on an inner surface of the second end of the wrapping sheet (8) , characterised in that the inner surface of the wrapping sheet (8) in correspondence of said area (C) is integrally fastened to the release sheet (7) by means of hot melt adhesive (9). An individually wrapped sanitary napkin according to claim 1, characterised in that the second end of the wrapping sheet (8) comprises a pick-out tab 1 (16) which is releasably fastened to the outer surface of the wrapping sheet (8) at the area (C) thereof underlying said second end of the wrapping sheet (8) by means of an adhesive (17B) provided on the inner surface of one end (16B) of said pick-out tab (16), the other end (16A) of said pick-out tab (16) being fastened to the second marginal area (15C) of the wrapping sheet by means of an adhesive (17A). An individually wrapped sanitary napkin according to claim 1, characterised in that the second marginal area (15C) of the wrapping sheet (8) is directly releasably fastened to the outer surface of the wrapping sheet (8) at the area (C) thereof underlying said second marginal area (15C). An individually wrapped sanitary napkin according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, the outer surface of the wrapping sheet (8) at the area (C) to which the second end of the wrapping sheet (8) is releasably fastened is finely wrinkled.

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