Patent ID: 8460262

Claim:
An intravaginal tampon having an outer surface comprising an insertion end, a withdrawal end, and a center portion formed between the insertion end and the withdrawal end, the tampon having a longitudinal axis and formed of compressed material; wherein: a. at least two segmented grooves are formed in the outer surface and each segmented groove is separated from and spaced at a distance from an adjacent segmented groove; and b. each segmented groove has: i. at least one substantially longitudinal segment having a substantially longitudinal orientation and having a first end disposed toward the insertion end of the tampon and a second end disposed toward the withdrawal end of the tampon; and ii. at least one accumulator segment intersects the first end of the a first substantially longitudinal segment at a vertex and a second accumulator segment intersects the second end of the at least one substantially longitudinal segment at a vertex, wherein the intersection of the at least one substantially longitudinal segment and each accumulator segment when measured from the vertex forms a step having a discernible angle and adjacent segmented grooves have accumulator segments aligned generally circumferentially with a helix angle measured from a circumferential line that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tampon, of less than about 10° along the tampon an accumulator segment a region having a first density that is greater than a second density in a region defined by the longitudinal segments.