Patent ID: 8702671

Claim:
A disposable absorbent article comprising: a central body defining a first waist end region including a first end edge, a second waist end region spaced longitudinally from the first waist end region and including a second end edge, and a crotch region positioned therebetween; and an absorbent core situated between the end edges, the absorbent core including at least one absorbent core element and a plurality of elastics that are generally laterally aligned and mutually longitudinally spaced apart, and are incorporated with the at least one core element such that the core element is substantially laterally contracted in a narrowed region of the core element about the elastics; and wherein the absorbent core includes at least one end region that is substantially non-elasticized, the at least one end region having a lateral width substantially wider than a lateral width of the narrowed region of the core element; and wherein the narrowed region of the substantially laterally contracted core element substantially corresponds with and defines a lateral width of a substantially laterally contracted narrowed region of the absorbent core and wherein each of a plurality of said elastics extends laterally from a location proximate one side margin of the narrowed region of the core element to a location proximate an opposite side margin of the narrowed region of the core element; and wherein the elastics are concentrated in a central region of the core element between the end regions, the elastics extending laterally from one side margin of the core element to another side margin of the core element, and wherein the elastics are arranged in longitudinally spaced apart rows of varying pitch, wherein elastics near a lateral centerline of the arrangement of elastics are spaced longitudinally closer together than elastics farther away from the lateral centerline to form a concavity in the side margins.