Patent ID: 7264614

Claim:
A disposable diaper, comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent panel interposed between said sheets, said diaper further comprising: a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region extending between said waist regions in a longitudinal direction of said diaper, a pair of side flaps extending in said longitudinal direction outside transversely opposite side edges of said panel, and a pair of end flaps extending in a transverse direction outside longitudinally opposite ends of said panel; wherein said panel has: front and rear sections lying in said front and rear waist regions, respectively, a crotch section lying in said crotch region, and connecting said front and rear sections, a pair of wings each of which extends in the longitudinal direction from a proximal end to a distal end thereof, said proximal end being contiguous to and extending outwardly from one of transversely opposite sides of at least one of said front and rear sections in said transverse direction, and folding guides extending in said longitudinal direction and defined between said at least one of said front and rear sections and the distal ends of respective said wings; and said disposable diaper further comprises: stretchable elastic members extending in said longitudinal direction, spaced outwardly from said folding guides in said transverse direction by a given dimension and contractibly attached to said side flaps; the folding guides are continuous and elongated in the longitudinal direction without extending beyond a transverse center line that bisects an entire longitudinal dimension of said diaper; an entire width of the crotch region in a vicinity of said center line is free of both said wings and said folding guides; said folding guides are zones devoid of absorbent material of said panel; an entire width of each of said zones, as measured in the transverse direction, increases in the longitudinal direction toward said transverse center line; and an entire width of each said wing, as measured in the transverse direction, decreases in the longitudinal direction towards said transverse center line.