Patent ID: 7842021

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an absorbent article, the method comprising: assembling an absorbent article that comprises: a central region comprising absorbent material, the central region comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the first end and the second end are spaced at opposite ends of the central region along a longitudinal direction; a front waist region located at the first end of the central region, wherein the front waist region extends in a lateral direction across a first end of the central region, wherein the lateral direction is generally transverse to the longitudinal direction; and a rear waist region located at the second end of the central region, wherein rear waist region extends in the lateral direction across the second end of the central region; attaching a self-contained seal to the waist region during the assembling, wherein the seal comprises a compressed folded stack of resilient material contained within a sealed cavity such that the compressed folded stack comprises a first thickness, wherein the folded stack comprises a continuous length of the resilient material with two or more folds spaced apart across the rear waist region in the lateral direction and a segment of the resilient material extending in the lateral direction between each pair of folds at opposing ends of the segment; and forming an opening in the sealed cavity of the seal such that the compressed folded stack of resilient material expands to a second thickness greater than the first thickness as air enters the cavity.